Oliver the Humanzee: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:25, 1 November 2007

Oliver is a world famous chimpanzee who was believed to be the "missing link" in the chain of evolution. Karl's partially embellished account of his life story was the catalyst for the long-running Monkey News feature.

Origin

Originally told on the 22nd show of Xfm Series 2, Ricky and Steve were highly skeptical when Karl told them about a monkey named Oliver (which was, in fact, a chimp) that went mysteriously bald; lived in a house with a zoo-keeper and his wife; smoked cigarettes; drank tea; liked to "finish the day off with a bit of brandy", and would eventually "try it on" with the zoo-keeper's wife. Karl's story about Ollie's life was very popular with listeners and would inspire Ricky, Steve and Karl to do a regular primate-based feature entitled 'Chimpanzee That,' which would later become 'Monkey News'.

Oliver's Life

Though Ricky and Steve had apparently never heard of Ollie, he is a fairly well-known chimp, having been the subject of numerous documentaries. He is said to display human traits, such as walking on two feet and having a skull that is closer in shape to that of a human. His trainer, Janet Berger, claimed that Ollie became attracted to her when he reached sexual maturity and tried to mount her on multiple occasions. Thus he came to be known as a "Humanzee". However, DNA tests would eventually prove that Ollie was in fact just a regular chimpanzee.

Documentary

A Channel 5 documentary based on Oliver's life was discussed on the Xfm show (although Karl phoned in as he was absent due to "illness"). Ricky remained adamant that the show did not offer sufficient proof that Ollie was half-human/half-chimp, but it did have many candid interviews and images supporting Karl's claims that Ollie was attracted to women and smoked cigarettes.

Retelling

Ollie's story was retold on the first series of podcasts. Karl added further embellishments to it, saying that the zoo-keeper became friends with Ollie because they were in a quiet, unpopular zoo and Ollie appeared lonely.

Refrences

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee - Humanzee on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_%28chimpanzee%29 - Oliver on Wikipedia

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=-C6NkRUbI38 - First of six parts of Channel 5 documentary on YouTube

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-[[Oliver the Humanzee|Oliver]] is a world famous chimpanzee who was believed to be the "missing link" in the chain of evolution.  The (slightly altered)telling of his life story is one of the most popular stories from [[Karl Pilkington]].
+[[Oliver the Humanzee|Oliver]] is a world famous chimpanzee who was believed to be the "missing link" in the chain of evolution. [[Karl Pilkington|Karl's]] partially embellished account of his life story was the catalyst for the long-running [[Monkey News]] feature.
 ==Origin==
-Originally told on the 22nd show of the second series on [[Xfm]], [[Ricky Gervais|Ricky]] and [[Stephen Merchant|Steve]] could not believe what they were hearing when Karl told them about a chimp(referred to as a monkey) who; went mysteriously bald, lived in a house with a zoo-keeper and his wife, smoked cigarettes, drank tea(as well as brandy at night), and would eventually "try it on" with the zoo-keeper's wife.  This chimp would eventually be named as "Ollie".  Karl's telling of Ollie's life became very popular and would inspire Ricky, Steve and Karl to do a regular feature based on monkeys or chimps, entitled 'Chimpanzee That' later changed to 'Monkey News'.
+Originally told on the 22nd show of [[Xfm Series 2]], [[Ricky Gervais|Ricky]] and [[Stephen Merchant|Steve]] were highly skeptical when Karl told them about a monkey named Oliver (which was, in fact, a chimp) that went mysteriously bald; lived in a house with a zoo-keeper and his wife; smoked cigarettes; drank tea; liked to "finish the day off with a bit of brandy", and would eventually "try it on" with the zoo-keeper's wife. Karl's story about Ollie's life was very popular with listeners and would inspire Ricky, Steve and Karl to do a regular primate-based feature entitled 'Chimpanzee That,' which would later become 'Monkey News'.
 ==Oliver's Life==
-Despite Ricky and Steve apparently not recognising the name, Oliver was a very well known chimp, who was allegedly displaying human traits and believed to be a "Humanzee" meaning the missing link in the evolutionary chain.  Despite science debunking this theory in Oliver's later life, he was tested on, sold, and showed off to the public in his earlier years.  Ricky and Steve showed a certain amount of knowledge about Ollie in later shows, but still didn't believe Karl's story.
+Though Ricky and Steve had apparently never heard of Ollie, he is a fairly well-known chimp, having been the subject of numerous documentaries. He is said to display human traits, such as walking on two feet and having a skull that is closer in shape to that of a human. His trainer, Janet Berger, claimed that Ollie became attracted to her when he reached sexual maturity and tried to mount her on multiple occasions. Thus he came to be known as a "Humanzee". However, DNA tests would eventually prove that Ollie was in fact just a regular chimpanzee.
 ==Documentary==
-A documentary was aired on Channel 5 based on Oliver's life, which was discussed on the Xfm show(Karl phoned in as he was absent due to "illness").  Ricky remained adamant that the show had no scientific facts that proved Ollie was a humanzee but it did have many candid interviews and images supporting Karl's claims that Ollie was attracted to human women and smoked cigarettes.
+A Channel 5 documentary based on Oliver's life was discussed on the Xfm show (although Karl phoned in as he was absent due to "illness").  Ricky remained adamant that the show did not offer sufficient proof that Ollie was half-human/half-chimp, but it did have many candid interviews and images supporting Karl's claims that Ollie was attracted to women and smoked cigarettes.
 ==Retelling==
-The story has been retold, most notably on the Guardian Podcast, where Karl also added to the story, saying that the zoo-keeper became friend with Ollie as they were in a quite, unpopular zoo, and Ollie appeared lonely.
+Ollie's story was retold on the first series of podcasts. Karl added further embellishments to it, saying that the zoo-keeper became friends with Ollie because they were in a quiet, unpopular zoo and Ollie appeared lonely.
 ==Refrences==