r/todayilearned • u/rezikiel • Oct 06 '24
TIL The earliest known reference to the Mile High Club is from a betting book in 1785, a mere 2 years after the first successful balloon ascent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_high_club#History1.1k
u/rezikiel Oct 06 '24
The relevant passage: "Ld. Cholmondeley has given two guineas to Ld. Derby, to receive 500 Gs whenever his lordship fucks a woman in a Balloon one thousand yards from the Earth."
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u/Sprucecaboose2 Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24
I love that we tend to romanticize the past, especially since they tried having this air of class. Here we see essentially frat guy bets, but it's classy cuz they are Lords.
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u/Lightzephyrx Oct 06 '24
I can't imagine the amazing discussions around all of it that was never written down. Probably hilarious.
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u/AwfulUsername123 Oct 07 '24
I doubt someone would call that "classy". "His lordship" certainly makes for a severe juxtaposition with "fucks", especially seeing as it was written in 1785.
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u/twogait Oct 06 '24
As much as I love this, I actually am even more dumbstruck by the text two paragraphs down:
Pilot/engineer Lawrence Sperry and socialite Dorothy Rice Sims have been described as the first persons to engage in sex while flying in an airplane; the two flew in an autopilot-equipped Curtiss Flying Boat near New York in November 1916.
For context, Sperry is the inventor of the first autopilot system. Dude quite literally engineered a self flying sea plane and was like, great, lemme fuck.
I did some more Wiki digging and it's also worth noting that the woman who had sex with him on a plane was married from 1912 to 1917...not to him.
lol.
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u/Dpleskin1 Oct 07 '24
108 years later and people are still callin her a ho. What a legacy. 108 years later and the only thing I know is that she's the bitch who cheated on her husband for a ride in an airplane.
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u/twogait Oct 07 '24
Oh, she had an absolute hell of a life! Honestly, she was probably more interesting than Mr Autopilot.
From her Wiki:
Born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on June 24, 1889, Sims was one of six children of Julia (née Barnett) and Isaac Rice, a businessman (or corporation lawyer) who founded the Electric Boat Company (producer of submarines for the US Navy and others).
Context break: Electric Boat who, today, makes the US Navy's nuclear submarines. It's a hell of a company.
As a young woman she was a motorcycle street racer[9] riding a blue Indian[10] and became the first amateur licensed woman pilot in the United States,[8] training at Wright School, Mineola, New York, in 1916.[2][11]
...
Sims was "an expert in motorcycle racing, flying and sculptoring, but her bridge ability was just moderate". She became a famous bridge player, however, as one of her expert husband's partners and for her frequent use of "psychic" bids, or "psyches" (bluffs); she is credited with having coined the term "psychic".
...
After the death of [her second husband] P. Hal Sims in 1949, she traveled as a "political correspondent for various newspapers".[1]
She died of a heart attack on March 24, 1960, while in Cairo, Egypt,[2] "on the eve of her return home from a world tour".[7]
So to recap, she raced motorcycles, flew planes, was an artist, and a professional card player known for being badass at bluffing. Also, she met her second husband when he chartered her plane. After her husband died, she was like, ok I've already done it all, so I might as well go globe trotting as a journalist.
I'd like to have that many interesting point in my obituary.
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u/Yellowbug2001 Oct 07 '24
My first instinct was "You don't marry an adrenaline junkie like that without knowing what you're getting into" and based on the Wikipedia biography of her "bohemian artist" first husband Waldo Peirce who was married four times to what sound like four different pretty adventurous women, I'm pretty confident that instinct was right. The guy clearly knew what he liked, it doesn't sound like her boinking another guy in an airplane would have been a dealbreaker and for all I know it might have been part of the charm.
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u/dibidi Oct 06 '24
is this the same Cholmondeley family whose latest representatives are supposed to be the affair partner of Prince William?
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u/erinoco Oct 06 '24
Yes - this was the fourth Earl, who would eventually become the 1st Marquess - the current Marquess is the 7th.
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u/livinglitch Oct 06 '24
"your lordship was only 900 yards from the earth. It doesn't count."
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u/Blutarg Oct 07 '24
"Aha, but she was 901 yards! Har har har!"
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u/Only-Customer6650 Oct 07 '24
Man was a yard thick? I see why he was getting that kind of groundbreaking action, having cultivated such mass.
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u/CodenamePeePants Oct 06 '24
Maybe the Air Sex Society but not the mile high club, too low in altitude. Dr. Mantis Toboggan, a true romantic and lover of Cobb Salads.
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u/bloobityblu Oct 07 '24
I think Lord Cholmondeley was scammed out of 2 guineas.
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u/erinoco Oct 07 '24
The odds for the bet are 250-to-1, so he must have known it was pretty unlikely.
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u/bloobityblu Oct 07 '24
LOL! It just puts me to mind those idjits who are like "Hey, who wants to bet me $50 I won't jump outta this pickup truck while it's going 90 miles an hour? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller??"
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u/themcsame Oct 06 '24
2 years?
I feel like we need to stress the emphasis on 'known'. That seems like an awfully long time to go from 'we can fly' to 'hey, we can fly AND fuck'.
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u/Red_dragon_052 Oct 06 '24
Historians use the qualifier "recorded" for this reason. We can't know what people thought of if they didn't write it down.
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u/DickweedMcGee Oct 06 '24
I mean the first documented ascent of a single man, in a balloon for >15 minutes alone, guaranteed he got bored and TCB at some point.
That still counts right?
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u/pporkpiehat Oct 06 '24
Honestly, humanity's remorseless horniness is one of its most charming features.
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u/p0tty_mouth Oct 06 '24
I mean what else is there do to in a balloon? Just stand there gawking for hours?
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u/NetDork Oct 06 '24
Humans have always been the same.
Also, as soon as cameras progressed to the point that shutter speeds were fast enough to get clear pictures of people...yep, they were used to get pictures of people fucking.
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u/boyga01 Oct 06 '24
Porn driving new tech since the 1700s
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u/FartingBob Oct 06 '24
You know sex and porn are not the same thing?
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u/boyga01 Oct 06 '24
You’re absolutely right my goodness. This was gambling not porn. Gambling. Driving new tech since the 1700s
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u/Eastmelb Oct 06 '24
“Look up there darling - see how wonderful that balloon is?” “Are you crying?” “No, I’ve just caught something in my eye.”
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u/KookaburraNick Oct 06 '24
Yep, they're gonna fly in the sky and then they're gonna make love; the first two members of the Ten Feet High Club.
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u/Kreth Oct 06 '24
I´ve really been sleeping on this fucking in a balloon, gotta beat airplanebathroom sex..
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u/coolpapa2282 Oct 07 '24
When was the first car race? Right after they finished the second car. When did they finish the second car? Right after they finished fucking in the first one.
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u/gangstasadvocate Oct 06 '24
Gang gang! They were getting Myles high back then? They the OGs! Man, one day, one day I’m gonna make it to that perfect promise south-central La La Land where I can get even miles higher! With angelic hookers of course
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u/Winter_Cast Oct 06 '24
Why are you being so heavily downvoted man? You're last joking lol, I'm going through your profile from seeing you in r/fakecartridges and like holy shit so many people downvote you all the time but like why you're just being funny 🤣
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u/gangstasadvocate Oct 06 '24
I try to make it funny to the outside world, but it is no laughing matter. This is a pilgrimage I must make one day. And AI and ChatGangPT better get their shit together so they can do it for me. Because my goal is Maximum Euphoria with minimal effort. I do not even want to be putting as much effort as I already am into this. But it’ll all be worth it when I’m miles high up with those throngs of angelic Cali hookers
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u/DirkNowitzkisWife Oct 06 '24
Lol.
Humans: create the ability to travel in the sky
Immediately: “let’s fuck up there”