Episodes

  • The Countryside

    The Countryside
    Oct 21 2025
    The English countryside exists laregly in the imagination. Much of it is a factory, and only 8% is accessible to the public.
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    10 mins
  • Malmesbury

    Malmesbury
    Sep 3 2025
    In Malmesbury I found the tomb of Athelstan - the least well known first king of England. He was a lover of toast and hot air ballooning.
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    6 mins
  • Glanmore, Wicklow

    Glanmore, Wicklow
    Jul 16 2025
    95% of the population of Ireland speak English as their first language. English is the first language spoken by the majority of people in Wales and Scotland. But these other nations reverberate with their ancient Celtic languages, they seep through, will never be suppressed.
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    7 mins
  • Rochester

    Rochester
    Jun 10 2025
    Rochester, a city destroyed by an accident...and reborn through the fog of imagination.
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    6 mins
  • The Pub

    The Pub
    Jun 2 2025
    Most of us spend far too much time in the pub. What makes them so wonderful? Four of us went to Bristol to find out. (Unlike most of these podcasts this one is recorded on a small hand held device. Quality is sometimes compromised. And we get drunk.)
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    23 mins
  • Searching for the Green Man #3 - Salisbury

    Searching for the Green Man #3 - Salisbury
    Apr 9 2025
    Salisbury, Wiltshire - in the cathedral we find witches' marks, protection against evil: against spells, Russian agents and maybe green men.
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    7 mins
  • Roast Beef and Roundabouts

    Roast Beef and Roundabouts
    Feb 17 2025
    Many in the UK seek comfort in the past, whether the Celtic twilight of Camelot, or pride in the innovations of the Victorian era. But peel away the fantasies and we're left with little - just overcooked roast beef and roundabouts. This is a rant about our obsession with the past - and obsessions in general, whether these are my own, or those of the nostalgic British public.
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    14 mins
  • East Riding

    East Riding
    Jan 23 2025
    The East Riding of Yorkshire, where, after leaving the sunny landscapes of California, Bradford born artist David Hockney returned to live and paint. Hockney's art challenges how we perceive the world, some of his photographic collages are almost cubist, as this podcast is, fragmentary, lacking a straight chronology. Your mind does not think in simple, ordered steps. Your eyes and your mind are constantly moving. Hockney wants to reflect that. I can only try and use a similar method to describe him and what he does.
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    5 mins