Touring History 8-4-25

TOURING HISTORY - AUGUST 4TH SCRIPT

COLD OPEN

LANE: Welcome back to Touring History, where we make the past more entertaining than arguing with strangers on the internet. I'm Lane.

DAVE: And I'm Dave, still amazed that people used to have to actually go to a store to buy music. Like, you had to physically travel somewhere just to own a single song.

LANE: Today we're exploring August 4th, a date that's brought us wartime declarations, technological breakthroughs, and some absolutely jaw-dropping examples of how a French queen's scandalous affairs literally helped cause a revolution.

DAVE: Speaking of August 4th, we got a voice memo from a listener. Sezso, what do you have for us?

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

LANE: Let's celebrate some August 4th birthdays! We've got Barack Obama, who somehow made being president look both incredibly difficult and surprisingly cool at the same time.

DAVE: Also born today: Louis Armstrong, who basically invented jazz charisma and proved that a gravelly voice and a trumpet could make you one of the most beloved entertainers ever. And Billy Bob Thornton, who... exists in movies sometimes.

LANE: Can't forget Percy Bysshe Shelley, born August 4th, 1792. Romantic poet who wrote beautiful poetry about nature and revolution while living a spectacularly scandalous personal life.

DAVE: Speaking of scandals, didn't Shelley run away with a 16-year-old when he was married to someone else? Romantic poets really lived up to their reputations.

SALACIOUS DAVE SEGMENT

DAVE: Scandal time! August 4th, 1789, the French National Assembly abolished feudalism during the French Revolution. But one of the major catalysts for this revolution was the scandalous affair between Queen Marie Antoinette and Swedish diplomat Count Axel von Fersen.

LANE: Oh no, more royal affair drama that changes world history?

DAVE: Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen had a passionate affair that lasted over a decade. He was incredibly handsome, she was lonely and neglected by Louis XVI, and their relationship was the worst-kept secret in Versailles.

LANE: So the Queen of France was having a very public affair with a foreign diplomat? That seems... politically unwise.

DAVE: The really scandalous part? Fersen helped plan the royal family's failed escape attempt in 1791. He literally risked international incidents and his own life to help his lover flee France. Their love letters survived and are incredibly passionate - Marie Antoinette wrote "I love you madly and can never stop loving you."

LANE: So this wasn't just an affair - it was full-blown romantic obsession with international implications?

DAVE: Exactly! The French people saw Marie Antoinette's affair as proof that the monarchy was corrupt, foreign-influenced, and immoral. Political pamphlets portrayed her as "l'Autrichienne" - the Austrian whore - and her relationship with Fersen became propaganda against the entire royal system.

LANE: So one queen's love affair helped justify overthrowing the monarchy?

DAVE: Her scandalous relationship fed into revolutionary propaganda so effectively that it contributed to both her execution and the end of absolute monarchy in France. One love affair helped reshape European political systems and inspired democratic revolutions worldwide.

INNOVATION LANE SEGMENT

LANE: Innovation time! August 4th, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany, officially starting World War I. But the innovation here was how this war completely transformed warfare technology.

DAVE: That's a pretty grim kind of innovation, Lane.

LANE: WWI introduced machine guns, poison gas, tanks, aircraft, and modern communication systems. It was the first industrial war where technology determined outcomes more than traditional tactics. Basically, it invented modern warfare.

DAVE: So the innovation was "new and more efficient ways to be terrible to each other on an unprecedented scale"? That's... depressing but accurate.

LANE: Also August 4th, 1977, President Carter established the Department of Energy, creating a unified approach to energy policy that led to innovations in renewable energy, nuclear power, and energy efficiency that we still use today.

DAVE: From oil crises to solar panels - sometimes bureaucratic innovation actually works! Though it only took us another 40+ years to start taking climate change seriously.

AD BREAK

LANE: Let's talk about The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, where they've been perfecting culinary excellence since 1967.

DAVE: They're