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CNN Live Today
Prince William to Appear on Stamps
Aired May 12, 2003 - 10:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Special delivery to our Richard Quest in London, the royal stamp of approval. You are looking now at one of the new stamps that is going to be issued to Mark Prince William's 21st birthday. Those will come out next month. Now, these stamps are expected to create an international sensation. They have already gotten the attention of our Richard Quest this morning who joins us from our London bureau with more on that, and another big story that caught his eye as well -- hi, Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Leon.
The question is, whether the prince was the reluctant stamp sitter? Because it's his 21st birthday, and the prince, who is known to asture (ph) any type of like "his royal highness" or "Prince William" -- he actually just gets called William Windsor at university -- he is said not to have wanted any fuss about his 21st birthday, but when your grandmother is the queen, and she says I want your picture, never mind on the mantle piece or the grand piano, I want your picture on a stamp, you don't really get much choice about it.
So two pictures have been chosen for William to be on a stamp and to be -- the reason this all very interesting, Leon, is because there have been numerous articles in the paper in recent days that suggest that William may never be king. He doesn't want to be king. He hates the idea of being king. It's something he's got no interest in. So, this is very much the question of now he's 21, is it time for William to grow up and realize, you are king whether you like it or not, or will be.
HARRIS: At least in people's hearts, if nothing else.
All right. We have got to ask you about this other story, because this is the one that has got most of us in the news room buzzing, this idea of actually scientifically -- or somehow testing this theory about leaving some monkeys in a room with a typewriter and seeing what they come up with?
QUEST: It is one of the oldest pub questions -- in terms of the law of probabilities and mathematics. If you were to take a load of monkeys and give them a load of typewriters for a load of time, would they eventually end up typing the complete works of Shakespeare. And a university in southern England did that, with a grant from -- the British equivalent of the National Endowment of the Arts, about $3,000. They took six monkeys -- they took six monkeys and they gave them one computer and they left them alone.
Now, the problem was they took these typewriters, they took and they gave them to monkeys -- you are old enough to remember this news, Leon, in the news room. Don't pretend you are not. Everybody typing away. The problem was there were only six monkeys and one computer.
You actually need an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of computers. If you were to do all of that, then the theory goes you end up with the complete works of Shakespeare.
However, all the monkeys eventually used this computer for was the toilet. Apparently -- apparently, by the end, when they had only typed pages and pages of S's, then they got onto L's, and they had just about found the letter M, the computer was in the sort of state that you wouldn't want to use, let alone give to your children.
HARRIS: So, I'm taking it then that they call this now -- this thing was not a success, this whole idea, this plan, this exercise?
QUEST: You know, both arguments -- those who are in favor say, Well, if you had done it properly, you might have ended up with the complete works of Shakespeare or at least one or two words. Those who are against it say monkeys are far cleverer than that, and it was simply a bad idea. Whatever it may have been, everybody's talking about the fact that monkeys have beaten the scientists.
HARRIS: Oh, we have got the transcript now. This that was are showing on the screen, this is what the monkeys actually typed? What is up with the monkeys and the S's? Did they at least figure that out?
QUEST: I think what happened was -- I think what happened was they had a computer keyboard, you see, what they did is they just put their -- I was going to say finger, whatever it is, paws or finger (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and it just typed it again and again and again. They hadn't quite worked out. Of course, and arguably, arguably, Leon, they were sitting on the computer attending to other business.
So, perhaps, which letter got hit was perhaps more hit and miss rather than anything else.
HARRIS: And I'm guessing it wasn't their finger that was doing the typing if you say that was the mess they left on that keyboard. Thanks, Richard. Richard Quest, as only Richard Quest can deliver this morning. Monkeys and keyboards in London. Very good.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 12, 2003 - 10:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Special delivery to our Richard Quest in London, the royal stamp of approval. You are looking now at one of the new stamps that is going to be issued to Mark Prince William's 21st birthday. Those will come out next month. Now, these stamps are expected to create an international sensation. They have already gotten the attention of our Richard Quest this morning who joins us from our London bureau with more on that, and another big story that caught his eye as well -- hi, Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Leon.
The question is, whether the prince was the reluctant stamp sitter? Because it's his 21st birthday, and the prince, who is known to asture (ph) any type of like "his royal highness" or "Prince William" -- he actually just gets called William Windsor at university -- he is said not to have wanted any fuss about his 21st birthday, but when your grandmother is the queen, and she says I want your picture, never mind on the mantle piece or the grand piano, I want your picture on a stamp, you don't really get much choice about it.
So two pictures have been chosen for William to be on a stamp and to be -- the reason this all very interesting, Leon, is because there have been numerous articles in the paper in recent days that suggest that William may never be king. He doesn't want to be king. He hates the idea of being king. It's something he's got no interest in. So, this is very much the question of now he's 21, is it time for William to grow up and realize, you are king whether you like it or not, or will be.
HARRIS: At least in people's hearts, if nothing else.
All right. We have got to ask you about this other story, because this is the one that has got most of us in the news room buzzing, this idea of actually scientifically -- or somehow testing this theory about leaving some monkeys in a room with a typewriter and seeing what they come up with?
QUEST: It is one of the oldest pub questions -- in terms of the law of probabilities and mathematics. If you were to take a load of monkeys and give them a load of typewriters for a load of time, would they eventually end up typing the complete works of Shakespeare. And a university in southern England did that, with a grant from -- the British equivalent of the National Endowment of the Arts, about $3,000. They took six monkeys -- they took six monkeys and they gave them one computer and they left them alone.
Now, the problem was they took these typewriters, they took and they gave them to monkeys -- you are old enough to remember this news, Leon, in the news room. Don't pretend you are not. Everybody typing away. The problem was there were only six monkeys and one computer.
You actually need an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of computers. If you were to do all of that, then the theory goes you end up with the complete works of Shakespeare.
However, all the monkeys eventually used this computer for was the toilet. Apparently -- apparently, by the end, when they had only typed pages and pages of S's, then they got onto L's, and they had just about found the letter M, the computer was in the sort of state that you wouldn't want to use, let alone give to your children.
HARRIS: So, I'm taking it then that they call this now -- this thing was not a success, this whole idea, this plan, this exercise?
QUEST: You know, both arguments -- those who are in favor say, Well, if you had done it properly, you might have ended up with the complete works of Shakespeare or at least one or two words. Those who are against it say monkeys are far cleverer than that, and it was simply a bad idea. Whatever it may have been, everybody's talking about the fact that monkeys have beaten the scientists.
HARRIS: Oh, we have got the transcript now. This that was are showing on the screen, this is what the monkeys actually typed? What is up with the monkeys and the S's? Did they at least figure that out?
QUEST: I think what happened was -- I think what happened was they had a computer keyboard, you see, what they did is they just put their -- I was going to say finger, whatever it is, paws or finger (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and it just typed it again and again and again. They hadn't quite worked out. Of course, and arguably, arguably, Leon, they were sitting on the computer attending to other business.
So, perhaps, which letter got hit was perhaps more hit and miss rather than anything else.
HARRIS: And I'm guessing it wasn't their finger that was doing the typing if you say that was the mess they left on that keyboard. Thanks, Richard. Richard Quest, as only Richard Quest can deliver this morning. Monkeys and keyboards in London. Very good.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
