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.