On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by storyteller, author and psychotherapist David England, whose book of Berkshire Folk Tales uncovered a wealth of lost and brilliant stories. As we discuss, David made a wild change in his career during the 90's, jettisoning his job in IT and selling his house to retrain as a storyteller, then hit the road. This opened up a wealth of possibilities, including collaborating with Tina Bilbe, the Secretary of the Society for Storytelling on ...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 53
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 20, 2024•35 min•Season 5Ep. 52
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 19, 2024•40 min•Season 5Ep. 51
Magic and Medicines is BACK for it's second series, and in this episode Eleanor talks us through the ancient origins and subsequent history and major developments of the Zodiac. We start by chatting through how the Zodiac is divided, including what the 'Celestial Sphere' is, and how the Ancient Egyptians and Babylonians used Sidereal Time to inform their agrarian calendar systems. After that, we're off to the races, exploring how Ancient Greek's like Ptolemy and the wise astronomers of the Islam...
Dec 19, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 50
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 18, 2024•29 min•Season 5Ep. 49
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 17, 2024•28 min•Season 5Ep. 48
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 16, 2024•34 min•Season 5Ep. 47
This week, Eleanor has finally sufficiently recovered from her really horrid flu to not only speak audibly, but also whisk us all the way across to the 'Royal County' of Berkshire! We start by discussing the Boar's Head Feast, Sow Day, and St Adelaide's Day traditions, with St Adelaide having not only dug her own way out of jail but also single-handedly led the Holy Roman Empire, and become a warrior nun! After that, it's time to get properly back to business, and dig into the history and folklo...
Dec 16, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 15, 2024•50 min•Season 5Ep. 46
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 45
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 13, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 44
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 12, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 43
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 11, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 42
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 10, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 41
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 09, 2024•36 min•Season 5Ep. 40
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 08, 2024•35 min•Season 5Ep. 39
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 07, 2024•42 min•Season 5Ep. 38
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 06, 2024•33 min•Season 5Ep. 37
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 05, 2024•35 min•Season 5Ep. 36
Unfortunately, though she appears to be on the mend, Eleanor is still quite poorly. As such, here is another seasonally-appropriate Patreon Exclusive episode to fill the hole left behind - one of our monthly Film Club episodes, this one all about the Japanese proto-folk horror classic from 1964, Kwaidan ! Masaki Kobayashi's much-acclaimed anthology movie is made up of four distinct ghost stories, The Black Hair , The Woman of the Snow , Hoichi The Earless , and In A Cup of Tea. We found it a fas...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 5Ep. 35
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 04, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 34
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 03, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 33
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 02, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 32
Alas, this week plague has struck the House of Raven (well, the flu has, at least) and Eleanor is laid-up feeling decidedly unwell. So, we have dipped our beaks into the vault, and pecked out a seasonally-appropriate Patreon Exclusive episode to plug the gap! Originally released last December, we start the episode off with a chat about the common characteristics of 'Snow Queens' or 'Snow Witches', including lots of examples, from Babushka and La Befana to Mother Holda and Gryla, as well as Snow ...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 31
Adapted in a light-hearted, comical style from a diverse set of genuine Medieval Arthurian Romances, this special Three Ravens retelling of the iconic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is our bonus miniseries for Advent 2024. Split into 25 parts, one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Day, the tale follows Gawain, a young knight in King Arthur's court who embarks on a rambling quest, packed with adventures, which takes him all around ancient Britain - ...
Dec 01, 2024•44 min•Season 5Ep. 30
On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by the rather amazing Dr Maureen James, who is a folklorist, historian, and author of both Cambridgeshire Folk Tales and Lincolnshire Folk Tales . Maureen has been passionate about Social History for over 40 years. Though, as we discuss in this conversation, she did not start her career in academia – she began adult life as a wife and mother, pivoting into history later on. This led her to undertake her BA at Cambridge, then an MA in Muse...
Nov 30, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 5Ep. 29
For our "Something Wicked" series finale we're talking about perhaps England's most famous king, if not its most infamous, Henry VIII. We start off chatting about the context in which Henry VIII ascended the throne - the death of his elder brother and the heir apparent Arthur Tudor, the work Henry VII had done to create peace and a functioning economy after The Wars of the Roses, and the issue of quite what to do with Arthur's teenage widow, the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon... From there...
Nov 28, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 28
This week Martin is leading us back into marshy bogs which no longer exist to talk all about the history and folklore of the half-forgotten county of Huntingdonshire! We start by discussing St Catherine's Day traditions, including Cathern Bowls, Cathern Queens, and Catherine Wheels, as well as Catherine's grisly demise. After which, it's time to visit another county which no long exists - Huntingdonshire, the historic seat of the Cromwell family. We chat about subjects including the Three Wonder...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 36 min•Season 5Ep. 8
For this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin has gathered round the campfire to talk all things Devon with folklorist, author, and host of The Folklore Podcast , Mark Norman. If you like a bit of folklore, particularly in podcast form, you’re likely already acquainted with Mark, or with some of his work at least, as he is the creator and host of ‘the big show’ when it comes to all things folkloric. The Folklore Podcast launched in 2016 and since then has become one of the biggest folklore po...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Season 5Ep. 27
For this week's bonus episode, Eleanor presents the final Dying Arts episode of the series, which is a timely one all about the critically endangered traditional crafts of Clock, Watch and Orrery Making! We start by chatting through what Orrery's are, and before long we're elbow-deep in discussions of how ancient civilizations like the Greeks and Mayans set about trying to understand the universe, the movements of planetary bodies, and how those concepts manifested themselves in early calendars ...
Nov 21, 2024•54 min•Season 5Ep. 26
