Episode 41 - Cottingley Fairies + 1950s Quiz Show Scandal

Unscrupulous

First Adam (he/him) tells us about two cousins who, in 1917, shared some photos they took of themselves playing with fairies. Once one of their moms takes the photos to her Theosophical Society meeting the photos become a global story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pops up, as he always does in stories like these, to encourage the two to take more photos. Adam takes us through the phenomenon that was the Cottingley Fairies up until the late-in-life (sorta) admission of truth around these famous pictures.
Then Bec (they/them) takes us back to the dawn of television. When people were figuring out how to transition the popularity of quiz shows from radio to TV. After early episodes were filmed producers realized how different the two formats were and realized that they would need to manipulate, or as they put it, "produce" the shows. When contestants began speaking up about what was going on behind the scenes audiences were outraged to find out tv wasn't real, this really was a simpler time folks. This scandal ended up completely changing television and laws around quiz shows as we know them today.
Adam's Sources:

• Cottingley Fairies: How Sherlock Holmes's creator was fooled by hoax - BBC News
• Cottingley Fairies - Wikipedia
• The Cottingley Fairies - Historic UK
• Rose Fyleman - Fairies
• The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle - Free Ebook

Bec's Sources:

• https://medium.com/@stevechatterton/the-quiz-show-scandal-or-why-jeopardy-is-played-backwards-519f46d1489d
• https://www.americanheritage.com/dr-joyce-brothers-beats-system
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/quiz-show-scandals
• https://theretrospectors.com/on-this-day-joyce-brothers-64000-swot/
• ​​https://www.history.com/news/quiz-show-scandal-fraud-jeopardy

Make sure to follow us on instagram @unscrupulouspod and send us an email at [e-mail]