Chapter 1: What makes this New Year special for the hosts?
Happy New Year! And why is it a Happy New Year? Because you can now binge Gear, the incredible series from our fellow Radiotopia Show articles of interest. Gear is about the intersection between the military and the outdoor industry. Can you believe that they are deeply, deeply interwoven?
The military actually affects so much of our current fashion trends, which I didn't know about until I listened to articles of interest. But wait, there's more. This year, there will be new episodes about tattoos and what they mean for our self-expression, about bras and whether or not their technology is outdated. I feel like yes, but I'm willing to wait and see what Avery says.
There's an episode about the greatest designer you've never heard of. and a look at what it means to make clothes truly accessible for everyone. Articles of Interest is about clothing for people who don't necessarily think they're interested in clothing. If you're ready to change your relationship with the clothes you wear every day, check out Articles of Interest wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello and welcome to Normal Gossip. I'm your host, Rachel Hampton, and in each episode of this podcast, we're going to bring you an anonymous morsel of gossip from the real world. Happy New Year, y'all.
Chapter 2: Who is Allegra Frank and what is her background?
I hope your holidays were full of light and laughter, especially since 2026 is already off to an eventful start, to say the least. which I know means y'all desperately need some gossip in your lives, and today's story is actually one of my absolute favorites.
Before we get into it, just a little bit of housekeeping today, a light little bit, mostly just a heads up that now that our break is over, we are officially over halfway through this season of Normal Gossip, which has got four more episodes in it, including this one. That makes today's episode the seventh of the season, which is fantastic.
famously a lucky number and i feel especially lucky today because my guest is one of my dearest friends allegra frank allegra and i go way back we used to work at slate together and for a while she was an editor on my old show i see why am i where some of y'all might have heard us chop it up together currently allegra is a culture editor for the atlantic but she has written and edited for vox polygon the daily beast and the new york times allegra hello thank you so much for joining me
Hi, Rachel. I'm so excited. What a dream. We have not recorded together in a hot minute. I feel like I'm coming home. It's like a hot hour, girl.
It's been a hot hour.
Hot hour, hot year, hot month.
Hot month. So long. So long. I'm so excited, truly.
Same. Even though we haven't recorded in a while, we do talk, I would say, pretty regularly, which means that I know that you are a champion of gossip. Every time I see you, I feel like you tell me something that I think about for a month. So I'm so excited to know the answer to this question, which is what is your relationship to gossip? Have you always been this way?
Unfortunately or fortunately, yes.
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Chapter 3: What is the relationship between gossip and journalism?
I love that you brought the word Zanga onto this podcast and Gaia online. I don't know if those have been uttered in the normal gossip universe. And I'm sure some of our listeners will be like pointing at the metaphorical screen like Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Hearing the word Zanga in the year 2026.
I hope the people feel seen. I'm here to represent. I am one of you. We are the Zangans.
Thank you so much for that lore drop, which actually coincides perfectly with our gossip today. Are you ready? I'm so ready.
I feel owed.
The gossip I have for you today is historical, vintage, if you will. It takes place in the 1970s in Sydney, Australia. Personally, historical gossip is my favorite kind of gossip. Like, tell me about the wild shit your grandparents did. I want to know what Thomas Cromwell was getting into. But what about you? Do you have a preference for historical or contemporary gossip?
Do you know any lore about your grandparents? No.
Ooh, no, I do like historical gossip. Like my parents, I have some good gossip about them and that's fun. So I like gossip of all eras, really. Parent gossip, grandparent gossip, uncle gossip, aunt gossip, up and down the chain. No, literally get me up and down that family tree.
Exactly. Yeah. Well, like I said, today's story takes place in the 1970s in Sydney, Australia. And our friend of a friend today is named Jono. The most important thing to know about Jono is that he is very, very into mountaineering. And you might be asking... What is mountaineering? If you were asking this question, I also have this question.
And according to the American Alpine Institute, which is a real thing, mountaineering is the broad art of ascending mountains using a mix of hiking, snow travel, glacier navigation, and sometimes technical climbing. Um... Basically mountain climbing. Anyway, Jono would actually go on to become sort of a low-key legend in the Australian climbing community.
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Chapter 4: What historical gossip story is shared in this episode?
It's so true. Yeah, I'm just like, take them to the park. But even that is so dangerous.
We have to be in a closed, contained environment and there must be no windows and nothing they can repel off at all.
So, the updates are after the cops leave, Big Rob and Jono and Locky Webb pool all of the money that they had meant to spend on beer and they leave it in a brown paper bag in front of the door of the apartment below them because they feel bad about breaking the window. Oh, my God.
Yeah.
yeah thoughtful but this only adds to the mystery of the whole thing for the ladies downstairs who apparently talked about the time the giant bearded man with great thighs flew through the window and flew back out for a solid three decades afterwards I mean honestly as girlies who love a story yeah they were gifted an amazing story no it's so true it would be like do you remember and I'd be like yeah of course I do I haven't seen thighs like that since
Wild boar size. Exactly. Exactly. The next update is that the morning after Big Rob's flight, Beck visits Big Rob to check up on his injuries, of course. And the two end up dating for a couple of years. Years! Yeah! They are still friendly to this day, but Beck understood pretty quickly that the true love of Big Rob's life is Jono. Which you call from the very beginning.
Yeah.
I literally called it I'm practiced.
Big Rob and Jono are in their 70s now and they're still climbing together. They are no better at talking to women and apparently their nursing homes do not allow them on any floor but the ground floor.
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