if you said that someone had stolen your thunder,
most people would know what you meant.
Man 1: It means that someone’s taken credit
for something that you’ve done.
Woman: I guess,
they did something better than you did,
and they took all the credit for it.
Man 2: Stolen your ideas.
Rav: Can you give me a sentence
where you would use that saying?
Man 1: I should have been promoted but
someone else stole my thunder.
Man 2: I was going to make a unique presentation
at work, and somebody had stolen my thunder.
Woman: If someone turned up to my wedding
in a great big white dress,
they’ve stolen my thunder.
Rav: But not a lot of people know
where it comes from.
Where do you think that saying came from?
Man 2: I’ve not a clue. Maybe the British weather!
Woman 1: I don’t know. Maybe the weather?!
Rav: What these Londoners don’t realise
is that stolen your thunder
came from here.
The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane
is the oldest theatre
in London’s West End.
It’s even older than the BBC.
In 1709,
a man named John Dennis invented a machine
that made a noise just like a clap of thunder.
The thunder machine was fantastic,
but Dennis’s play wasn’t.
Soon after its opening night, his play was replaced
by a production of Macbeth.
When John Dennis went back to the Theatre Royal
to see this new production
he was outraged to discover
that his thunder machine was being used
in Macbeth, and no one had asked his permission.
The story goes that he stood up and shouted
“they will not let my play run,
but they steal my thunder.”
And so the phrase to steal someone’s thunder
was born.
And it came from the area around here,
and not from up here.
”
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