Podcasts about British

World news in 7 minutes. Friday 27th June 2025.Today: Kenya protest deaths. CAR stampede. Ukraine Europe tribunal. North Korea tourism. China floods. Palestine Israel update. Japan bear airport. Ecuador recapture. Dollar down. Plastic paracetamol.Ask Me Anything - Send questions at send7.orgAsk Me Anything Christmas 2024 : https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ask-me-anything-2024--63465061Ask Me Anything Christmas 2023 : https://www.spreaker.com/episode/bonus-your-stories-ask-me-anything--58107490SEND7 is supported by our amazing listeners like you.Our supporters get access to the transcripts and vocabulary list written by us every day.Our supporters get access to an English worksheet made by us once per week.Our supporters get access to our weekly news quiz made by us once per week.We give 10% of our profit to Effective Altruism charities. You can become a supporter at send7.org/supportContact us at podcast@send7.org or send an audio message at speakpipe.com/send7Please leave a rating on Apple podcasts or Spotify.We don't use AI! Every word is written and recorded by us!Since 2020, SEND7 (Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes) has been telling the most important world news stories in intermediate English. Every day, listen to the most important stories from every part of the world in slow, clear English. Whether you are an intermediate learner trying to improve your advanced, technical and business English, or if you are a native speaker who just wants to hear a summary of world news as fast as possible, join Stephen Devincenzi and Juliet Martin every morning. Transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets and our weekly world news quiz are available for our amazing supporters at send7.org. Simple English News Daily is the perfect way to start your day, by practising your listening skills and understanding complicated daily news in a simple way. It is also highly valuable for IELTS and TOEFL students. Students, teachers, TEFL teachers, and people with English as a second language, tell us that they use SEND7 because they can learn English through hard topics, but simple grammar. We believe that the best way to improve your spoken English is to immerse yourself in real-life content, such as what our podcast provides. SEND7 covers all news including politics, business, natural events and human rights. Whether it is happening in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania, you will hear it on SEND7, and you will understand it.Get your daily news and improve your English listening in the time it takes to make a coffee.For more information visit send7.org/contact or send an email to podcast@send7.org

I'm done with the sound of my own voice – you know what that means? Time to dive into your voicemails, sloots. We've got a sloot on the brink of a long distance crisis, a male sloot stuck in Florida, a British streamer lacking female attention, and a slew of deranged lore that I'm eternally grateful y'all are letting me share with the public. Y'all are FUNNY. Thanks for dialing 1-800 SLOOTS! IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER if you're still reading – you're in for a special treat at minute 7:20…I was trying not to have a menty b and it sounds like I'm speaking in tongues but it made the cut because it's real! Follow Sofia on:  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sofiafranklyn   TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@sofiafranklyn   Twitter - https://twitter.com/sofiafranklyn    Threads - https://www.threads.net/@sofiafranklyn  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://ww.audacvinc.com/privacy-policy    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Donald Trump addressed leaders at a NATO summit in the Netherlands Wednesday as the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Iran continued to hold for a second day. Trump said the U.S. would be holding talks with Iran sometime next week, though he added he didn't think a new nuclear agreement was actually necessary because ‘the war's done.' While the administration continues to fight reports that Iran's nuclear program remains anything short of “totally obliterated,' there's still an ongoing debate within the broader MAGA world about the wisdom of the strikes in the first place. Sohrab Ahmari, U.S. editor for the British news and opinion outlet UnHerd, talks about what the strikes ultimately say about the MAGA foreign policy doctrine.And in headlines: Attorney General Pam Bondi denied knowledge that federal agents were wearing masks during immigration raids, Trump appeared to inch closer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in its ongoing war with Russia, and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's political future remains uncertain after a resounding loss to State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary.Show Notes:Check out Sohrab's piece – https://tinyurl.com/2kehejpzSubscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

Brea and Mallory go through their most anticipated books for July and August. Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com!Reading Glasses MerchRecommendations StoreSponsor -GreenChefwww.greenchef.com/50GLASSESCODE: 50GLASSESLinks -Reading Glasses Facebook GroupReading Glasses Goodreads GroupAmazon Wish ListNewsletterLibro.fmTo join our Discord channel, email us proof of your Reading-Glasses-supporting Maximum Fun membership!www.maximumfun.org/joinBooks Mentioned -It Rhymes with Takei by George Takei and Harmony BeckerThe Lilac People by Milo ToddJulyFinding Grace by Loretta RothschildLiterary fiction, family drama, dual timelines, moral dilemmaThe Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth WareSequel to The Woman in Cabin 10Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly JacksonThriller, mystery, woman trying to solve her own murder before she diesA Resistance of Witches by Morgan RyanHistorical fantasy, WWII, British witches, magic book, magical espionage, FranceVolatile Memory by Seth HaddonSci fi, queer love story, adventure, novella, tech, AIThe Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-GarciaHorror, witches, 19th century Mexico, 1990s Massachusetts, dual timelinesAngel Down by Daniel KrausHistorical horror/fantasy, WWI, angels, soldiersTotally and Completely Fine by Elissa SussmanRomance, dual timelines, widowed single mom, normal person/celebrity, small town MontanaRose in Chains by Julie SotoRomantasy, first in trilogy, princess imprisoned in castle auctioned off to rivalsThe Irresistible Urge to Fall in Love with Your Enemy by Brigette KnightleyRomantasy, Dramoine, sick assassin falling in love with enemy healer, first in duology, slow burn enemies to lovers, rival magician ordersA Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu MandannaRomantasy, cozy, witch and magical historian at an enchanted inn, talking foxTenderly, I Am Devoured by Lyndall ClipstoneYA, gothic, horromance, queer, folklore, love triangle, rituals, godsGlorious Rivals by Jennifer Lynn BarnesYA, Inheritance Games saga, competition, puzzles, secretsImmortal Consequences by I.V. MarieYA, romantasy, dark academia, boarding school, competitionNo Sense in Wishing by Lawrence BurneyEssay collection, critical moments with art that transformed the author, Black diasporaA Marriage at Sea by Sophie ElmhirstNonfiction, married couple who sells everything to live on a sailboatI Want to Burn This Place Down by Maris KreizmanEssay collection, funny, living in AmericaKilling Stella by Marlen Haushofer, translated by Shaun WhitesideNovella, literary fiction, confession from housewife of crimeThe Age of Video Games: A Graphic History of Gaming from Pong to VR and Beyond by Jean Zeid, illustrated by Émilie Rouge, translated by Jen VaughnNonfiction, graphic historyThe Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne by Chris SweeneyNonfiction, forensic ornithologyNecessary Fiction by Eloghosa OsundeQueer literary fiction, multiple POV, Lagos, navigating identitiesBeasts of Carnaval: A Caribbean Historical Fantasy Tale of Mystery and Magic at El Carnaval De Bestias by Rosália RodrigoYA historical fantasy, Caribbean islands, Black diaspora, decadent carnivalHot Girls With Balls by Benedict NguyễnLiterary fiction, satire, queer, competitive volleyball, social media, trans volleyball players, romanceThe Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida translated by Bruno NavaskyMagical realism, Japanese convenience store, three interconnected storiesSimplicity by Mattie LubchanskySurreal graphic novel, near future sci fi, trans protagonist, isolated communityThe Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldaña París, translated by Christina MacSweeneyCli fi, love triangle, dancing, three friends returning to hometown, Mexico, surrealArchive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr.Literary fiction, dual timelines, Salvadoran civil war, loveThe Payback by Kashana CauleyLiterary fiction, three co-workers turned friends launch a heist to wipe out student debtPan by Michael CluneLiterary fiction, teen having panic attacks and thinks the god Pan is trapped inside of himLonely Crowds by Stephanie WambuguLiterary fiction, 1990s New England college campus, coming of age, Catholic guilt, art worldThe Original by Nell StevensQueer historical fiction, 1899 English country house, aspiring art forger must figure out if her long-lost cousin is an impostorHuman Rites by Juno DawsonBook 3 in Her Majesty's Royal CovenCall Your Boyfriend by Olivia A. Cole and Ashley WoodfolkYA sapphic rom com, two teen girls want revenge on the popular girl they're in love withMoon Rising by Claire BarnerQueer near future romantisci, lunar colony, battling eco terroristsThe Gryphon King by Sara OmerQueer Southwest Asian inspired epic fantasy, monsters, dynastic politics, slow burn romanceTaste the love by Karelia and Fay Stetz-WatersSapphic romance with rival chefsNo Body No Crime by Tess SharpeQueer thriller, romance, secrets, two girls killing a shitty guyHouse of Beth by Kerry CullenQueer literary fiction, unhinged women, OCD, family secretsWayward Girls by Susan WiggsQueer historical fiction, 1960s Buffalo, six girls in a Catholic reform schoolThe Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. DawsonQueer fantasy, waystation for the dead, ghostsThe Elysium Heist by Y. M. ResnikQueer sci fi, heist in a space casino with six women, intergalactic card tournamentThe Haunting of Bellington Cottage by Laura ParnumMiddle grade horror, two girls trying to see if they're still friends in a haunted vacation houseAnother by Paul TremblayPaul's middle grade horror debut!!!!!The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra KhawHorror, wicked dark academia, dark magic academy for the dangerously powerfulGirl in the Creek by Wendy M. WagnerHorror, Pacific Northwest, missing hiker, body horror, eco-horror, sporrorOddbody by Rose KeatingHorror short stories, “weird girl fiction”Never the Roses by Jennifer K. LambertRomantasy, epic fantasy, Circle meets The Witch's HeartThe Frozen People by Elly GriffithsSci fi thriller, time traveling cold case teamHow to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory ArnoldFantasy thriller, famous horror author dies & invites writers to his manor to play a game, locked room mysteryThe Secret Market of the Dead by Giovanni De FeoFantasy, Italian inspired, historical, gothic, magic competition, “young woman who finds her power in the nocturnal realm that lurks beneath her town.”The Art of Vanishing by Morgan PagerSci fi, love story between a museum employee and a man in a paintingThe Alchemy of Flowers by Laura ResauModern fantasy take on The Secret GardenArcana Academy by Elise KovaRomantasy, woman who wield magic tarot cards in a fake relationship with the headmaster of a mysterious academy, first in seriesHit Me with Your Best Charm by Lillie ValeYA fantasy, small magic town, autumn festival, secrets, magic forest, missing kidSoulgazer by Maggie RapierPirate romantasy, lost mystical isleAugustThe Hounding by Xenobe PurvisHistorical horror, mystery, small town, girls transforming into houndsThe Locked Ward by Sarah PekkanenPsychological thriller, psychiatric institution, solving a murder, shady rich familyToo Old for This by Samantha DowningFunny thriller, elderly female serial killer, small town OregonForget Me Not by Stacy WillinghamMystery, new series, journalist solving case, old diary, vineyard, SouthernHouse of the Beast by Michelle WongDark fantasy, fairy tales, pact with a magical entity, revenge on rich familyThe Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis SacharAdult cozy fantasy, princess escaping arranged marriage with quirky found familyThe Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth BrownFantasy, secret society protecting world from powerful magical objects, LondonHemlock and Silver by T. KingfisherFantasy, Snow White retelling, herbal healing, potions, magic mirrorsKatabasis by R.F. KuangFantasy, two PhD students go to hell to rescue their crappy advisorThese Memories Do Not Belong to Us by Yiming MaSci fi, memory, thriller, memory-monitoring tech, memory capitalismBlack Flame by Gretchen Felker-MartinHorror, queer, sexual repression, film archives, exploitation films, lost filmLucky Day by Chuck TingleHorror, cosmic horror, Vegas casino, statistics, mysterious federal agentWhat Hunger by Catherine DangHorror, coming of age, teen angst, generational trauma, female rageThe End of the World as We Know It edited by Christopher Golden and Brian KeeneHorror anthology inspired by The StandThe Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel CañasHorror, historical, 1700s northern Mexico, demon, gothicWell, Actually by Mazey EddingsRomance, second chances with publicly documented datesLove Arranged by Lauren AsherRomance, Lakefront Billionaires series, fake relationshipMistress of Bones by Maria Z. MedinaYA debut fantasy, multiple POV, necromancer who wants to bring her sister back from the dead, romance, floating continents, rapier fightsBaldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas BoggsBiography of James Baldwin, queer history Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood Literary fiction, Gaza war correspondent protagonist, dark comedy A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi Surreal literary sci fi, protagonist with multiple personalities Extinction Capital of the World by Mariah Rigg Short stories, cli fi, Hawaii, love and regret The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn Romance, rom-com, lovers to enemies to lovers, her ex goes on a reality dating show while she's hired to ghost write his memoir Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders Cozy fantasy in autumn in New England!!!, witch trying to reconnect with her mother, spellsThe Midnight Shift by Seon-Ran Cheon, translated by Gene PngQueer vampire murder mystery in KoreaToni and Addie Go Viral by Melissa MarrSapphic romance, fake relationship, Victorian historian and actress

BREAKING: Dana White announces Jon Jones retirement…but UFC Heavyweight star Tom Aspinall still wants a title fight. He reveals the truth about Jon Jones' retirement, and breaks down the champion mindset, fear, and mental toughness required for UFC title fights.  Tom Aspinall is the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, a top-ranked professional mixed martial artist, and the first British heavyweight in history to claim a UFC title. He was set to face UFC legend Jon Jones until Jones announced his retirement in June 2025, automatically elevating Aspinall from interim to undisputed champion. Tom explains:  The mental trick he uses to control fear before stepping into the cage. Why so many young men feel lost, and how MMA gave him purpose. The harsh reality of life as a UFC fighter behind the scenes. How embracing pain, pressure, and adversity made him a champion. 00:00 Intro 02:37 Did You See This Coming? 03:16 What Was Your Reaction When You Found Out Jon Jones Was Retiring? 04:08 Did You Want to Fight Jon? 05:06 Was Jon's Decision a Strategic Dodge? 06:08 Do You Take It as a Compliment? 07:14 Would You Fight Jon If He Came Back? 08:36 What's Changed Overnight? 10:28 Who's the Contender Now? 11:33 When Will You Fight Next? 13:47 What Was Your Family's Reaction? 15:14 If Jon Is Watching, What Would You Say? 17:33 The Dream to Become a Heavyweight Champion 18:17 Where Does Tom Aspinall Come From? 19:37 Where Did Your Inspiration Come From? 21:53 What Kept You Going? 24:38 Why Did Your Mum Never Come to an MMA Fight? 26:32 What Advice Would You Give to Young People? 29:41 I'm Scared to Fight Anybody 31:55 I've Always Been Fearful to Fight 32:56 Overcoming the Fear 35:29 Working on Your Mental Strength 37:49 Tom's Process of Writing Things Down 41:22 Very Few Make Money Fighting 44:14 Tom Aspinall's Career Progression and Fighting Style 48:33 When Do You Start Making Good Money? 49:59 Sergei Pavlovich Fight 51:09 It Takes Years to Become an Overnight Success 52:34 Having Kids at 23 and Not Being Able to Support Them 57:11 Your Rock Bottom Moment 58:37 Tom's Family 01:01:58 Ads 1:02:57 My Knee Problems Helped My Career Massively 1:06:22 Surrounded by Toxic People 1:09:45 How Did You Feel After the Injury? 1:11:58 Did It Knock Your Confidence? 1:13:32 Jon Jones 1:17:40 There's No Contract Signed 1:23:58 Tom's Fighting Secrets 1:26:16 The Health Routine to Get Into Elite Shape 01:30:08:17 Ads 1:31:12 Why Do You Do Hypnotherapy? 1:34:36 Your Journey With Anxiety 1:37:30 Your Son's Health 1:38:18 Having an Autistic Child 1:47:27 The Importance of an Autism Diagnosis 1:52:47 The UFC Heavyweight Champion Belt 1:53:43 How Did You Feel Winning the Heavyweight Championship? 1:55:28 Retiring Early to Avoid Cognitive Issues 2:00:54 Why Are You Special? 2:03:59 How I Prepare Mentally on Fight Day Follow Tom:  Instagram - https://bit.ly/4kbCZGh  YouTube - https://bit.ly/4lhLwbO  Get your hands on the Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards here: https://bit.ly/conversationcards-mp   Get email updates: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt  Follow Steven: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb  Sponsors:  Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven   KetoneIQ - Visit https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Evie Stokes talks with KEXP staff writer Martin Douglas about fake British accents, art school kids and Cincinnati’s fun, post-punk band Artificial Go’s “Lasso.” Artificial Go’s new album Musical Chairs is out now on Feel It Records. Hosted by Evie StokesProduced by Lilly Ana FowlerMastered by: William MyersProduction support: Serafima HealyAssociate Director of Editorial: Dusty Henry Listen to the full songs on KEXP's "In Our Headphones" playlist on Spotify or the “What's In Our Headphones” playlist on YouTube. Support the podcast: kexp.org/headphonesContact us at headphones@kexp.org. Photo credit: Paul L CarterSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just steps from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall lies the barely visible foundation of a house that once held the weight of a revolution, a presidency—and a deep contradiction. This week on Parkography, we uncover the story of the President's House in Philadelphia, a mansion that passed through the hands of a British general, a colonial governor, a wealthy financier, a traitorous American officer, and two U.S. presidents. But beneath its grand halls and bowed windows lived another story—one of enslaved people fighting silently for their own freedom in the shadow of a nation proclaiming liberty for all. Join Jason Epperson as he walks through the rubble and history of the forgotten home at Sixth and Market, where the founding of the United States unfolded brick by brick—and where the legacy of freedom remains unfinished. Written by Lizzie Tesch Hosted by Jason Epperson Find the  Slinky Stove that's right for your next adventure at: https://www.slinkystove.com/?ref=PARKography Join the PARKography Facebook group to discuss this episode and more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/parkography Check out our other channels focused on RV travel:   @RVMiles    @RVMilesPodcast ​

In this episode of America's Founding Series on The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano uncovers the astonishing true story of James Armistead Lafayette, the enslaved double agent who outwitted the British and helped secure America's independence. Risking death to serve a nation that had yet to grant him freedom, James's intelligence work was pivotal to the victory at Yorktown, yet his legacy remains largely forgotten. Discover how one man's courage, deception, and loyalty shaped the course of history and exposed the deep contradictions of a revolution born in liberty. Episode Highlights How James Armistead infiltrated British General Cornwallis's camp and misled the enemy at a critical moment in the war The unlikely bond between James Armistead and Marquis de Lafayette changed the trajectory of his life The fight James waged after the war for the freedom he had earned but was still denied

This week, our hosts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Dave Bittner⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (also host of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠T-Minus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Space Daily show) are back sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start with some follow-up from listener Abdussobur, who wonders if a pair of suspicious text messages—one sent to his wife and another to him with a nearby address—could be the result of a data breach. Joe's story is on a surge of financial aid fraud where identity thieves, often using AI chatbots as “ghost students,” are enrolling in online college courses to steal federal funds—leaving real people like Heather Brady and Wayne Chaw with fake loans and months of bureaucratic cleanup. Dave's got the story on how the FIN6 cybercriminal group is posing as job seekers on LinkedIn to trick recruiters into opening malware-laced resumes, using deceptive tactics like fake portfolio sites and the MoreEggs backdoor to steal credentials and launch ransomware attacks. Maria's story is on a Pennsylvania woman who scammed over $800,000—nearly $466,000 from a Cedar Rapids church—by hacking emails and rerouting payments, claiming she did it under the direction of a famous British actor she was allegedly dating. Our catch of the day is on a convincing but bogus text claiming an overdue traffic fine under a fake regulation—complete with threats of license suspension and credit damage—all designed to trick recipients into clicking a malicious link. Resources and links to stories: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How scammers are using AI to steal college financial aid FIN6 cybercriminals pose as job seekers on LinkedIn to hack recruiters Woman scams church out of over $450,000, says famous British actor told her to do it ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠hackinghumans@n2k.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Welcome to Episode #175 of the Way of the Bible podcast. This is our seventh of eight episodes in our Twenty-Second mini-series entitled The Return of Jesus Christ. On today's episode, we'll continue to scratch the surface of Old Testament prophetic texts in the book of Daniel that speak of the return of Jesus. We are likely living in a period the Bible refers to more than any other. The judgment of the world and the return of Jesus Christ on the Day of the Lord. I asked at the beginning of our last episode, “Are you ready for this?” The return of Jesus Christ. I ask it again. Are you ready? There are so many prophetic plates spinning wildly that all point to a world conflagration. We now have two escalating conflicts in the world and two others about to emerge. Israel and Iran are trading missile launches and fighter bomber sorties over the production of weapon-grade plutonium. The USA stepped into the conflict with a bombing raid of our own on three high-value nuclear targets in Iran. Russia and Ukraine are still killing one another in large numbers on battlefields as well as indiscriminately bombing cities of both nations. The United States and the European Union both have their fingers in this conflict as they try to isolate Russia and weaken its power on the global scene.With northern Europe and the Middle East in states of high tension, China has an excellent opportunity to expand its global power footprint by reclaiming the island of Taiwan. At the same time, North Korea has returned to firing missiles into the ocean to once again make its neighbors aware of their nuclear capabilities.Why is any of this important? Hasn't the world always been in conflict? The answer to this last question is a definitive, NO. The world hasn't always been in conflict. Up until WWI, all wars on the planet were local or regional. Neighbors fighting neighbors for territorial dominance. WWI changed all that when suddenly there was a global disturbance between nations centered in Europe. Many historians do not believe the war ended at the signing of the Armistice of November 11, 1918 but was continued in WWII.  During WWII, the German regime murdered over fifteen million people, including six million Jews, which was a third of their entire population globally. The holocaust was not a one-off but a continual threat the Jews have faced since their dispersion into the world following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. Just look up their history, and you'll see they are an often-hated, persecuted, and hunted people, no matter where they settle in the world. Yet through millennia, they have proudly retained their genealogical and national heritage.In the early 19th Century, a Zionist movement began to actively resettle Jews from around the world in a new Israel in the promised land. This Zionist movement was successful in having a British declaration made to that effect in the early 20th Century (Re: Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917). The land of Palestine, which encompassed Israel, was partitioned to the British after WWI as their spoil of war. Following WWII, and the dissolution of British control over the region, the delegates of the United Nations set aside a small portion of the British partition along the Mediterranean Sea for the nation of Israel. Amid local objections and inflamed emotions, the nation of Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Through subsequent short conflicts with other nations, Israel acquired control over additional disputed lands, including the city of Jerusalem.Since its formation in 1948, Israel has become a powerful nation in the neighborhood and possesses nuclear weapons. It is a continual state of expansion as Jews from around the world migrate to this tiny country. Latest estimates indicate over nine million Jews are currently in Israel. This number constitutes almost one-third of all Jews in the worl

This week: war and peaceDespite initial concerns, the ‘Complete and Total CEASEFIRE' – according to Donald Trump – appears to be holding. Tom Gross writes this week's cover piece and argues that a weakened Iran offers hope for the whole Middle East. But how? He joined the podcast to discuss further, alongside Gregg Carlstrom, the Economist's Middle East correspondent based in Dubai. (01:51)Next: why are so many restaurants offering halal meat?Angus Colwell writes about the growing popularity of halal meat in British restaurants. This isn't confined to certain food groups or particular areas – halal is now being offered across restaurants serving all sorts of cuisine, from Chinese to Mexican. But why is it so popular? And is it just a trend, or part of a wider shift for British restaurants? Angus joined the podcast to discuss further, alongside restaurateur James Chiavarini, owner of Il Portico and La Palombe, both in Kensington. (23:46)And finally: millennials, the brown furniture is on its wayThe ‘great wealth transfer' – the transfer of trillions in wealth from boomers to millennials – is oft-discussed, but Arabella Byrne argues this goes far beyond just money. Brown furniture, from desks to cabinets to mirrors, will be passed on as inheritance by boomers who downsize – and Arabella says this is ‘the abject symbol of generational misalignment'. Arabella joined the podcast to discuss further, alongside The Spectator's economics editor Michael Simmons. (33:07)Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

Graham Simmons and 2021 Lion Hamish Watson dive into Andy Farrell's greatly anticipated second British & Irish Lions XV for the 2025 Tour. With Western Force poised to strike, the lads dissect the selections, the battle for test spots, and Farrell's key selection changes made since Dublin. Has Farrell got the chemistry right? Massive moments await as Dan Sheehan debuts as captain and Pollock starts at 8. Don't miss this crucial breakdown as the 2025 Lions era heats up! "Simmo" worked for 25 years as Sky Sports' rugby union reporter, working on 5 Lions Tours. He also spent a decade broadcasting on their golf coverage from Ryder Cups and US Opens to USPGAs. GBR's Lions Coverage is sponsored by Continental Tyres #Rugby #Podcast

Ever heard the phrase “may you live in interesting times?” Seems applicable these days. And it's causing a lot of people to live with a constant feeling of anxiety that nags at you, sapping at your energy throughout the day, so by bedtime, you're exhausted but still can't sleep. Financial stress is a primary source. According to an April 2025 survey, fewer than 45% of Americans say they're in better than fair shape financially. Which means more than 50% are not ok. Well, there's a good chance that it's not your fault. Because many Americans did not grow up with the family support to develop financial literacy from a young age. Maybe you were told family finances were “none of your business.” Layer on top that often parents and grandparents didn't have a strong financial foundation of understanding to start with either. Anders Jones has been taking matters around this topic into his own hands ever since a series of twists and turns brought him into what he and his mother jokingly call "the family business", even though the family doesn't have a business and they never worked together.Growing up, Anders was fortunate to not really want for much of anything. His mom worked at Fidelity and helped millions of Americans prepare for retirement. His stepdad was a British guy who gifted him his first car, complete with a single CD disc changer and two requirements.Graduating college in 2009, at the height of a financial crisis, he didn't have a whole lot of prospects for becoming an investment banker or going into private equity. So he joined a Web 2.0 company owned by a serial entrepreneur whose method was to hire young, promising talent and empower them to figure things out. After a while, they sold the company. Since then, he's become involved with several ventures, including co-founding a financial planning firm called Facet.Now, Anders says that he feels so fortunate that if he were to die and be reincarnated, he'd want to come back as himself. That's not something many people would say. So at what moment did the boomerang whack him in the face and show him why Fine Is a 4-Letter Word?Well hang on, because when you meet Anders, you'll find out that this time, it's you, the listener, for whom things are not "fine". Up until now, you've been told that money is a taboo topic. Up until now, you've been told to trust your gut, then gotten lambasted when you did and things didn't work out as planned. It's time for new conversations on a lot of topics. Anders is going to get us started on three - gratitude, mindfulness, and financial literacy. There's a reason he picks three, which you'll also find out. Anders' hype song is “Riding With The King” by B.B. King & Eric Clapton.Resources:Anders Jones' website: https://facet.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anders-jones/ Invitation from Lori:This episode is sponsored by Zen Rabbit. Smart business leaders know trust is the foundation of every great workplace. And in today's hybrid and fast-moving work culture, trust isn't built in quarterly town halls or the occasional Slack message. It's built through consistent, clear, and HUMAN communication. Companies and leaders TALK about the importance of connection and community. And it's easy to believe your organization is doing a great job of maintaining an awesome corporate culture. Because you've got annual all-hands meeting and open door policies, and “fun" team-building events.But let's be real. Leaders who are serious about building real trust are finding better ways to...

This week we're cracking open Congo (1995), the jungle romp where killer gorillas guard diamonds and a gorilla named Amy talks with a Nintendo Power Glove. Laura Linney's armed, Dylan Walsh brought juice boxes for a primate, and Ernie Hudson is the only one who knows what movie he's in. It's corporate espionage meets theme park ride—and we're digging through the chaos to see why this '90s relic is still echoing through our brains like “Ugly gorilla! Go away!” Did you enjoy the episode? Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us for more retro movie discussions! Want even more? Get bonus content and connect with us directly by supporting the show on Patreon. For additional episodes and exclusive insights, head to www.30podcast.com. And if you love what you hear, leave us a glowing review on your favorite podcast app—especially Apple Podcasts. Your support keeps the show going! Want the lyrics to our Congo song? [Verse 1] We took a trip to Congo, thought it'd be a breeze Diamonds in a lost city, easy cash and a jungle tease But then a scream through the satellite feed For Bruce Campbell a quick cameo Killed by the vicious pale ape – oh no! [Verse 2] Amy's a talking gorilla in the mist Joe Don Baker's really pissed Tim Curry sounds like he's from Moscow Winston Zeddemore is British now There are hidden dangers they've all missed. [Chorus] I can't say… I can't say… I can't say… where I'm-a-gonna stay When the gray apes slay [Verse 3] From plane crash landings to high-tech guns To diamond-fueled vapor beams hotter than the sun Jimmy Buffett flew the jet, Peter's eyes are getting wet Amy met a hunky silverback and to the jungle they will run. [Bridge] “Where's Homolka?” “Getting chewed.” “Is that a diamond?” “Not anymore, dude.” “Volcano's bubbling!” “I smell cooked ape!” “Let's go, let's go—before we all get vaped!” [Chorus] I can't say… I can't say… I can't say… where I'm-a-gonna stay When the gray apes slay The ground quakes, the lava flows, (doo-doo-doo-doo-doot!) Yeah, the volcano's gonna blow! It's CONGO!

Breaking royal news as Kate Middleton's cancer treatment details emerge, including her "lifeline" port device at Royal Marsden Hospital. Plus, King Charles extends second state visit invitation to President Trump for September 2025, making him the first US president to receive two British state visits. We also cover Prince William's Earthshot Prize promotion amid criticism of Trump's environmental policies, and King Charles' quirky moment shaking hands with a gorilla puppet at a biodiversity event. Royal Drawing School celebration and Harry's 2027 Invictus Games controversy with Camilla's birthday clash included.Get ready for our new series Crown and Controversy coming July 13th. Follow now.  The full Season 1 is available now for premium subscribers. To become a premium subscriber (no ads and no feed drops) visit caloroga.com/plus.   For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app which seays UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. You also get 25+ other shows on the network ad-free!   

Early in the COVID pandemic, as we figured out how to live our lives solely at home, news stories began to be filled with stories about COVID's spread and reproduction rates. Soon, social media were filled with amateur epidemiologists trying to make sense of those rates and sometimes making a mess of it. A series of articles in Significance examined the discourse around reproduction rates during COVID, and it's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Gavin Freeguard Gavin Freeguard is a freelance consultant focused on among other things, data, information, and policy. He formerly worked at the Institute for Government in the UK, where he served for a time as the programme director, head of data and transparency. Years ago, Freeguard was the deputy director of The Orwell Prize, which recognizes the best of British political writing. He authored a 5-part series in Significance about reproduction rates and COVID.

** NATO members agree to raise defence spending to 5 percent of GDP... ** Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addresses European Council, demands Russia face justice... And in tennis, ** Australia's young shooting star, Maya Joint, has defeated British star Emma Raducanu. News from today's live program (1-2pm). - ***オランダのハーグで開催されていた、NATO首脳会議で、 加盟国は国防費の割合を国内総生産の5％に引き上げることを合意しました。 *** ウクライナのゼレンスキー大統領は、ロシアのリーダーに対し、 ウクライナ侵攻に関して、法の裁きをうけることを求めています。 *** テニスでは、オーストラリアの若きスター、マヤ・ジョイントが、 イギリスのスター、エマ・ラドゥカヌを破り、 キャリアの新たな一歩をふみだしました。 2025年6月26日放送。

Nigerian-British Author Nikki May joins Monica Wisdom to discuss her journey from executive to author, highlighting her latest novel, "This Motherless Land." The conversation delves into the complexities of identity, culture, and the resilience of women, as reflected in Nikki's characters. She shares her personal experiences growing up in Nigeria and England, emphasizing the importance of representation in literature.Throughout the discussion, Nikki expresses the significance of embracing one's whole self, celebrating both her Nigerian and British heritage. As they explore themes of joy, trauma, and the impact of community, listeners are encouraged to share their own stories and find inspiration in Nikki's narrative journey. A heartfelt and engaging discussion unfolds as Monica Wisdom Tyson speaks with Nikki May, whose literary journey reflects a remarkable blend of personal experiences and cultural narratives.The episode centers on Nikki's latest work, *This Motherless Land*, a novel that skillfully intertwines themes of love, loss, and the quest for identity. Nikki shares how her upbringing in Nigeria profoundly influences her writing, revealing the rich tapestry of experiences that inform the lives of her characters. Funke, the protagonist, is a testament to resilience, navigating the complexities of her dual heritage while seeking a sense of belonging amidst the challenges of her environment. The conversation also touches on the importance of community support in the creative process.Nikki emphasizes that the characters she creates are not solely products of her imagination but are deeply rooted in her real-life connections and cultural heritage. This episode is particularly poignant as it highlights the necessity of storytelling in understanding oneself and others.Nikki's journey from executive to author serves as an inspiration for many, showcasing that it's never too late to pursue one's dreams and share one's voice. As the episode concludes, listeners are left with a sense of empowerment and an invitation to embrace their own stories, reminding us all that our narratives can have a significant impact on the world around us. Takeaways:• Monica Wisdom emphasizes the importance of sharing personal stories to empower other women.• Nikki May shares her journey from medical school dropout to published author, highlighting resilience.• The podcast discusses the significance of representation and the need for diverse narratives in literature.• Nikki May encourages aspiring writers to embrace authenticity and practice writing regularly.• The conversation touches on the complexities of identity, particularly in mixed-race experiences.• Both Monica and Nikki highlight the joy and struggles of navigating multiple cultures.• Links referenced in this episode:  • blackwomanamplified.com(https://blackwomanamplified.com)

Brendan O'Brien and Simon Lewis assess Andy Farrell's selection for the opening tour match with Western Force. The Irish Examiner Rugby Podcast Lions Tour Special is brought to you in partnership with Dove Men+Care – the official Personal Care Product of Choice for the British and Irish Lions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While we're sorry to possibly offend, we're not at all sorry about reissuing our apologies-across-cultures episode, "Sorry?", from June 2019. We hope that you enjoy it, and if you don't, what else can we say but...sorry? We're very (not) sorry to say that Dean and Tom are talking apologies across cultures, particularly in the U.K. and East Asia, in this episode. Also, Producer Torin brings in a recent New York Times article about apologetic tweets from British railway companies (sorry if you missed the article), while Dean and Tom chat about how the train system in New York doesn't seem to want to apologize for anything. (Sorry, New York!) ***Subscribe to Dean's Substack here for all of Dean's CultureQuizzes, “Culture's Consequences” articles, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at oopscultureshow@gmail.com. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade, led by Lord Cardigan, mounted a frontal assault against a Russian artillery battery which was well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, who had intended the Light Brigade to attack a different objective for which light cavalry was better suited, to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions. The Light Brigade made its charge under withering direct fire and reached its target, scattering some of the gunners, but was forced to retreat immediately.

Guardian journalist Luke Harding was thrown out of Russia for exposing uncomfortable truths. Now he takes Matt and Alice behind the headlines of the Skripal attack, exposing how Putin's spy machine really works, and the chilling lengths it went to to threaten his own family.Do you have a suggestion for a scandal you would like us to cover? Or perhaps you have a question you would like to ask our hosts? Email us at britishscandal@wondery.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello Rank Squad!It's Jack's last episode as a Bachelor, and we thought we'd take a look at some transfers to send him off blissfully into wedded life. Liverpool have signed Florian Wirtz, breaking the British Transfer Record in doing so, and we discuss his arrival at Anfield and how he might fit into Arne Slot's Champion Reds next season. That gives us a launchpad to talk about some of the other most expensive transfers in Premier League history, so we rank 2-10 (feels a bit early to judge Wirtz just yet!) in order of the value they provided for their fee and also their transformative impact on their clubs - running through some of the obvious flops, all the way to the deals which are proving worth every penny. There's also time for a little Things We Love, where Jack gives some flowers to Santi Cazorla and Real Oviedo - one of the true feel-good stories of a summer mired in controversy and differing opinions. It's Ranks!  And remember, if you'd like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon?

NATO leaders have been meeting in the Netherlands at a time when President Trump's 'America First' policies have strained the transatlantic alliance. We listen to some of President Trump's comments and ask what they might mean for the defence of Europe. Also in the programme: our Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet reports from the Iranian capital, Tehran; and an interview with British rock legend Sir Rod Stewart, who will be playing at the Glastonbury Festival this month.(Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump at a press conference at the NATO summit; Credit: REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw)

Scarlett Johansson (and a special friend!) stops by Studio 1A to discuss her dream role in ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth,' kissing co-star Jonathan Bailey, and perfecting her British accent. Also, Dr. Maria Shriver shares new postpartum treatments offering hope to new moms. Plus, Adrianna Brach rounds up cool and comfortable summer-must haves in TODAY Bestsellers. And, Martha Stewart celebrates the 40th anniversary of her best-selling cookbook ‘Entertaining' with July 4th recipes. 

The wheels of injustice go 'round and 'round — and this week's petty crimes may just leave you spinning. Trevin starts things off with an embarrassing encounter at a massage parlor, where a deep tissue session brings him to his knees (literally), complete with a defeated wimpy voice and all. Meanwhile, Amanda battles another medical misadventure, as a sudden fainting spell leaves her bruised, swollen, and understandably over it. In Two Truths and a Lie, Trevin shoots for the stars with space-themed trivia. Discover how astronauts clean their clothes in orbit, what changes NASA made for women, and which U.S. state is weirdly overrepresented among people who leave the planet. Amanda follows up with a mole-themed investigation — inspired by her father's latest nemesis. Are moles venomous to earthworms? How fast do they dig? And what do their underground love lives look like? It's rodent romance and dirt facts galore. Then, we roll into this week's petty crime stories — where both cases involve criminals on wheels.

Was Owen Farrell ever in contention for England's summer tour to Argentina and the US? England head coach Steve Borthwick joins Chris and Danny to reveal all, and to outline what he expects from his young squad over the coming weeks. He also shares his memories of the British and Irish Lions from watching them as a kid to being part of the coaching staff in 2017. And Danny picks out a couple of England players he thinks could make an impact on tour.

Continued from yesterday's episode, we read again from Adam Hochschild's brilliant book Spain in Our Hearts, about the overwhelming odds faced by the International Brigades in Spain as they crossed the Ebro River in the Republic's last attempt to hold off the fascist generals and attract the support of the British and the French. The agreement at Munich over the fate of Czechoslovakia signalled that the British and French had no interest in fighting to save Spain from Hitler's proxies. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Historian James Bradley has written a major new biography of local resident and the 8th president of the United States, Martin Van Buren. He was the first chief executive not born a British citizen and the first to use the party system to chart his way from tavern-keeper's son to the pinnacle of power.This new biography of Van Buren - the first full-scale portrait in four decades - charts his ascent from a tavern in the Hudson Valley to the presidency, concluding with his late-career involvement in an antislavery movement. Offering vivid profiles of the day's leading figures (Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, DeWitt Clinton, James K. Polk), James Bradley's book depicts the struggle for power in the tumultuous decades leading up to the Civil War.

How and why did Hindu nationalism become popular among India's diaspora after India's independence in 1947? This is the central question of Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism, a 2023 book by the historian Edward Anderson.The book interrogates the distinctive resonance Hindutva ideology has overseas, and the multiple ways in which the diaspora engages with British politics and society, while sustaining connections back home in India.Anderson is assistant professor in History at Northumbria University in Newcastle. He was previously the Smuts Research Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a PhD in History.Anderson joins Milan on the show this week to discuss the trajectory of Indian migration to Britain, the founding of the first overseas Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha, and the Emergency's impact amongst the diaspora. Plus, the two discuss the role of the diaspora in funding politics and the emergence of “neo-Hindutva.”Episode notes:1. “A Reappraisal of Indira Gandhi's Life—and Legacy (with Srinath Raghavan),” Grand Tamasha, June 11, 2025.2. “The Secret to Indian Americans' Success (with Meenakshi Ahamed),” Grand Tamasha, June 4, 2025.3. “The Indian American Vote in 2024 (with Sumitra Badrinathan and Devesh Kapur),” Grand Tamasha, November 6, 2024.4. “What to read about Hindutva,” The Economist, April 5, 2024.

Lauren Jenkins, Gareth Rhys Owen, and former British and Irish Lions wing Alex Cuthbert look ahead to the Lions' first match in Australia against Western Force on Saturday. From Perth, Lauren has arrived after a long flight and has been catching up with members of the squad as they prepare for the opening game.

Neal Skupski, the #11 ranked doubles player on the ATP Tour and three-time Wimbledon champion, discusses his partnership with Joe Salisbury, their recent Roland Garros finals run, and more.I spoke with Neal during his off day in Eastbourne, where he was preparing for the quarterfinals. He and Joe won that match and are now in the semis.Working through the chemistry and tactical adjustments of a new partnershipThe significant adjustments required to transition from clay to grassIs grass Neal's best surface?Having a positive "performer" mentality - a term used by many of the British players and coachesWhat "take it one point at a time" means to Neal, and how he implements that mentalityThoughts on the mixed doubles format changes at the US OpenWe didn't have time to get to all your Instagram/Twitter questions, but I'll try to get Neal back later this year for more.Learn more about Neal & follow:ATP ProfileWikipediaInstagramTwitter/X ----- **Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** New doubles strategy lessons weekly straight to your inbox **Become a Tennis Tribe Member**Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more. Learn More & Sign Up Here **Other Free Doubles Content** Serve Strategy Cheatsheet Return Strategy Cheatsheet Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

Send us a text message and tell us your thoughts.When we picture World War I and II, we rarely envision Caribbean soldiers in RAF uniforms flying bombing missions over Nazi Germany or Trinidad's oil refineries fueling the Battle of Britain. Yet these overlooked contributions not only helped defeat fascism but transformed the Caribbean's political landscape forever. In this eye-opening episode, historian John Concagh joins Strictly Facts to uncover how over 15,000 Caribbean volunteers served in WWI and 6,000 more in WWII, despite facing what Concagh calls a "shadow color bar" within British forces. We explore the complex motivations driving Caribbean people to fight in these global conflicts – from colonial loyalty to active anti-fascism – and the bitter disappointment many faced upon being relegated to labor battalions rather than combat roles.The conversation highlights remarkable individuals whose war service shaped their later political careers, including Errol Barrow, who flew 48 bomber missions before becoming Barbados' first Prime Minister, and Ulric Cross, whose 80 missions with the elite Pathfinder force preceded his influential legal career across the post-colonial Caribbean. As Concagh powerfully observes, "When you've been shot at over Germany at 20,000 feet in the middle of the night, the British aren't very scary anymore" – explaining how military service emboldened veterans to demand independence upon their return. Beyond military service, we discover how the Caribbean's strategic position and resources – from Trinidad's aviation fuel to Jamaica's bauxite – proved crucial to Allied victory. From wartime calypso songs mocking Hitler to today's memorial sites across the region, this episode reveals how the Caribbean's war experiences continue to shape cultural memory and national identity. Listen now to understand how fighting fascism abroad inspired the fight for freedom at home.John Concagh is a historian from London whose work focuses on the relationship between Britain's African and Caribbean colonies and the challenges of the Second World War. Follow John online. Support the showConnect with Strictly Facts - Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Website Looking to read more about the topics covered in this episode? Subscribe to the newsletter at www.strictlyfactspod.com to get the Strictly Facts Syllabus to your email!Want to Support Strictly Facts? Rate & Leave a Review on your favorite platform Share this episode with someone or online and tag us Send us a DM or voice note to have your thoughts featured on an upcoming episode Donate to help us continue empowering listeners with Caribbean history and education Produced by Breadfruit Media

In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin, America's beloved Founding Father, scientist, and diplomat, was linked to the notorious Hellfire Club, a secret society of elite British aristocrats known for debauchery, mock religious rituals, and rumored occult practices. Meeting in the eerie West Wycombe Caves, the club, led by Sir Francis Dashwood, allegedly indulged in orgies and blasphemy, with Franklin's visits sparking wild conspiracy theories. Was he a curious guest, a participant in their scandalous rites, or even a British spy using the club as cover? Some claim his involvement influenced America's founding, with whispers of Masonic ties and esoteric symbols in the nation's icons. Join us as we unravel the shadowy tale of Ben Franklin and the Hellfire Club, where truth blurs with legend.Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TheFactHunter Website: truthernet.com Email: thefacthunter@mail.com Snail Mail: George Hobbs PO Box 109 Goldsboro, MD  21636Show Notes:My Lunch Breaklunch break  https://www.youtube.com/@Mylunchbreak Hellfire Club https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Illuminati/hellfire_club.htm Winter Watch Hellfire Club https://www.winterwatch.net/2025/01/the-hellfire-club-precursor-of-the-degenerate-luciferian-control-network-2/ American Philosophical Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Philosophical_Society

TALK TO ME, TEXT ITThe political landscape shifts beneath our feet as New York City welcomes a self-proclaimed socialist as its Democratic mayoral nominee. Zoran Mamdani's shocking victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo signals a profound transformation in one of America's most influential cities. With a decisive seven-point lead and 43.51% of primary votes, this 33-year-old Queens assemblyman has defied expectations and polls alike, leaving many wondering about the future of urban governance.The success of progressive messaging in normalizing socialist policies can't be understated. Years of activism and campaigning have cultivated a generation of voters who embrace far-left politics without fully understanding the historical implications. This electoral upset didn't happen overnight but represents the culmination of a deliberate strategy to reshape American political discourse, particularly among younger urban voters who find socialism increasingly appealing.Beyond politics, we examine RFK Jr.'s controversial proposal for Americans to embrace wearable health-tracking technology. The fundamental flaw in this approach is clear - health improvement requires uncomfortable lifestyle changes, not just passive data collection. Simply counting steps while continuing poor dietary habits won't address America's health crisis. True wellness demands meaningful behavioral changes, including reduced consumption of processed foods and committed exercise routines that push physical boundaries.Perhaps most disturbing is the shocking incident at Disneyland Paris, where park staff discovered what appeared to be a wedding ceremony between a 22-year-old British man and a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl. This $150,000 "event" was reportedly an elaborate social media stunt involving paid actors and exploitation of a child. Multiple arrests followed, including the child's mother, raising profound questions about the moral decay that drives such behavior in pursuit of online attention.What events signal cultural decline in your community? Share your thoughts and subscribe to join our ongoing conversation about the critical issues reshaping society today.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREE Thanks for listening! Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREESupport the showTip Jar for coffee $ - Thanks Music by Alehandro Vodnik from Pixabay Blog - AnAmericanist.comX - @americanistblog

The Power of Personal Branding - "A personal brand opens the doors you didn't even knock on. It goes ahead of you, it generates referrals, opportunities, invitations. It's the currency for influence, isn't it? And that's what accelerates your program." - Rob BrownWe have a truly special guest. Rob Brown is a global authority in the accounting industry and someone whose journey is as inspiring as it is unconventional. Rob went from being a high school math teacher in Yorkshire, England, to becoming a bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and the host of the Accounting Influence podcast. He's made a name for himself by helping highly skilled professionals master the power of personal branding and visibility in their careers.We discuss the importance of building your reputation. Why being technically skilled isn't enough if you want to stand out, and how intentional networking and authenticity can transform your professional journey. Rob shares his own story, shaped by his working-class background, what drove him to strike out on his own, and how he discovered the knack for bringing out brilliance in others who may not see it in themselves.You'll hear us discuss the hesitations so many of us have around self-promotion, what holds back entrepreneurs and accountants alike, and why making yourself visible in a crowded marketplace doesn't have to mean being cringey or salesy. Rob offers practical insights you can act on. Whether you're starting out solo or looking to scale your business and make a bigger impact.So if you're ready for an honest, inspiring conversation full of British wit, actionable ideas, and a fresh look at what it takes to build your brand from the inside out, you won't want to miss this episode. Empowering Moments00:00 "Mastering Visibility and Branding"05:31 From Teaching to Business Success09:57 Embracing Entrepreneurial Uncertainty12:41 Choosing Teaching in Northern England16:13 Education System Fails Entrepreneurs17:11 Education Lacks Practical Life Skills21:27 "Teachers' Impact and Humility"25:44 People Over Companies: Trust Matters26:59 "Crafting Your Personal Brand"30:10 Now's the Best Time34:09 Accountants' Challenge: Balancing Promises39:09 Find Your Unique Strengths42:43 Network Building Through Online Outreach46:34 Define Your Desired Legacy47:56 Crafting Personal Brand Strategy52:18 Crafting Thought Leadership Content54:31 Legacy Focused on Family HappinessThis episode is brought to you by PureTax, LLC. Tax preparation services without the pressure. When all you need is to get your tax return done, take the stress out of tax season by working with a firm that has simplified the process and the pricing. Find out more about how we started.Top 3 Takeaways for Entrepreneurs & Professionals:Your Authentic Brand Starts With You: Before building a public persona, define what you truly want people to say about you. Your reputation is shaped by intentional branding, not by accident.Network Intentionally, Not Accidentally: Building relationships isn't just about showing up; it's about asking better questions, having meaningful conversations, and nurturing trust that leads to real opportunities.Showcase, Don't Shy Away: If you're great at what you do, it's not bragging—it's “ethical bragging.” Don't be afraid to shine a light on your strengths and success stories;...

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Asos customers banned over returns say it is slap in the face British man charged with organising Disneyland Paris mock wedding of nine year old Russian naval ship disguised itself while passing through English Channel PM vows to press on with welfare cuts despite growing rebellion Minister to meet food delivery firms over reports of illegal workers Swansea man accused of hiring 1,500 hitman to kill wife Natural History Museum to display rare dog sized dinosaur Bezos wedding Venice protestors claim enormous victory after venue change Should this lab grown burger really be served in restaurants UK to purchase nuclear carrying fighter jets

Welcome to Episode 170 of the TRANSFORMA TU INGLÉS PROFESIONAL podcast!I'm your host Daniel Smith.Today we have an amazing show lined up for you and by the end of it you will:have 7 little tricks that will make you sound more professional and politeunderstand why the British are overly obsessed with "please", "thank you" and "sorry" And become aware of how these polite constructions have been problematic for Alastair and me when learning Spanish!This podcast helps you push your business English communication skills to the next level so that you can grow professionally and achieve your international career goals!

The Attacking Scrum team reacts to the British & Irish Lions' surprise loss to Argentina with full analysis and reaction. We dive deep into the big moments, question key decisions, and deliver player-by-player ratings after a frustrating performance.

World news in 7 minutes. Thursday 26th June 2025.Today: S Korea Yoon warrant. Thailand cannabis recriminalisation. Armenia archbishop arrested. Vietnam Pakistan US deal. Greece wildfire arrest. France no-confidence. Netherlands Trump Spain tariffs. Kenya rally injuries. S Africa Lungu burial. Brazil Nigeria deal. Colombia landslide. Mexico shooting. China Shanghai Legoland.With Juliet MartinSEND7 is supported by our amazing listeners like you.Our supporters get access to the transcripts written by us every day.Our supporters get access to an English worksheet made by us once per week. Our supporters get access to our weekly news quiz made by us once per week. We give 10% of our profit to Effective Altruism charities. You can become a supporter at send7.org/supportContact us at podcast@send7.org or send an audio message at speakpipe.com/send7Please leave a rating on Apple podcasts or Spotify.We don't use AI! Every word is written and recorded by us!Since 2020, SEND7 (Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes) has been telling the most important world news stories in intermediate English. Every day, listen to the most important stories from every part of the world in slow, clear English. Whether you are an intermediate learner trying to improve your advanced, technical and business English, or if you are a native speaker who just wants to hear a summary of world news as fast as possible, join Stephen Devincenzi, Ben Mallett and Juliet Martin every morning. Transcripts, worksheets and our weekly world news quiz are available for our amazing supporters at send7.org. Simple English News Daily is the perfect way to start your day, by practising your listening skills and understanding complicated stories in a simple way. It is also highly valuable for IELTS and TOEFL students. Students, teachers, TEFL teachers, and people with English as a second language, tell us that they use SEND7 because they can learn English through hard topics, but simple grammar. We believe that the best way to improve your spoken English is to immerse yourself in real-life content, such as what our podcast provides. SEND7 covers all news including politics, business, natural events and human rights. Whether it is happening in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania, you will hear it on SEND7, and you will understand it.For more information visit send7.org/contact or send an email to podcast@send7.org

Last time we spoke about Operation Chahar. In July 1937, the tensions between Japan and China erupted into a full-scale conflict, ignited by the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Following a series of aggressive Japanese military maneuvers, Chiang Kai-shek, then enjoying a brief respite at Kuling, learned of the escalating clashes and prepared for battle. Confident that China was primed for resistance, he rallied his nation, demanding that Japan accept responsibility and respect China's sovereignty. The Japanese launched their offensive, rapidly capturing key positions in Northern China. Notably, fierce battle ensued in Jinghai, where Chinese soldiers, led by Brigade Commander Li Zhiyuan, valiantly defended against overwhelming forces using guerrilla tactics and direct assaults. Their spirit was symbolized by a courageous “death squad” that charged the enemy, inflicting serious casualties despite facing dire odds. As weeks passed, the conflict intensified with brutal assaults on Nankou. Chinese defenses, though valiant, were ultimately overwhelmed, leading to heavy casualties on both sides. Despite losing Nankou, the indomitable Chinese spirit inspired continued resistance against the Japanese invaders, foreshadowing a long, brutal war that would reshape East Asia.   #156 The Battle of Shanghai Part 1: The Beginning of the Battle of Shanghai Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. On August 9, a bullet riddled sedan screeched to an abrupt halt at the entrance to the Hongqiao airport along Monument Road. The gruesome scene on the dashboard revealed that one of the victims had died in the car. He had been dragged out and subjected to brutal slashing, kicking, and beating until his body was a mangled mess. Half of his face was missing, and his stomach had been cut open, exposing the sickly pallor of his intestines, faintly glimmering in the night. The other man had managed to escape the vehicle but only got a few paces away before he was gunned down. A short distance away lay a third body, dressed in a Chinese uniform. Investigators swiftly identified the badly mangled body as belonging to 27-year-old Sub-Lieutenant Oyama Isao, while the other deceased Japanese man was his driver, First Class Seaman Saito Yozo. The identity of the Chinese victim remained a mystery. At first glance, the scene appeared to be the aftermath of a straightforward shootout. However, numerous questions lingered: What were the Japanese doing at a military airfield miles from their barracks? Who had fired the first shot, and what had prompted that decision? The Chinese investigators and their Japanese counterparts were at odds over the answers to these questions. As they walked the crime scene, searching for evidence, loud arguments erupted repeatedly. By the time the sun began to rise, they concluded their investigation without reaching any consensus on what had transpired. They climbed into their cars and made their way back to the city. The investigators were acutely aware of the repercussions if they failed to handle their delicate task with the necessary finesse. Despite their hopes for peace, it was evident that Shanghai was a city bracing for war. As they drove through the dimly lit suburbs on their way from Hongqiao back to their downtown offices, their headlights illuminated whitewashed trees, interspersed with sandbag defenses and the silhouettes of solitary Chinese sentries. Officially, these sentries were part of the Peace Preservation Corps,  a paramilitary unit that, due to an international agreement reached a few years earlier, was the only Chinese force allowed to remain in the Shanghai area. In the hours that followed, both sides presented their versions of the incident. According to the Chinese account, the Japanese vehicle attempted to force its way through the airport gate. When members of the Peace Preservation Corps stationed at the entrance signaled for Saito, the driver, to stop, he abruptly turned the car around. Sub-Lieutenant Oyama then fired at the Chinese guards with an automatic pistol. Only then did the Chinese return fire, killing Oyama in a hail of bullets. Saito managed to jump out before he, too, was gunned down. The commander of the Chinese guards told a Western reporter that this wasn't the first time someone Japanese had attempted to enter the airport. Such incidents had occurred repeatedly in the past two months, leading them to believe that the Japanese were “obviously undertaking espionage.” The Japanese account, predictably, placed the blame for the entire incident squarely on China. It asserted that Oyama had been driving along a road bordering the airfield with no intention of entering. Suddenly, the vehicle was stopped and surrounded by Peace Preservation Corps troops, who opened fire with rifles and machine guns without warning. Oyama had no opportunity to return fire. The Japanese statement argued that the two men had every right to use the road, which was part of the International Settlement, and labeled the incident a clear violation of the 1932 peace agreement. “We demand that the Chinese bear responsibility for this illegal act,”. Regardless of either side, it seemed likely to everyone in the region, war would soon engulf Shanghai.  Meanwhile, as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident escalated into a full blown in the far north, General Zhang Fakui was attending a routine training mission at Mount Lu in southeastern Jiangxi. A short and small man, not considered too handsome either, Zhang had earned his place in China's leadership through physical courage, once taking a stand on a bridge and single handedly facing down an enemy army. He was 41 years old in 1937, having spent half his life fighting Warlords, Communists and sometimes even Nationalists. In the recent years he had tossed his lot in with a rebel campaign against Chiang Kai-Shek, who surprisingly went on the forgive him and placed him in charge of anti communist operations in the area due south of Shanghai. However now the enemy seemed to have changed.  As the war spread to Beijing, on July 16th, Zhang was sent to Chiang Kai-Shek's summer residence at Mount Lu alongside 150 members of China's political and military elites. They were all there to brainstorm how to fight the Japanese. Years prior the Generalissimo had made it doctrine to appease the Japanese but now he made grandiose statements such as “this time we must fight to the end”. Afterwards Chiang dealt missions to all his commanders and Zhang Fakui was told to prepare for operations in the Shanghai area.  It had been apparent for weeks that both China and Japan were preparing for war in central China. The Japanese had been diverting naval troops from the north to strengthen their forces in Shanghai, and by early August, they had assembled over 8,000 troops. A few days later, approximately thirty-two naval vessels arrived. On July 31, Chiang declared that “all hope for peace has been lost.” Chiang had been reluctant to commit his best forces to defend northern China, an area he had never truly controlled. In contrast, Shanghai was central to his strategy for the war against Japan. Chiang decided to deploy his finest troops, the 87th and 88th Divisions, which were trained by generals under the guidance of the German advisor von Falkenhausen, who had high hopes for their performance against the Japanese. In doing so, Chiang aimed to demonstrate to both his own people and the wider world that the Chinese could and would resist the invader. Meanwhile, Chiang's spy chief, Dai Li, was busy gathering intelligence on Japanese intentions regarding Shanghai, a challenging task given his focus in recent years. Dai, one of the most sinister figures in modern Chinese history, had devoted far more energy and resources to suppressing the Communists than to countering the Japanese. As a result, by the critical summer of 1937, he had built only a sparse network of agents in “Little Tokyo,” the Hongkou area of Shanghai dominated by Japanese businesses. One agent was a pawnshop owner, while the rest were double agents employed as local staff within the Japanese security apparatus. Unfortunately, they could provide little more than snippets, rumors, and hearsay. While some of this information sounded alarmingly dire, there was almost no actionable intelligence. Chiang did not take the decision to open a new front in Shanghai lightly. Built on both banks of the Huangpu River, the city served as the junction between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the great Yangtze River, which wound thousands of kilometers inland to the west. Shanghai embodied everything that represented modern China, from its industry and labor relations to its connections with the outside world. While foreign diplomatic presence was concentrated in nearby Nanjing, the capital, it was in Shanghai that the foreign community gauged the country's mood. Foreigners in the city's two “concession” areas nthe French Concession and the British-affiliated International Settlement often dismissed towns beyond Shanghai as mere “outstations.” Chiang Kai-shek would throw 650,000 troops into the battle for the city and its environs as well as his modest air force of 200 aircraft. Chiang, whose forces were being advised by German officers led by General Alexander von Falkenhausen, was finally confident that his forces could take on the Japanese. A German officer told a British diplomat, “If the Chinese Army follows the advice of the German advisers, it is capable of driving the Japanese over the Great Wall.”   While Chiang was groping in the dark, deprived of the eyes and ears of an efficient intelligence service, he did have at his disposal an army that was better prepared for battle than it had been in 1932. Stung by the experience of previous conflicts with the Japanese, Chiang had initiated a modernization program aimed at equipping the armed forces not only to suppress Communist rebels but also to confront a modern fighting force equipped with tanks, artillery, and aircraft. He had made progress, but it was insufficient. Serious weaknesses persisted, and now there was no time for any remedial action. While China appeared to be a formidable power in sheer numbers, the figures were misleading. On the eve of war, the Chinese military was comprised of a total of 176 divisions, which were theoretically organized into two brigades of two regiments each. However, only about 20 divisions maintained full peacetime strength of 10,000 soldiers and officers; the rest typically held around 5,000 men. Moreover, Chiang controlled only 31 divisions personally, and he could not count on the loyalty of the others. To successfully resist Japan, Chiang would need to rely not only on his military command skills but also on his ability to forge fragile coalitions among Warlord generals with strong local loyalties. Equipment posed another significant challenge. The modernization drive was not set to complete until late 1938, and the impact of this delay was evident. In every category of weaponry, from rifles to field artillery, the Chinese were outmatched by their Japanese adversaries, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Domestically manufactured artillery pieces had shorter ranges, and substandard steel-making technology caused gun barrels to overheat, increasing the risk of explosions. Some arms even dated back to imperial times. A large proportion of the Chinese infantry had received no proper training in basic tactics, let alone in coordinated operations involving armor and artillery. The chief of the German advisory corps was General Alexander von Falkenhausen, a figure hard to rival in terms of qualifications for the role. Although the 58-year-old's narrow shoulders, curved back, and bald, vulture-like head gave him an unmilitary, almost avian appearance, his exterior belied a tough character. In 1918, he had earned his nation's highest military honor, the Pour le Mérite, while assisting Germany's Ottoman allies against the British in Palestine. Few, if any, German officers knew Asia as well as he did. His experience in the region dated back to the turn of the century. As a young lieutenant in the Third East Asian Infantry Regiment, he participated in the international coalition of colonial powers that quelled the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. A decade later, he traveled through Korea, Manchuria, and northern China with his wife, keenly observing and learning as a curious tourist. From 1912 to 1914, he served as the German Kaiser's military attaché in Tokyo. He was poised to put his extensive knowledge to good use in the months ahead. Chiang believed that Shanghai should be the location of the first battle. This decision was heavily influenced by Falkenhausen and was strategically sound. Chiang Kai-shek could not hope to win a war against Japan unless he could unify the nation behind him, particularly the many fractious warlords who had battled his forces repeatedly over the past decade. Everyone understood that the territory Japan was demanding in the far north did not need to be held for any genuine military necessity; it was land that could be negotiated. The warlords occupying that territory were unpredictable and all too willing to engage in bargaining. In contrast, China's economic heartland held different significance. By choosing to fight for the center of the country and deploying his strongest military units, Chiang Kai-shek signaled to both China's warlords and potential foreign allies that he had a vested interest in the outcome.  There were also several operational reasons for preferring a conflict in the Yangtze River basin over a campaign in northern China. The rivers, lakes, and rice paddies of the Yangtze delta were much better suited for defensive warfare against Japan's mechanized forces than the flat plains of North China. By forcing the Japanese to commit troops to central China, the Nationalists bought themselves the time needed to rally and reinforce their faltering defenses in the north. By initiating hostilities in the Shanghai area, Japan would be forced to divert its attention from the northern front, thereby stalling a potential Japanese advance toward the crucial city of Wuhan. It would also help safeguard potential supply routes from the Soviet Union, the most likely source of material assistance due to Moscow's own animosity toward Japan. It was a clever plan, and surprisingly, the Japanese did not anticipate it. Intelligence officers in Tokyo were convinced that Chiang would send his troops northward instead. Again in late July, Chiang convened his commanders, and here he gave Zhang Fukai more detailed instructions for his operation. Fukai was placed in charge of the right wing of the army which was currently preparing for action in the metropolitan area. Fukai would oversee the forces east of the Huangpu River in the area known as Pudong. Pudong was full of warehouses, factories and rice fields, quite precarious to fight in. Meanwhile General Zhang Zhizhong, a quiet and sickly looking man who had previously led the Central Military Academy was to command the left wing of the Huangpu. All of the officers agreed the plan to force the battle to the Shanghai area was logical as the northern region near Beijing was far too open, giving the advantage to tank warfare, which they could not hope to contest Japan upon. The Shanghai area, full of rivers, creaks and urban environments favored them much more. Zhang Zhizhong seemed an ideal pick to lead troops in downtown Shanghai where most of the fighting would take place. His position of commandant of the military academy allowed him to establish connections with junior officers earmarked for rapid promotion. This meant that he personally knew the generals of both the 87th and 88th Divisions, which were to form the core of Zhang Zhizhong's newly established 9th Army Group and become his primary assets in the early phases of the Shanghai campaign. Moreover, Zhang Zhizhong had the right aggressive instincts. He believed that China's confrontation with Japan had evolved through three stages: in the first stage, the Japanese invaded the northeast in 1931, and China remained passive; in the second stage, during the first battle of Shanghai in 1932, Japan struck, but China fought back. Zhang argued that this would be the third stage, where Japan was preparing to attack, but China would strike first.   It seems that Zhang Zhizhong did not expect to survive this final showdown with his Japanese adversary. He took the fight very personally, even ordering his daughter to interrupt her education in England and return home to serve her country in the war. However, he was not the strong commander he appeared to be, as he was seriously ill. Although he never disclosed the true extent of his condition, it seemed he was on the verge of a physical and mental breakdown after years in high-stress positions. In fact, he had recently taken a leave of absence from his role at the military academy in the spring of 1937. When the war broke out, he was at a hospital in the northern port city of Qingdao, preparing to go abroad for convalescence. He canceled those plans to contribute to the struggle against Japan. When his daughter returned from England and saw him on the eve of battle, she was alarmed by how emaciated he had become. From the outset, doubts about his physical fitness to command loomed large. At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 10, a group of officers emerged from the Japanese Consulate along the banks of the Huangpu River. This team was a hastily assembled Sino-Japanese joint investigation unit tasked with quickly resolving the shooting incident at the Hongqiao Aerodrome of the previous night. They understood the urgency of reaching an agreement swiftly to prevent any escalation. As they drove to the airport, they passed armed guards of the Chinese Peace Preservation Corps stationed behind sandbag barricades that had been erected only hours earlier. Upon arriving at Hongqiao, the officers walked up and down the scene of the incident under the scorching sun, attempting to piece together a shared understanding of what had transpired. However, this proved to be nearly impossible, as the evidence failed to align into a coherent account acceptable to both parties. The Japanese were unconvinced that any shootout had occurred at all. Oyama, the officer who had been in the car, had left his pistol at the marine headquarters in Hongkou and had been unarmed the night before. They insisted that whoever shot and killed the man in the Chinese uniform could not have been him. By 6:00 pm the investigators returned to the city. Foreign correspondents, eager for information, knew exactly whom to approach. The newly appointed Shanghai Mayor, Yu Hongjun, with a quick wit and proficiency in English, Yu represented the city's cosmopolitan image. However, that evening, he had little to offer the reporters, except for a plea directed at both the Japanese and Chinese factions “Both sides should maintain a calm demeanor to prevent the situation from escalating.” Mayor Yu however was, in fact, at the center of a complex act of deception that nearly succeeded. Nearly eight decades later, Zhang Fakui attributed the incident to members of the 88th Division, led by General Sun Yuanliang. “A small group of Sun Yuanliang's men disguised themselves as members of the Peace Preservation Corps,” Zhang Fakui recounted years later in his old age. “On August 9, 1937, they encountered two Japanese servicemen on the road near the Hongqiao military aerodrome and accused them of forcing their way into the area. A clash ensued, resulting in the deaths of the Japanese soldiers.” This created a delicate dilemma for their superiors. The two dead Japanese soldiers were difficult to explain away. Mayor Yu, likely informed of the predicament by military officials, conferred with Tong Yuanliang, chief of staff of the Songhu Garrison Command, a unit established after the fighting in 1932. Together, they devised a quick and cynical plan to portray the situation as one of self-defense by the Chinese guards. Under their orders, soldiers marched a Chinese death row inmate to the airport gate, dressed him in a paramilitary guard's uniform, and executed him. While this desperate ruse might have worked initially, it quickly unraveled due to the discrepancies raised by the condition of the Chinese body. The Japanese did not believe the story, and the entire plan began to fall apart. Any remaining mutual trust swiftly evaporated. Instead of preventing a confrontation, the cover-up was accelerating the slide into war.  Late on August 10, Mayor Yu sent a secret cable to Nanjing, warning that the Japanese had ominously declared they would not allow the two deaths at the airport to go unpunished. The following day, the Japanese Consul General Okamoto Suemasa paid a visit to the mayor, demanding the complete withdrawal of the Peace Preservation Corps from the Shanghai area and the dismantling of all fortifications established by the corps. For the Chinese, acquiescing to these demands was nearly impossible. From their perspective, it appeared that the Japanese aimed to leave Shanghai defenseless while simultaneously bolstering their own military presence in the city. Twenty vessels, including cruisers and destroyers, sailed up the Huangpu River and docked at wharves near "Little Tokyo." Japanese marines in olive-green uniforms marched ashore down the gangplanks, while women from the local Japanese community, dressed in kimonos, greeted the troops with delighted smiles and bows to the flags of the Rising Sun that proudly adorned the sterns of the battleships. In fact, Japan had planned to deploy additional troops to Shanghai even before the shooting at Hongqiao Aerodrome. This decision was deemed necessary to reinforce the small contingent of 2,500 marines permanently stationed in the city. More troops were required to assist in protecting Japanese nationals who were being hastily evacuated from the larger cities along the Yangtze River. These actions were primarily defensive maneuvers, as the Japanese military seemed hesitant to open a second front in Shanghai, for the same reasons that the Chinese preferred an extension of hostilities to that area. Diverting Japanese troops from the strategically critical north and the Soviet threat across China's border would weaken their position, especially given that urban warfare would diminish the advantages of their technological superiority in tanks and aircraft. While officers in the Japanese Navy believed it was becoming increasingly difficult to prevent the war from spreading to Shanghai, they were willing to give diplomacy one last chance. Conversely, the Japanese Army was eager to wage war in northern China but displayed little inclination to engage in hostilities in Shanghai. Should the situation worsen, the Army preferred to withdraw all Japanese nationals from the city. Ultimately, when it agreed to formulate plans for dispatching an expeditionary force to Shanghai, it did so reluctantly, primarily to avoid accusations of neglecting its responsibilities. Amongst many commanders longing for a swift confrontation with Japan was Zhang Zhizhong. By the end of July, he was growing increasingly impatient, waiting with his troops in the Suzhou area west of Shanghai and questioning whether a unique opportunity was being squandered. On July 30, he sent a telegram to Nanjing requesting permission to strike first. He argued that if Japan were allowed to launch an attack on Shanghai, he would waste valuable time moving his troops from their position more than 50 miles away. Nanjing responded with a promise that his wishes would be fulfilled but urged him to exercise patience: “We should indeed seize the initiative over the enemy, but we must wait until the right opportunity arises. Await further orders.” That opportunity arose on August 11, with the Japanese display of force on the Huangpu River and their public demand for the withdrawal of China's paramilitary police. Japan had sufficiently revealed itself as the aggressor in the eyes of both domestic and international audiences, making it safe for China to take action. At 9:00 p.m. that evening, Zhang Zhizhong received orders from Nanjing to move his troops toward Shanghai. He acted with remarkable speed, capitalizing on the extensive transportation network in the region. The soldiers of the 87th Division quickly boarded 300 trucks that had been prepared in advance. Meanwhile, civilian passengers on trains were unceremoniously ordered off to make room for the 88th Division, which boarded the carriages heading for Shanghai. In total, over 20,000 motivated and well-equipped troops were on their way to battle.  On August 12, representatives from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, and China gathered for a joint conference in Shanghai to discuss ceasefire terms. Japan demanded the withdrawal of Chinese troops from Shanghai, while the Chinese representative, Yu Hung-chun, dismissed the Japanese demand, stating that the terms of the ceasefire had already been violated by Japan. The major powers were keen to avoid a repeat of the January 28 Incident, which had significantly disrupted foreign economic activities in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Chinese citizens fervently welcomed the presence of Chinese troops in the city. In Nanjing, Chinese and Japanese representatives convened for the last time in a final effort to negotiate. The Japanese insisted that all Peace Preservation Corps and regular troops be withdrawn from the vicinity of Shanghai. The Chinese, however, deemed the demand for a unilateral withdrawal unacceptable, given that the two nations were already engaged in conflict in North China. Ultimately, Mayor Yu made it clear that the most the Chinese government would concede was that Chinese troops would not fire unless fired upon. Conversely, Japan placed all responsibility on China, citing the deployment of Chinese troops around Shanghai as the cause of the escalating tensions. Negotiations proved impossible, leaving no alternative but for the war to spread into Central China. On that same morning of Thursday, August 12, residents near Shanghai's North Train Station, also known as Zhabei Station, just a few blocks from "Little Tokyo," awoke to an unusual sight: thousands of soldiers dressed in the khaki uniforms of the Chinese Nationalists, wearing German-style helmets and carrying stick grenades slung across their chests. “Where do you come from?” the Shanghai citizens asked. “How did you get here so fast?” Zhang Zhizhong issued detailed orders to each unit under his command, instructing the 88th Division specifically to travel by train and deploy in a line from the town of Zhenru to Dachang village, both located a few miles west of Shanghai. Only later was the division supposed to advance toward a position stretching from the Zhabei district to the town of Jiangwan, placing it closer to the city boundaries. Zhang Zhizhong was the embodiment of belligerence, but he faced even more aggressive officers among his ranks. On the morning of August 12, he was approached by Liu Jingchi, the chief of operations at the Songhu Garrison Command. Liu argued that the battle of 1932 had gone poorly for the Chinese because they had hesitated and failed to strike first. This time, he insisted, should be different, and Zhang should order an all-out assault on the Japanese positions that very evening. Zhang countered that he had clear and unmistakable orders from Chiang Kai-shek to let the Japanese fire first, emphasizing the importance of maintaining China's image on the world stage. “That's easy,” Liu retorted. “Once all the units are deployed and ready to attack, we can just change some people into mufti and send them in to fire a few shots. We attack, and simultaneously, we report that the enemy's offensive has begun.” Zhang Zhizhong did not like this idea. “We can't go behind our leader's back like that,” he replied. Zhang Zhizhong's position was far from enviable. Forced to rein in eager and capable officers, he found himself acting against his own personal desires. Ultimately, he decided to seek the freedom to act as he saw fit. In a secret cable to Nanjing, he requested permission to launch an all-out attack on the Japanese positions in Shanghai the following day, Friday, August 13. He argued that this was a unique opportunity to capitalize on the momentum created by the movement of troops; any further delay would only lead to stagnation. He proposed a coordinated assault that would also involve the Chinese Air Force. However, the reply from Chiang Kai-shek was brief and unwavering: “Await further orders.” Even as Chiang's troops poured into Shanghai, Chinese and Japanese officials continued their discussions. Ostensibly, this was in hopes of reaching a last-minute solution, but in reality, it was a performance. Both sides wanted to claim the moral high ground in a battle that now seemed inevitable. They understood that whoever openly declared an end to negotiations would automatically be perceived as the aggressor. During talks at the Shanghai Municipal Council, Japanese Consul General Okamoto argued that if China truly wanted peace, it would have withdrawn its troops to a position that would prevent clashes. Mayor Yu responded by highlighting the increasing presence of Japanese forces in the city. “Under such circumstances, China must adopt such measures as necessary for self-defense,” he stated. Late on August 13, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek instructed his forces to defend Shanghai, commanding them to "divert the enemy at sea, secure the coast, and resist landings."  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In July 1937, tensions between Japan and China escalated into war following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Confident in his country's resolve, Chiang Kai-shek rallied the Chinese against Japanese aggression. On August 9, a deadly confrontation at Hongqiao Airport resulted in the deaths of Japanese soldiers, igniting further hostilities. As both sides blamed each other, the atmosphere became tense. Ultimately, negotiations failed, and the stage was set for a brutal conflict in Shanghai, marking the beginning of a long and devastating war.

An Ottawa mom had to take her son to the ER when he came home from class with heat exhaustion; she says school administrators need to do a better job of keeping students safe. Before the shaky ceasefire with Iran, Israel attacked a prison in Tehran that houses political prisoners -- and today, friends and family are still waiting on news about their loved ones. The Democratic primary for mayor falls on New York City's hottest day in years -- and a strategist says the close race between an establishment moderate and outsider progressive could point to where the party heads next.Two Nigerian communities are taking oil giant Shell to court over longstanding pollution caused by spills -- which they say has infiltrated their drinking water. We hear from an artist in the UK about her project that could take decades: drawing every pub in London. A British nightclub becomes the site of a sinister mystery -- when someone leaves behind a surprisingly large, and just surprising, sausage.As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that loves a club banger.

Hey Lifers! Britt has learnt a very good lesson about double glazed glass and not so private beaches.She’s gearing up to get *legally married this week and has asked Laura and Keeshia to be a part of it.What did you do with your wedding certificate? Are you framing and hanging it up? How about your degree? A survey has revealed that most people are thinking about their ex when they’re getting off. We did our own *research into this and it turns out more of you are than we expected! Have you ever said an ex’s name during sex? Do you think female entertainment journalists have a greater responsibility to report fairly on women in the media? Are gossipy, bitchy pieces written by women a betrayal to their own gender? British actress and activist Jameela Jamil announced via her Substack that she will no longer be interviewed by women. This came after a particularly critical profile in The Times, and she’s said that of the “hundreds of women” who have interviewed her over her 17-year career, only three have written about her fairly. We unpack whether we think female journalists are to blame, what the trade off of a profile piece is and the grey areas of standing on your morals.We also discuss the specific tactics that some media use to manipulate your opinion about someone. Some of them are more obvious than others. If you’d like to read the pieces we discuss, Jameela’s substack I think I'm done with being interviewed by women. The Times Jameela Jamil: 'I stood up for Meghan long before I met her' The cut - Feminism? Jameela Jamil Is Too Feminist to Be Interviewed by Women Journalists You can watch us on Youtube Find us on Instagram Join us on tiktok Or join the Facebook Discussion Group Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! XxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1938, the fascist generals who had launched their insurrection two years earlier had divided the country but had not been able to seize Madrid. The Republican government was running out of fuel, arms and options, and decided on one last roll of the dice. Juan Negrin and his government agreed to send their army, including the International Brigades, across the River Ebro to strike deep into Nationalist territory, in the hope that a solid victory would inspire the British and the French at least to drop the arms embargo or to engage in a wider anti fascist war that seemed certain to engulf Europe. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dreaming of meandering through the Cotswolds countryside or cruising along Scotland's North Coast 500? Before you grab those keys, there's crucial information you need to know about driving in the UK that could make or break your road trip experience.The romantic notion of spontaneously exploring Britain's charming villages and stunning landscapes can quickly turn stressful when faced with the reality of narrow country lanes, baffling roundabouts, and parking nightmares. Having driven thousands of miles across the UK and helped countless travellers plan their journeys, we've witnessed the same mistakes happening time and again.In this practical guide, we reveal the 15 most common UK driving pitfalls and how to avoid them. From the shocking truth about journey times (that 50-mile drive could take twice as long as you think!) to the critical importance of booking an automatic car well in advance, we cover essential knowledge that guidebooks often miss. We'll explain why driving in London is a mistake most travellers regret, how to navigate the UK's unique parking systems, and why checking if your accommodation actually has parking facilities could save your holiday from disaster.Whether you're used to driving on the left or not, the UK presents unique challenges that can catch even experienced international drivers off guard. We share insider advice on handling motorway driving, understanding road terminology, and preparing for the infamous British weather. Plus, we reveal the truth about rental car insurance and why paying extra for zero excess might be the best decision you make.Our goal isn't to discourage you – a UK road trip can be truly magical when done right. With proper planning and realistic expectations, you'll be free to enjoy those winding coastal roads and picturesque villages without the stress. Listen now to transform your UK driving experience from potentially nerve-wracking to absolutely brilliant!

This week we are honoured to host the inspirational Finlay Calder OBE, captain of the iconic 1989 British & Irish Lions! Prepare for a journey back to one of rugby's most legendary tours. Finlay, a man known for being "as hard as granite but famously humble," opens up about the raw truth behind the Lions' historic feat: coming from 1-0 down to win the series in Australia, a record that still stands. Hear the incredible inside story of the "Battle of Ballymore," the pivotal "if you step down, I step down" moment that cemented his leadership, and the crucial changes that transformed a defeated team into winners. Finlay shares candid insights into his "old school, fire and brimstone" captaincy, the unique camaraderie forged amidst fierce competition, and the mercurial talent of Jerry Guscott, whom he hails as the "most influential man in Lions rugby." Finlay's Lions account is packed with rugby folklore, leadership lessons, and emotional reflections on his greatest moment in the game. Plus, hear his advice for current Lions captain Maro Itoje and who is the greatest of the Lions leaders. Season 5 is Sponsored by Continental Tyres 00:00:00

MUSICBefore Oasis fans finally get to see Noel and Liam Gallagher on stage together, you can first see them in an ad for Adidas Motley Crue have released a new version of "Home Sweet Home" that features guest vocals by Dolly Parton.· Bonnaroo promoters have announced that ticket holders will get a full refund for the canceled festival. When the cancellation was announced this month, they said fans would get a 75-percent refund since the first night of the festival took place. The promoters added they wouldn't be announcing dates for the next Bonnaroo “at this time.” The promoters of Boston Calling have announced that the festival will take 2026 off and return June 4th through the 6th, 2027. Ex-Skid Row Singer Sebastian Bach told 'Get on The Bus' that it "doesn't make sense" that he can't perform with Skid Row. According to the not-always-reliable British tabloids, Orlando Bloom felt the same way about Katy Perry's space trip as the rest of us did. A so-called "source" says, quote, "He told her the whole thing looked ridiculous. He said it was cringeworthy. Embarrassing." · TVDuring a recent appearance on the "Really Good Podcast", the host asked Nick Cannon to name all 12 of his children, and he had a hard time. RIP: R.I.P. Gailard Sartain from "Hee Haw" RIP: Lynn Hamilton from "Sanford & Son" and "The Waltons" has died of natural causes at 95. RIP: Jack Betts, ‘Spider-Man' Actor and Spaghetti Western Veteran, Dies at 96 MOVING ON INTO MOVIE NEWS:The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon continued to shine at the box office, for the second straight week at North American theaters, bringing in $37 million. If you've been waiting for Sinners to stream, we now know when that will be. Ryan Coogler‘s hit 2025 horror film will begin streaming on Friday, July 4 on Max. It will debut on HBO on Saturday, July 5. Johnny Depp told 'The Sunday Times' that he felt like a "crash test dummy" for the MeToo movement following abuse allegations made by his ex-wife Amber Heard in 2017. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Watch on Philo! - Philo.tv/DTHSo Benji is out in the literal field. He's watching this plane that is about to take off. And here's what you need to know - the package is on that plane. He's doing this mission with Brandt who is back at HQ. Luther pipes in cuz I guess he can help now and he makes it to where Benji can access the plane remotely. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Ethan comes running through the field and tells Benji to open the door. Once Benji figures out which door he means, he finds these canisters holding nerve gas and pushes them out the back. THEME SONG TIME!  Some time later, Ethan walks into a record store where he uses some coded language to get a vinyl which will show him his next mission. While the message is playing, it is revealed that the message is from The Syndicate which is a group Ethan has been tracking for a year. They tell him that if he continues to go after them, he will die. He looks out and sees a dude in glasses who kills the women who gave him the record as gas causes Ethan to go unconcious.  Cut to a senate meeting with Brandt and  CIA director Alan Hunley. They demand that the IMF be disbanded due to the events that happened in Russia.  We see that Ethan is being held hostage. A women comes in, takes off her shoes, and just kinda stares at him for a while. Then some baddies come in, one of which is known as the Bone Doctor. Just as he's about to do his thing, he is freed by the women. She's Ilsa Faust, an undercover British MI6 agent. But she doesn't leave with him. She convinces them that she was trying to help them as he escaped.  He calls Brandt for help but he says the IMF have been shut down. Ethan now knows he's on his own and that the CIA is going to be looking for him.  6 months later, we see Ethan in a room, He's got a very real beard. And he's just doing some pull ups. The CIA thinks they found him but Ethan is always one step ahead. Ethan is watching them with the finest Nokia cell phone. And CIA Director Hunley is not pleased. He brings Benji in for a polygraph test but Benji insists that he doens't owe Ethan anything and that they aren't friends. When Benji returns to his desk, he has two tickets to the Vienna opera. So he heads to Austria and he is immediately handed a envelope. Inside are some glasses that allow him and Ethan to communicate. Ethan catches him up to speed.  He believe that Lane is going to be at the Opera. Who is Lane? He is the glasses dude that Ethan suspects is the Syndicate's leader. Benji and Ethan discover that the opera is being attended by the Austrian Chancellor which does throw a wrench in the plan. Benji is watching the cameras and sees the potential assassin. Ethan also notices a woman moving around the backstage.  Ethan catches up with the assassin and they fight, but then Ethan notices a 3rd assassin moving into position. There's a lot of assassin's at the opera tonight.   He takes the gun of the first assassin and shoots the Chancellor in the shoulder to save his life. Benji attacks the 3rd shooter in the lighting booth, and the women, who turns out to be Ilsa from the beginning shoots that baddie to save Benji.  Ethan finds Ilsa and they escape in time to see the Chancellor's car explode. Hunt helps Ilsa escape the opera. Ilsa jumps out of Ethan's car to make it look like an escape and then is taken to Lane. It appears she's working with him when he questions her loyalty for letting Ethan escape twice.  Ethan figures out that Ilsa is going to Moracco, so he goes to meet up with her and she tells him what she knows - that the baddie is Soloman Lane who used to be British Intellegence and went rogue and started the Syndicate. She claims that Lane kept a ledger of all his operatives which was stolen by one of his operatives and placed in a secure server here in Moracco. The secure server can only be accessed if your profile is already preloaded into the security system that is housed under water. So Ethan dives in and it doesn't exactly go according to plan. He does swap out the security profile but isn't able to escape before running out of oxygen. So Ilsa jumps in and saves him. But then proceeds to take the flash drive with the ledger on it to take to her British intelligence boss who says this isn't good enough. She needs to go back to Lane so that he can confirm that thats the real ledger. So she shows back up to Lane but the flash drive has been wiped clean.  We catch up with Benji and Ethan who are found by Luther and Brandt. Turns out, Benji made a copy of the flash drive and it turns out it contains an encrypted British government virtual red box that requires the biometrics of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to unlock it.  They all travel to London, but Lane's men abduct Benji during the team's meeting and use him to blackmail Ethan into decrypting and delivering the data to him. Despite Brandt's protests, Ethan accepts the mission. Hunley is informed by Brandt to come to London. He shows up to a meeting with Brandt and the Prime Minister. Atlee is also there and has the Prime Minister confirm that the Syndicate is real which is a suprise to Hunley. Atlee then shoots the prime minister with a dart and reveals that Atlee is actually Ethan in a mask. The real Atlee shows up and confirms that he started the Syndicate to recruit former intelligence agents and perform missions without oversight and zero accountability but Lane went rogue. Hunley is like oh my bad. I done goofed.  Ethan and Brandt secure the Prime Minister's biometrics, allowing Luther to decrypt the file. When decrypting the file, it is revealed that the red box actually contains access to £2.4 billion to do with what The Syndicate saw fit.  Ethan destroys the data after deducing that Lane plans to fund The Syndicate with the money. Arriving at the meeting place arranged by Lane, Ethan finds Benji strapped to a bomb and wearing a headset and contact lens camera to serve as Lane's proxy alongside Faust. Ethan tells Lane that he has memorized the data and offers himself in exchange for Benji's safety. Benji escapes after Lane remotely disarms the bomb and Ilsa and Ethan run through the city when the Bone Doctor and his boys show back up.  Ilsa makes the Bone Doctor follow her and she kills him. And Ethan draws Lane out, who has now joined the chase, and lures him into a tunnel system where he ends up in a transparent bulletproof cell where he is gassed, like he did to Ethan at the beginning of the film and taken into custody. Hunley goes to speak to the Senate again and claims that their previous meeting served as a cover to help Ethan expose and shut down The Syndicate and he's now requesting the IMF be reinstated. 

For those who haven't heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention, and the intertwining careers of Joe Boyd, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-one-minute bonus episode available, on Judy Collins’ version of this song. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by editing, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum For about an hour this was uploaded with the wrong Elton John clip in place of “Saturday Sun”. This has now been fixed. Resources Because of the increasing problems with Mixcloud’s restrictions, I have decided to start sharing streaming playlists of the songs used in episodes instead of Mixcloud ones. This Tunemymusic link will let you listen to the playlist I created on your streaming platform of choice — however please note that not all the songs excerpted are currently available on streaming. The songs missing from the Tidal version are “Shanten Bells” by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” by A.L. Lloyd, two by Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, three by Elton John & Linda Peters, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow” by Sandy Denny and “You Never Know” by Charlie Drake, but the other fifty-nine are there. Other songs may be missing from other services. The main books I used on Fairport Convention as a whole were Patrick Humphries' Meet On The Ledge, Clinton Heylin's What We Did Instead of Holidays, and Kevan Furbank's Fairport Convention on Track. Rob Young's Electric Eden is the most important book on the British folk-rock movement. Information on Richard Thompson comes from Patrick Humphries' Richard Thompson: Strange Affair and Thompson's own autobiography Beeswing.  Information on Sandy Denny comes from Clinton Heylin's No More Sad Refrains and Mick Houghton's I've Always Kept a Unicorn. I also used Joe Boyd's autobiography White Bicycles and Chris Blackwell's The Islander.  And this three-CD set is the best introduction to Fairport's music currently in print. Transcript Before we begin, this episode contains reference to alcohol and cocaine abuse and medical neglect leading to death. It also starts with some discussion of the fatal car accident that ended last episode. There’s also some mention of child neglect and spousal violence. If that’s likely to upset you, you might want to skip this episode or read the transcript. One of the inspirations for this podcast when I started it back in 2018 was a project by Richard Thompson, which appears (like many things in Thompson’s life) to have started out of sheer bloody-mindedness. In 1999 Playboy magazine asked various people to list their “songs of the Millennium”, and most of them, understanding the brief, chose a handful of songs from the latter half of the twentieth century. But Thompson determined that he was going to list his favourite songs *of the millennium*. He didn’t quite manage that, but he did cover seven hundred and forty years, and when Playboy chose not to publish it, he decided to turn it into a touring show, in which he covered all his favourite songs from “Sumer Is Icumen In” from 1260: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Sumer is Icumen In”] Through numerous traditional folk songs, union songs like “Blackleg Miner”, pieces by early-modern composers, Victorian and Edwardian music hall songs, and songs by the Beatles, the Ink Spots, the Kinks, and the Who, all the way to “Oops! I Did It Again”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Oops! I Did it Again”] And to finish the show, and to show how all this music actually ties together, he would play what he described as a “medieval tune from Brittany”, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”] We have said many times in this podcast that there is no first anything, but there’s a reason that Liege and Lief, Fairport Convention’s third album of 1969, and the album other than Unhalfbricking on which their reputation largely rests, was advertised with the slogan “The first (literally) British folk rock album ever”. Folk-rock, as the term had come to be known, and as it is still usually used today, had very little to do with traditional folk music. Rather, the records of bands like The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel were essentially taking the sounds of British beat groups of the early sixties, particularly the Searchers, and applying those sounds to material by contemporary singer-songwriters. People like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan had come up through folk clubs, and their songs were called folk music because of that, but they weren’t what folk music had meant up to that point — songs that had been collected after being handed down through the folk process, changed by each individual singer, with no single identifiable author. They were authored songs by very idiosyncratic writers. But over their last few albums, Fairport Convention had done one or two tracks per album that weren’t like that, that were instead recordings of traditional folk songs, but arranged with rock instrumentation. They were not necessarily the first band to try traditional folk music with electric instruments — around the same time that Fairport started experimenting with the idea, so did an Irish band named Sweeney’s Men, who brought in a young electric guitarist named Henry McCullough briefly. But they do seem to have been the first to have fully embraced the idea. They had done so to an extent with “A Sailor’s Life” on Unhalfbricking, but now they were going to go much further: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves” (from about 4:30)] There had been some doubt as to whether Fairport Convention would even continue to exist — by the time Unhalfbricking, their second album of the year, was released, they had been through the terrible car accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band’s drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend. Most of the rest of the band had been seriously injured, and they had made a conscious decision not to discuss the future of the band until they were all out of hospital. Ashley Hutchings was hospitalised the longest, and Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, and Sandy Denny, the other three surviving members of the band, flew over to LA with their producer and manager, Joe Boyd, to recuperate there and get to know the American music scene. When they came back, the group all met up in the flat belonging to Denny’s boyfriend Trevor Lucas, and decided that they were going to continue the band. They made a few decisions then — they needed a new drummer, and as well as a drummer they wanted to get in Dave Swarbrick. Swarbrick had played violin on several tracks on Unhalfbricking as a session player, and they had all been thrilled to work with him. Swarbrick was one of the most experienced musicians on the British folk circuit. He had started out in the fifties playing guitar with Beryl Marriott’s Ceilidh Band before switching to fiddle, and in 1963, long before Fairport had formed, he had already appeared on TV with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, led by Ian Campbell, the father of Ali and Robin Campbell, later of UB40: [Excerpt: The Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Shanten Bells (medley on Hullaballoo!)”] He’d sung with Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd: [Excerpt: A.L. Lloyd, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” ] And he’d formed his hugely successful duo with Martin Carthy, releasing records like “Byker Hill” which are often considered among the best British folk music of all time: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, “Byker Hill”] By the time Fairport had invited him to play on Unhalfbricking, Swarbrick had already performed on twenty albums as a core band member, plus dozens more EPs, singles, and odd tracks on compilations. They had no reason to think they could actually get him to join their band. But they had three advantages. The first was that Swarbrick was sick of the traditional folk scene at the time, saying later “I didn’t like seven-eighths of the people involved in it, and it was extremely opportune to leave. I was suddenly presented with the possibilities of exploring the dramatic content of the songs to the full.” The second was that he was hugely excited to be playing with Richard Thompson, who was one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, and Martin Carthy remembers him raving about Thompson after their initial sessions. (Carthy himself was and is no slouch on the guitar of course, and there was even talk of getting him to join the band at this point, though they decided against it — much to the relief of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol, who is a perfectly fine player himself but didn’t want to be outclassed by *two* of the best guitarists in Britain at the same time). And the third was that Joe Boyd told him that Fairport were doing so well — they had a single just about to hit the charts with “Si Tu Dois Partir” — that he would only have to play a dozen gigs with Fairport in order to retire. As it turned out, Swarbrick would play with the group for a decade, and would never retire — I saw him on his last tour in 2015, only eight months before he died. The drummer the group picked was also a far more experienced musician than any of the rest, though in a very different genre. Dave Mattacks had no knowledge at all of the kind of music they played, having previously been a player in dance bands. When asked by Hutchings if he wanted to join the band, Mattacks’ response was “I don’t know anything about the music. I don’t understand it… I can’t tell one tune from another, they all sound the same… but if you want me to join the group, fine, because I really like it. I’m enjoying myself musically.” Mattacks brought a new level of professionalism to the band, thanks to his different background. Nicol said of him later “He was dilligent, clean, used to taking three white shirts to a gig… The application he could bring to his playing was amazing. With us, you only played well when you were feeling well.” This distinction applied to his playing as well. Nicol would later describe the difference between Mattacks’ drumming and Lamble’s by saying “Martin’s strength was as an imaginative drummer. DM came in with a strongly developed sense of rhythm, through keeping a big band of drunken saxophone players in order. A great time-keeper.” With this new line-up and a new sense of purpose, the group did as many of their contemporaries were doing and “got their heads together in the country”. Joe Boyd rented the group a mansion, Farley House, in Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire, and they stayed there together for three months. At the start, the group seem to have thought that they were going to make another record like Unhalfbricking, with some originals, some songs by American songwriters, and a few traditional songs. Even after their stay in Farley Chamberlayne, in fact, they recorded a few of the American songs they’d rehearsed at the start of the process, Richard Farina’s “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” and Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Ballad of Easy Rider”] Indeed, the whole idea of “getting our heads together in the country” (as the cliche quickly became in the late sixties as half of the bands in Britain went through much the same kind of process as Fairport were doing — but usually for reasons more to do with drug burnout or trend following than recovering from serious life-changing trauma) seems to have been inspired by Bob Dylan and the Band getting together in Big Pink. But very quickly they decided to follow the lead of Ashley Hutchings, who had had something of a Damascene conversion to the cause of traditional English folk music. They were listening mostly to Music From Big Pink by the Band, and to the first album by Sweeney’s Men: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “The Handsome Cabin Boy”] And they decided that they were going to make something that was as English as those records were North American and Irish (though in the event there were also a few Scottish songs included on the record). Hutchings in particular was becoming something of a scholar of traditional music, regularly visiting Cecil Sharp House and having long conversations with A.L. Lloyd, discovering versions of different traditional songs he’d never encountered before. This was both amusing and bemusing Sandy Denny, who had joined a rock group in part to get away from traditional music; but she was comfortable singing the material, and knew a lot of it and could make a lot of suggestions herself. Swarbrick obviously knew the repertoire intimately, and Nicol was amenable, while Mattacks was utterly clueless about the folk tradition at this point but knew this was the music he wanted to make. Thompson knew very little about traditional music, and of all the band members except Denny he was the one who has shown the least interest in the genre in his subsequent career — but as we heard at the beginning, showing the least interest in the genre is a relative thing, and while Thompson was not hugely familiar with the genre, he *was* able to work with it, and was also more than capable of writing songs that fit in with the genre. Of the eleven songs on the album, which was titled Liege and Lief (which means, roughly, Lord and Loyalty), there were no cover versions of singer-songwriters. Eight were traditional songs, and three were originals, all written in the style of traditional songs. The album opened with “Come All Ye”, an introduction written by Denny and Hutchings (the only time the two would ever write together): [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Come All Ye”] The other two originals were songs where Thompson had written new lyrics to traditional melodies. On “Crazy Man Michael”, Swarbrick had said to Thompson that the tune to which he had set his new words was weaker than the lyrics, to which Thompson had replied that if Swarbrick felt that way he should feel free to write a new melody. He did, and it became the first of the small number of Thompson/Swarbrick collaborations: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Crazy Man Michael”] Thompson and Swarbrick would become a brief songwriting team, but as much as anything else it was down to proximity — the two respected each other as musicians, but never got on very well. In 1981 Swarbrick would say “Richard and I never got on in the early days of FC… we thought we did, but we never did. We composed some bloody good songs together, but it was purely on a basis of “you write that and I’ll write this, and we’ll put it together.” But we never sat down and had real good chats.” The third original on the album, and by far the most affecting, is another song where Thompson put lyrics to a traditional tune. In this case he thought he was putting the lyrics to the tune of “Willie O'Winsbury”, but he was basing it on a recording by Sweeney’s Men. The problem was that Sweeney’s Men had accidentally sung the lyrics of “Willie O'Winsbury'” to the tune of a totally different song, “Fause Foodrage”: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “Willie O’Winsbury”] Thompson took that melody, and set to it lyrics about loss and separation. Thompson has never been one to discuss the meanings of his lyrics in any great detail, and in the case of this one has said “I really don't know what it means. This song came out of a dream, and I pretty much wrote it as I dreamt it (it was the sixties), and didn't spend very long analyzing it. So interpret as you wish – or replace with your own lines.” But in the context of the traffic accident that had killed his tailor girlfriend and a bandmate, and injured most of his other bandmates, the lyrics about lonely travellers, the winding road, bruised and beaten sons, saying goodbye, and never cutting cloth, seem fairly self-explanatory: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Farewell, Farewell”] The rest of the album, though, was taken up by traditional tunes. There was a long medley of four different fiddle reels; a version of “Reynardine” (a song about a seductive man — or is he a fox? Or perhaps both — which had been recorded by Swarbrick and Carthy on their most recent album); a 19th century song about a deserter saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert; and a long take on “Tam Lin”, one of the most famous pieces in the Scottish folk music canon, a song that has been adapted in different ways by everyone from the experimental noise band Current 93 to the dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the comics writer Grant Morrison: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Tam Lin”] And “Matty Groves”, a song about a man killing his cheating wife and her lover, which actually has a surprisingly similar story to that of “1921” from another great concept album from that year, the Who’s Tommy. “Matty Groves” became an excuse for long solos and shows of instrumental virtuosity: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves”] The album was recorded in September 1969, after their return from their break in the country and a triumphal performance at the Royal Festival Hall, headlining over fellow Witchseason artists John and Beverly Martyn and Nick Drake. It became a classic of the traditional folk genre — arguably *the* classic of the traditional folk genre. In 2007 BBC Radio 2’s Folk Music Awards gave it an award for most influential folk album of all time, and while such things are hard to measure, I doubt there’s anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of British folk and folk-rock music who would not at least consider that a reasonable claim. But once again, by the time the album came out in November, the band had changed lineups yet again. There was a fundamental split in the band – on one side were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, whose stance was, roughly, that Liege and Lief was a great experiment and a fun thing to do once, but really the band had two first-rate songwriters in themselves, and that they should be concentrating on their own new material, not doing these old songs, good as they were. They wanted to take the form of the traditional songs and use that form for new material — they wanted to make British folk-rock, but with the emphasis on the rock side of things. Hutchings, on the other hand, was equally sure that he wanted to make traditional music and go further down the rabbit hole of antiquity. With the zeal of the convert he had gone in a couple of years from being the leader of a band who were labelled “the British Jefferson Airplane” to becoming a serious scholar of traditional folk music. Denny was tired of touring, as well — she wanted to spend more time at home with Trevor Lucas, who was sleeping with other women when she was away and making her insecure. When the time came for the group to go on a tour of Denmark, Denny decided she couldn’t make it, and Hutchings was jubilant — he decided he was going to get A.L. Lloyd into the band in her place and become a *real* folk group. Then Denny reconsidered, and Hutchings was crushed. He realised that while he had always been the leader, he wasn’t going to be able to lead the band any further in the traditionalist direction, and quit the group — but not before he was delegated by the other band members to fire Denny. Until the publication of Richard Thompson’s autobiography in 2022, every book on the group or its members said that Denny quit the band again, which was presumably a polite fiction that the band agreed, but according to Thompson “Before we flew home, we decided to fire Sandy. I don't remember who asked her to leave – it was probably Ashley, who usually did the dirty work. She was reportedly shocked that we would take that step. She may have been fragile beneath the confident facade, but she still knew her worth.” Thompson goes on to explain that the reasons for kicking her out were that “I suppose we felt that in her mind she had already left” and that “We were probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though there wasn't a name for it back then.” They had considered inviting Trevor Lucas to join the band to make Denny more comfortable, but came to the (probably correct) conclusion that while he was someone they got on well with personally, he would be another big ego in a band that already had several, and that being around Denny and Lucas’ volatile relationship would, in Thompson’s phrasing, “have not always given one a feeling of peace and stability.” Hutchings originally decided he was going to join Sweeney’s Men, but that group were falling apart, and their first rehearsal with Hutchings would also be their last as a group, with only Hutchings and guitarist and mandolin player Terry Woods left in the band. They added Woods’ wife Gay, and another couple, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and formed a group called Steeleye Span, a name given them by Martin Carthy. That group, like Fairport, went to “get their heads together in the country” for three months and recorded an album of electric versions of traditional songs, Hark the Village Wait, on which Mattacks and another drummer, Gerry Conway, guested as Steeleye Span didn’t at the time have their own drummer: [Excerpt: Steeleye Span, “Blackleg Miner”] Steeleye Span would go on to have a moderately successful chart career in the seventies, but by that time most of the original lineup, including Hutchings, had left — Hutchings stayed with them for a few albums, then went on to form the first of a series of bands, all called the Albion Band or variations on that name, which continue to this day. And this is something that needs to be pointed out at this point — it is impossible to follow every single individual in this narrative as they move between bands. There is enough material in the history of the British folk-rock scene that someone could do a 500 Songs-style podcast just on that, and every time someone left Fairport, or Steeleye Span, or the Albion Band, or Matthews’ Southern Comfort, or any of the other bands we have mentioned or will mention, they would go off and form another band which would then fission, and some of its members would often join one of those other bands. There was a point in the mid-1970s where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport Convention while Fairport Convention had none. So just in order to keep the narrative anything like wieldy, I’m going to keep the narrative concentrated on the two figures from Fairport — Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson — whose work outside the group has had the most influence on the wider world of rock music more broadly, and only deal with the other members when, as they often did, their careers intersected with those two. That doesn’t mean the other members are not themselves hugely important musicians, just that their importance has been primarily to the folk side of the folk-rock genre, and so somewhat outside the scope of this podcast. While Hutchings decided to form a band that would allow him to go deeper and deeper into traditional folk music, Sandy Denny’s next venture was rather different. For a long time she had been writing far more songs than she had ever played for her bandmates, like “Nothing More”, a song that many have suggested is about Thompson: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Nothing More”] When Joe Boyd heard that Denny was leaving Fairport Convention, he was at first elated. Fairport’s records were being distributed by A&M in the US at that point, but Island Records was in the process of opening up a new US subsidiary which would then release all future Fairport product — *but*, as far as A&M were concerned, Sandy Denny *was* Fairport Convention. They were only interested in her. Boyd, on the other hand, loved Denny’s work intensely, but from his point of view *Richard Thompson* was Fairport Convention. If he could get Denny signed directly to A&M as a solo artist before Island started its US operations, Witchseason could get a huge advance on her first solo record, while Fairport could continue making records for Island — he’d have two lucrative acts, on different labels. Boyd went over and spoke to A&M and got an agreement in principle that they would give Denny a forty-thousand-dollar advance on her first solo album — twice what they were paying for Fairport albums. The problem was that Denny didn’t want to be a solo act. She wanted to be the lead singer of a band. She gave many reasons for this — the one she gave to many journalists was that she had seen a Judy Collins show and been impressed, but noticed that Collins’ band were definitely a “backing group”, and as she put it “But that's all they were – a backing group. I suddenly thought, If you're playing together on a stage you might as well be TOGETHER.” Most other people in her life, though, say that the main reason for her wanting to be in a band was her desire to be with her boyfriend, Trevor Lucas. Partly this was due to a genuine desire to spend more time with someone with whom she was very much in love, partly it was a fear that he would cheat on her if she was away from him for long periods of time, and part of it seems to have been Lucas’ dislike of being *too* overshadowed by his talented girlfriend — he didn’t mind acknowledging that she was a major talent, but he wanted to be thought of as at least a minor one. So instead of going solo, Denny formed Fotheringay, named after the song she had written for Fairport. This new band consisted at first of Denny on vocals and occasional piano, Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Lucas’ old Eclection bandmate Gerry Conway on drums. For a lead guitarist, they asked Richard Thompson who the best guitarist in Britain was, and he told them Albert Lee. Lee in turn brought in bass player Pat Donaldson, but this lineup of the band barely survived a fortnight. Lee *was* arguably the best guitarist in Britain, certainly a reasonable candidate if you could ever have a singular best (as indeed was Thompson himself), but he was the best *country* guitarist in Britain, and his style simply didn’t fit with Fotheringay’s folk-influenced songs. He was replaced by American guitarist Jerry Donahue, who was not anything like as proficient as Lee, but who was still very good, and fit the band’s style much better. The new group rehearsed together for a few weeks, did a quick tour, and then went into the recording studio to record their debut, self-titled, album. Joe Boyd produced the album, but admitted himself that he only paid attention to those songs he considered worthwhile — the album contained one song by Lucas, “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, and two cover versions of American singer-songwriter material with Lucas singing lead. But everyone knew that the songs that actually *mattered* were Sandy Denny’s, and Boyd was far more interested in them, particularly the songs “The Sea” and “The Pond and the Stream”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “The Pond and the Stream”] Fotheringay almost immediately hit financial problems, though. While other Witchseason acts were used to touring on the cheap, all packed together in the back of a Transit van with inexpensive equipment, Trevor Lucas had ambitions of being a rock star and wanted to put together a touring production to match, with expensive transport and equipment, including a speaker system that got nicknamed “Stonehenge” — but at the same time, Denny was unhappy being on the road, and didn’t play many gigs. As well as the band itself, the Fotheringay album also featured backing vocals from a couple of other people, including Denny’s friend Linda Peters. Peters was another singer from the folk clubs, and a good one, though less well-known than Denny — at this point she had only released a couple of singles, and those singles seemed to have been as much as anything else released as a novelty. The first of those, a version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” had been released as by “Paul McNeill and Linda Peters”: [Excerpt: Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”] But their second single, a version of John D. Loudermilk’s “You’re Taking My Bag”, was released on the tiny Page One label, owned by Larry Page, and was released under the name “Paul and Linda”, clearly with the intent of confusing particularly gullible members of the record-buying public into thinking this was the McCartneys: [Excerpt: Paul and Linda, “You’re Taking My Bag”] Peters was though more financially successful than almost anyone else in this story, as she was making a great deal of money as a session singer. She actually did another session involving most of Fotheringay around this time. Witchseason had a number of excellent songwriters on its roster, and had had some success getting covers by people like Judy Collins, but Joe Boyd thought that they might possibly do better at getting cover versions if they were performed in less idiosyncratic arrangements. Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway went into the studio to record backing tracks, and vocals were added by Peters and another session singer, who according to some sources also provided piano. They cut songs by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “You Get Brighter”] Ed Carter, formerly of The New Nadir but by this time firmly ensconced in the Beach Boys’ touring band where he would remain for the next quarter-century: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “I Don’t Mind”] John and Beverly Martyn, and Nick Drake: [Excerpt: Elton John, “Saturday Sun”] There are different lineups of musicians credited for those sessions in different sources, but I tend to believe that it’s mostly Fotheringay for the simple reason that Donahue says it was him, Donaldson and Conway who talked Lucas and Denny into the mistake that destroyed Fotheringay because of these sessions. Fotheringay were in financial trouble already, spending far more money than they were bringing in, but their album made the top twenty and they were getting respect both from critics and from the public — in September, Sandy Denny was voted best British female singer by the readers of Melody Maker in their annual poll, which led to shocked headlines in the tabloids about how this “unknown” could have beaten such big names as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black. Only a couple of weeks after that, they were due to headline at the Albert Hall. It should have been a triumph. But Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway had asked that singing pianist to be their support act. As Donahue said later “That was a terrible miscast. It was our fault. He asked if [he] could do it. Actually Pat, Gerry and I had to talk Sandy and Trevor into [it]… We'd done these demos and the way he was playing – he was a wonderful piano player – he was sensitive enough. We knew very little about his stage-show. We thought he'd be a really good opener for us.” Unfortunately, Elton John was rather *too* good. As Donahue continued “we had no idea what he had in mind, that he was going to do the most incredible rock & roll show ever. He pretty much blew us off the stage before we even got on the stage.” To make matters worse, Fotheringay’s set, which was mostly comprised of new material, was underrehearsed and sloppy, and from that point on no matter what they did people were counting the hours until the band split up. They struggled along for a while though, and started working on a second record, with Boyd again producing, though as Boyd later said “I probably shouldn't have been producing the record. My lack of respect for the group was clear, and couldn't have helped the atmosphere. We'd put out a record that had sold disappointingly, A&M was unhappy. Sandy's tracks on the first record are among the best things she ever did – the rest of it, who cares? And the artwork, Trevor's sister, was terrible. It would have been one thing if I'd been unhappy with it and it sold, and the group was working all the time, making money, but that wasn't the case … I knew what Sandy was capable of, and it was very upsetting to me.” The record would not be released for thirty-eight years: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Wild Mountain Thyme”] Witchseason was going badly into debt. Given all the fissioning of bands that we’ve already been talking about, Boyd had been stretched thin — he produced sixteen albums in 1970, and almost all of them lost money for the company. And he was getting more and more disillusioned with the people he was producing. He loved Beverly Martyn’s work, but had little time for her abusive husband John, who was dominating her recording and life more and more and would soon become a solo artist while making her stay at home (and stealing her ideas without giving her songwriting credit). The Incredible String Band were great, but they had recently converted to Scientology, which Boyd found annoying, and while he was working with all sorts of exciting artists like Vashti Bunyan and Nico, he was finding himself less and less important to the artists he mentored. Fairport Convention were a good example of this. After Denny and Hutchings had left the group, they’d decided to carry on as an electric folk group, performing an equal mix of originals by the Swarbrick and Thompson songwriting team and arrangements of traditional songs. The group were now far enough away from the “British Jefferson Airplane” label that they decided they didn’t need a female vocalist — and more realistically, while they’d been able to replace Judy Dyble, nobody was going to replace Sandy Denny. Though it’s rather surprising when one considers Thompson’s subsequent career that nobody seems to have thought of bringing in Denny’s friend Linda Peters, who was dating Joe Boyd at the time (as Denny had been before she met Lucas) as Denny’s replacement. Instead, they decided that Swarbrick and Thompson were going to share the vocals between them. They did, though, need a bass player to replace Hutchings. Swarbrick wanted to bring in Dave Pegg, with whom he had played in the Ian Campbell Folk Group, but the other band members initially thought the idea was a bad one. At the time, while they respected Swarbrick as a musician, they didn’t think he fully understood rock and roll yet, and they thought the idea of getting in a folkie who had played double bass rather than an electric rock bassist ridiculous. But they auditioned him to mollify Swarbrick, and found that he was exactly what they needed. As Joe Boyd later said “All those bass lines were great, Ashley invented them all, but he never could play them that well. He thought of them, but he was technically not a terrific bass player. He was a very inventive, melodic, bass player, but not a very powerful one technically. But having had the part explained to him once, Pegg was playing it better than Ashley had ever played it… In some rock bands, I think, ultimately, the bands that sound great, you can generally trace it to the bass player… it was at that point they became a great band, when they had Pegg.” The new lineup of Fairport decided to move in together, and found a former pub called the Angel, into which all the band members moved, along with their partners and children (Thompson was the only one who was single at this point) and their roadies. The group lived together quite happily, and one gets the impression that this was the period when they were most comfortable with each other, even though by this point they were a disparate group with disparate tastes, in music as in everything else. Several people have said that the only music all the band members could agree they liked at this point was the first two albums by The Band. With the departure of Hutchings from the band, Swarbrick and Thompson, as the strongest personalities and soloists, became in effect the joint leaders of the group, and they became collaborators as songwriters, trying to write new songs that were inspired by traditional music. Thompson described the process as “let’s take one line of this reel and slow it down and move it up a minor third and see what that does to it; let’s take one line of this ballad and make a whole song out of it. Chopping up the tradition to find new things to do… like a collage.” Generally speaking, Swarbrick and Thompson would sit by the fire and Swarbrick would play a melody he’d been working on, the two would work on it for a while, and Thompson would then go away and write the lyrics. This is how the two came up with songs like the nine-minute “Sloth”, a highlight of the next album, Full House, and one that would remain in Fairport’s live set for much of their career: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth”] “Sloth” was titled that way because Thompson and Swarbrick were working on two tunes, a slow one and a fast one, and they jokingly named them “Sloth” and “Fasth”, but the latter got renamed to “Walk Awhile”, while “Sloth” kept its working title. But by this point, Boyd and Thompson were having a lot of conflict in the studio. Boyd was never the most technical of producers — he was one of those producers whose job is to gently guide the artists in the studio and create a space for the music to flourish, rather than the Joe Meek type with an intimate technical knowledge of the studio — and as the artists he was working with gained confidence in their own work they felt they had less and less need of him. During the making of the Full House album, Thompson and Boyd, according to Boyd, clashed on everything — every time Boyd thought Thompson had done a good solo, Thompson would say to erase it and let him have another go, while every time Boyd thought Thompson could do better, Thompson would say that was the take to keep. One of their biggest clashes was over Thompson’s song “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”, which was originally intended for release on the album, and is included in current reissues of it: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”] Thompson had written that song inspired by what he thought was the unjust treatment of Alex Bramham, the driver in Fairport’s fatal car crash, by the courts — Bramham had been given a prison sentence of a few months for dangerous driving, while the group members thought he had not been at fault. Boyd thought it was one of the best things recorded for the album, but Thompson wasn’t happy with his vocal — there was one note at the top of the melody that he couldn’t quite hit — and insisted it be kept off the record, even though that meant it would be a shorter album than normal. He did this at such a late stage that early copies of the album actually had the title printed on the sleeve, but then blacked out. He now says in his autobiography “I could have persevered, double-tracked the voice, warmed up for longer – anything. It was a good track, and the record was lacking without it. When the album was re-released, the track was restored with a more confident vocal, and it has stayed there ever since.” During the sessions for Full House the group also recorded one non-album single, Thompson and Swarbrick’s “Now Be Thankful”: [Excerpt, Fairport Convention, “Now Be Thankful”] The B-side to that was a medley of two traditional tunes plus a Swarbrick original, but was given the deliberately ridiculous title “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”] The B. McKenzie in the title was a reference to the comic-strip character Barry McKenzie, a stereotype drunk Australian created for Private Eye magazine by the comedian Barry Humphries (later to become better known for his Dame Edna Everage character) but the title was chosen for one reason only — to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the song with the longest title. Which they did, though they were later displaced by the industrial band Test Dept, and their song “Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes and Is Constantly Perfected Under the Immaculate Guidance of the Great, Honourable, Generous and Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is the Blue Sky in the Hearts of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage and Bow in Deep Respect and Gratitude to Her. The Milk of Human Kindness”. Full House got excellent reviews in the music press, with Rolling Stone saying “The music shows that England has finally gotten her own equivalent to The Band… By calling Fairport an English equivalent of the Band, I meant that they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they maintain their roots in rock.” Off the back of this, the group went on their first US tour, culminating in a series of shows at the Troubadour in LA, on the same bill as Rick Nelson, which were recorded and later released as a live album: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth (live)”] The Troubadour was one of the hippest venues at the time, and over their residency there the group got seen by many celebrities, some of whom joined them on stage. The first was Linda Ronstadt, who initially demurred, saying she didn’t know any of their songs. On being told they knew all of hers, she joined in with a rendition of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. Thompson was later asked to join Ronstadt’s backing band, who would go on to become the Eagles, but he said later of this offer “I would have hated it. I’d have hated being on the road with four or five miserable Americans — they always seem miserable. And if you see them now, they still look miserable on stage — like they don’t want to be there and they don’t like each other.” The group were also joined on stage at the Troubadour on one memorable night by some former bandmates of Pegg’s. Before joining the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Pegg had played around the Birmingham beat scene, and had been in bands with John Bonham and Robert Plant, who turned up to the Troubadour with their Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page (reports differ on whether the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, also came along). They all got up on stage together and jammed on songs like “Hey Joe”, “Louie Louie”, and various old Elvis tunes. The show was recorded, and the tapes are apparently still in the possession of Joe Boyd, who has said he refuses to release them in case he is murdered by the ghost of Peter Grant. According to Thompson, that night ended in a three-way drinking contest between Pegg, Bonham, and Janis Joplin, and it’s testament to how strong the drinking culture is around Fairport and the British folk scene in general that Pegg outdrank both of them. According to Thompson, Bonham was found naked by a swimming pool two days later, having missed two gigs. For all their hard rock image, Led Zeppelin were admirers of a lot of the British folk and folk-rock scene, and a few months later Sandy Denny would become the only outside vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin record when she duetted with Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” on the group’s fourth album: [Excerpt: Led Zeppelin, “The Battle of Evermore”] Denny would never actually get paid for her appearance on one of the best-selling albums of all time. That was, incidentally, not the only session that Denny was involved in around this time — she also sang on the soundtrack to a soft porn film titled Swedish Fly Girls, whose soundtrack was produced by Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow?”] Shortly after Fairport’s trip to America, Joe Boyd decided he was giving up on Witchseason. The company was now losing money, and he was finding himself having to produce work for more and more acts as the various bands fissioned. The only ones he really cared about were Richard Thompson, who he was finding it more and more difficult to work with, Nick Drake, who wanted to do his next album with just an acoustic guitar anyway, Sandy Denny, who he felt was wasting her talents in Fotheringay, and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, who was more distant since his conversion to Scientology. Boyd did make some attempts to keep the company going. On a trip to Sweden, he negotiated an agreement with the manager and publisher of a Swedish band whose songs he’d found intriguing, the Hep Stars. Boyd was going to publish their songs in the UK, and in return that publisher, Stig Anderson, would get the rights to Witchseason’s catalogue in Scandinavia — a straight swap, with no money changing hands. But before Boyd could get round to signing the paperwork, he got a better offer from Mo Ostin of Warners — Ostin wanted Boyd to come over to LA and head up Warners’ new film music department. Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to LA with his fiancee Linda Peters, spending the next few years working on music for films like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange, as well as making his own documentary about Jimi Hendrix, and thus missed out on getting the UK publishing rights for ABBA, and all the income that would have brought him, for no money. And it was that decision that led to the breakup of Fotheringay. Just before Christmas 1970, Fotheringay were having a difficult session, recording the track “John the Gun”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “John the Gun”] Boyd got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the session, and went for a meal and several drinks with Denny. He kept insisting that she should dump the band and just go solo, and then something happened that the two of them would always describe differently. She asked him if he would continue to produce her records if she went solo, and he said he would. According to Boyd’s recollection of the events, he meant that he would fly back from California at some point to produce her records. According to Denny, he told her that if she went solo he would stay in Britain and not take the job in LA. This miscommunication was only discovered after Denny told the rest of Fotheringay after the Christmas break that she was splitting the band. Jerry Donahue has described that as the worst moment of his life, and Denny felt very guilty about breaking up a band with some of her closest friends in — and then when Boyd went over to the US anyway she felt a profound betrayal. Two days before Fotheringay’s final concert, in January 1971, Sandy Denny signed a solo deal with Island records, but her first solo album would not end up produced by Joe Boyd. Instead, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens was co-produced by Denny, John Wood — the engineer who had worked with Boyd on pretty much everything he’d produced, and Richard Thompson, who had just quit Fairport Convention, though he continued living with them at the Angel, at least until a truck crashed into the building in February 1971, destroying its entire front wall and forcing them to relocate. The songs chosen for The North Star Grassman and the Ravens reflected the kind of choices Denny would make on her future albums, and her eclectic taste in music. There was, of course, the obligatory Dylan cover, and the traditional folk ballad “Blackwaterside”, but there was also a cover version of Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”] Most of the album, though, was made up of originals about various people in Denny’s life, like “Next Time Around”, about her ex-boyfriend Jackson C Frank: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Next Time Around”] The album made the top forty in the UK — Denny’s only solo album to do so — and led to her once again winning the “best female singer” award in Melody Maker’s readers’ poll that year — the male singer award was won by Rod Stewart. Both Stewart and Denny appeared the next year on the London Symphony Orchestra’s all-star version of The Who’s Tommy, which had originally been intended as a vehicle for Stewart before Roger Daltrey got involved. Stewart’s role was reduced to a single song, “Pinball Wizard”, while Denny sang on “It’s a Boy”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “It’s a Boy”] While Fotheringay had split up, all the band members play on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Guitarists Donahue and Lucas only play on a couple of the tracks, with Richard Thompson playing most of the guitar on the record. But Fotheringay’s rhythm section of Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway play on almost every track. Another musician on the album, Ian Whiteman, would possibly have a profound effect on the future direction of Richard Thompson’s career and life. Whiteman was the former keyboard player for the mod band The Action, having joined them just before they became the blues-rock band Mighty Baby. But Mighty Baby had split up when all of the band except the lead singer had converted to Islam. Richard Thompson was on his own spiritual journey at this point, and became a Sufi – the same branch of Islam as Whiteman – soon after the session, though Thompson has said that his conversion was independent of Whiteman’s. The two did become very close and work together a lot in the mid-seventies though. Thompson had supposedly left Fairport because he was writing material that wasn’t suited to the band, but he spent more than a year after quitting the group working on sessions rather than doing anything with his own material, and these sessions tended to involve the same core group of musicians. One of the more unusual was a folk-rock supergroup called The Bunch, put together by Trevor Lucas. Richard Branson had recently bought a recording studio, and wanted a band to test it out before opening it up for commercial customers, so with this free studio time Lucas decided to record a set of fifties rock and roll covers. He gathered together Thompson, Denny, Whiteman, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, pianist Tony Cox, the horn section that would later form the core of the Average White Band, and Linda Peters, who had now split up with Joe Boyd and returned to the UK, and who had started dating Thompson. They recorded an album of covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Otis and others: [Excerpt: The Bunch, “Willie and the Hand Jive”] The early seventies was a hugely productive time for this group of musicians, as they all continued playing on each other’s projects. One notable album was No Roses by Shirley Collins, which featured Thompson, Mattacks, Whiteman, Simon Nicol, Lal and Mike Waterson, and Ashley Hutchings, who was at that point married to Collins, as well as some more unusual musicians like the free jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill: [Excerpt: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, “Claudy Banks”] Collins was at the time the most respected female singer in British traditional music, and already had a substantial career including a series of important records made with her sister Dolly, work with guitarists like Davey Graham, and time spent in the 1950s collecting folk songs in the Southern US with her then partner Alan Lomax – according to Collins she did much of the actual work, but Lomax only mentioned her in a single sentence in his book on this work. Some of the same group of musicians went on to work on an album of traditional Morris dancing tunes, titled Morris On, credited to “Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield”, with Collins singing lead on two tracks: [Excerpt: Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with Shirley Collins, “The Willow Tree”] Thompson thought that that album was the best of the various side projects he was involved in at the time, comparing it favourably to Rock On, which he thought was rather slight, saying later “Conceptually, Fairport, Ashley and myself and Sandy were developing a more fragile style of music that nobody else was particularly interested in, a British Folk Rock idea that had a logical development to it, although we all presented it our own way. Morris On was rather more true to what we were doing. Rock On was rather a retro step. I'm not sure it was lasting enough as a record but Sandy did sing really well on the Buddy Holly songs.” Hutchings used the musicians on No Roses and Morris On as the basis for his band the Albion Band, which continues to this day. Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks both quit Fairport to join the Albion Band, though Mattacks soon returned. Nicol would not return to Fairport for several years, though, and for a long period in the mid-seventies Fairport Convention had no original members. Unfortunately, while Collins was involved in the Albion Band early on, she and Hutchings ended up divorcing, and the stress from the divorce led to Collins developing spasmodic dysphonia, a stress-related illness which makes it impossible for the sufferer to sing. She did eventually regain her vocal ability, but between 1978 and 2016 she was unable to perform at all, and lost decades of her career. Richard Thompson occasionally performed with the Albion Band early on, but he was getting stretched a little thin with all these sessions. Linda Peters said later of him “When I came back from America, he was working in Sandy’s band, and doing sessions by the score. Always with Pat Donaldson and Dave Mattacks. Richard would turn up with his guitar, one day he went along to do a session with one of those folkie lady singers — and there were Pat and DM. They all cracked. Richard smashed his amp and said “Right! No more sessions!” In 1972 he got round to releasing his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, which featured guest appearances by Linda Peters and Sandy Denny among others: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “The Angels Took My Racehorse Away”] Unfortunately, while that album has later become regarded as one of the classics of its genre, at the time it was absolutely slated by the music press. The review in Melody Maker, for example, read in part “Some of Richard Thompson’s ideas sound great – which is really the saving grace of this album, because most of the music doesn’t. The tragedy is that Thompson’s “British rock music” is such an unconvincing concoction… Even the songs that do integrate rock and traditional styles of electric guitar rhythms and accordion and fiddle decoration – and also include explicit, meaningful lyrics are marred by bottle-up vocals, uninspiring guitar phrases and a general lack of conviction in performance.” Henry the Human Fly was released in the US by Warners, who had a reciprocal licensing deal with Island (and for whom Joe Boyd was working at the time, which may have had something to do with that) but according to Thompson it became the lowest-selling record that Warners ever put out (though I’ve also seen that claim made about Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, another album that has later been rediscovered). Thompson was hugely depressed by this reaction, and blamed his own singing. Happily, though, by this point he and Linda had become a couple — they would marry in 1972 — and they started playing folk clubs as a duo, or sometimes in a trio with Simon Nicol. Thompson was also playing with Sandy Denny’s backing band at this point, and played on every track on her second solo album, Sandy. This album was meant to be her big commercial breakthrough, with a glamorous cover photo by David Bailey, and with a more American sound, including steel guitar by Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers (whose overdubs were supervised in LA by Joe Boyd): [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”] The album was given a big marketing push by Island, and “Listen, Listen” was made single of the week on the Radio 1 Breakfast show: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Listen, Listen”] But it did even worse than the previous album, sending her into something of a depression. Linda Thompson (as the former Linda Peters now was) said of this period “After the Sandy album, it got her down that her popularity didn't suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and that was the start of her really fretting about the way her career was going. Things only escalated after that. People like me or Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson would think, ‘What are you on about? This is folk music.'” After Sandy’s release, Denny realised she could no longer afford to tour with a band, and so went back to performing just acoustically or on piano. The only new music to be released by either of these ex-members of Fairport Convention in 1973 was, oddly, on an album by the band they were no longer members of. After Thompson had left Fairport, the group had managed to release two whole albums with the same lineup — Swarbrick, Nicol, Pegg, and Mattacks. But then Nicol and Mattacks had both quit the band to join the Albion Band with their former bandmate Ashley Hutchings, leading to a situation where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport plus their longtime drummer while Fairport Convention itself had no original members and was down to just Swarbrick and Pegg. Needing to fulfil their contracts, they then recruited three former members of Fotheringay — Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Donahue on lead guitar, and Conway on drums. Conway was only a session player at the time, and Mattacks soon returned to the band, but Lucas and Donahue became full-time members. This new lineup of Fairport Convention released two albums in 1973, widely regarded as the group’s most inconsistent records, and on the title track of the first, “Rosie”, Richard Thompson guested on guitar, with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Rosie”] Neither Sandy Denny nor Richard Thompson released a record themselves in 1973, but in neither case was this through the artists’ choice. The record industry was changing in the early 1970s, as we’ll see in later episodes, and was less inclined to throw good money after bad in the pursuit of art. Island Records prided itself on being a home for great artists, but it was still a business, and needed to make money. We’ll talk about the OPEC oil crisis and its effect on the music industry much more when the podcast gets to 1973, but in brief, the production of oil by the US peaked in 1970 and started to decrease, leading to them importing more and more oil from the Middle East. As a result of this, oil prices rose slowly between 1971 and 1973, then very quickly towards the end of 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict that year. As vinyl is made of oil, suddenly producing records became much more expensive, and in this period a lot of labels decided not to release already-completed albums, until what they hoped would be a brief period of shortages passed. Both Denny and Thompson recorded albums at this point that got put to one side by Island. In the case of Thompson, it was the first album by Richard and Linda as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Today, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and as one of the two masterpieces that bookended Richard and Linda’s career as a duo and their marriage. But when they recorded the album, full of Richard’s dark songs, it was the opposite of commercial. Even a song that’s more or less a boy-girl song, like “Has He Got a Friend for Me?” has lyrics like “He wouldn’t notice me passing by/I could be in the gutter, or dangling down from a tree” [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “Has He got a Friend For Me?”] While something like “The Calvary Cross” is oblique and haunted, and seems to cast a pall over the entire album: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “The Calvary Cross”] The album itself had been cheap to make — it had been recorded in only a week, with Thompson bringing in musicians he knew well and had worked with a lot previously to cut the tracks as-live in only a handful of takes — but Island didn’t think it was worth releasing. The record stayed on the shelf for nearly a year after recording, until Island got a new head of A&R, Richard Williams. Williams said of the album’s release “Muff Winwood had been doing A&R, but he was more interested in production… I had a conversation with Muff as soon as I got there, and he said there are a few hangovers, some outstanding problems. And one of them was Richard Thompson. He said there’s this album we gave him the money to make — which was I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — and nobody’s very interested in it. Henry the Human Fly had been a bit of a commercial disappointment, and although Island was altruistic and independent and known for only recording good stuff, success was important… Either a record had to do well or somebody had to believe in it a lot. And it seemed as if neither of those things were true at that point of Richard.” Williams, though, was hugely impressed when he listened to the album. He compared Richard Thompson’s guitar playing to John Coltrane’s sax, and called Thompson “the folk poet of the rainy streets”, but also said “Linda brightened it, made it more commercial. and I thought that “Bright Lights” itself seemed a really commercial song.” The rest of the management at Island got caught up in Williams’ enthusiasm, and even decided to release the title track as a single: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Neither single nor album charted — indeed it would not be until 1991 that Richard Thompson would make a record that made the top forty in the UK — but the album got enough critical respect that Richard and Linda released two albums the year after. The first of these, Hokey Pokey, is a much more upbeat record than their previous one — Richard Thompson has called it “quite a music-hall influenced record” and cited the influence of George Formby and Harry Lauder. For once, the claim of music hall influence is audible in the music. Usually when a British musician is claimed to have a music ha