Podcasts about Cirencester

Karma, the universal law of cause and effect, dictates that actions—good or bad—eventually return to the doer, acting as a cosmic balancer. Is this true? Is Karma the universal law? How does it affect us? Is God involved with it? Can we escape from its impact? Does what goes around come around?Tom, Matt & Karen are back in The Plough in Cirencester exploring Karma. Join them, along with a few weird drinks to explore.Facebook: Two Pastors in a Pub Podcasttwopastorsinapub@gmail.com

Evangelicals. I've heard of them - but aren't they all crazy? Bigoted nationalists? Hating science? Misusing the Bible? What is an Evangelical Christian? Who are these people? Why are they in the news? What have they got to do with Donald Trump?Tom, Matt & Karen are back in a busy pub (The Plough in Cirencester, UK) exploring this subject. Exploding some myths, explaining some history - and Tom answers the big question "Is he an Evangelical Christian?".Join them and some weird drinks for a fascinating 40 minutes. Facebook: Two Pastors in a Pub Podcast

While the Roman Empire conquered much of western Europe and established a powerful presence in Britain, Ireland remained beyond its grasp. But why? In this episode, I am joined by Dr Jacqueline Cahill Wilson to explore how Ireland interacted with the Roman world. It is a complex and intriguing story. Jacqueline reveals the considerable archaeological evidence that suggests Roman communities did exist in Ireland. If there was no invasion, however, this raises an obvious question: who were these people, why did they come to Ireland, and what were they doing there? Sound by Kate Dunlea. My guest on this episode is Dr Jacqueline Cahill Wilson. Originally from County Longford, she is a Research Fellow at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester. She holds an MA from the University of Reading and a PhD from the University of Bristol. From 2011 to 2015, she served first as Principal Investigator and later as Project Director of a major research project with the Discovery Programme in Dublin titled Late Iron Age and Roman Ireland. Her research focuses on social structures and identity in the past, and on how communities defined themselves and others through material evidence in the archaeological record. A key part of her work has involved the use of isotope geochemistry on human burials in Ireland, allowing researchers to identify where individuals originated from and challenging long held assumptions about identity and mobility in the past. Her work has consistently explored the interconnectedness of Ireland in its Iron Age with Britain and Europe under Roman control, periods that are often studied separately despite unfolding at the same time. She is currently working on a book titled Within or Without: Ireland in the Roman World, which brings together her doctoral research, the Discovery Programme project, and her subsequent research into a new historical study for a general readership. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the top three things we should be doing for our health as we get older? How can we help ourselves through the menopause? And is it OK to eat Minstrels for breakfast? Helping us to answer all these questions is fitness expert Kate Rowe-Ham! She tells us all about her new book, The Longevity Solution: 21 Days to Health, Strength, and Vitality. We discuss why we might need to change our strategies for things like exercise and fasting as we age, and how to track improvements. Kate discusses her views on supplements, nutrition, and the importance of community, and we find out how much you can really achieve in just three weeks. Of course we end with some Scummy Mummy Confessions - this time involving a WhatsApp snafu, an embarrassing moment in a Premier Inn corridor, and a cameo from a special guest. Follow Kate on Instagram @katerh_fitness. Her book is out now! We are back on tour in 2026! Many venues are already selling out so get in quick! See you soon Northampton, Cirencester and Hertford. In March it's Manchester, Kent and our SCOTTISH TOUR! Hello Edinburgh, Dundee, and Glasgow! Then we're visiting all sorts of venues all over the country right up till 2027. Yes, INCLUDING NORWICH! Visit scummymummies.com for dates and tickets. WE HAVE A SHOP! Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on X, Instagram, and Facebook @scummymummies. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Integrated pest management is about establishing a farm as a connected ecosystem. To investigate the subject ffinlo Costain is joined by horticulturalist, Andy Dibben, the head grower at Abbey Home Farm near Cirencester - by Patrick Barker an arable farmer from Lodge Farm near Westhorpe in Suffolk - and by Angus Walton, a livestock producer from Peelham Farm in the Scottish Borders.

Our guest for this episode is the brilliant and hilarious Fay Reid, known on Instagram as @9to5menopause.We talk about her experience of entering perimenopause at 45. She discusses the stigma that she feels exists within the Black community around the topic, how she built up the courage to speak out, and what happened when she did. Fay also tells us about her attempts to have a child, and the grief and acceptance that followed. She shares the top three things she wishes she'd known at the start of her journey, and reveals the benefits of being menopausal - yes, there are some! There's a bit of chat about strength training, and of course, we end with Scummy Mummy Confessions. Follow Fay @9to5menopause and visit fayreid.com for more. We are back on tour in 2026! Many venues are already selling out so get in quick! See you soon Hexham, Alnwick, and Darlington. In February we're coming to Northampton, Cirencester and Hertford. Then in March it's Manchester, Kent and our SCOTTISH TOUR! See you soon Edinburgh, Dundee, and Glasgow!WE HAVE A SHOP! Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on X, Instagram, and Facebook @scummymummies. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you stay married for 33 years? What's it like to live with your kids when they're adults? And what's the best thing about being over 60? Answering all these questions is hilarious Guardian columnist Tim Dowling! It's been a decade since Tim was last on the podcast, so we have a bit of a catchup, and are pleased to learn both his marriage and tortoise are still thriving. We discuss WhatsApp etiquette, and why young people think we're doing email all wrong. Tim tells us about performing with his band, Police Dog Hogan, at Glastonbury, and what it's like to open for the ZingZillas. We round off with some excellent Scummy Mummy Confessions involving work experience, fish, and dribbling. Tim's books, How to be a Husband and Dad You Suck, are out now. For Police Dog Hogan tour dates check out pdhogan.com.This podcast is sponsored by KatKin. Helen recently switched her beloved cats, Fozzie and Tigger, to this food, and they absolutely love it! The discount code SCUMMYMUMMIES50 will get you 50% off your first order - just go to katkin.com. We are back on tour in 2026! Many venues are already selling out so get in quick! See you soon Rotherham, Winchester, Hexham, Alnwick, Darlington and Hornchurch. In February we're coming to Northampton, Cirencester in Hertford. Then in March it's Manchester, Kent and our SCOTTISH TOUR! See you soon Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, and this year - ARBROATH! WE HAVE A SHOP! Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on X, Instagram, and Facebook @scummymummies. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tracey had a prolonged and close view of a black panther outside her car at a forest edge in Gloucestershire in 2001. Two years later she was able to compare the cat with a black leopardess at Heythrop private zoo in the Cotswolds. Tracey recounts other big cat reports from family and friends, including from her sister who was a sceptic until seeing a black panther in the same general area, and from friends who were confronted by a puma on a cycleway near Stroud.Tracey has had two puma encounters herself. The first on a mountain path when trekking in Patagonia, and then in October 2025, when driving on the edge of Cirencester. Rick recalls past big cat sightings in precisely the same area of Cirencester, unknown to Tracey.  In a final segment we play voice messages from Craig in Herefordshire as he follows up ep129 when he reported a puma on one of his trail cams. In December Craig was charged by a puma just meters from that camera and he's twice seen watching eye shine at close range. We then hear from Mark Graves, from ep 95, as he responds to Craig's comments and queries about these recent events.  Word of the week:   zoophobia11 January 2026

She's back! The star of our most downloaded podcast ep returns for a big old chat about all sorts of things. We talk about how far she's come since starting her business, Don't Buy Her Flowers, and what it's like to sell a company you started from scratch. There's some debate about what's harder - the toddler years or the teenage phase? Steph discusses coping with anxiety, Ellie talks about dealing with the guilt of needing help, and Helen reveals what helped her get over her fear of flying. Of course we finish off with some Scummy Mummy Confessions, this time involving Seinfeld, grey pubes, and sex on a ferry. You can follow Stephanie @steph_dontbuyherflowers. And you can come and see us on tour in 2026! This month's shows in Rotherham, Winchester, Hexham, Alnwick, Darlington and Hornchurch are nearly SOLD OUT, so get in quick. In February we're coming to Northampton, Cirencester in Hertford. Then in March it's Manchester, Kent and our SCOTTISH TOUR! See you soon Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, and this year - ARBROATH! WE HAVE A SHOP! Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on X, Instagram, and Facebook @scummymummies. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest up from Spoken Label, features making her debut is the wonderful Rachel Hammond.Rachel Hammond is an actor-musician, writer and theatre maker based in Manchester. Rachel trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and since then has worked in theatre nationally and internationally, including: Climax: A Work in Progress (Close to Home), Underneath a Magical Moon (Tutti Frutti), Joy Unspeakable (Ordinary Glory), Firebird and Pulse (Bamboozle Theatre Company), Give it Back Mak! (Riding Lights), Twitchers and A Force to Be Reckoned With (Mikron Theatre Company), The True Adventures of Maid Marian and Robin Hood (Barn Theatre, Cirencester), A Christmas Carol (TNT Theatre), Swallows and Amazons (York Theatre Royal), Much Ado About Nothing (Northern Broadsides), Babe - The Sheep-Pig (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Macbeth (Wiltons Music Hall).Rachel loves making new work, and is passionate about telling the untold stories in our society. Writing credits include: Joshua (and Me) (The Pleasance Theatre & International tour), Rising Tides (Small Disasters Theatre Company), and Dear Lilian (Northern Broadsides Young Writers). 

Clare is walking in the Cotswolds with author Corinne Fowler and historian Raj Pal, whose family has roots in both Britain and India.Corinne is leading the way, recreating and extending the “Indian Walk in the Cotswolds” walk she originally took with Raj for a chapter in her book Our Island Stories: Ten Walks through Rural Britain and its Hidden History of Empire. As they ramble, they reflect on how the British countryside is deeply connected to colonial history.Beginning on the Heart of England Way at Bourton on the Hill, they pass Sezincote House, a Neo-Mughal estate built in 1805 by a former East India Company officer, take in the Church of St James in Longborough, before circling back to the Horse and Groom pub in Bourton.Map: OS Explorer OL45 The Cotswolds - Burford, Chipping Camden, Cirencester, Stow on the Wold Grid Ref: SP 173 325 Near the Horse & Groom pub, Bourton on the HillPresenter: Clare Balding Producer for BBC Studios: Karen Gregor

EP166 Interview With Mark & Simon From Elinchrom UK I sit down with Mark Cheatham and Simon Burfoot from Elinchrom UK to talk about the two words that matter most when you work with light: accuracy and consistency. We dig into flash vs. continuous, shaping light (not just adding it), why reliable gear shortens your workflow, and Elinchrom's new LED 100 C—including evenly filling big softboxes and that handy internal battery. We also wander into AI: threats, tools, and why authenticity still carries the highest value.   Links: Elinchrom UK store/info: https://elinchrom.co.uk/ LED 100 C product page: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-led-100-c Rotalux Deep Octa / strips: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-rotalux-deep-octabox-100cm-softbox/ My workshop dates: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/ Transcript: Paul: as quite a lot of, you know, I've had a love affair with Elinchrom Lighting for the past 20 something years. In fact, I'm sitting with one of the original secondhand lights I bought from the Flash Center 21 years ago in London. And on top of that, you couldn't ask for a nicer set of guys in the UK to deal with. So I'm sitting here about to talk to Simon and Mark from Elinchrom uk. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. Paul: So before we get any further, tell me a little bit about who you are, each of you and the team from Elinchrom UK Mark: After you, Simon. Simon: Thank you very much, mark. Mark: That's fine. Simon: I'm, Simon Burfoot. I have, been in the industry now for longer than I care to think. 35 years almost to the, to the day. Always been in the industry even before I left school because my father was a photographer and a lighting tutor, working for various manufacturers I was always into photography, and when he started the whole lighting journey. I got on it with him, and was learning from a very young age. Did my first wedding at 16 years old. Had a Saturday job which turned into a full-time job in a retail camera shop. By the time I was 18, I was managing my own camera shop, in a little town in the Cotswolds called Cirencester. My dad always told me that to be a photographic rep in the industry, you needed to see it from all angles, to get the experience. So I ended up, working in retail, moving over to a framing company. Finishing off in a prolab, hand printing, wedding photographers pictures, processing E6 and C41, hand correcting big prints for framing for, for customers, which was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. And then ended up working for a company called Leeds Photo Visual, I was a Southwest sales guy for them. Then I moved to KJP before it became, what we know now as Wex, and got all of the customers back that I'd stolen for them for Leeds. And then really sort of started my career progressing through, and then started to work with Elinchrom, on the lighting side. Used Elinchrom way before I started working with them. I like you a bit of a love affair. I'd used lots of different lights and, just loved the quality of the light that the Elinchrom system produced. And that's down to a number of factors that I could bore you with, but it's the quality of the gear, the consistency in terms of color, and exposure. Shooting film was very important to have that consistency because we didn't have Photoshop to help us out afterwards. It was a learning journey, but I, I hit my goal after being a wedding photographer and a portrait photographer in my spare time, working towards getting out on the road, meeting people and being involved in the industry, which I love. And I think it's something that I'm scared of leaving 'cause I dunno anything else. It's a wonderful industry. It has its quirks, its, downfalls at points, but actually it's a really good group of people and everyone kind of, gets on and we all love working with each other. So we're friends rather than colleagues. Paul: I hesitate to ask, given the length of that answer, to cut Simon: You did ask. Mark: I know. Paul: a short story Mark: was wondering if I was gonna get a go. Paul: I was waiting to get to end into the podcast and I was about to sign off. Mark: So, hi Mark Cheatham, sales director for Elinchrom uk this is where it gets a little bit scary because me and Simon have probably known each other for 10 years, yet our journeys in the industry are remarkably similar. I went to college, did photography, left college, went to work at commercial photographers and hand printers. I was a hand printer, mainly black and white, anything from six by four to eight foot by four foot panels, which are horrible when you're deving in a dish. But we did it. Paul: To the generation now, deving in a dish doesn't mean anything. Simon: No, it doesn't. Mark: And, and when you're doing a eight foot by four foot print and you've got it, you're wearing most of the chemistry. You went home stinking every night. I was working in retail. As a Saturday lad and then got promoted from the Saturday lad to the manager and went to run a camera shop in a little town in the Lake District called Kendall. I stayed there for nine years. I left there, went on the road working for a brand called Olympus, where I did 10 years, I moved to Pentax, which became Rico Pentax. I did 10 years there. I've been in the industry all my life. Like Simon, I love the industry. I did go out the industry for 18 months where I went into the wonderful world of high end commercial vr, selling to blue light military, that sort of thing. And then came back. One of the, original members of Elinchrom uk. I don't do as much photography as Simon I take photos every day, probably too many looking at my Apple storage. I do shoot and I like shooting now and again, but I'm not a constant shooter like you guys i'm not a professional shooter, but when you spent 30 odd years in the industry, and part of that, I basically run the, the medium format business for Pentax. So 645D, 645Z. Yeah, it was a great time. I love the industry and, everything about it. So, yeah, that's it Paul: Obviously both of you at some point put your heads together and decided Elinchrom UK was the future. What triggered that and why do you think gimme your sales pitch for Elinchrom for a moment and then we can discuss the various merits. Simon: The sales pitch for Elinchrom is fairly straightforward. It's a nice, affordable system that does exactly what most photographers would like. We sell a lot of our modifiers, so soft boxes and things like that to other users, of Prophoto, Broncolor. Anybody else? Because actually the quality of the light that comes out the front of our diffusion material and our specular surfaces on the soft boxes is, is a lot, lot more superior than, than most. A lot more superior. A lot more Mark: A lot more superior. Paul: more superior. Simon: I'm trying to Paul: Superior. Simon: It's superior. And I think Paul, you'll agree, Paul: it's a lot more, Simon: You've used different manufacturers over the years and, I think the quality of light speaks for itself. As a photographer I want consistency. Beautiful light and the effects that the Elinchrom system gives me, I've tried other soft boxes. If you want a big contrasty, not so kind light, then use a cheaper soft box. If I've got a big tattoo guy full of piercings you're gonna put some contrasty light to create some ambience. Maybe the system for that isn't good enough, but for your standard portrait photographer in a studio, I don't think you can beat the light. Mark: I think the two key words for Elinchrom products are accuracy and consistency. And that's what, as a portrait photographer, you should be striving for, you don't want your equipment to lengthen your workflow or make your job harder in post-production. If you're using Elinchrom lights with Elinchrom soft boxes or Elinchrom modifiers, you know that you're gonna get accuracy and consistency. Which generally makes your job easier. Paul: I think there's a bit that neither of you, I don't think you've quite covered, and it's the bit of the puzzle that makes you want to use whatever is the tool of your trade. I mean, I worked with musicians, I grew up around orchestras. Watching people who utterly adore the instrument that's in their hand. It makes 'em wanna play it. If you own the instrument that you love to play, whether it's a drum kit a trumpet a violin or a piano, you will play it and get the very best out of your talent with it. It's just a joy to pick it up and use it for all the little tiny things I think it's the bit you've missed in your descriptions of it is the utter passion that people that use it have for it. Mark: I think one of the things I learned from my time in retail, which was obviously going back, a long way, even before digital cameras One of the things I learned from retail, I was in retail long before digital cameras, retail was a busier time. People would come and genuinely ask for advice. So yes, someone would come in and what's the best camera for this? Or what's the best camera for that? Honestly there is still no answer to that. All the kit was good then all the kit is good now. You might get four or five different SLRs out. And the one they'd pick at the end was the one that they felt most comfortable with and had the best connection with. When you are using something every day, every other day, however it might be, it becomes part of you. I'm a F1 fan, if you love the world of F1, you know that an F1 car, the driver doesn't sit in an F1 car, they become part of the F1 car. When you are using the same equipment day in, day out, you don't have to think about what button to press, what dial to to turn. You do it. And that, I think that's the difference between using something you genuinely love and get on with and using something because that's what you've got. And maybe that's a difference you genuinely love and get on with Elinchrom lights. So yes, they're given amazing output and I know there's, little things that you'd love to see improved on them, but that's not the light output. Paul: But the thing is, I mean, I've never, I've never heard the F1 analogy, but it's not a bad one. When you talk about these drivers and their cars and you are right, they're sort of symbiotic, so let's talk a little bit about why we use flash. So from the photographers listening who are just setting out, and that's an awful lot of our audience. I think broadly speaking, there are two roads or three roads, if you include available light if you're a portrait photographer. So there's available light. There's continuous light, and then there's strobes flash or whatever you wanna call it. Of course, there's, hybrid modeling and all sorts of things, but those are broadly the three ways that you're gonna light your scene or your subject. Why flash? What is it about that instantaneous pulse of light from a xenon tube that so appealing to photographers? Simon: I think there's a few reasons. The available light is lovely if you can control it, and by that I mean knowing how to use your camera, and control the ambient light. My experience of using available light, if you do it wrong, it can be quite flat and uninteresting. If you've got a bright, hot, sunny day, it can be harder to control than if it's a nice overcast day. But then the overcast day will provide you with some nice soft, flat lighting. Continuous light is obviously got its uses and there's a lot of people out there using it because what they see is what they get. The way I look at continuous light is you are adding to the ambient light, adding more daylight to the daylight you've already got, which isn't a problem, but you need to control that light onto the subject to make the subject look more interesting. So a no shadow, a chin shadow to show that that subject is three dimensional. There are very big limitations with LED because generally it's very unshapable. By that I mean the light is a very linear light. Light travels in straight lines anyway, but with a flash, we can shape the light, and that's why there's different shapes and sizes of modifiers, but it's very difficult to shape correctly -an LED array, the flash for me, gives me creativity. So with my flash, I get a sharper image to start with. I can put the shadows and the light exactly where I want and use the edge of a massive soft box, rather than the center if I'm using a flash gun or a constant light. It allows me to choose how much or how little contrast I put through that light, to create different dynamics in the image. It allows me to be more creative. I can kill the ambient light with flash rather than adding to it. I can change how much ambient I bring into my flash exposure. I've got a lot more control, and I'm not talking about TTL, I'm talking about full manual control of using the modifier, the flash, and me telling the camera what I want it to do, rather than the camera telling me what it thinks is right. Which generally 99% of the time is wrong. It's given me a beautiful, average exposure, but if I wanted to kill the sun behind the subject, well it's not gonna do that. It's gonna give me an average of everything. Whereas Flash will just give me that extra opportunity to be a lot more creative and have a lot more control over my picture. I've got quite a big saying in my workshops. I think a decent flash image is an image where it looks like flash wasn't used. As a flash photographer, Paul, I expect you probably agree with me, anyone can take a flash image. The control of light is important because anybody can light an image, but to light the subject within the image and control the environmental constraints, is the key to it and the most technical part of it. Mark: You've got to take your camera off P for professional to do that. You've got to turn it off p for professional and get it in manual mode. And that gives you the control Paul: Well, you say that, We have to at some point. Address the fact that AI is not just coming, it's sitting here in our studios all the time, and we are only a heartbeat away from P for professional, meaning AI analyzed and creating magic. I don't doubt for a minute. I mean, right now you're right, but not Mark: Well, at some point it will be integrated into the camera Paul: Of course it will. Mark: If you use an iPhone or any other phone, you know, we are using AI as phone photographers, your snapshots. You take your kids, your dogs, whatever they are highly modified images. Paul: Yeah. But in a lot of the modern cameras, there's AI behind the scenes, for instance, on the focusing Mark: Yeah. Paul: While we've, we are on that, we were on that thread. Let's put us back on that thread for a second. What's coming down the line with, all lighting and camera craft with ai. What are you guys seeing that maybe we're not Simon: in terms of flash technology or light technology? Paul: Alright. I mean, so I mean there's, I guess there's two angles, isn't there? What are the lights gonna do that use ai? What are the controllers gonna do, that uses ai, but more importantly, how will it hold its own in a world where I can hit a button and say, I want rebrand lighting on that face. I can do that today. Mark: Yeah. Simon: I'm not sure the lighting industry is anywhere near producing anything that is gonna give what a piece of software can give, because there's a lot more factors involved. There's what size light it is, what position that light is in, how high that light is, how low that light is. And I think the software we've all heard and played with Evoto we were talking about earlier, I was very skeptical and dubious about it to start with as everybody would be. I'm a Photoshop Lightroom user, have been for, many years. And I did some editing, in EEvoto with my five free credits to start with, three edits in, I bought some credits because I thought, actually this is very, very good. I'll never use it for lighting i'd like to think I can get that right myself. However, if somebody gives you a, a very flat image of a family outside and say, well, could you make this better for me? Well, guess what? I can do whatever you like to it. Is it gonna attack the photographer that's trying to earn a living? I think there's always a need for people to take real photographs and family photographs. I think as photographers, we need to embrace it as an aid to speed up our workflow. I don't think it will fully take over the art of photography because it's a different thing. It's not your work. It's a computer generated AI piece of work in my head. Therefore, who's responsible for that image? Who owns the copyright to that image? We deal with photographers all the time who literally point a camera, take a picture and spend three hours editing it and tell everyone that, look at this. The software's really good and it's made you look good. I think AI is capable of doing that to an extent. In five years time, we'll look back at Evoto today and what it's producing and we'll think cracky. That was awful. It's like when you watch a high definition movie from the late 1990s, you look at it and it was amazing at the time, but you look at it now and you think, crikey, look at the quality of it. I dunno if we're that far ahead where we won't get to that point. The quality is there. I mean, how much better can you go than 4K, eight K minus, all that kind of stuff. I'm unsure, but I don't think the AI side of it. Is applicable to flash at this moment in time? I don't know. Mark: I think you're right. To look at the whole, photography in general. If you are a social photographer, family photographer, whatever it might be, you are genuinely capturing that moment in time that can't be replaced. If you are a product photographer, that's a different matter. I think there's more of a threat. I think I might be right in saying. I was looking, I think I saw it on, LinkedIn. There is a fashion brand in the UK at the moment that their entire catalog of clothing has been shot without models. When you look at it on the website, there's models in it. They shoot the clothing on mannequins and then everything else is AI generated they've been developing their own AI platform now for a number of years. Does the person care Who's buying a dress for 30 quid? Probably not, but if you are photographing somebody's wedding, graduation, some, you know, a genuine moment in someone's life, I think it'd be really wrong to use any sort of AI other than a little bit of post-production, which we know is now quite standard for many people in the industry. Paul: Yeah, the curiosity for me is I suspect as an industry, Guess just released a full AI model advert in, Vogue. Declared as AI generated an ai agency created it. Everything about it is ai. There's no real photography involved except in the learning side of it. And that's a logical extension of the fact we've been Photoshopping to such a degree that the end product no longer related to the input. And we've been doing that 25 years. I started on Photoshop version one, whatever that was, 30 years More than 33. So we've kind of worked our way into a corner where the only way out of it is to continue. There's no backtracking now. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think the damage to the industry though, or the worry for the industry, I think you're both right. I think if you can feel it, touch it, be there, there will always be that importance. In fact, the provenance of authenticity. Is the high value ticket item now, Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: because you, everything else is synthetic, you can trust nothing. We are literally probably months away from 90% of social media being generated by ai. AI is both the consumer and the generator of almost everything online Mark: Absolutely. Paul: Goodness knows where we go. You certainly can't trust anything you read. You can't trust anything you see, so authenticity, face-to-face will become, I think a high value item. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think one problem for us as an industry in terms of what the damage might be is that all those people that photograph nameless products or create books, you know, use photography and then compositing for, let's say a novel that's gone, stock libraries that's gone because they're faceless. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: there doesn't have to be authentic. A designer can type in half a dozen keywords. Into an AI engine and get what he needs. If he doesn't get what he needs, he does it again. All of those photographers who currently own Kit are gonna look around with what do we do now? And so for those of us who specialize in weddings and portraits and family events, our market stands every chance of being diluted, which has the knock on effect of all of us having to keep an eye on AI to stay ahead of all competitors, which has the next knock on effect, that we're all gonna lean into ai, which begs the question, what happens after Because that's what happened in the Photoshop world. You know, I'm kind of, I mean, genuinely cur, and this will be a running theme on the podcast forever, is kind of prodding it and taking barometer readings as to where are we going? Mark: Yeah. I mean, who's more at threat at the moment from this technology? Is it the photographer or is it the retouch? You know, we do forget that there are retouchers That is their, they're not photographers. Paul: I don't forget. They email me 3, 4, 5 times a day. Mark: a Simon: day, Mark: You know, a highly skilled retouch isn't cheap. They've honed their craft for many years using whatever software product they prefer to use. I think they're the ones at risk now more so than the photographer. And I think we sort of lose sight of that. Looking at it from a photographer's point of view, there is a whole industry behind photography that actually is being affected more so than you guys at the moment. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: Yeah, I think there's truth in that, but. It's not really important. Of course, it's really important to all of those people, but this is the digital revolution that we went through as film photographers, and probably what the Daguerreotype generators went through when Fox Tolbert invented the first transfer. Negative. You know, they are, there are always these epochs in our industry and it wipes out entire skillset. You know, I mean, when we went to digital before then, like you, I could dev in a tank. Yeah. You know, and really liked it. I like I see, I suspect I just like the solitude, Mark: the dark, Paul: red light in the dark Mark: yeah. Paul: Nobody will come in. Not now. Go away. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. But of course those skills have gone, has as, have access to the equipment. I think we're there again, this feels like to me a huge transition in the industry and for those who want to keep up, AI is the keeping up whether you like it or not. Mark: Yeah. And if you don't like it, we've seen it, we're in the middle of a massive resurgence in film photography, which is great for the industry, great for the retail industry, great for the film manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, everything. You know, simon, myself, you, you, we, we, our earliest photography, whether we were shooting with flash, natural light, we were film shooters and that planes back. And what digital did, from a camera point of view, is make it easier and more accessible for less skilled people. But it's true. You know, if you shot with a digital camera now that's got a dynamic range of 15 stops, you actually don't even need to have your exposure, that accurate Go and shoot with a slide film that's got dynamic range of less than one stop and see how good you are. It has made it easier. The technology, it will always make it. Easier, but it opens up new doors, it opens up new avenues to skilled people as well as unskilled people. If you want, I'm using the word unskilled again, I'm not being, a blanket phrase, but it's true. You can pick up a digital camera now and get results that same person shooting with a slide film 20 years ago would not get add software to that post-production, everything else. It's an industry that we've seen so many changes in over the 30 odd years that we've been in it, Simon: been Mark: continue Simon: at times. It exciting Mark: The dawn of digital photography to the masses. was amazing. I was working for Olympus at the time when digital really took off and for Olympus it was amazing. They made some amazing products. We did quite well out of it and people started enjoying photography that maybe hadn't enjoyed photography before. You know, people might laugh at, you know, you, you, you're at a wedding, you're shooting a really nice wedding pool and there's always a couple of guests there which have got equipment as good as yours. Better, better than yours. Yeah. Got Simon: jobs and they can afford it. Mark: They've got proper jobs. Their pitches aren't going to be as good as yours. They're the ones laughing at everyone shooting on their phone because they've spent six grand on their new. Camera. But if shooting on a phone gets people into photography and then next year they buy a camera and two years later they upgrade their camera and it gets them into the hobby of photography? That's great for everyone. Hobbyists are as essential, as professional photographers to the industry. In fact, to keep the manufacturers going, probably more so Simon: the hobbyists are a massive part. Even if they go out and spend six or seven or 8,000 pounds on a camera because they think it's gonna make them a better photographer. Who knows in two years time with the AI side, maybe it will. That old saying, Hey Mr, that's a nice camera. I bet it takes great pictures, may become true. We have people on the lighting courses, the workshops we run, the people I train and they're asking me, okay, what sessions are we gonna use? And I'm saying, okay, well we're gonna be a hundred ISO at 125th, F 5.6. Okay, well if I point my camera at the subject, it's telling me, yeah, but you need to put it onto manual. And you see the color drain out their faces. You've got a 6,000 pound camera and you've never taken it off 'P'. Mark: True story. Simon: And we see this all the time. It's like the whole TTL strobe manual flash system. The camera's telling you what it wants to show you, but that maybe is not what you want. There are people out there that will spend a fortune on equipment but actually you could take just as good a picture with a much smaller, cheaper device with an nice bit of glass on the front if you know what you're doing. And that goes back to what Mark was saying about shooting film and slide film and digital today. Paul: I, mean, you know, I don't want this to be an echo chamber, and so what I am really interested in though, is the way that AI will change what flash photography does. I'm curious as to where we are headed in that, specific vertical. How is AI going to help and influence our ability to create great lip photography using flash? Mark: I think, Paul: I love the fact the two guys side and looked at each other. Mark: I, Simon: it's a difficult question to answer. Mark: physical light, Simon: is a difficult question to answer because if you're Mark: talking about the physical delivery of light. Simon: Not gonna change. Mark: Now, The only thing I can even compare it to, if you think about how the light is delivered, is what's the nearest thing? What's gotta change? Modern headlamps on cars, going back to cars again, you know, a modern car are using these LED arrays and they will switch on and switch off different LEDs depending on the conditions in front of them. Anti dazzle, all this sort of stuff. You know, the modern expensive headlamp is an amazing technical piece of kit. It's not just one ball, but it's hundreds in some cases of little arrays. Will that come into flash? I don't know. Will you just be able to put a soft box in front of someone and it will shape the light in the future using a massive array. Right? I dunno it, Simon: there's been many companies tested these arrays, in terms of LED Flash, And I think to be honest, that's probably the nearest it's gonna get to an AI point of view is this LED Flash. Now there's an argument to say, what is flash if I walk into a living room and flick the light on, on off really quickly, is that a flash? Mark: No, that's a folock in Paul: me Mark: turn, big lights off. Paul: Yeah. Mark: So Simon: it, you, you might be able to get these arrays to flush on and off. But LED technology, in terms of how it works, it's quite slow. It's a diode, it takes a while for it to get to its correct brightness and it takes a while for it to turn off. To try and get an LED. To work as a flash. It, it's not an explosion in a gas field tube. It's a a, a lighter emitting diode that is, is coming on and turning off again. Will AI help that? Due to the nature of its design, I don't think it can. Mark: Me and s aren't invented an AI flash anytime soon by the looks of, we're Simon: it's very secret. Mark: We're just putting everyone off Paul, Simon: It's alright. Mark: just so they don't think Simon: Yeah, Mark: Oh, it's gonna be too much hard work and we'll sort it. Paul: It's definitely coming. I don't doubt for a minute that this is all coming because there's no one not looking at anything Simon: that makes perfect sense. Paul: Right now there's an explosion of invention because everybody's trying to find an angle on everything. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: The guys I feel the most for are the guys who spent millions, , on these big LED film backdrop walls. Simon: Yep. Mark: So you can Paul: a car onto a flight sim, rack, and then film the whole lot in front of an LED wall. Well, it was great. And there was a market for people filming those backdrops, and now of course that's all AI generated in the LED, but that's only today's technology. Tomorrow's is, you don't need the LED wall. That's here today. VEO3 and Flow already, I mean, I had to play with one the other day for one of our lighting diagrams and it animated the whole thing. Absolute genius. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: I still generated the original diagram. Mark: Yeah, Paul: Yeah, that's useful. There's some skill in there still for now, but, you gotta face the music that anything that isn't, I can touch it and prod it. AI's gonna do it. Mark: Absolutely. If you've ever seen the series Mandalorian go and watch the making of the Mandalorian and they are using those big LED walls, that is their backdrop. Yeah. And it's amazing how fast they shift from, you know, they can, they don't need to build a set. Yeah. They shift from scene to scene. Paul: Well, aI is now building the scenes. But tomorrow they won't need the LED wall. 'cause AI will put it in behind the actors. Mark: Yeah. Say after Paul: that you won't need the actors because they're being forced to sign away the rights so that AI can be used. And even those that are standing their ground and saying no, well, the actors saying Yes. Are the ones being hired. You know, in the end, AI is gonna touch all of it. And so I mean, it's things like, imagine walking into a studio. Let's ignore the LED thing for a minute, by the way, that's a temporary argument, Simon: I know you're talking about. Paul: about today's, Simon: You're about the. Mark: days Paul: LEDs, Simon: we're in, We're in very, very interesting times and. I'm excited for the future. I'm excited for the new generation of photographers that are coming in to see how they work with what happens. We've gone from fully analog to me selling IMACON drum scanners that were digitizing negatives and all the five four sheet almost a shoot of properties for an estate agent were all digitized on an hassle blood scanner. And then the digital camera comes out and you start using it. It was a Kodak camera, I think the first SLRI used, Paul: Yeah. Simon: and you get the results back and you think, oh my God, it looks like it's come out of a practica MTL five B. Mark: But Simon: then suddenly the technology just changes and changes and changes and suddenly it's running away with itself and where we are today. I mean, I, I didn't like digital to start with. It was too. It was too digital. It was too sharp. It didn't have the feel of film, but do you know what? We get used to it and the files that my digital mirrorless camera provide now and my Fuji GFX medium format are absolutely stunning. But the first thing I do is turn the sharpness down because they are generally over sharp. For a lovely, beautifully lit portrait or whatever that anybody takes, it just needs knocking back a bit. We were speaking about this earlier, I did some comparison edits from what I'd done manually in Photoshop to the Evoto. Do you know what the pre-selected edits are? Great. If you not the slider back from 10 to about six, you're there or thereabouts? More is not always good. Mark: I think when it comes to imagery in our daily lives, the one thing that drives what we expect to see is TV and most people's TVs, everything's turned up to a hundred. The color, the contrast, that was a bit of a shock originally from the film to digital, crossover. Everything went from being relatively natural to way over the top Just getting back to AI and how it's gonna affect people like you and people that we work with day to day. I don't think we should be worried about that. We should be worried about the images we see on the news, not what we're seeing, hanging on people's walls and how they're gonna be affected by ai. That generally does affect everyone's daily life. Paul: Yeah, Mark: Yeah. But what Paul: people now ask me, for instance, I've photographed a couple head shots yesterday, and the one person had not ironed her blouse. And her first question was, can we sort that out in post? So this is the knock on effect people are becoming aware of what's possible. What's that? Nothing. Know, and the, the smooth clothing button in Evoto will get me quite a long way down that road and saves somebody picking up an eye and randomly, it's not me, it's now actually more work for me 'cause I shouldn't have to do it. But, you know, this is my point about the knock on effect. Our worlds are different. So I didn't really intend this to be just a great sort of circular conversation about AI cars and, future technology. It was more, I dunno, we ended up down there anyway. Simon: We went down a rabbit hole. Mark: A Paul: rabbit hole. Yeah Mark: was quite an interesting one. Simon: And I'm sorry if you've wasted your entire journey to work and we Paul: Yeah. Simon: Alright. It wasn't intended to be like that. Paul: I think it's a debate that we need to be having and there needs to be more discussion about it. Certainly for anybody that has a voice in the industry and people are listening to it because right now it might be a toddler of a technology, but it's growing faster than people realize. There is now a point in the written word online where AI is generating more than real people are generating, and AI is learning that. So AI is reading its own output. That's now beginning to happen in imagery and film and music. Simon: Well, even in Google results, you type in anything to a Google search bar. When it comes back to the results, the first section at the top is the AI generated version. And you know what, it's generally Paul: Yep. Simon: good and Paul: turn off all the rest of it now. So it's only ai. Simon: Not quite brave enough for that yet. No, not me. Mark: In terms Paul: of SEO for instance, you now need to tune it for large language models. You need to be giving. Google the LLM information you want it to learn so that you become part of that section on a website. And it, you know, this is where we are and it's happening at such a speed, every day I am learning something new about something else that's arriving. And I think TV and film is probably slightly ahead of the photography industry Mark: Yeah. Paul: The pressures on the costs are so big, Simon: Yes. Paul: Whereas the cost differential, I'm predicting our costs will actually go up, not down. Whereas in TV and film, the cost will come down dramatically. Mark: Absolutely. Simon: They are a horrifically high level anyway. That's Paul: I'm not disputing that, but I watched a demo of some new stuff online recently and they had a talking head and they literally typed in relight that with a kiss light here, hairlight there, Rembrandt variation on the front. And they did it off a flat picture and they can move the lights around as if you are moving lights. Yes. And that's there today. So that's coming our way too. And I still think the people who understand how to see light will have an advantage because you'll know when you've typed these words in that you've got it about right. It doesn't change the fact that it's going to be increasingly synthetic. The moment in the middle of it is real. We may well be asked to relight things, re clothe things that's already happening. Simon: Yeah. Paul: We get, can you just fill in my hairline? That's a fairly common one. Just removing a mole. Or removing two inches round a waist. This, we've been doing that forever. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: And so now it'll be done with keyword generation rather than, photoshop necessarily. Simon: I think you'll always have the people that embrace this, we can't ignore it as you rightly say. It's not going away. It's gonna get bigger, it's gonna feature more in our lives. I think there's gonna be three sets of people. It's gonna be the people like us generally on a daily basis. We're photographers or we're artists. We enjoy what we do. I enjoy correctly lighting somebody with the correct modifier properties to match light quality to get the best look and feel and the ambience of that image. And I enjoy the process of putting that together and then seeing the end result afterwards. I suppose that makes me an artist in, in, in loose terms. I think, you know, as, as, as a photographer, we are artists. You've then got another generation that are finding shortcuts. They're doing some of the job with their camera. They're making their image from an AI point of view. Does that make up an artist? I suppose it still does because they're creating their own art, but they have no interest 'cause they have no enjoyment in making that picture as good as it can be before you even hit the shutter. And then I think you've got other people, and us to an extent where you do what you need to do, you enjoy the process, you look at the images, and then you just finely tune it with a bit of AI or Photoshop retouching so I think there are different sets of people that will use AI to their advantage or completely ignore it. Mark: Yeah. I think you're right. And I think it comes down, I'm going to use another analogy here, you, you know, let's say you enjoy cooking. If you enjoy cooking, you're creating something. What's the alternative? You get a microwave meal. Well, Paul Simon: and Sarah do. Mark: No. Paul: Sarah does. Simon: We can't afford waitress. Mark: You might spend months creating your perfect risotto. You've got it right. You love it. Everyone else loves it. You share it around all your friends. Brilliant. Or you go to Waitrose, you buy one, put it three minutes in the microwave and it's done. That's yer AI I Imagery, isn't it? It's a microwave meal. Paul: There's a lot of microwave meals out there. And not that many people cook their own stuff and certainly not as many as used to. And there's a lesson. Simon: Is, Mark: but also, Simon: things have become easier Mark: there Simon: you go. Mark: I think what we also forget in the photographic industry and take the industry as a whole, and this is something I've experienced in the, in the working for manufacturers in that photography itself is, is a, is a huge hobby. There's lots of hobbyist photographers, but there's actually more people that do photography as part of another hobby, birdwatching, aviation, all that sort of thing. Anything, you know, the photography isn't the hobby, it's the birds that are the hobby, but they take photographs of, it's the planes that are the hobby, but they take photographs. They're the ones that actually keep the industry going and then they expand into other industries. They come on one of our workshops. You know, that's something that we're still and Simon still Absolutely. And yourself, educating photographers to do it right, to practice using the gear the right way, but the theory of it and getting it right. If anything that brings more people into wanting to learn to cook better, Paul: you Mark: have more chefs rather than people using microwave meals. Education's just so important. And when it comes to lighting, I wasn't competent in using flash. I'm still not, but having sat through Simon's course and other people's courses now for hundreds of times, I can light a scene sometimes, people are still gonna be hungry for education. I think some wills, some won't. If you wanna go and get that microwave risotto go and microwave u risotto. But there's always gonna be people that wanna learn how to do it properly, wanna learn from scratch, wanna learn the art of it. Creators and in a creative industry, we've got to embrace those people and bring more people into it and ensure there's more people on that journey of learning and upskilling and trying to do it properly. Um, and yes, if they use whatever technology at whatever stage in their journey, if they're getting enjoyment from it, what's it matter? Paul: Excellent. Mark: What a fine Paul: concluding statement. If they got enjoyment outta it. Yeah. Whatever. Excellent. Thank you, Mark, for your summing up. Simon: In conclusion, Paul: did that just come out your nose? What on earth. Mark: What Paul: what you can't see, dear Listener is the fact that Mark just spat his water everywhere, laughing at Si. It's been an interesting podcast. Anyway, I'm gonna drag this back onto topic for fear of it dissolving into three blokes having a pint. Mark: I think we should go for one. Simon: I think, Paul: I think we should know as well. Having said that with this conversation, maybe not. I was gonna ask you a little bit about, 'cause we've talked about strobes and the beauty of strobes, but of course Elinchrom still is more than that, and you've just launched a new LED light, so I know you like Strobe Simon. Now talk about the continuous light that also Elinchrom is producing. Simon: We have launched the Elinchrom LED 100 C. Those familiar with our Elinchrom One and Three OCF camera Flash system. It's basically a smaller unit, but still uses the OCF adapter. Elinchrom have put a lot of time into this. They've been looking at LED technology for many years, and I've been to the factory in Switzerland and seen different LED arrays being tested. The problem we had with LEDs is every single LED was different and put out a different color temperature. We're now manufacturing LEDs in batches, where they can all be matched. They all come from the same serial number batch. And the different colors of LED as well, 15 years ago, blue LEDs weren't even possible. You couldn't make a blue LED every other color, but not blue for some unknown reason. They've got the colors right now, they've got full RGB spectrum, which is perfectly accurate a 95 or 97 CRI index light. It's a true hundred watts, of light as well. From tosin through to past daylight and fully controllable like the CRO flash system in very accurate nth degrees. The LED array in the front of the, the LEDA hundred is one of the first shapeable, fully shapeable, LED arrays that I've come across and I've looked at lots. By shapeable, I mean you put it into a soft box, of any size and it's not gonna give you a hotspot in the middle, or it's not gonna light the first 12 inches of the middle of the soft box and leave the rest dark. I remember when we got the first LD and Mark got it before me And he said, I've put it onto a 70 centimeter soft box. And he said, I've taken a picture to the front. Look at this. And it was perfectly even from edge to edge. When I got it, I stuck it onto a 1 3 5 centimeter soft box and did the same and was absolutely blown away by how even it was from edge to edge. When I got my light meter out, if you remember what one of those is, uh, it, uh, it gave me a third of a stop different from the center to the outside edge. Now for an LED, that's brilliant. I mean, that's decent for a flash, but for an LED it's generally unheard of. So you can make the LED as big as you like. It's got all the special effects that some of the cheaper Chinese ones have got because people use that kind of thing. Apparently I have no idea what for. But it sits on its own in a market where there are very cheap and cheerful LEDs, that kind of do a job. And very expensive high-end LEDs that do a completely different job for the photographer that's gone hybrid and does a bit of shooting, but does a bit of video work. So, going into a solicitor's or an accountant's office where they want head shots, but also want a bit of talking head video for the MD or the CEO explaining about his company on the website. It's perfect. You can up the ISO and use the modeling lamp in generally the threes, the fives, the ones that we've got, the LEDs are brilliant. But actually the LED 100 will give you all your modifier that you've taken with you, you can use those. It's very small and light, with its own built-in battery and it will give you a very nice low iso. Talking head interview with a lovely big light source. And I've proved the point of how well it works and how nice it is at the price point it sits in. But it is our first journey into it. There will be others come in and there'll be an app control for it. And I think from an LED point of view, you're gonna say, I would say this, but actually it's one of the nicer ones I've used. And when you get yours, you can tell people exactly the same. Paul: Trust me, I will. Simon: Yes. Mark: I think Paul: very excited about it. Mark: I think the beauty of it as well is it's got an inbuilt battery. It'll give you up to 45 minutes on a full charge. You can plug it in and run it off the mains directly through the USB socket as well. But it means it's a truly portable light source. 45 minutes at a hundred watt and it's rated at a hundred watt actual light output. It's seems far in excess of that. When you actually, Simon: we had a photographer the other day who used it and he's used to using sort of 3, 2 50, 300 watt LEDs and he said put them side by side at full power. They were virtually comparable. Paul: That is certainly true, or in my case by lots. Simon: I seem to be surrounded Paul: by Elinchrom kit, Which is all good. So for anybody who's interested in buying one of these things, where'd you get them? How much are they? Simon: The LED itself, the singlehead unit is 499 inc VAT. If you want one with a charger, which sounds ridiculous, but there's always people who say, well, I don't want the charger. You can have one with a charger for 50 quid extra. So 549. The twin kit is just less than a thousand quid with chargers. And it comes in a very nice portable carry bag to, to carry them around in. Um, and, uh, yeah, available from all good photographic retailers, and, Ellen crom.co uk. Paul: Very good. So just to remind you beautiful people listening to this podcast, we only ever feature people and products, at least like this one where I've said, put a sales pitch in because I use it. It's only ever been about what we use here at the studio. I hate the idea of just being a renta-voice. You it. Mark: bought it. Paul: Yeah. That's true. You guys sold it to me. Mark: Yeah, Simon: if I gave you anything you'd tell everyone it was great. So if you buy it, no, I've bought Paul: Yeah. And then became an ambassador for you. As with everything here, I put my money where my mouth is, we will use it. We do use it. I'm really interested in the little LED light because I could have done with that the other night. It would've been perfect for a very particular need. So yes, I can highly recommend Elinchrom Fives and Threes if you're on a different system. The Rotalux, system of modifier is the best on the planet. Quick to set up, quick to take down. More importantly, the light that comes off them is just beautiful, whether it's a Godox, whether it's on a ProPhoto, which it was for me, or whether if you've really got your common sense about you on the front of an Elinchrom. And on that happy note and back to where we started, which is about lighting, I'm gonna say thanks to the guys. They came to the studio to fix a problem but it's always lovely to have them as guests here. Thank you, mark. Thank you Simon. Most importantly, you Elinchrom for creating Kit is just an absolute joy to use. If you've enjoyed the podcast, please head over to all your other episodes. Please subscribe and whatever is your podcast, play of choice, whether it's iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or a other. After you head, if you head across to masteringportraitphotography.com the spiritual home of this, particular, podcast, I will put in the show notes all the little bits of detail and where to get these things. I'll get some links off the guys as to where to look for the kit. Thank you both. I dunno when I'll be seeing you again. I suspect it will be the Convention in January if I know the way these things go. Simon: We're not gonna get invited back, are we? Mark: Probably not. Enough. Paul: And I'm gonna get a mop and clean up that water. You've just sprayed all over the floor. What is going on? Simon: wish we'd video. That was a funny sun Mark: I just didn't expect it and never usually that sort of funny and quick, Simon: It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Paul: On that happy note, whatever else is going on in your lives, be kind to yourself. Take care.

Join Dave, Adrian and Gary, organiser of the Rodney Cook Charity Metal Detecting events in Cirencester for the second 'NO FRILLS' metal detecting event. Also joined by John Lydall and Dean Staunton.The podcast version of the show is sponsored by the Metal Detecting News - www.metaldetectingnews.co.ukBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-big-detecting-show--3690873/support.

This evening, Mickey-Jo saw a new production of Jason Robert Brown's THE LAST FIVE YEARS at Reading Rep Theatre in Berkshire.The new revival of the musical, which will go on to play at the Barn Theatre in Cirencester and Theatre Royal Bath, stars Martha Kirby and Guy Woolf.Check out Mickey-Jo's thoughts about this exciting new staging of the iconic show, and how it compared with the disappointing Broadway premiere production last season...•00:00 | introduction03:10 | synopsis / history07:43 | this production17:09 | the performances26:56 | my favourite choices (SPOILER)39:07 | final thoughtsAbout Mickey-Jo:As one of the leading voices in theatre criticism on a social platform, Mickey-Jo is pioneering a new medium for a dwindling field. His YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MickeyJoTheatre⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is the largest worldwide in terms of dedicated theatre criticism, where he also share features, news and interviews as well as lifestyle content for over 89,000 subscribers. With a viewership that is largely split between the US and the UK he has been fortunate enough to be able to work with PR, Marketing, and Social Media representatives for shows in New York, London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Toronto, Sao Pãolo, and Paris. His reviews and features have also been published by WhatsOnStage, for whom he was a panelist to help curate nominees for their 2023 and 2024 Awards as well as BroadwayWorldUK, Musicals Magazine and LondonTheatre.co.uk. Instagram/TikTok/X: @MickeyJoTheatre Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features not only the titular Roman Robot and a (potentially) BAFTA-winning sitcom idea — but James ALSO chucks in a selection of ghostly tales from the Cirencester area. You know, like when you've ordered something online and you get tiny bag of free Haribo. Enjoy! This episode was edited by ⁠⁠Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor⁠⁠ Join the LoreFolk at ⁠⁠patreon.com/loremenpod⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ko-fi.com/loremen⁠⁠ Check the sweet, sweet merch here... ⁠⁠https://www.teepublic.com/stores/loremen-podcast?ref_id=24631⁠⁠ @loremenpod ⁠⁠youtube.com/loremenpodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/loremenpod⁠⁠ ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/loremenpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susie in Cirencester and Ricky in Stevenage take their turn on the mighty quiz!

Join us on this episode of On Patrol as we interview Andy and Derek of Big Battles, located in Cirencester, United Kingdom. Big Battles is a unique business that is dedicated to providing a wargaming space for local players. We start off by getting to know the visionaries behind this awesome idea, and then we dive into learning all that they have to offer. We hope that wargamers in the UK will learn about this venue for their wargaming needs and wargamers around the world may gain insight into what it takes to set up a business like this. You can check out Big Battles on Big Battles Website or Big Battles Facebook Dont forget to join our Facebook Group where Fighting Kentuckian and Wyndehurst Products are actively engaged with the community.

Ben raskin and Andy Dibben have written Silvohorticulture, A Grower's Guide To Integrating Trees Into Crops published in January 2025 by Chelsea Green Publishing.Raskin is head of horticulture and agroforestry for the Soil Association and Dibben is head grower at Abbey Home Farms in Gloucestershire.They say interactions between trees and crops is an under-investigated area and that trees can offer many benefits for food growers.The foreword is by Stockfree Organic farmer Iain Tolhurst who calls this "agroforestry at its finest" and says which trees to choose is "no longer an act of faith".There are negative impacts from planting the trees in the shade, but many crops do not actually need full sun all day.Abbey Home Farms in Cirencester is a 650ha acre mixed organic farm, intercropping into 6ha of veg production with mixed top fruit tree, coppice species for wood chip, as well as peach trees in the glasshouses. Also featured in the book are:Eastbrook Farm in Wiltshire – 200 acre silvopastural system (trialing almonds, apricots, berries and other fruits into a 25year business plan)Shillingford Farm in Devon – 420 acre fruit and veg farm using alley cropping systems Troed-y-Rhiw Farm in Wales – 23 acre mixed organic farm growing top fruit and bush fruit, but outside and in tunnels Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thousands of farmers converged on Westminster as tractors made a slow drive through central London on Wednesday afternoon in the second protest against Labour's inheritance tax reforms.Farmers travelled from across the country amid anger about the plans against the so-called ‘tractor tax' announced in last month's Budget, which will see farms lose inheritance tax relief on assets over £1 million.The Standard podcast has analysis of the issue with Simon Smith, a land agent and senior lecturer at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester.In part two, author Joe Muggs on his new book chronicling 25 years of London electronic music superclub Fabric. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's pod we check in with Doop's save with Cirencester which may be drawing to a close and Dave proposes an enticing challenge to the panel... Doop's Fundraiser: https://t.co/kRwfSSl5cH Please support if you can 5 Star Pod FPL: https://t.co/zzbihRHQgo code: prnmep 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

On this week's pod Dave will be giving us an update on how the Penty is going and if he's still pushing for that fourth trophy and Doop will give us a Cirencester update and maybe even some news about a Champions League final... 5 Star Pod FPL: https://t.co/zzbihRHQgo code: prnmep 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

The Moorland Association says the wet weather this year means it will be the worst grouse season for decades. Some shoots won't have a single day's shooting because there aren't enough birds. High rainfall during the nesting period means has had a big impact on red grouse. In turn, the association says there'll be far fewer seasonal jobs, and it'll have a big impact on local businesses which rely on the income shooting brings. Fruit farmers in Kent are facing a glut of strawberries. The crop's all ripened at once instead of over several weeks through the summer and some growers are reporting a serious glut. Unable to sell all their fruit, tonnes of it are ending up in anaerobic digesters. Which skills are essential to maintain the countryside? Hedging, walling, tractor driving, yes, they're all important but there's a far wider range of expertise required by farmers nowadays, taking in things like computer mapping, conservation and even drone flying. We're going to be talking rural skills all this week and to start, we speak to the Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester where they're currently updating their courses and thinking about what rural skills the next generation needs to be learning. Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

In today's episode, we're joined by Tony Oakley, owner of Catalyst Training based in Cirencester, UK. Tony has been in business for 10 years and has experienced the highs and lows of the fitness industry. We delve into how Tony transformed his business and mindset, removing the intense pressures of being a fitness business owner. Tony explains the mistakes he's made, as well as the support system and the community in his gym. Charlie and Tony explore the marketing, sales, and systems of his fitness business. This episode is an excellent tell-all of every aspect of being a gym owner. Key Highlights How Tony's life has changed since transforming his fitness business   Key lessons Tony learnt to improve his marketing and sales process   Learning the systems of his gym and understanding the data   How Tony increased his conversion rate to 95%   Bringing family into your business and how to manage those roles To find out how Fitness Marketing Agency can help your Fitness Business, book a demo call using the link below: https://fitnessmarketing.agency/high-growth Connect with Fitness Marketing Agency on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessmarketingagency/ Connect with Tony https://www.instagram.com/tony_catalystpt/ Connect with Catalyst https://www.instagram.com/catalysttrainciren/ https://www.catalyst-training.co.uk/

On this week's pod we will be diving into both of our respective save updates seeing as we were both live this week with very mixed fortunes across our respective adventures at Cirencester and South Shields and seeing as we are on a roll with the quizzes lately, there will even be a MaddFM quiz special!! Everything, here, all at once. Doop's just giving page - https://t.co/kRwfSSl5cH A place to get support - https://www.mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help/using-this-tool/ 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

It's a special episode with Doop and Dave giving us their bumper save updates! Is Dave any closer to getting trophy number four in his Pentagon Challenge and are Doop's Cirencester continuing their strong form? 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

After we dived into the big FM25 update last week, the squad jump into their save updates. Is Dave any closer to winning another trophy, is Doop as far as he can go with Cirencester and how is Madd's non-league adventure shaping up? 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

On this week's show we will be checking in on how Cirencester are fairing in the championship, more importantly whether Dave has won a Champions League and checking in with a returning host... 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FridayNightFM - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fridaynightfm FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

On this week's show we will be checking in on Doop's promotion chase at Cirencester and more importantly whether Dave has FINALLY managed to win an elusive Champions League/Copa Libertadores trophy, OR if we will again hear him say the famous line…THIS TIME NEXT WEEK. 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FridayNightFM - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fridaynightfm FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

The team debriefs after a truly epic craftcon. We try to choose favourite moments – from Albert's grey face to Justin's journey home to Adam pretending to understand the science of tannins. We celebrate the marvellous positivity, dynamism and curiosity that craftcon instils in the British – and Italian! – cider communities, and we deviate seamlessly into a discussion of ourpomona.org, and the ways we can reach out and connect for the 363 days a year we don't get to be at craftcon. Ciders by @tornplant and @tomoliverscider Albert crafts @rosscider Adam cons (not in that way) @Cider_Review and @adamhwells Justin is still on a bus home from Cirencester @justinwells1346

Welcome to Tea Time History Chat Live on the British History channel with me, Philippa Lacey Brewell.Today I am going to tell you about 5 of my favourite Roman places to visit in Britain outside of London: a legion fortress in Wales, the fourth largest Roman city in Britain, a Palace, a Temple and a luxury Roman villa. You can also watch this episode on Youtube.British History is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This is by no means an exhaustive list of Roman sites in Britain but if you enjoy today then maybe I can do a follow on episode. For instance I'm not covering Hadrian's wall in today's show, despite it being an incredible place, and George R R Martin's inspiration for The Wall, which appears in the first book ‘A Game of Thrones' of his famous ‘A song of Fire and Ice' series, of course subsequently made into the Game of Thrones HBO series. Or Portchester Castle, a Roman Saxon Shore Fort which is said to be the best preserved north of the Alps and where, in the 12th century a Castle was built within its walls but in the interim Anglo Saxon period it is thought to have been occupied by a high status family. Or indeed, Chester with its Roman Walls and remains of its amphitheatre in what is still a bustling town with many medieval buildings remaining. There's also Cirencester, St Albans, Gloucester, the list actually goes on.There is a link in the names of those places: Chester means a camp of soldiers and is as a suffix to place names in the form of -chester, -caster and -cester, for example Manchester, Lancaster, Gloucester, and when you know that you start to realised how many Roman settlements there were.Last week I talked about Roman London and some of the incredible remains you can still see today, so if you missed that please check it out. It is available, as are all these shows, on the British History Youtube channel and the British History Podcast. Get full access to British History at philippab.substack.com/subscribe

A new 15 year, £30 million partnership between Reading University, the Met Office and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is going to be harnessing AI to produce more accurate forecasts that could predict the weather for up to six weeks in advance. As climate change brings longer droughts and more flooding, what benefits could better forecasting have for farmers? We speak to the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading. The cleaner the river, the better it is for the fish that live in it. Bibury Trout Farm was founded more than 120 years ago on what were former watercress beds on the River Coln near Cirencester. The river is at the heart of what is still a working fish farm and tourist attraction. As part of our week looking into rivers in the landscape, we visit the farm and find out why the river is so vitally important to this business.Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

What do you do when you find your growth-oriented role has become one of selling off the business, just three days into your role? And what happens when you reach the pinnacle of the functional ladder - CFO for example? And... how do you steer a 130+-year-old business into new growth areas whilst taking the team with you?

On this weeks' pod we will be hearing what the hell our returnee has been doing with himself during his lengthy absence from the pod, we will check out what's been happening in the worlds of Cirencester, Sweden and the Penty and we have a pacey quiz to finish off. 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FridayNightFM - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fridaynightfm FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/ Curty - Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtyFM

Today on PEP Talk we chat with a church pastor about how sharing the gospel is a natural part of both his church work and personal relationships. With a particular emphasis on the essential role of prayer, Matt talks with Gavin Matthews about the formal and informal elements that make up a vibrant evangelistic lifestyle.Our GuestAfter 14 years as senior pastor of City Gates Church in central London, Matt Frost moved to Cirencester in July 2009 to become pastor at Cirencester Baptist Church. Matt loves playing cricket for North Cerney CC, praying for the sick, supporting Liverpool, sharing the good news of Jesus with all kinds of people, listening to jazz-funk, bringing change, watching films of all kinds and chatting with God. You can follow Matt on Twitter here.His podcast “Two Pastors in a Pub” is available from Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts.

On this week's podcast we've got news from South Africa, Portugal, Sweden and… Cirencester, we've got our Adventure in Wonderkid-Land! Things discussed on this podcast: https://twitter.com/DanFMDatabases/status/1737511980729073882 5 Star Potential - www.twitter.com/5starpod - www.5starpotential.com DaveAzzopardi - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/daveazzopardi Twitter: twitter.com/daveazzopardi FridayNightFM - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fridaynightfm FMDoop - Twitter: www.twitter.com/fmdoop - Twitch: www.twitch.tv/doop MaddFM - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaddFM_ Website: https://maddfm.com/

In this episode of the Future Christian Podcast, guest host Martha Tartarnic sits down with Justin Anthony, the rector of Chingford (UK) parish, to delve into the nuances of leadership within the church and why our pervasive language around leadership is actually ill-defined and problematic. The conversation aims to invite careful and considered thought about how we talk about ministry in the church and why the language we use has in some important sense failed our faith communities. Justin Anthony is Rector of Chingford parish, and was until recently the Deputy Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. He has worked in Alexandria, Virginia (as Dean of Students at a theological college), Canterbury (as Rector of a parish in the city), Oxford (as precentor of Christ Church Cathedral), and Cirencester (as curate and team vicar in the parish). He was born in Singapore, and educated there, in Germany, North Yorkshire, the LSE and Oxford. He has written three books as a sole author and contributed to others on issues of church life, ministry, and culture.   Presenting Sponsor: Phillips Seminary Join conversations that expose you to new ideas, deepen your commitment and give insights to how we can minister in a changing world.    Supporting Sponsors: I Help Pastors Get Jobs: Use code 'futurechristian' Torn Curtain Arts is a non-profit ministry that works with worship leaders, creatives, and churches to help avoid burnout, love their work, and realize their full creative potential.

This story hit the headlines in the newspapers across the country in the 1920s

This story hit the headlines in the newspapers across the country in the 1920s

Rob in Cirencester and Jo in Edinburgh are battling it out for the smart speaker!

Artistic director and CEO of The Barn Theatre in Cirencester, Iwan has established himself as a leading light of regional theatre. Growing up in West Wales, it was all about rugby, but an epiphany took him down a different path and into West End Theatre. The Barn is considered one of the very best of the UK's regional theatres, and talking to Iwan we gain a glimpse into why. In this episode, Iwan shares his deep knowledge of leadership and the importance of operating with passion as he talks about the modern face of British Theatre.

In another bonus episode, Andy and Jon discuss how the Bangers and Cash Live show went, who they met, what they learnt, and whether they would go back 'up north' again?!Apologies for the delay in getting this one out - it has been manic since we returned from Yorkshire, including Andy needing to go to Cirencester for work the following weekend. Where he did run into Becca from the Passenger Seat Podcast (an anecdote not mentioned in this episode actually!)Thanks for all the support - Enjoy!Support the showWe'd love you to hear and share your stories, please tag and follow us on social media. www.instagram.com/mydadscar_podcastwww.Facebook.com/mydadscar podcastwww.buymeacoffee.com/mydadscarIf you'd like to support the podcast and are able to, you can ‘buy us a coffee' which will help towards costs of hosting and purchasing equipment to allow us to record guests in person, rather than just on zoom. Get in touch with us direct - MyDadsCarPodcast@gmail.com

LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS!!QuestionsWhere do you and Tayla rank in the hottest eventing couples?Why eventing?What's your favourite eventing memory?Fan question — Tim RogersDid anyone not attend the Royal Ag University in Cirencester?ERM ended just before we arrived. What did you make of it?Top 3 pubs in WiltshireName your GB team for Paris right nowWho have been your biggest influences?Name your dream four ball — eventers only (past or present)Thanks mates xText Message the #BFOTS Hot LineBig fan of sosh-med? Come hang out!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eventingweekly/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093051393320

In this episode of The Tudor History & Travel Show, we travel to the Cotswolds. An area made rich by its wool trade in the medieval times, wool merchants would often fund the construction and renovation of churches in their communities as a way to display their wealth and status. The churches became known as "wool churches."    Joined by our guide, Dr Samantha Harper, we take a tour around two of the most prominent of these wool churches: St. John the Baptist in Cirencester and St Mary's Church in Fairford.   To see a gallery of images associated with the places we discuss in this episode, head to the associated show notes page here. Some useful links, mentioned in this episode, are below: To book your place on our upcoming virtual summit: Your Essential Guide to Coronation: Unravelling The Mystique Of Monarchy click here. To discover more about Henry VII and Elizabeth of York's 1502 progress, click here To discover more about Henry VII and Elizabeth of York's 1502 progress, click here (available only to The Ultimate Guide Members). England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jones   This is a shorter version of the full episode. The latter is available only to members of The Ultimate Guide to Exploring Tudor England. To join the wait list to become a member, click here.   In the meantime, if you want to keep up to date with all the Tudor Travel Guide's adventures, as well as top tips for planning your own Tudor road trip, don't forget to subscribe to the blog via www.thetudortravelguide.com.   This podcast now has an accompanying closed Facebook group, dedicated to discussing the places and artefacts discussed in each episode. it is also a place to ask your fellow Tudor time travellers questions about visiting Tudor locations or planning your Tudor-themed vacation or sharing your top tips to help others get the most out of their Tudor adventures on the road. Go to The Tudor History & Travel Show: Hitting the Road to join the community.    You can also find The Tudor Travel Guide on  Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook   Show Credits: Presenter: Sarah Morris Guest: Dr Samantha Harper Produced by Cutting Crew Productions

You may have seen the Instagram account adventuresofashepherdess and the lady behind that is today's guest, Bizza! Bizza studied at Cirencester before tackling a season of lambing in Glasgow, Orkney and Iceland! Her day job is as a rural advisor and the rest of the time works on the home farming enterprise which is comprised of a commercial sheep flock, her own Greyface Dartmoor's, a feed and agricultural store, shoot, fishing and holiday home. That is however still not the MAIN experience that drew me to Bizza. She has spent some time working in South Africa with rhinos and speaks about the potential of rhino horn legalisation. You're going to want to hear this!

Nearly half the free-range turkeys being produced for Christmas in the UK have been culled or died because of avian flu. that was the message from the poultry industry to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs select committee which has been taking evidence about the spread of bird flu. But one turkey farmer who wants to cull his turkeys early, to avoid the risk, says he is struggling to get hold of the Animal and Plant Health Agency to ensure he can slaughter his birds in time for Christmas. It was a year ago that Storm Arwen struck the North East of England and Eastern Scotland causing three deaths, and damaging swathes of woodland and countryside, with power cuts for hundreds of thousands of homes. The first official report showing how much damage was caused to woodland by Storm Arwen is being published by the government . The chairman of the Forestry Commission is calling for landowners to plant more diverse woodlands, that can better withstand climate change. Conservationists are using horses to graze land and encourage biodiversity. They say ponies graze in a way which creates a perfect habitat for insects, reptiles and small mammals. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust says that by using Welsh Mountain ponies on a reserve near Cirencester, they've managed to reintroduce a rare species of butterfly.

The severity of last week's heatwave is changing the narrative. Gaia Vince talks to Simon Evans, deputy editor of the climate publication Carbon Brief, who has been following the media coverage of this heatwave, and Lorraine Whitmarsh, professor of environmental psychology at the university of Bath. What has the recent hot weather done to the plants in our gardens, and the crops in our fields? Dr Nicola Cannon from the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester tells us the low-down. Expect your potatoes to get more expensive this autumn. The RHS want to know about how the heatwave has affected YOUR garden. You can help science by answering on this survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NVNH5FN What if we could use all the excess heat from summer, and store it to heat our homes in winter. It's something a team in the Netherlands and Austria have been looking at, using a thermochemical battery. Wim van Helden from AEE Institute in Gleisdorf in Austria explains how they made a prototype, and what the stumbling blocks are to widespread use of their system. Is this thermal battery the holy grail of heat supply? We run it, and other options, past Michael de Podestra. An ex-measurement scientist at the National Physics Laboratory until his retirement two years ago, he has since become an expert in retrofitting his house to try and make it carbon-neutral.

PC-J Entertainment was set up by PIERS COTTEE-JONES (pcjentertainment.com)(TW:@PiersCJ)(LI:@piers-cottee-jones)(IG:@pierscotteejones), formerly a producer at Rigmarole Productions, who's notable credits include Hair (UK Tour), Madagascar (UK Tour), Dark Sublime (Trafalgar Studios) and Pippin (Southwark Playhouse). Piers' desire to ensure that theatre is for all led to Dark Sublime being the first show at Trafalgar Studios to host a relaxed performance, on top of its 2 BSL interpreted performances. Notable credits include: Amélie (Criterion Theatre), Death Drop (Garrick Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre), Wonderville (Palace Theatre), Treason (Streamed from Cadogan Hall) and The World Goes ‘Round (The Barn Theatre, Cirencester).

PC-J Entertainment was set up by PIERS COTTEE-JONES (pcjentertainment.com)(TW:@PiersCJ)(LI:@piers-cottee-jones)(IG:@pierscotteejones), formerly a producer at Rigmarole Productions, who's notable credits include Hair (UK Tour), Madagascar (UK Tour), Dark Sublime (Trafalgar Studios) and Pippin (Southwark Playhouse). Piers' desire to ensure that theatre is for all led to Dark Sublime being the first show at Trafalgar Studios to host a relaxed performance, on top of its 2 BSL interpreted performances. Notable credits include: Amélie (Criterion Theatre), Death Drop (Garrick Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre), Wonderville (Palace Theatre), Treason (Streamed from Cadogan Hall) and The World Goes ‘Round (The Barn Theatre, Cirencester).      

Episode Description: In this episode, the Duchess meets Alice Kennard of Forde Abbey. Alice describes the fascinating monastic history of Forde Abbey, and why it was so important in its time. We also hear from Alice about the beauty of her award winning gardens, and we learn all about the famous Mortlake tapestry that used to hang in the Abbey. Top Quotes: “I feel there is a pressure to produce that clinical visitor experience the National Trust do, which I'm determined not to do. Here, they do see the family working bits, they do see our dogs coming out of the house, they do see people living in the grounds. I think its more welcoming!” - Alice Kennard “I always say it's a partnership with people running private heritage. It's a big welcoming handshake saying come in. Share our home. We're all doing our little bit to hand this over to another generation.” - Emma Rutland About the Guest and Stately Home: Alice Kennard was born to Mark & Lisa Roper. Her parents were custodians of Forde Abbey for decades, and Alice is the fourth generation of Ropers to live at Forde. Alice studied Land Management at Cirencester, where she met her husband Julian in 1997. The couple married and moved into the Home Farm on the Forde Abbey estate. Forde Abbey is a Grade I listed building within 1,600 acres of land. The house is set on the banks of the River Axe, close to where the borders of Devon, Somerset and Dorset intersect. Founded in the twelfth century, Forde Abbey was a monastery for four hundred years, during which time it became one of the richest and most learned institutions in England. After the dissolution of the larger monasteries in 1539, the Abbey was handed over over to the Crown. In 1649, Forde was purchased by Edmund Prideaux, Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis. He was largely responsible for transforming Forde Abbey from a Monastic residence to a private home. The Mortlake Tapestries used to hang on the walls in The Saloon, now in the V&A, and replaced by copies at Forde. Forde Abbey has also been featured in 2015's Far From the Maddening Crowd, 1995's Restoration and 2002's BBC adaptation of Daniel Deronda. About the Host: Emma, Duchess of Rutland, grew up far away from the world of the aristocracy. Born Emma Watkins, the Duchess grew up the daughter of a Quaker farmer, in the Welsh countryside. She trained as an opera singer in the Guildhall School of Music, and worked as a successful interior designer before meeting her future husband David Manners, the 11th Duke of Rutland, at a dinner party. Their marriage in 1992 thrust Emma into a new world, which included the responsibility of preserving one of the nation's greatest stately homes: Belvoir Castle. While simultaneously running the day to day operations of the castle, and raising five children, the Duchess became fascinated with the history and importance of the other stately homes of the UK. Join Emma as she embarks on a wonderful journey through time, to learn more about the incredible homes that have defined Great Britain and, most importantly, meet the other extraordinary women who work tirelessly in the background, to preserve their homes history and magic for future generations. Resources: https://www.fordeabbey.co.uk/ (https://www.fordeabbey.co.uk/) https://www.belvoircastle.com/ (https://www.belvoircastle.com/) https://www.onefineplay.com/ (https://www.onefineplay.com/) https://www.emmaduchessrutland.com/ (https://www.emmaduchessrutland.com/)

Episode Description: In this episode, our host travels to Cirencester Park to meet the Countess of Bathurst. In the show, the Countess explains to the Duchess how the Earl of Bathurst ensured the battle of waterloo, the Duchess is introduced to the ‘tornado of a woman' who called Cirencester her home, and the Countess tells the amusing encounter the late Earl of Bathurst had with Prince William. Top Quotes: “These estates, these houses, are a way of life. It's not a job. They seep into your soul and into your being and they become part of you and you become part of it.” - Countess of Bathurst “It's a total partnership with people living in heritage.” Duchess of Rutland About the Guest and Stately Home: The Countess of Bathurst is married to her husband Allan, the 9th Earl of Bathurst. She spends much of her time has been spent running the house at Cirencester Park and involving herself deeply in the Gloucestershire community in a number of roles and charities around the county. This includes being patron to Herefordshire and Gloucestershire charity Salters Hill and PCC Ambassador for Gloucestershire. Cirencester Park is a country house in the parish of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England, and is the seat of the Bathurst family. Unusually for a stately home, the Park sits within the town of Cirencester, screened from it by the tallest Yew hedge in the world. The house contains portraits by Lawrence, Gainsborough, Romney, Lely, Reynolds, Hoppner, Kneller and many others, and a set of giant marble columns carrying busts, which are genuine antiques. The gardens surrounding the estate are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. About the Host: Emma Rutland, The Duchess of Rutland, did not always stride the halls of stately homes. Born Emma Watkins, the Duchess grew up the daughter of a Quaker farmer, in the Welsh marsh countryside. She trained as an opera singer in the Guildhall School of Music, and worked as a successful interior designer before meeting her future husband David Manners, the 11th Duke of Rutland, at a dinner party. Their marriage in 1992 would transform Emma Watkins into the 11th Duchess of Rutland, thrusting her into the world of aristocracy, and handing her the responsibility of one of the nation's great treasures: Belvoir Castle. While simultaneously running the day to day operations of the castle, and raising five children, The Duchess became fascinated with the history and importance of the other stately homes of the UK. Join The Duchess as she embarks on a wonderful journey through time, to learn more about the incredible homes that have defined Great Britain and, most importantly, meet the other extraordinary women who work tirelessly behind their doors to preserve their history and magic for future generations. Resources: https://www.bathurstestate.co.uk/visitors/cirencester-park/ (https://www.bathurstestate.co.uk/visitors/cirencester-park/) https://www.belvoircastle.com/ (https://www.belvoircastle.com/) https://www.onefineplay.com/ (https://www.onefineplay.com/) https://www.emmaduchessrutland.com/ (https://www.emmaduchessrutland.com/)