{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"084-The Man Who Never Was","description":"\r\n \r\nIn 1942, Germany discovered a dead British officer floating off the coast of Spain, carrying important secret documents about the upcoming invasion of Europe. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Operation Mincemeat, which has been called "the most imaginative and successful ruse" of World War II.\r\nWe'll also hear from our listeners about Scottish titles and mountain-climbing pussycats and puzzle over one worker's seeming unwillingness to help another.\r\nPlease consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support.\r\nYou can also make a one-time donation via the Donate button in the sidebar of the Futility Closet website.\r\nSources for our feature on Operation Mincemeat:\r\nDenis Smyth, Deathly Deception: The Real Story of Operation Mincemeat, 2010.\r\nRichard E. Gorini, "Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory," The Army Lawyer, March 2011, 39-42.\r\nKlaus Gottlieb, "The Mincemeat Postmortem: Forensic Aspects of World War II's Boldest Counterintelligence Operation," Military Medicine 174:1 (January 2009), 93-9.\r\nGerald Kloss, "'Dead Man' Trick That Fooled Hitler," Milwaukee Journal, Jan. 28, 1954.\r\n"The Germans Fooled by False Documents," Montreal Gazette, April 30, 1954.\r\nEwen Montagu, "The Debt the Allies Owe to the Man Who Never Was," Sydney Morning Herald, March 15, 1953.\r\n"Mourner for 'Man Who Never Was'", Glasgow Herald, Dec. 24, 1959.\r\nListener mail:\r\nHighland Titles\r\n"Can You Really Become a Lord of the Scottish Highlands for Less than $50.00?", HG.org (retrieved Dec. 3, 2015).\r\nLinks on mountain-climbing cats:\r\nPeter Glaser, "Die Katze, die das Matterhorn bestieg," Neue Zürcher Zeitung, July 6, 2015 (retrieved Dec. 3, 2015).\r\n"Hello Kitty? The Curious History of Cats Who Climb Mountains," One Hundred Mountains, Feb. 25, 2013 (retrieved Dec. 3, 2015).\r\nThis week's lateral thinking puzzle is from Edward J. Harshman's 1996 book Fantastic Lateral Thinking Puzzles.\r\nYou can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or via the RSS feed at http:\/\/feedpress.me\/futilitycloset.\r\nMany thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.\r\nIf you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!","author_name":"Futility Closet","author_url":"https:\/\/www.futilitycloset.com\/podcast\/","html":"