Magnus’s nascent pneuma is captivated and charmed, yet senses utter isolation at his first encounter with ‘Liminal Time’. His habitation of the ‘Present Tense’ is somewhat akin to reading the final page of a ‘Who-Done-It’. He knows whose throat was slit and by whom, but remains clueless of the Who, What, Where, When, How and Why of all else! He’s in a dark place, and very much alone. A single chime from a tubular glass bell trembles the void, shattering the blackness, reviving and engaging Magnu...
Sep 02, 2022•16 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Magnus drifted through life with no defined purpose nor focused ambition. He enjoyed his own company and was perfectly content pursuing his current interests. One troublesome issue which dogged him throughout his life however, was the unwanted attention of others. These intrusions were generally sidestepped, but on occasion became difficult. Magnus never looked for trouble; it seemed to seek him out. On this occasion, supermarket checkout provocation proved impossible to avoid and ended in madne...
Aug 30, 2022•20 min•Season 2Ep. 18
“Whilst perusing the Willie Leece photographs online( http://willieleece.blogspot.com ), I noticed your other blog: Is this a Picasso?. ( http://picassoceramic.blogspot.com ) What the story?” “It’s a magnificent piece,” Dorothea enthused. “It’s even more wonderful than I imagined.”
Jun 29, 2022•12 min•Season 2Ep. 17
“It reads like a Picasso. It’s right in its vocabulary; more painting than ceramic,” the Sotheby’s connoisseur affirmed enthusiastically, holding the plate securely in the crook of his arm. “It’s alive with his wit and playfulness. Where did you get it?” The Paris based Picasso Administration’s swift reply stated, ‘From the information provided, and only that, we do not think your plate is from the hands of Pablo Picasso’. Magnus’s cause of action was clear. He’d take the plate to Paris so they ...
Jun 22, 2022•16 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Meet our vibratingly sexy Sybil Fawlty lookalike landlady who instigated the ‘dookling foot’ episode. And: - At the back of the shop, on a chair seat, alongside a red rusty, two-metre-tall, cast iron Jesus sat a grubby heavily glazed ceramic plate which catapulted Magnus deeper into the secretive, murky and unregulated world of fine arts.
Jun 15, 2022•14 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Robin’s Croft was a dilapidated seventeenth century stone cottage with the luxury of a cold water tap, but having no kitchen, gas, electricity nor sanitation. However, they’d survived the war and had a roof over their heads. For the first time four-year-old Magnus had a friend his own age. Andrew lived nearby beneath the trees of Fairy Glen and was the only son of a Polish taxidermist who dealt in rabbit skins and feathers. A catastrophic death in the family may, or may not have resulted from th...
Jun 08, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) may activate Arterial Fibrillation amongst susceptible pilgrims. A cubist inspired shrine in which 80year old Yoko Ono’s power of imagination shine. Magnus is one of millions who remain impacted by Hitler’s ambitions.
Jun 02, 2022•17 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Magnus records the unique artistry of Willie Leece, the modest creator of a unique style of rural assemblage sculpture. The ‘Hedge’ art works of this quietly thoughtful Manx farmer are selected to be hung alongside a blockbuster travelling Tate Gallery exhibition for a giant of the twentieth century’s artistic fraternity, Herr Kurt Schwitters. An unforeseen consequence of the Dadaist’s exhibition propels Magnus towards entering his artistic endeavours for London’s Royal Academy of Art summer exh...
May 25, 2022•13 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Magnus’s photographs preserve the singular contribution made to the world art scene by a modest Manx farmer’s unique creative flair. The incomparable and unrecognised ‘Hedge’ sculptures of Willie Leece are jointly exhibited with a giant of the twentieth century’s avant-garde art fraternity; a onetime ‘Most Loyal Enemy Alien’ of King George VI, Herr Kurt Schwitters.
May 18, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 11
It wasn’t all misery! The shore-side base was Singapore, and in the early 1970’s it remained a mysterious and exotic place to explore. The ancient DC3 bounded and skipped along the rough grass airstrip rapidly gathering speed. With an almighty explosion, the starboard propeller stopped dead, the plane slewed violently sideways, and all was white-faced stillness and silence. And there they were, with a broken aeroplane, somewhere in the South China Sea, trapped on a narrow strip of land on the co...
May 11, 2022•13 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Magnus lived under no delusions about his own importance. If he was injured or killed on the rig, he’d be flown ashore, immediately replaced, and just as quickly forgotten On shore leave, Magnus, at one of Darwin’s notorious ‘Late Nights’ dance parties met the mascara-eyed, choker-wearing, adventurous blond, Sophia Elizabeth. Over the coming months, they became wonderfully close, spending most of their time together when he was ashore.
May 04, 2022•14 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Just three weeks after leaving England, Magnus was bouncing across the Algerian Desert in the back of a long-wheel-based Land Rover. The vehicle was jam-packed with robed and turban clad Arabs and desert dwelling Berbers. Before heading Down Under, our hero enjoyed a stint aboard off-shore rigs drilling the Adriatic Sea bed for oil. Perhaps Magnus was bad luck as no oil was found.
Apr 27, 2022•14 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Magnus started work with Hawker Siddeley in the autumn of 1964. Providence, destiny, or mere chance guided Magnus to the greener pastures of aviation and away from a seafarer’s life toiling in the oppressive and claustrophobic hell-hole of ships engine rooms.
Apr 20, 2022•11 min•Season 2Ep. 7
After a stint in the dole queue, Magnus’s receives a new job offer. His potential employer was one of the biggest whaling companies in the world, with a blubber rendering slaughterhouse on the isolated island of South Georgia. This icy and windswept hell was located in the South Atlantic Ocean approximated due east of Cape Horn and a mere 12 degrees of latitude north of the Antarctic Circle. For Magnus, working in a ship’s engine room was akin to going on a country drive whilst cooped up under t...
Apr 13, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 6
It wasn’t only appearances that needed to be spruced-up to meet the required standard of the officers’ dining saloon; a sailor’s immune system also needed a booster. Magnus was pleased to benefit from the years of research into tetanus, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid and smallpox. In January 1963, Magnus joined the steam turbine powered, semi-refrigeration ship, City of Winchester , outbound for Australia.
Apr 10, 2022•16 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Magnus subconsciously writes and star in his own erratic play. Act one exposes the dangers of self-reliance at the tender age of sixteen. Initially our ‘star’ opted for hedonism over applied scholarship, but fate intervenes to nudge him towards resurrection.
Apr 01, 2022•11 min•Season 2Ep. 4
After failing to become a budding Field Marshal Montgomery understudy in the British Army, Magnus was obliged take a different tack. The call of the sea was in his blood, or so he was lead to believe. It looked as though a life on the ocean waves lay ahead, or was it a hazardous lee shore?
Mar 24, 2022•13 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Following the Army entrance exams, the aspirants, predominantly from privileged private schools, awaited their fate in a small conference room. When ‘Mr McAulay’ was called, Magnus followed the subaltern into a stark room that veritably crackled with razor-edged military crispness. The seeds of Magnus’s guarded approach to authority were sown well before the art teacher denied him entry for the GCE school leaving certificate: Magnus wasn’t even entered for the examination even though he’d topped...
Mar 18, 2022•16 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Apart from observing what those around him on the island did to earn a living, Magnus remained ignorant of what employment possibilities existed, what job requirements were, or what most professions entailed. Like everybody else, he didn’t know what he didn’t know, and didn’t even know that. Magnus’s naïve reasoning was that, if somebody who was unable to master disciplined walking was acceptable to the British Army, anyone could get in.
Mar 09, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 1
This is the FINAL episode of Retirement Blues Goodbye In wasn’t just the smell of the flowers; the enchantment of rolling hills, dales and moors; slow motion walking through torrential rain; being in good company; or breakfast with the ‘Mad Hatter’ that made our adventure worthwhile, it was ‘letting things go’. Along the way, issues that had previously seemed important were forgotten or relegated to a place where they could be attended to in due course. Or, to paraphrase Socrates’s critique of l...
Mar 02, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 32
The heavens, having rained themselves dry, radiated a pale greenish glow which brightened the tumbled stack of cottages that is Robin Hood’s Bay. The higgledy-piggledy houses appeared to cling limpet-like to the cliff face to prevent them sliding into the sea far below. That evening, near the beach, Peter was drawn to a signpost that pointed south towards the distant cliff. The sign displayed two weathered words: ‘Cleveland Way’. “I don’t want to stop now,” Peter said with deep regret resonating...
Feb 24, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Suddenly a mighty squall was upon us. A lashing headwind drove raindrops straight at us. Rain on the face and the curiously comforting staccato drumming of heavy raindrops on the tight fitting hood, close against my ears, gave the final day a hint of the surreal. It was like main-streaming Morse code directly into the brain’s pleasure centre. The message was loud and clear: ‘Fantastic! Wouldn’t be dead for quids.’
Feb 16, 2022•15 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Getting lost wasn’t easy, but we did. After a wretched time battling the quagmire of bog holes and waist high tussock grass, we arrived where we started, and, knowing the place for the second time, found the path almost immediately. Dinner was a rare and incomparable experience. Perhaps an outsider would have regarded it as an ordinary three course meal. For those dining it was a mammoth undertaking that left everyone replete, exhausted and content.
Feb 11, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 29
The trek from The Lion Inn to Glaisdale was the shortest section we’d walked and so we had time for a little sightseeing at the North Sea fishing port of Whitby. This seaside town is high on the tourist must visit list, not only for its crispy cod and chips, but also thanks to a notorious visitor. In July 1890, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula was hoist ashore in Whitby, accompanied by a shipment of wooden casks filled with earth from the ancestral grave. There’s no shortage of things to eat and suck...
Feb 03, 2022•11 min•Season 1Ep. 28
There was no need for sunscreen this morning. The besieging mist limited visibility with a veil of damp greyness that chilled the face and numbed the hands. The opaque blanket clung low to the soggy earth squeezing the acrid stench of marsh gas between its folds. All sound was stifled, like the muffled oars of a smuggler’s skiff passing close offshore on a raw winter’s night. Walking on the springy grass proved to be a surprisingly agreeable experience. A grey world of misty dampness parted with...
Jan 26, 2022•10 min•Season 1Ep. 27
The air was heavy with the scent of heather and the musky tang of damp moorland soil. For miles around the yellow, green, russet and purple/browns fused like the dusty autumnal tones of a well-worn Bedouin rug. “I’ve walked New Zealand’s Milford Sound and to the Base Camp on Everest,” the Aussie stated. “But the walk I’ve enjoyed most is the Coast to Coast going as you are, west to east.”
Jan 19, 2022•12 min•Season 1Ep. 26
From the beginning, Peter and I had regarded the trek as a sort of quest, a diversion from the norm rather than a test of our fortitude or stamina. As our journey progressed, it evolved into an on-going adventure to be lived within – a taste of forgotten freedom. In Great Broughton there were two places to dine. For only the third time on the trip someone called heads when they should have chosen tails. The result was stale, flat beer and bad food. Even the horror of Hugh’s gravy encrusted eleph...
Jan 12, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 25
“You’re not having another shower are you?” our diminutive landlord protested in dismay. “You had one only yesterday.” Later, we chanced upon Hugh of Gibbsland who was still grappling with the mysteries of map and compass. Needless to say, he was heading in the wrong direction and became ensnared in a clump of tall reeds and briars on an overgrown river bank.
Jan 06, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 24
In a secluded corner a slightly groggy and bewildered beast stood next to the path. It watched over a calf lying on the grass trying to raise its head. Both animals were exhausted and bloodied. Clearly the cow had given birth to the calf only moments before. We stood quietly by and watched the calf scrambling to raise itself. I felt extremely privileged to have witnessed the newborn calf stand and suckle for the first time. There was no evidence of hospitality in Danby Wiske. The inn locked peop...
Dec 29, 2021•13 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Further on, the landscape changed. Stone walls gave way to hawthorn hedges, cattle replaced sheep and fallow meadow were tilled and sawn. We had entered the Vale of York, the long flat wooded plain between Swaledale and the Cleveland Hills. The rich farmland wasn’t solely good for cash crops; it was also a winemakers’ field of plenty with wide swaths of elder bush hedges, heavy with purple berries waiting to be harvested for fermentation.
Dec 23, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 22
