The John Batchelor Show

1927 NSW
Australian Cricket Ball Tampering Sandpaper Scandal
Jeremy Zakis and John Batchelor examine the famous 2018 Sandpapergate scandal, where Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper to alter the cricket ball during a test match in South Africa. The illegal tactic created aerodynamic curve on bowling deliveries but resulted in severe bans for Bancroft, captain Steve Smith, and vice-captain David Warner. Zakis notes that Australia recently returned to South Africa for the first time since the incident. Additionally, they discuss Australian opener Nick Maddinson suffering an embarrassing thirty-three-ball duck during his disappointing test performance in Durban. (3)

1981
Venomous Snakes And Destructive Backyard Wildlife
Jeremy Zakis and John Batchelor highlight an alarming surge of highly venomous snakes at Tamworth camping grounds. A recent report logged four hundred thirty-eight venomous snakes across seven campsites, including deadly brown snakes, red-bellied black snakes, and black snakes found inside vehicles and tents. Beyond snake dangers, Zakis details lighthearted stories about friendly blue wrens interacting with his pet dog Dallas. However, destructive cockatoos have returned in large numbers, tearing down tree branches, vandalizing residential property, and overturning household trash bins, prompting special regulations for storing garbage cans safely against outdoor house walls. (2)

1913 BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
Unpredictable El Niño Disrupts Australian Weather
Jeremy Zakis and John Batchelor discuss an intense El Niño season causing highly unpredictable weather patterns across Australia. Unseasonably hot spring temperatures reaching eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit draw crowds to Bondi Beach before temperatures drop abruptly into cold, stormy conditions. Meanwhile, Queensland faces early seasonal warnings for rapid-forming cyclones, forcing local residents to prepare much earlier than usual. Zakis explains that converging oceanic weather systems make standard forecasts unreliable. Additionally, the threat of sudden flash droughts leaves Australian farmers frantically storing extra water despite current heavy rainfall, creating widespread uncertainty as extreme climate volatility persists nationwide. (1)

1907
HuSaS Competition Artificial Intelligence
Oliver Roeder, author of Seven Games: A Human History, thoroughly explores seven iconic games at the intersection of human competition and artificial intelligence. The recording analyzes mathematical complexity, hidden information, and randomness across No Limit Texas Hold’em poker, Contract Bridge, competitive Scrabble, checkers, chess, Go, and backgammon. Tracing milestones from the Mechanical Turk to Deep Blue, AlphaGo, and neural networks, Roeder demonstrates how classical games serve as ideal testing grounds teaching complex artificial intelligence systems how to navigate real-world human reasoning. (1)

1914 BUCKINGHAM CASTLE
World War One Entry
Neil Lanctot, Part Two: Lanctot’s second part details America’s drift into World War I and its aftermath. Following the 1916 Sussex crisis and Wilson’s narrow presidential victory over Charles Evans Hughes, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. Coupled with the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, Wilson delivered his 1917 war declaration despite opposition from antiwar progressive politicians. The narrative concludes with Versailles Treatynegotiations, Theodore Roosevelt’s death, and Jane Addams overcoming Red Scare surveillance to receive the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. (2)