Preparations for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, The increased interest in underground shelters for war

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I'm Jane Pauley, and this is Sunday Morning. When Russia first invaded Ukraine, their much larger military expected fighting would be brief. That they would conquer Ukraine within weeks.

Of course, that didn't happen. Instead, Ukrainian forces have fought back fiercely, even launching a successful counter-attack this past week, forcing the Russians to retreat, which raises a troubling question. How far might a desperate Vladimir Putin be willing to go? Could the nuclear option actually be on the table? That looming threat has led some to seek refuge in a relic of the Cold War. Roxana Saberi explains why what's old is new again. Back in the 1950s and 60s, the world was trying to figure out what to do and where to go in the event of catastrophe. Now it seems some of us are going back to the future. 100 feet underground in the English countryside.

Cold War bunkers like this are suddenly getting a lot of attention, both here and in the United States, ahead on Sunday morning. Boy meets girl. It's an age-old storyline in romantic comedies. But what happens when boy meets boy?

Jonathan Vigliati speaks with actor and comedian Billy Eichner about his pioneering new movie. We can go out. Are you asking me out? I'm down for whatever. Yeah, same.

Cool. Comedian and actor Billy Eichner has co-written and stars in a major Hollywood rom-com featuring two gay male leads. Why do you think it's taken this long for a movie like this? Two gay men in a romantic comedy finally being on the big screen? The real answer to that is that the world, including Hollywood, has been very homophobic.

Billy Eichner makes some movie history ahead on Sunday morning. Tracy Smith puts on her running shoes this morning and takes us along for a look at a new season of The Amazing Race. You're about to embark on a race around the world. After 21 years, a hundred countries, and a million-plus miles, The Amazing Race is still the ultimate endurance test. Typically, you shoot 12 shows in 21 days.

I lose, on average, 10 to 12 pounds every season. And taking part means saying goodbye to your home, your family, and sometimes your dignity. Later on Sunday morning, a truly amazing race. Mark Phillips and Seth Doan have the latest on Queen Elizabeth's funeral and what's ahead for Britain's King Charles. Serena Altschul takes us inside the pages of Better Homes and Gardens on the magazine's 100th anniversary. Connor Knighton looks in on a celebration in Enterprise, Alabama. Guest of honor, the boll weevil. David Pogue checks out music royalty. The Queen's Six. Plus, a story from Steve Hartman, opinion from author Rachel Aviv, and more this Sunday morning for September 18th, 2022.

We'll be back after this. At the height of the Cold War, President Kennedy famously called for a fallout shelter for everyone. Thousands were built.

Thankfully, none were ever used for their intended purpose. But now, Roxana Saberi tells us, bomb shelters are back. He did what we all must learn to do.

You and you and you and you. Duck and cover. They now seem quaint, even absurd. You duck and cover tight against the wall. Public service films from the 1950s and 60s teaching children how to protect themselves from a nuclear blast. And showing families that they too can build a cozy bunker of their very own. Ruth and I certainly can live in here very comfortably for at least two weeks. But as the Cold War thawed, bunker mania faded.

That is, until recently. With the tide of war in Ukraine turning against Russia, the threat of a desperate Vladimir Putin resorting to nuclear weapons to win at all costs is no longer so far-fetched. Our counter-strike will be instantaneous. Every time Putin talks about a nuclear weapon, the phone rings off of it. I bet it made the phone ring probably four or five hundred percent. At DEF CON underground bunkers near Kansas City, Missouri. This is kind of your kitchen area. Co-owners Ryan Olah and Corey Hubbard say around a third of those inquiries have turned into sales. It's everyday average people. I mean, it's from people that could barely afford it to people that have plenty of money. And it's not just a doomsday prepper scenario. Some of them are very concerned. They want something right now. They're afraid something's going to happen. They're expecting like Amazon Prime Service or something.

Exactly, yes. Across the United States and Europe, other manufacturers told us they've never seen such high demand, despite the high prices. They say pretty much whatever you can imagine, and pay for, they can build.

At DEF CON, shelters start at seventy-five thousand dollars. How safe is a bunker like the one you're standing in? For all of us in the business, it comes down to engineering.

It's not like we can test these things. And the federal government provides only guidelines, not regulations, for building underground bunkers. So it's up to buyers to do their homework. The need for this kind of protection is new to our shores, but the time to start is now. Back in 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to designate and stock public fallout shelters.

Today, most are abandoned. That's partly because if the worst does happen, there's no guarantee they'd work. The most significant thing, the blast size of nuclear weapons, which are enormous, even the smallest nuclear weapon is ten times the size of the largest conventional weapon.

Patricia Lewis is a security expert at the London-based Chatham House think tank and a former UN disarmament research director. You get instant radiation. You get heat, fires, huge winds. So a large part of the city or the area in which it was targeted would be uninhabitable. That's why, she warns, not every shelter will save you. Unless it was highly reinforced and people could stay down there for a long, long time. But think about what you would encounter afterwards. I think that's the thing.

This is why the prevention of nuclear war is by far the most sensible way forward. In Britain, most of the Cold War relics have also been sealed up or sold off. Some even transformed into a wine cellar, a cafe, and a museum like this one, hidden under a hill just outside London. And once they're shut, you would be in here for your three months or six months or however long it took you.

Everybody else? Outside. Now owned by Mike Parrish, this shelter was built in 1952 to keep 600 civil and military personnel safe, in control. So we can switch one on. And in communication if the Soviets attacked, as imagined in this staged announcement.

United Kingdom was heavily attacked with nuclear weapons. But lately, people are seeing this museum in a whole new light. And we've had about 20 inquiries so far from people who want to come.

So for the right price, you would offer space to somebody to rent this out? Certainly, yes. For Mike Parrish, though, family comes first. And it's serious business. If there is a nuclear incident, what do you plan to do? Well, I plan to lock the doors with me inside. You and your family? Me and my family. It's like a wedding list. OK, do you have a list? Have you written it out? You're not sharing?

Not sharing, no. Then there are countries like Finland that have never let their guard down. About 20 meters. Shelters are practically everywhere, some doubling as pools or playgrounds. And in Switzerland, a country of roughly 8.5 million people, Entrance.

Please. There's room for around 9 million to shelter. The idea is to have 50 people each rooms. How many rooms are there? Many. Come, please.

Fourth room for 200 people so far? Yes, let's continue. OK. Engineers Cedric Villoumier says these days, residents are on edge. Some people are afraid, really afraid. They write and they want to be sure that the shelter are prepared. You're getting more inquiries than before. Exactly.

Here, by law, everyone has to have access to one in their community or, like Francois Zerkinden, in their basements. OK, and this is now the blast door. We can open it. Oh, that's a thick door.

Yes, very thick. So this is it? Yes, it is. It's not very big. How many people can sleep there?

12 persons, four or less. You also have a lot of wine stocked. Yes, wine. We have also a little bit of water, enough for a few days. Jam.

Jam. In the meantime, back at DEF CON, the orders keep coming. What would you say to somebody who says, you guys are making money off of people's fears? We tell people this. You buy car insurance, you buy homeowner's insurance. We're just offering a different type of insurance. Hopefully your products will never be tested. I hope so.

That's what we say, it's a lack insurance policy we hope you'll never have to use. President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived in London last night to join scores of world leaders for Monday's history-making events. It's been a week of ceremony and ritual for Queen Elizabeth II as the United Kingdom prepares for her funeral tomorrow at Westminster Abbey. Mark Phillips has the latest on Charles III as he prepares to say goodbye to his mother and make his mark as king. But first, Seth Doan reports on a nation in mourning. Grandchildren, both princes, honouring their grandmother, a queen.

This vigil yesterday yet again mixed grand spectacle and personal grief. The reputation of Britain is a nation of stiff upper lips. I think with the queen's death we've shown that we've got a wobbly lower one as well. John Sopel was a young man who was a young man who was a young man as well.

John Sopel was a long-time anchor with the BBC. We met not far from where Queen Elizabeth II has been lying in state at Westminster Hall ahead of tomorrow's funeral. It's going to be a grand occasion, the likes of which we have not seen in this country since Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965. That was the last state funeral here.

The UK has not buried its sovereign since the Queen's father King George VI in 1952. The plans for this were incredibly detailed called the Operation London Bridge. And the operation has swung into gear. Planning took decades with consideration of every detail. Altering flight schedules to ensure quiet or making sure bouquets included clippings from the Queen's properties. The Imperial State Crown was on display in Wednesday's precisely timed procession atop a coffin fashioned from oak from a royal estate. The pageantry is quite incredible. And when I see that pageantry there is a little part of me that feels this immense pride in this nation and the rich history. And I have to be honest there's a little part of me that thinks who knew there were so many costumes sitting in a wardrobe somewhere waiting to be brought out on this occasion.

These images can be interpreted in different ways, says Pauline McLaren. And that's the double-edged sword of reinforcing the tradition through their pomp and pageantry and rituals if you like. Because for many people it is a reminder of Britain's imperial past.

Over afternoon tea the University of London marketing professor noted while early polls have been positive for the royals this may be a honeymoon period. We need to separate the support for the Queen from the support of the monarchy. I come from Northern Ireland so the monarchy has always been more problematic there. This past week the King travelled to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Countries making up the not always united Kingdom.

A 2014 independence referendum in Scotland was narrowly defeated. And what you could end up with is Great Britain as it's sometimes called not looking so great when we've lost Scotland and we've lost Northern Ireland and you're just left with a rump England and Wales. And you think that's more of a possibility now with the King Charles than it was with the Queen Elizabeth? Yes because I think that the Queen acted as this amazing viscous glue that bound these separate parts of the United Kingdom together. Today's mass mourning reminded John Sopel of a description of Churchill's funeral when it seemed London had two rivers, the Thames and the Sea of People paying tribute. The funeral here tomorrow at Westminster Abbey is expected to be the biggest gathering of dignitaries, heads of state and members of European royal families that the city has seen in decades. It's a send-off and a salute on a grand scale.

This is Mark Phillips. Something seems to have happened to the new King Charles. He's been unable to get out of a car without heading directly to the waiting crowd as if he were a politician seeking votes.

And in a way, even though kings aren't elected, he is. Charles III has been on a bit of a charm offensive. We're definitely seeing a lightning of the monarchy, a search for more approachability. Robert Lacey is a royal historian. I think the big change is in the attitude of the public and the willingness to forgive Charles.

Faults that in the past were criticized. The new king's image has had a bumpy ride over the years, never rougher than in the period around his doomed marriage to Princess Diana when his reputation for being uncomfortable with the emotional side of life was evident from the start. I'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on. And I suppose in love. Of course.

Whatever in love means. His rehabilitation after Diana's death and particularly the normalizing of his relationship with his long-time partner Camilla took planning, effort and time. PR guru Patti Harveson was brought in.

I'm very proud of what everyone achieved there. You think he was unfairly treated at times? Yes. I mean, in fact, you know, they all are. They live under a level of scrutiny that is at times almost impossible to bear. Charles' marriage to Camilla and the queen's declaration that she be made to be king gave official endorsement to the new royal order. But there have been other issues for the new king to address. Who hasn't gotten annoyed at a leaky pen when it happens to the new king? It goes viral and it reinforces an enduring image of a prince of privilege. The fountain pen incident, some people say, aha, scratch Charles. He still bleeds petulance.

He's still the same guy. No matter how much glad-handing he's doing. In a sense, Prince Charles's evident faults can counter his advantage if he makes a clear effort that people acknowledge to overcome his imperfections, because that's one of the things that monarchs are supposed to do.

We're not so naive as to believe they're better human beings than us. History clearly demonstrates the contrary. King Charles' major tests are yet to come. Whether to continue the outreach to Prince Harry and Meghan, whether to continue Prince Andrew's royal isolation, and perhaps the biggest test whether he can soothe the nation the way his mother did. As your queen and as a grandmother. For example, when Princess Diana died.

First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. However Charles defines his reign, one thing has to do with love. However Charles defines his reign, one thing won't change.

The whole world will still be watching. Do the British sit in wonder at the interest that America has in this whole royal story? We Brits are not surprised that the whole world should be fascinated by history and pageantry, not to say the sheer scandal and personal soap opera character of the British monarchy.

But we do sometimes wonder why the Yanks, the Americans who went to so much trouble to get rid of George III should be so fascinated in the antics of his descendants. It's a magazine that's right at home in homes across America and it's turning 100. With Serena Altschul we page through the history of Better Homes and Gardens. Here in the middle of the city of Des Moines, Iowa, a half acre of green where head gardener Sandra Gerdes grows new plants of every description. The peppers are now smaller so you can put them in hanging baskets or larger containers and still have your edible garden. It's the Better Homes and Gardens test garden, a vital part of the iconic magazine, now celebrating its 100th anniversary. We're obviously in a sunny landscape here with lots of perennials and wildflowers, a little bit of a dry area here with some grasses, lots of hostas. What's not to love with that?

And you get so much color, you get all these patterns of all these leaves. Steven Orr is editor-in-chief. I think the reason this magazine remains its relevancy with the whole country is that it's in Des Moines, Iowa, it's in the middle of the country. And this magazine really is grounded in trying to cover and speak to all Americans. Its DNA is rooted deeply here.

It really informs every aspect of what we're doing here. Cauliflower. Besides the test garden, there are test kitchens. And then we'll top that with our pinto bean patty.

Where every recipe is prepared. So this is our Funfetti Mandel bread. I'm a little worried about it. I think it's a little soft because of the amount of sprinkles we have inside.

That's what makes it so fun, though. It is. And taste it. It is like a biscotti. It's a little bit more butter. So you bake it the first time for 25 minutes.

I don't know that I would change it. It's good. We talk about was it hard to make, does it taste good, does it look good?

Food editor Jan Miller started in the test kitchen 25 years ago. This is gold. This is treasure. This is treasure.

This is treasure. Oh my gosh. In her office, a collection of Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks. We call it the plaid, the red plaid.

Maybe that's just a term of endearment. A beloved staple in American homes for more than 90 years. So this was the very first book.

It was called My Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It came out in 1930 to raise some much needed cash during the Depression. The deal was it was a premium. And so if you send in a dollar, you got the magazine subscription for two years, and then you got this book.

So what a deal. The magazine was founded in 1922 by Edwin T. Meredith, a Des Moines entrepreneur and Secretary of Agriculture under Woodrow Wilson, as a companion to his successful farming magazine. He's a businessman at the end of the day. So he has an audience of male farmers.

He starts pulling in their wives. It soon became a mainstay in American homes and the foundation of the Meredith Corporation's sprawling media empire. This is the first cover in 1922. A very long way from its humble beginnings as a little magazine called Fruit Garden and Home. It's an odd name, right?

When you look at the pages, there is a lot of fruit. Yes. The name was changed in 1924. The name Better Homes and Gardens came from a local neighborhood association here. It was their tagline. It's a catch-all.

I mean, really, what else is there? This is someone trying to figure out what to cook. A century-long domestic how-to guide. This person is looking at Better Homes and Gardens Gardening Guide. Look at her expression.

He's trying to figure out what to do. With beautiful pictures. Look at the palette. Isn't it great?

Beautiful colors. Tips on how to adapt to a changing world. How do you decorate with the radio? You know, 20 or 30 years later, it's how do you incorporate a television into your living room? Right. Which is still a problem for people. And a few celebrities tossed in. You can see Charlton Heston in 1960 with a pepper grinder doing a tossed salad. Celebrities have always popped in, but it's never been the focus. In 2011, Michelle Obama made a splash on the cover. And just this past June, it was British pop idol Harry Styles.

And some of our readers were like, Harry Styles, what's going on? Will we assure them next month with, like, cake pops? I kind of look into the way things are done here. It's kind of reaching people where they are, staying close to home, not politics. Right. We're not going to tread in there because it's too divisive.

We're the place people come to get away from not just politics, but even the horrors of the pandemic. Does gardening and cooking, does it kind of allow you to reach across the aisle? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah, I think it should be good. This month, for its 100th birthday commemorative issue, four celebrity cakes with four different covers, each a favorite recipe from a celebrity chef. You've got Ina, Padma, Carla, and Jacques making cakes, right? Exactly. Oh my gosh.

Yes, it's been fun. And when we styled the cakes, we styled them very theatrically, like on a stage set almost, and lit them like they're the star of it. With better paper and bigger pages, thanks to their new media partner, Dot Dash. What's been great about the Dot Dash acquisition is we were acquired by a pure digital company, and that company was really interested in our brands.

And instead of buying us for our brands to, like, dismantle the brands, it's the opposite. But this will be a big picture, and then we'll organize them some sort of setup. Stephen Orr is looking forward. This story that's highly decorated, kind of social media Christmas. As well as back on this 100th anniversary. Our readers recognize that this brand, Better Homes and Gardens, on all platforms is a place of creativity and calm for them.

And that's where we'll leave you this morning, beside a babbling brook in the Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden, which might just be your next gardening project. Colby is co-founder and principal of the Marathon Initiative, a project focused on developing strategies to prepare the United States for an era of sustained great power competition. The United States put our mind to something we can usually figure it out. What people are saying and what we kind of know analytically and empirically is our strategic situation, our military situation, is not being matched up with what we're doing. Follow Intelligence Matters wherever you get your podcasts.

This is The Takeout with Major Garrett. This week, Stephen Law, ally of Mitch McConnell and one of Washington's biggest mid-term money men. List for me the two Senate races where you think Republicans have the best chance of taking a Democratic seat away. Nevada, New Hampshire. Not Georgia. Well, Georgia's right up there, but New Hampshire is a surprise.

In New Hampshire, people really just kind of don't like Maggie Hassan. For more from this week's conversation, follow The Takeout with Major Garrett on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. You might call it a new take on a tried and true Hollywood formula. Jonathan Vigliati tells us about the romantic comedy Bros. We are just going to be friends, okay? Great, friends.

It's the best thing. We love romantic comedies. It was a perfect blend of poetry and meanness. Meanness. Let me tell you something about meanness. Don't misunderstand me.

I'm just trying to pay you a compliment. The chance meetings. What's your name, young man? My name is Winston.

Winston Shakespeare. And of course, the against all odds happy endings. So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?

She rescues him right back. Comedian and actor Billy Eichner loves rom-coms, but he has one complaint. They never made one about a gay couple. We weren't in those movies at all. We weren't even the best friend at that point. We just were nowhere to be found.

Eichner thinks it's time for a change. Hey. Hey, what's up? I tried to kiss you and you didn't kiss me back is what's up. I'm sorry.

I'm shy. With director co-writer Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow, no strangers to rom-coms themselves. I made a movie called Bros. Eichner has co-written and stars in what's being billed as the first gay romantic comedy ever released by a major film studio. And also the first to feature in all LGBTQ principal cast. It's called Bros. I went to the screening with my husband and halfway through, we had this moment where we looked at each other, recognizing that this was the first time we had seen ourselves represented two gay men fronting a romantic comedy on the big screen. Yeah.

And what's amazing is that our priority when we wrote the movie was to make a hilarious movie. He told me he likes country music and his favorite singer is Garth Brooks. What kind of gay man says his favorite singer is Garth Brooks? That scares me.

The movie follows Eichner's character, Bobby, as he stumbles towards a relationship with love interest, Aaron, played by Luke MacFarlane. Great. Whatever, whenever. Cool.

Whatever, whenever. Gif of Michael Scott dancing. That's good. Office gif? This person isn't gay. You may recognize MacFarlane. He's played the leading straight man on a bunch of Hallmark movies. Why do you think it's taken this long for a movie like this, two gay men in a romantic comedy finally being on the big screen? Well, the real answer to that is that the world, including Hollywood, has been very homophobic. And it's a complicated topic because in some ways, Hollywood has often led the charge when it came to LGBTQ issues and representation. And yet, underneath it all, I think there was always a fear that the quote unquote mainstream audience wasn't necessarily ready for this type of movie. And I think because of that, a lot of our stories weren't told.

My mom died when I was in college. While much of the film is fictional, Rose allowed Eichner to get personal. For me to be an effective writer, a good artist, I needed to be able to be honest. It's all about honesty.

I was always too gay, or I was too niche, or I made people uncomfortable. And I'm telling you, enough people tell you things like that, no matter how confident you are when you're alone at night, you start to think that maybe they're right. I love that monologue because I feel like it summed up the message and maybe your goal with the movie. You presented this relationship in all of its grittiness, not hiding behind anything. That monologue on the beach was inspired by real experiences. For example, in 2006, this was five years before his breakthrough comedy game show, Billy on the Street. You're saying things that I would never have had the courage to say.

You're damn right I am! Eichner says his manager brought talent agents to see one of his live comedy shows. He asked me if I could make the show less gay that month. There were all kinds of overt and less overt ways that people were telling me, you're really talented, but we're not sure what to do with you. You know, it was all this kind of like coded language, like you're too smart, someone once said. I was like, you can be too smart?

I didn't know that was a thing. I've been met with, you know, always being told that we're taking a chance. You know, we don't really know how the audience is going to respond. We don't know how the studio is going to respond. We've got Debra Messing's agent on the Zoom.

It's urgent. Debra's worried that she's on the verge of being canceled. She said in an interview that she was the Viola Davis of Tufts and people are mad. The actor known as Miss Lawrence is also an LGBTQ activist. What's it like to work on a production where everybody is free to be themselves, not just free, but celebrated for that? It's very rewarding.

It's exciting. This is probably the first time we have ever seen that, where you have people in front and behind the lens representing every letter of the LGBTQ community. Eichner underscored that when I visited the set last November. Of the people here, how many are part of the LGBTQ community?

I think there might be a few people that have one or two lines that aren't, but you know, I didn't want to completely erase straight people from the narrative the way they've erased me for thousands of years because I'm trying to be bigger than that. And Billy Eichner points out that Bros, while a comedy, does parody political issues. We need new ideas for what goes in the final wing and we need them now. Go. What if the final exhibit was a recreation of a queer wedding?

I like that. Here we are now too with the Supreme Court. There is concern that gay marriage could be reversed. What do you say to those who want to take that right away?

What do I say to people who want to take the right to get married away? That's fit for television. Right. I would say that they are completely backwards.

And Bros is one example of this culturally. But we are never, ever going backwards. We will be living our lives the way we want to live them. We're going to have equal protection under the law and keep fighting for it. We're going to do with our bodies whatever the hell we want to do with our bodies. And that we've existed since the beginning of time.

As long as there has been human civilization, there has been LGBTQ people and that is going to continue. And the latest chapter is now unfolding on the silver screen. It happened this past week. Word of a death in our Sunday morning family. Long-time video editor David Small passed away in New York after a brief illness. You may not recognize his name, but you've likely seen any number of Sunday morning stories where David's craftsmanship was on full display.

Before Sunday morning, he'd held a variety of positions at CBS News, including a long-time posting at 48 Hours. A lover of art, literature, and theater, David was meticulous, creative, and caring. He's survived by his son Simon and his granddaughter Ariana, and will be missed by all of us. David Small was 68.

David Small was 68. It's a town that put a pest on a pedestal. Connor Knighton has sent us a postcard from Enterprise, Alabama. Let me tell you a story about a boll weevil. Now some of you may not know, but a boll weevil is an insect, and he's found mostly where cotton grows. In the center of Enterprise, Alabama, there's an intersection honoring an insect. We are one of the few cities in the world where you have in the middle of town a pest that's standing up on a pedestal. William E. Cooper is the mayor of Enterprise.

Enterprise is a small town with a big heart. But more than a century ago, a small creature, the boll weevil, nearly destroyed this town. It came for the cotton. The boll weevil was a pest that was bad, and it just destroyed whatever was in its path.

You think the locust plagues and the Bible, you know. Attorney and local historian Dale Marsh's grandfather owned a cotton farm in Enterprise in the early 1900s. By the time the invasive insect got to town, the tale of the boll weevil became a story in the town, the tale of the pest that feeds on cotton seeds was already national news. The head of the USDA had deemed it a wave of evil. The boll weevil's destruction didn't just affect the farmers. If the farmer had no money from his cotton crop, he had no money to pay back the bank or the merchants, so everybody was worried about what was going to happen. What happened was the farmers pivoted to peanuts. A hundred years ago, what would people have been growing in this field? They're growing cotton right here. Hmm. And then the boll weevil changed all that?

Changed every bit of it. William Birdsong owns a peanut farm near Enterprise. The majority of the ones that are grown here are going to go into like M&M bars, candy bars, Snickers. Oh, so if I'm eating a peanut M&M, it might have come from this field?

That's exactly right, or just peanut butter. Today, Alabama is known for its peanuts. Alabama's Tuskegee Institute was once home to the most famous peanut promoter of all time. George Washington Carver was very crucial to the success of the peanut. Because he led to the development and the introduction of many uses of peanuts, which obviously increases the demand and the need of all these peanuts that farmers would grow.

But back in 1915, nobody had ever planted peanuts here. It was only when the weevil wiped out the cotton crop that the Enterprise farmers tried something new. That's the reason why there's a statue in Enterprise to the boll weevil. It's very tongue-in-cheek, and so it's like, if it hadn't been for you boll weevil, you caused us to be resilient and look for other means to try to survive and make a living.

In 1919, the town put up a monument to celebrate their agricultural prosperity. Decades later, a weevil was put on top, then taken off, then put back on. It used to be a popular prank to mess with it.

It has been taken, and we will find it somewhere on the side of the highway or whatever. But it's no longer the only weevil statue in town. Meet Mayor Weevil, Officer Weevil. There are weevils in front of the health clinic and the ale house and the local real estate office. Everywhere from the pharmacy to the farmer's market to the funeral home, there's been an infestation created as a way to attract attention to local businesses.

A giant pest in front of a restaurant would not be the first marketing idea you might think of. No, it definitely would not, but it seems to work. Yeah, it doesn't.

Does it? You feel like this drives people in? Oh my gosh, yeah. Kids are climbing on it, taking pictures all the time.

It's great. The boll weevil continues to bring prosperity to Enterprise. There's the Weevil Nut Company, boll weevil lanes, the boll weevil soap company sells unboll weevable lotion. From the CrossFit gym's swoll weevil to the community college's bow the weevil mascot, the pest is baked into the fabric of the local community. Even a national chain is played along.

One, two, three. I'm loving it. Ronald McWeevil is one of the latest stops on Weevil Way.

Nine-year-old Amina Roston was spending her afternoon seeing them all. I think it's kind of cool too because they ruined our crops, but it also makes us discover new things. You hear that sentiment a lot in Enterprise. It's not actually about the insect. It's about what it represents. The lesson of the boll weevil is that when adversity comes your way, don't quit.

As we look at it now, it was just something that made us move in another direction in a better way. Whether you're an accountant, firefighter, mechanic, teacher, we all have weevils in our own lives. But they make us stronger. It's like the souvenir t-shirt says, fear no weevil. Celebrate. It might be silly if you don't know the story, but if you know the story, you know, it's a beautiful story. From Steve Hartman, a story that proves it really does take a village. This is not a national park. Signals work.

This is a vehicle inspection site in Katy, Texas, where 22-year-old Jalen Gray started working after he quit college and his dream of becoming a park ranger. It's not really a good feeling, giving up at all. But sometimes it's not quitting, it's just doing the right thing.

Yeah, I had to do what I had to do, so. Today, Jalen's sole priority is his 12-year-old brother, Julian. He's my reason. He's my reason.

His reason and his responsibility. Their mother and only parent died two years ago. I just miss her so much. From that day on, I swore, you know, at all costs, I'm protecting them. And then things got worse.

Yeah, I was basically defeated. I had nowhere to go. Life went from bad to unbearable after that big freeze hit Texas last year. The pipes burst in their house, the one their mother left them, and ruined everything.

Those were strange times. Then a contractor Jalen hired to fix it took their life savings and ran off. Tragic, isn't it? The boys were pretty much homeless, living with their last surviving close relative, when a non-profit called Katie Responds caught wind. The group fixes up houses after natural disasters. Over the years, they've helped more than 100 families, but few more worthy than those boys.

Yeah, it breaks your heart. Had to help. Had to.

Executive Director Ron Peters. They had no idea people would want to jump in and help them. Which may explain their jaw-dropping, literally, speechless reactions.

I was overwhelmed. Thanks to an army of donors and volunteers, the brothers are finally and forever back in their mother's house, fully renovated better than ever. And although no builder could ever patch the hole in their hearts, Katie Responds did the next best thing. There's just so many nice people. So many nice people in this room right now, and it makes me so happy.

When their mother died, Julian and Jalen thought all they had was each other, but they were off by one whole community. The world is waiting for you. Good luck. It's Sunday morning on CBS, and here again is Jane Pauley.

This week here on CBS, The Amazing Race hits the starting blocks for its 34th season, this time from Munich, Germany. Our Tracey Smith was invited to suit up and put her own amazing skills to the test. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Okay, would you jump off a 700-foot dam for a chance at a million dollars?

Am I connected? Yes, it's terrifying, but it's just another day on The Amazing Race. In the past 21 years, the CBS reality show has taken more than 600 intrepid souls on a race around the world, two by two. It's a global odyssey that tests the limits of their endurance. Wait, they jump at you. The bounds of their dignity. See, I can't make them go over there. I don't want another word coming out of your mouth. Oh my God, I hate you.

And the strength of their relationships. And as with just about any game show, you can't help but wonder what you'd do if you were in their shoes. It was in that spirit that I went along last May for the start of season 34. This is the way to travel.

Before the pandemic, the teams flew commercial airlines, but for safety's sake, they now use this chartered 757. I mean, we've just never done it before. Phil Kogan's been the host for all 34 seasons.

This is a nice change up, and maybe after two decades of doing the show, we'll take it. Yeah. We knew we were bound for Munich, but none of the contestants aboard had a clue. I just think it's wild that we're looking at them, they have no idea. No idea where they're going. I mean, can you think of anybody who gets on a plane and literally has no idea where they're going? Can you imagine?

But they could sense that things were about to get kind of hectic. I would like to officially welcome you to the start of your amazing race here in Munich, Germany. The man in the red ball cap is executive producer Bertram von Munster.

He's directed just about every minute of every leg of every race since it began in 2001. Von Munster is especially close to this lady, co-executive producer Elise Dogenieri. You might know that they're married and have traveled the world together in the name of great TV. You might not know that she's the one who thought this whole thing up. So let's go back to the beginning. This was originally your idea? Yeah, the amazing race originally was my idea, and it came out of a backpacking trip that I took with my roommate in college. And you know, when I instantly had this idea for this show, I thought if we put people who know each other together, there's definitely going to be drama. How could you do it?

How could you do that? John, stop it! And what's happened since is TV history. She should have left it, we should have gone, we would have been here.

Jonathan, I think you probably should go and talk to Victoria. The amazing race has become a perennial favorite on this network's schedule. And the Emmy goes to... The amazing race. The winner of 10 Emmys for best competition show, more than any other. Well, I really didn't expect this.

In 21 years of production, the race has been to nearly 100 countries, logging well over a million miles and counting. Did you envision this? No, I mean, the first season we filmed the show, I was working in advertising. I took a leave of absence, I said to Bertram, should I quit my job? We sold the show. He said, no, no, no, don't quit your job, it's television. You never know if it's going to get renewed or canceled. And then the show got picked up and I said, Bert, what do you think?

And he goes, you should quit your job. And so we took a risk. But now, 34 seasons in, Von Munster says it all still makes him as nervous as ever. So last night, did you sleep?

No, no, no, I slept maybe three hours. Because you're thinking... I was thinking... What's coming next?

Even after all these years. It's a lot of details. It's a lot of details, but I love it. As they say, the devil is in the details.

And there are a lot of details. For the Munich leg alone, the racers had to complete not one, but three tasks, all inspired by Oktoberfest. Roll a beer keg through an obstacle course in under one minute, soar through a log, and smash an enormous block of ice. Once complete, they'll have the three parts of a clue they need to find me at the pit stop. If you've not completed a course and you need a lot of time, you must go to the back of the course. Turns out, the Amazing Race producers do a test run the day before, rain or shine, to make sure a task is safe and actually doable.

In fact, the producers often make adjustments before the race begins. But once it starts, there are no do-overs, ever. There's no stopping. There's always go, go, go, go, go. We don't interfere, we don't do second takes, never do second takes. No second takes. No second takes, absolutely not, because we do it, it's a game show.

Yes, a game show, but some of the locations are truly, well, amazing. And you never know when a priceless moment is going to happen. Isn't this crazy right now? This is like bells all around us. I love this, it is beautiful.

Look at this over here, it's incredible. The best bell ringers in all of Munich. The best bell ringers in all of Munich, here just for you. Cacophony of Munich bell ringing. It was a rare minute of calm.

But the next morning... Inside the envelope are three addresses for the three challenges that you need to complete. It was time to do what they came for. Before the start, the camera crews stretch, like distance runners, getting ready for the mad dash to come. And then, finally, Phil Kogan says the words that every contestant is straining to hear. The world is waiting for you.

Good luck, travel safe. Of course, we can't tell you which team finished first in episode one. You can find out later this week. We can tell you that the race started as planned and that it was as wild as ever. 34 seasons in, the show has not been eliminated. Why do you think the show survived? Our backdrop of the world is forever changing.

We're never going to run out of locations to film in. And it's super entertaining, it's humorous. We're kind of laughing at ourselves, but also traveling the world and getting to see places that you may never get to see, you know, in your lifetime. I see it. For the contestants, even the pretend ones, it's a chance to learn a little bit about the world.

You're not on the race and I'm not sure whether you know that. And themselves, in ways they never thought possible. And for the creators of the show, you get the sense it's all still pretty amazing for them too. We thought maybe we'd get two seasons, maybe it would be one season.

Never in a million years did I think that we'd be still doing this. The Queen's funeral tomorrow will be filled with beautiful music from talented musicians, including one group whose music almost defies description. David Pogue introduces us to the Queen's Six.

Tomorrow, in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth will be laid to rest. And the choir of St. George's Chapel will fill the room with song, as it has at royal events for nearly 700 years. The choir was founded in 1352, so it's quite old.

In 2008, tenor Nick Madden and bass Simon Whiteley decided to form a sub-group of the choir to sing music you won't find in any hymnal. They're called the Queen's Six, named not for the recently departed Queen Elizabeth II, but her much more ancient namesake. We're named after Queen Elizabeth I. So you're not going to change your name to the King's Six?

No, absolutely not. Whiteley and Madden had noticed that the full chapel choir was often asked to sing something lighter after royal dinners. Sort of classic Queen's Six program would start with maybe three or four pieces of early church music, so from 500 years ago. We then might sing a few folk songs. And then we'll go into a couple of Broadway and a couple of pop songs.

Today's Queen's Six consists of Whiteley, Madden, baritone Andrew Thompson, tenor Dominic Bland, alto Lissy Paul, and countertenor Tom Lilburn. We visited them this summer in happier times. As part of their compensation, these singers and their families get apartments right in Windsor Castle. So when I meet you at a party, you say, I live at Windsor Castle. Is that just the world's greatest opening line?

He'll just go, oh yeah, very good, nice one. Where do you actually live? And you have to go, no, no, it is real.

I'll show you my driving license. What is your commute, 50 paces? 17 seconds, yeah.

8 times a week, they rejoin the full St. George's Choir in the historic chapel to sing for daily services, which are open to the public. This is the office. Yes, it is. Not too shabby.

You have a decent place to work here. Yeah. The Queen will be buried in this chapel alongside centuries of other British kings and queens.

We have a couple of big hisses, Henry VIII and King Charles I. And we're talking about the actual remains. Yes. Are under this spot.

Yes. It's quite the thought, isn't it? You never get used to singing and working in a place like this. Over the years, they've sung at all kinds of historic royal events. So we sang at Prince Harry's wedding, and there was a very small choir at the funeral of His Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh. That's the Queen's husband, Philip, who died last year. For hundreds of years, only men sang in the St. George's Chapel Choir. But last year, it admitted women for the first time, and the Queen's six followed suit by welcoming Lissy Paul. We knew she was exactly the right fit. Usually the higher stuff I'll sing.

And then, yeah, I can do the lower stuff too, so. That's the reason she's got a job. Very difficult.

She can do everything. There's a cultural question, too. I mean, you're coming into a bro culture of its kind?

We've never been called a bro culture before. Have you sung for the Queen? We have, absolutely.

And it was an enormous pleasure to do so. Is there some concern about you are representatives of the royalty? We take it all very seriously, and the responsibility we feel for it, as well as having fun with it, because we've all got sense of humour. Tom, is that true?

Yeah, some of them better than others. In February, the Queen's Six will release a new pop album and perform live at New York City's Town Hall. It's a vocation, and it's a lifestyle, rather than a nine-to-five job.

I mean, we do it because we love it, and we get fulfilment from it, either spiritually or musically or all the above. But on the occasion of our visit this summer, the Queen's Six offered a special treat. You might be familiar with the CBS Sunday Morning theme song, a trumpet fanfare called Ablasen.

As an amateur choral arranger myself, I couldn't resist writing something special for the group to sing in Windsor Castle. Our commentary comes from journalist Rachel Aviv. Her new book, Strangers to Ourselves, focuses on the challenges faced by those struggling with mental illness. When I talk to people with mental illness, I'm often struck by how hard it is for them to communicate what it feels like. Once a young woman told me that trying to describe her symptoms was like trying to explain what a bark sounds like to someone who's never heard of a dog. Another person who had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia told me she studied her diagnosis in the DSM, the manual for mental disorders. Her experience of illness felt so hard to pin down that she worried she was inadvertently adjusting her own behaviour to fit the way it had been classified. For some people, getting a diagnosis and being told that they have a brain-based disorder can feel healing and liberating. But we may overlook the role of these explanations in our lives.

They can shape our identities and our expectations for the future. Like the people I've written about, I've also gone through a period of illness that felt nearly impossible to classify. When I was six, I stopped eating for three days, and my paediatrician put me in a hospital that treated patients with anorexia who were more than a decade older than me. I became especially close with one of them, whom I saw as a kind of mentor. As an adult, I learned about the path that her life had taken after we were hospitalised. And I was shaken, first, to discover how similar our stories were at the time, and second, to realise how our lives had veered in such different directions. Our outcomes seemed tenuous and perhaps arbitrary. I felt as if she could have lived my life or I could have lived hers. Psychiatrists have a limited understanding of why one person's illness becomes a kind of life sentence, and another person with the same diagnosis moves on. Answering this question, I think, requires that we pay more attention to the individual stories through which people find meaning for themselves. There are stories that save us and stories that trap us.

And in the midst of an illness, it can be very hard to know which is which. Thank you for listening. Please join us when our trumpet sounds again next Sunday morning. Maybe you do too, from the newest interior design trend, Barbie Corps, to the right and wrong way to wash your armpits. Also, we're going to get into things that you just kind of won't believe and were not able to do in daytime television, so watch out. Listen to Drew's News wherever you get your podcasts. It's your good news on the go.