Are the mermaids of folklore as vicious as the legends suggest?

In this chat, I'm talking to illustrator Katy Horan about murder ballads, discussing what they are, how they work within folk music, how contemporary musicians have tried to reclaim the tradition, and...

24 Jul 202550min

If you head away from the hustle and bustle of the Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), you’ll head into the stranger, more magical part of Venice. It’s in the tangle of narrow streets and courts that...

19 Jul 202516min

Dublin is a beautiful city that straddles the River Liffey, famous as the home of Guinness and the National Leprechaun Museum. What you might not expect from the Irish capital is a series of Dublin gh...

12 Jul 202517min

Florence was founded in the 1st century BCE as a Roman military outpost, although it came to prominence as a centre of commerce and the arts in the 14th to 16th centuries CE. The Florentine method of ...

5 Jul 202523min

Tracey has written fiction for as long as she can remember, covering a variety of genres and subjects. Her first stage play WITCH, a historical drama based on original English witch trial transcripts,...

28 Jun 20251h 5min

Dave Silk is a storyteller and historian from Newcastle upon Tyne and co-author of Tyne and Wear Folktales for Children. He collects and retells traditional tales and ancient stories from around these...

24 Jun 202552min

In this third episode of our Witches, Cunning Folk & Magic theme, I'm talking to Deborah Hyde, an author, presenter and producer who has written for periodicals such as The Guardian and The Fortean Ti...

21 Jun 202543min

In this second episode of our Witches, Cunning Folk & Magic theme, I'm talking to Willow Winsham, an author and historian specialising in folklore, and the history of the English witch trials. Her boo...

14 Jun 202548min