Just how bad were the prisons at the Doge's Palace?
The Palazzo Ducale dominates the view as your vaporetto approaches the San Marco stop. The huge building is an example of Venetian Gothic architecture, all pointed arches and quatrefoils. It's hard to...
18 Okt 202520min
British Folklore from Past to Present with Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook
In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I'm talking to two folklore heavyweights - Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook! Owen Davies is Professor of Social History at the University of Hertfordshi...
14 Okt 202550min
Newgate Prison: Novels, Escapees, and Dreadful Conditions
If you've ever read any Charles Dickens novels, especially Great Expectations, then you'll have run into Newgate Prison. The hulking, notorious jail loomed large in London's history, before its demoli...
11 Okt 202521min
How did popular culture add to Bedlam's fearsome reputation?
Bedlam, or Bethlem Royal Hospital to give it its full name, is actually the world's oldest psychiatric institution. It began life in 1247 in the Priory of St Mary of Bethlehem, which stood where we no...
4 Okt 202524min
Foxes in Folk Tales: From Aesop to Reynard
Foxes appear in literature and legend across the world. Look at Brer Fox in the American South. In Rebel Folklore, I discussed the Jiuwei Hu of China, or nine-tailed fox, who drains men of their life ...
27 Sep 202518min
Monsters and Strange Creatures with Natalie Lawrence
Natalie Lawrence is an author and illustrator who explores our relationship with the natural world, looking through multiple lenses - from the biological to the mythic and psychoanalytic. She complete...
22 Sep 202549min
Hedgehogs in Folklore: Witches, Familiars, and Milk Thieves
Hedgehogs are one of the stranger mammals you might encounter. They're nocturnal, they hibernate, they're prone to rolling into a ball when frightened, and they're extremely vulnerable to habitat loss...
20 Sep 202520min
Moles in Folklore: Folk Remedies and Weather Omens
Moles are fascinating creatures. They're phenomenal diggers and while they weigh around 120g, they can shift 540 times their body weight of earth. Given they live entirely underground, they're a rare...
13 Sep 202520min
