Free Uncle John’s Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers’ Institute Page B

get involved with bathrooms, toilets, toilet paper, etc. That’s why he created the “Stall of Fame.”
    H onoree: Patricia Bernard, a game show contestant
    Notable Achievement: Making game show history…in the ladies’ room
    True Story: In 1976 Bernard was an audience member on the game show The Price Is Right . And she knew her chances of getting on the show were slim—out of 350 hopefuls, only 9 are chosen to play. So she thought she could safely sneak away for a bathroom break. You can probably guess what happened next: “Patricia Bernard! Come on down!” The camera panned the audience looking for her…to no avail. Her stunned husband, who’d been sitting next to her, jumped up and yelled, “Hold on, I’ll go get her!” and ran out of the studio. Amused, host Bob Barker said into his microphone, “It had to happen some time, folks. She’s in the little girls’ room. Well, if she can’t come to us, let’s all go to her.” Then Barker started walking down the aisle, followed by several contestants. Thankfully, before they reached the bathroom, the Bernards ran back into the studio to the cheers of the audience. (No word on how she did on the show.)
    Honorees: Li Zhaoxing, a Chinese diplomat, and Taro Aso, a Japanese diplomat
    Notable Achievement: Successfully practicing “toilet diplomacy”
    True Story: In Malaysia in 2006, during summit talks to improve the tense relationship between China and Japan, Aso was using the men’s room when Li happened to walk in. With the press corps waiting outside, the two talked about state matters…for 20 minutes. Then they exited (one at a time) and went to their respective seats for the “formal” set of meetings. Once there, Aso announced to his colleagues, “I just met Li in the toilet and we had a good discussion.” Asked later whether Aso knew that Li was already in the restroom, he dismissed it as pure coincidence, adding, “But it was awfully cold in the conference room.”
The term “Dixieland” is rumored to come from a New Orleans bank currency called a dix —French for “ten.”
    Honoree: Yellowcard, a rock group from Jacksonville, Florida
    Notable Achievement: Turning the bathroom into a trophy room
    True Story: After the band won a 2004 MTV Music Video Award for their song “Ocean Avenue,” the members had a group meeting to figure out where they would display the award, known as a Moonman. They decided to put it in the bathroom. Why? Because that’s where they write most of their songs. “The acoustics are really good in there,” explained the group’s guitarist.
    Honorees: Writer Christopher Welzenbach, producer Rodrigo Frampton, and director Roberto Lage, of São Paulo, Brazil
    Notable Achievement: Play-ing in the bathroom
    True Story: In 2006 Welzenbach teamed up with Frampton and Lage to produce his play, “Fine Comb,” inside a men’s room. The play is about businessmen who have meetings in a bathroom to decide whom to promote and fire. But because it’s staged inside a real bathroom, only 30 people can squeeze into the room at a time to see the 30-minute play. And they can’t sit down (the toilets are part of the “set”). It looks like Welzenbach and company will be stuck in the bathroom for a while as the play has had an unexpectedly long run. “We’re a huge success,” Frampton told reporters. “We have to perform extra shows every week!”
    Honoree: British actress Emma Thompson
    Notable Achievement: Writing an Academy Award–winning screenplay in the bathroom
    True Story: In addition to acting, Thompson is also a screen-writer. Her husband converted a barn on their Scottish estate into a workspace for her, but Thompson prefers to work in the bathroom. It was in the privacy of her home’s smallest room that she wrote much of the screenplay for the movie Sense and Sensibility , which she adapted from the Jane Austen novel. The result of her efforts: a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 1996. (She keeps the golden