Black Dogs of Britain - What is it with the Devil and bridges?
This week we are entering the world of British Folklore to look at some of the many accounts of supernatural Black Dogs that have troubled good God-fearing people since at least the middle of the 14th...
20 Jan 20231h 3min
George Wombwell - A man who saw the natural world purely in terms of profit margins
To start the new year we are dipping a toe into the world of the late-Georgian/ early-Victorian world of the travelling menagerie. Caravans of cages that offered the people of Britain their only oppor...
6 Jan 20231h 5min
Colonel Thomas Blood - All I want for Christmas is an extensive range of Irish estates
For a special extra-long Christmas episode come with us into the swashbuckling world of Colonel Thomas Blood. A protestant Irish landowner who was determined to keep alive his family legacy. Claiming ...
23 Dec 20221h 23min
John Snow - The smell of that poo might knock you out, or will it?
This week we are discussing the most deadly disease of the 1800s and the self-made doctor from the poorest part of York who set out to defeat it.John Snow may have been born into filthy conditions but...
16 Dec 202243min
Isabella Bird - It is a rocky road to freedom when you are a Victorian woman
It's time to book passage on a steamship (of questionable reliability) this week, as we follow in the wake of Isabella Bird, a Victorian travel writer for whom staying at home was literally bad for he...
9 Dec 20221h 4min
Emperor Norton - Who says America should be a republic?
This week we are learning all about the relative nature of mental illness with Joshua Norton. A man born in Kent who decided to promote himself to Emperor of the USA after an unfortunate incident with...
2 Dec 20221h 4min
The Spanish Armada - Let's settle our religious differences... with full scale Naval warfare!
This week we discuss what happens when former siblings-in-law have a disagreement, and access to hundreds of warships. Following the death of Queen Mary, her former husband, King Philip of Spain, was ...
25 Nov 202252min
Borley Rectory - A ghost story full of Bull
We are venturing into Essex this week to explore the tale of the most haunted house in England! Borley Rectory may have only been build in the mid Victorian era but it's holy custodians were convinced...
18 Nov 20221h 7min
