Podcasts about Northumberland

It's a big one. Fnar. There's ashes, Explorers and geese. Nicola went to Blyth Links parkrun in Northumberland and enjoyed their beautiful beach whilst Danny was at a landmark Thing down in Morden parkrun, SW London, having a lengthy chat with Darren Wood post-1000th.

You've got £500, three days, and a set of clubs in the boot. Where are you heading? This week, Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll plan the ultimate budget golf trip. Steve reveals an eye-opening adventure in Northumberland, complete with green fees that seem too good to be true, while Tom makes the case for his beloved Lincolnshire and its collection of top-class courses. If you're looking for maximum golf without emptying your wallet, this episode is packed with ideas. And we want to hear from you: what's the best-value golf trip you've ever taken? Website: https://www.nationalclubgolfer.com/ X: https://x.com/NCG_com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalClubGolfer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalclubgolfer/?hl=en

"Our dream is that children growing up in Newcastle should be able to stand on those terraces, look out and see this wonderful sort of wild landscape, and be able to go to it and spend time in it and see how food is produced naturally and be part of all that. Why would anyone want to deny that future for children in Britain?"In this episode of Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith is joined by Craig Bennett, chief executive of the iconic Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. Under Craig's leadership, the Wildlife Trusts have become one of the most important forces for ambitious nature recovery in Britain.The Wildlife Trusts is currently undertaking a massive £30 million landmark appeal to purchase the Rothbury Estate, a vast, heart-shaped upland estate in Northumberland. As President Emeritus of The Wildlife Trusts, Sir David Attenborough is also supporting the campaign. If successfully secured, The Wildlife Trusts will work with local farmers to restore bogs, plant trees, and create a 40-mile nature corridor.Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you. 

A new report shows that the cost of rural crime has fallen. Insurer NFU Mutual paid out £41.5 million in claims in 2025, compared to £44.1 million in 2024. However the theft of quad bikes has risen - and police warn that rural crime is organised and carried out by international criminal gangs.They are a relic of a world long before Sat nav or even A to Zs, the black and white fingerposts which guided the nation's first drivers to their destinations. Now largely redundant, many are in a poor state of repair and are disappearing from our rural landscape. That's why the Northumberland branch of the charity the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, or CPRE, is running a course to teach people how to restore them.All week we're looking at local food networks, where food is grown as near as possible to the people who are going to eat it. Despite being nicknamed ‘the garden of Wales' Carmarthenshire has a shortage of fruit and vegetable production. The county council is now using a former dairy and turkey farm which it owns, as a pilot to grow fresh produce for the local community, including care homes and schools. The 100-acre farm is part of a wider local food partnership called Bwyd Sir Gar Food.Presenter = Anna Jones Producer = Rebecca Rooney

In this inspiring episode, we sit down with Michelin-starred Chef Cal Byerley, co-founder of Northumberland's acclaimed Restaurant Pine. While Cal is widely celebrated for his groundbreaking sustainability practices and hyper-local culinary vision, this conversation dives into a massive passion project outside his own kitchen: creating a thriving charity festival that is focused on cancer research.We explore the beautiful ripple effect of this collective mission.https://www.instagram.com/haveyoueatenyetpodcast/?hl=enhttps://www.tiktok.com/@haveyoueatenyetpodcasthttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsxzx6an6DeVHLcIfN05MUg

On this emergency upload — and possibly the shortest episode in Fishing the DMV history — I'm joined by Clint Outlaw to break down the latest information surrounding the Gardy's Mill Pond Dam breach, the ongoing Gardy's Mill Road / Route 617 closure, and the growing community effort to protect this historic Virginia fishery from being permanently lost.Gardy's Millpond, located near Callao, Virginia on the Northumberland and Westmoreland County line, has been impacted by a serious dam breach near the primary spillway box culvert. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) is currently working on an interim repair and stabilization plan while engineers evaluate the full extent of the damage.In this episode, we discuss what is currently known about the dam failure, why the pond may need to be drained, what the trench through the dam could mean for the future of the lake, and why anglers, local residents, and conservation-minded outdoorsmen are signing a petition to help make sure Gardy's Mill Pond is not completely destroyed.DWR has stated that the pond level has not yet dropped below the breach area, which means engineers still cannot fully assess the damage. In the meantime, contractors are expected to construct a trench through the dam down to the pond bed. This would help drain the pond, reveal the breach location, relieve pressure on the dam, protect the structure from further erosion, and reduce the need for daily safety monitoring.We also cover the upcoming public open house for Gardy's Millpond, where the public will be invited to review potential plans and speak directly with DWR staff and engineers.

In this episode, sunshine and frost, and Herbidacious highlights in the garden beds and pots. Tom Pattinson's spending time in the herb garden in search of parley, sage, rosemary and thyme. We're off to the sunshine with Tom Cadwallander who's looking at Corsican finches and nuthatches. Steve Lowe's chatting to an awesome organisation that's bringing the wonders of wildlife to us all…And some gardening Jobs for the Week with Tom P.Support the showYou can follow Tom Pattinson, Steve and Tom Cadwallender and our wonderful guests and featured flowers, birds and projects on X via: @gardenersradio @TheNatureGarden and on Facebook: The Nature Garden. And you can also tune in to our monthly live radio show on Saturdays at 11am on www.lionheartradio.com Or email us: gardenersradio@outlook.comThank you for your support!Music link: Gaia by Carl Cape Band on Amazon Music - Amazon.co.uk

New quiz, DANGMAN STYLE....and a brand new quiz board. Oh dear, what can the matter be, Nina's stuck in the disabled lavatory.We review Legends (Netflix) Rooster (Sky/Now) and Widow's Bay (Apple).Next level beers from Twice Brewed, of Northumberland, and some smashing gift ideas for Fathers' Day. What does extra poo mean??Support the showAdditional music by SergeQuadrado, AlexiAction, Muzaproduction, Ashot-Danielyan, Julius H,  RomanSenykMusic, AudioCoffee, SoundGalleryBy, Grand_Project, geoffharvey, Guitar_Obsession, Lexin_Music, AhmadMousavipour, melodyayresgriffiths,  DayNigthMorning, litesaturation, 1978DARK,  lemonmusicstudio, Onoychenkomusic, soundly, Darockart, Nesrality, ShidenBeatsMusic, PaoloArgento, Music_For_Videos, Boadrius, ScottishPerson, Good_B_Music, Music_Unlimited, lorenzobuczek, The_Mountain, SoundMakeIT, Onetent, Stavgag, leberchmus, Alban_Gogh, geoffharvey, nakaradaalexander - All can be found on Pixabay.Main Reclining Pair theme by Robert John Music. Contact me for details.

You may not believe this, but according to local experts, there are summer jobs out there. Lots of The post Lots of summer jobs available, according to employment experts from Watton Employment Services appeared first on Consider This. Related posts: Summer jobs and the Supreme Court of Canada are hot topics Waterfront comes to life as Cobourg beach opens for summer, pop-up food vendors approved New family physician comes to Northumberland as recruitment effort pays off six months after launch, says official

Red Squirrels were once a common sight in woodlands around the Uk but now, they're one of our rarest Mammals.  In this episode of Wild Tales, we head to Plas Newydd on the island of Ynys Môn in Wales, where a remarkable effort to bring them back is underway. For the Welsh transcript of this episode please click here. Red squirrel, Anglesey, Wales ©National Trust Images/Rob ColemanProduction Narration: Rosie Holdsworth Producer: Nikki Ruck  Sound Recordist: Marnie Woodmeade Sound Design: Jesus Gomez  With thanks to Carol Thomas at Plas Newydd  Find out more  Visit the red squirrels at Plas Newydd:https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/plas-newydd-house-and-garden/red-squirrels-at-plas-newydd Learn more about Red Squirrel Conservation The Red Squirrels Trust Wales is working to protect red squirrel populations on Ynys Môn and across North Wales. If you would like to read more about some of the points raised in this episode, look here. https://www.redsquirrels.info/about/faq/ See red squirrels on Brownsea Island (Dorset): https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/brownsea-island/the-rare-red-squirrel-on-brownsea-island Listen to our episode on pine martens (Wallington, Northumberland): https://ntpodcasts.org/WT25 Follow us on Instagram @wildtalesnt If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk

The supermarket Morrisons has given notice to some of its pig farmers, because of an oversupply in the market. In a statement, Morrisons said it has to reduce the number of pig producers in its supply chain because of the challenging economic climate. An industry expert explains why the market's taken a downturn and how there are too many pigs and not enough space on farm as farmers struggle to sell their livestock.Last year, a survey by the consumer group Which? voted Northumberland National Park the best in the country, with its history peace and facilities all scoring highly. However, it's also among the least visited and that's something the park's former CEO Tony Gates has spent 20 years trying to change, while arguing with the government over the park's funding. All week we're looking at the particular challenges of farming in Northern Ireland as farmers head to the Balmoral Show. Farming in Northern Ireland is heavily livestock-based: 80% of farms have beef or sheep and 10% are dairy. The average farm size is very small, less than 40 hectares, which is about half the size of an average farm in England. Agriculture is devolved, and Stormont decides its own policies, including the post-Brexit system for farm subsidies. We speak to an agricultural economist from Queen's University Belfast,Presenter: Anna Hill Producer: Rebecca Rooney

Send us Fan MailWelcome to the latest podcast.  In this episode, we begin by mulling over what it means to be English, and look at two of those bastions of Englishness - Test Match Special and the Shipping Forecast.We then follow the shipping forecast and look at the Battle of Dogger Bank, the January 1915 showdown between the Royal Navy and the German High Seas fleet.  We hear about the mysterious work of Room 40, German naval raids on the seaside towns of Northumberland and the battle itself, which was a pyrrhic victory for the Royal Navy. 

Northumberland County recently welcomed a new physician, Dr. Roshion Sabeeha Ishaque. She started in early March. In this The post New family physician comes to Northumberland as recruitment effort pays off six months after launch, says official appeared first on Consider This. Related posts: Ontario Health Team leaders discuss major changes to doctor recruitment in Northumberland County In Their Words: Hamilton Twp sends well-known resident to new doctor recruitment committee In Their Words: Hamilton Township blindsided on doctor recruitment as county council backs Northumberland-wide plan

Chillingham Castle | Paranormal Podcast We packed our bags and headed back to England for this one — Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, which might just be the most blood-soaked, ghost-saturated piece of real estate in the entire UK, and we went deep on every brutal layer of it. Waaaay more exciting than Leap Castle (looking at you, Producer Ben)From King Edward I using it as his war headquarters to massacre Scottish prisoners and their children, to a torturer named John Sage who apparently had a real passion for the job, to the infamous blue boy spirit. We wrapped it up with three firsthand encounters from people who actually stayed there, including someone who got a little too close to the hanging tree after dark and came back with a story that smells like sulfur and ends with a full sprint back to the apartment.

Livestock auction marts are a vital cog in keeping the rural community turning, with around 130 active auction marts scattered across the UK. Nowhere is this more evident than in Northumberland, the least densely populated county in England.  In this episode of For Flock's Sake, the Farmers Guardian podcast championing young voices in farming, hosts Ellie Layton and Tom Ryder sit down with auctioneers Drew Patrick and Harrison Collingwood from Hexham and Northern Marts in Northumberland.  From breaking into the auctioneering world to building trust and transparency in the ring, Drew and Harrison share their journeys and insights into the job and discuss how marts are evolving, reinvesting, diversifying, and adapting to secure their future, much like the farming businesses they serve.  Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? Get in touch at fgsocials@agriconnect.com Message us

White-clawed crayfish were once common in Britain's waterways. But thanks to a restaurant craze in the 1970's, that brought the American signal crayfish to our shores, our only native freshwater crayfish is under threat from this invasive species.  White-clawed crayfish are eco system engineers keeping rivers and streams clean and they also have amazing limb re growing superpowers. But they're being outcompeted for food and habitat by the American signal crayfish and succumbing to a killer plague being spread by them. But, with a little help from Ranger Nick Allen and the team at Wallington estate in Northumberland, habitats are being created where white-clawed crayfish can thrive. Join Rosie and follow the story and the lives of the plucky little characters fighting for survival in England's Northeast.Production: Host: Rosie Holdsworth Producers: Michelle Douglass and Katy Kelly Sound Editor: Jesus Gomez Contributor: Nick Allen  Discover more: Find out more about Wallington and their work with the white-clawed crayfish: Saving the native white-clawed crayfish | National Trust  Follow us @ wildtales Instagram account If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or a story idea, you can contact us at podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk

The American Lung Association is out with their 2026 State of the Air Report, and more than half of Pennsylvania's counties have some form of air pollution. 37 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties received less-than-perfect grades for either ozone or particle pollution - and that includes 9 counties in our listening area - Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Northumberland and York. Gov. Josh Shapiro announced two Western Pennsylvania coal plants will push back their retirement date by at least four more years. Pennsylvania received $193 million this year from the Rural Health Transformation Program. But the state's rural health leaders worry that the money isn't enough. They say that health systems already face financial gaps with more to come from expected changes to Medicaid. Federal funding for public media has been rescinded. But your monthly gift to WITF can help fill the gap as we navigate this new reality. Become a monthly sustaining member today at www.witf.org/givenow. And thank you.Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New research suggests that dredging is affecting water quality in Lough Neagh. Scientists from Queen's University Belfast believe that commercial dredging for sand which is widespread across the Lough has a deeper more harmful impact on ecosystems than originally thought. Serious concerns have been raised about weaknesses at Northern Ireland's Agri-food and Bio-sciences Institute. A report from the Health and Safety Executive highlighted issues with bio containment and the condition of the facilities. AFBI is an arm's length government body which carries out scientific research and also testing for diseases like bluetongue. The HSE report said that at the time of the inspection that testing was unsafe, with measures required to protect the environment. The Institute says action has been taken to 'to drive improvements and address all issues raised.'All this week we've been hearing from our National Parks, and today is the turn of Northumberland, covering much of Hadrian's Wall and the vast Cheviot Hills, it sells itself as home to England's cleanest rivers and darkest skies. It's also the least visited and one of the most remote of the National Parks in England and Wales. Rural churches are a hotspot for theft and vandalism according to a new report from the Countryside Alliance. It got data from 37 police forces across the UK which shows that last year nearly 4,000 crimes at churches were recorded, in urban and rural areas, however it says churches in villages and countryside areas are particularly vulnerable.Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

In this episode, spring colours and sounds galore... Tom Pattinson's revelling in the spring bulbs and shrubs, and the exciting signs of new shoots in the flower borders and veg beds. Tom Cadwallander's taking a look at auks and the early return of puffins and he's celebrating the chirpy, chiff-chaff.Steve Lowe is at one of our finest museums in search of an answer to the question ‘Who is Eric?'  Plus gardening Jobs for the Week with Tom P. Support the showYou can follow Tom Pattinson, Steve and Tom Cadwallender and our wonderful guests and featured flowers, birds and projects on X via: @gardenersradio @TheNatureGarden and on Facebook: The Nature Garden. And you can also tune in to our monthly live radio show on Saturdays at 11am on www.lionheartradio.com Or email us: gardenersradio@outlook.comThank you for your support!Music link: Gaia by Carl Cape Band on Amazon Music - Amazon.co.uk

Around the world, engineers are working to protect the environment. In this episode, we introduce eight companies who are taking steps to safeguard the natural world. All have been shortlisted for the Engineering Matters Awards. The first three shortlisted entries look at ways of understanding the natural world. Petra Ringeltaube explains how RWE's SeaMi is taking a less invasive, ecosystems-based approach to monitoring biodiversity on wind farms. Emily Darling of the Wildlife Conservation Society explains how its tool MERMAID is allowing coral scientists to share data, and now, with new AI tools, identify species on reefs. Next, Peter Salome explains a new tool from Fugro that will speed the delivery of vital new subsea powerlines. We then look at the challenges of building new homes and the infrastructure needed to support them, while limiting harmful environmental impacts. Edward Selvey, a senior ecologist with Avove describes how the company helped mitigate the biodiversity impact of a new water pipeline. Helen Gibbon, a director at Renaissance, explains how the engineers implemented sustainable drainage for a new estate in Salford. And Siobhan Warfield-Beattie talks us through how Ayesa helped lower the carbon impact of a wastewater treatment plant in Arklow. At Derne Reach, in Yorkshire, Olivia Rowe tells us, Mott MacDonald Bentley has taken a different approach to wastewater, helping build an integrated constructed wetland. Finally, we learn about two projects seeking to restore nature. Matthew Hay of Nattergal describes the company's work at High Fen Wildland, where it is helping re-wet peatlands, in a way that shows how boosting nature can be a commercially viable investment. And Nick Cooper of Haskoning describes how the company has helped remove colliery waste from a Northumberland coastline. Stay tuned to the end of the episode to learn which entries won a position in this year's awards. Guests Petra Ringeltaube, environmental manager, RWE Emily Darling, director, coral reef conservation, WCS Peter Salome, innovation manager, Fugro Edward Selvey, senior ecologist, Avove Helen Gribbon, director, Renaissance Siobhan Warfield-Beattie, marketing director, Ayesa Olivia Rowe, project leader, Mott MacDonald Bentley Matthew Hay, natural capital manager, Nattergal Nick Cooper, technical director, Haskoning Category sponsor Support for this episode and the Environment Champion Category comes from FuturePlus. FuturePlus helps businesses measure, manage and improve their environmental and social impact – with a live ESG platform and a named expert to guide you through it. Three hundred businesses are already Impact Certified, from hospitality to engineering. Find out more at future-plus.co.ukThe post #364a Environment Champion – Engineering Matters Awards shortlist first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Meet Red Kellie. Red is joint owner and Head Brewer of the First & Last Brewery. They are a family run brewery, taproom and event space situated in rural Northumberland. The brewery doubles as a community space used for everything from art workshops to gigs and literature events. They brew a wide range of styles from hazy IPAs, through to sours, wheat beers, stouts and Belgian beers. After helping to establish Stu Brew at Newcastle University (Europe’s first student run brewery), then Twice Brewed Brewery Red set up the First & Brewery in 2016. Red’s main passion is for pairing wild ingredients from the local hedgerows and forests with beer styles. Why? So that their qualities complement and accentuate each other. Experimentation and innovation of working with fresh, hand-picked ingredients such as gorseflowers, sprucetips, bullaces and wild raspberries also give her the perfect excuse to be outside soaking up the beautiful local environment. At First & Last Brewery, their beers are inspired by the wild, untamed landscape and dark skies of Northumberland. So what better opportunity to hear from the cover stars of this month’s Brewers Journal publication. Speaking in Newcastle at the end of February, Red explained how the team are passionate about making beer and why they love talking about the science, art and history of beer & brewing.

Adispatch from the holy island, via Alabama. Two guys from Muscle Shoals, Alabama -0 the city that quietly wrote half the soul records you've ever loved — making shoegaze concept albums about a tidal island off the coast of Northumberland. On paper, it shouldn't work. In practice, Holy Island, the debut from Adam Morrow and Jamie Sego's Sister Ray Davies, is one of the more beautifully stunning records to land this year: motorik folk, walls of fuzz, delay pedal disco, and genuine literary heft, released via the always excellent Sonic Cathedral and drawing comparisons to mid-period Flying Saucer Attack, Souvlaki-era Slowdive and a long-lost Spacemen 3 outtake. They are, by their own admission, complete beginners as DJs. We handed them the airwaves anyway. What came back is exactly what you'd expect from two people who learned to hear music through Nuggets compilations and Delia Derbyshire records, who want biblical noise and dream of piloting the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound. It's a mix that's charming and oddly coherent: dub basslines, psych and proto-electronic tangents, the kind of selection that could only have been assembled by people who think in pedals and reverb tails rather than BPMs. A journey with a clear first step, even if the destination remains gloriously unclear. Not a DJ mix in any conventional sense, just an excellently varied record collection let loose.

Start Artist Song Time Album Year 0:02:09 Vincent Carr’s SUMIC Goodbye To A Sycamore 3:35 To Begin Again 2026 0:06:14 Andy Aquarius Back To The Fire 6:48 Schlafes Bruder 2026 0:13:25 Tom Kelly Spinning Through Eternity 7:56 Psych Against Cancer Vol 3 Part 2 2026 0:21:21 Helicon Arise 3:31 Psych Against Cancer Vol 3 Part 2 2026 0:25:09 The Veils Lungs 3:41 Lungs 2026 0:29:11 Nordic Giants Red Falls 3:53 Under Celestial Alignments 2026 0:33:36 Agnes Obel Familiar 3:48 Citizen Of Glass 2026 0:38:02 Mind Overclock Cold Distance 5:02 No Return Address 2026 0:43:04 Mind Overclock Breakfast On Orion 3:11 No Return Address 2026 0:46:38 Huw Marc Bennett Y Fedwen (The Birch) 3:43 Heol Las 2026 0:50:45 LYRRE Still Human 5:43 Single 2026 To Begin Again by Vincent Carr’s SUMIC favorite track Goodbye To A Sycamore Vincent Carr returns in his inimitable style, this time reflections on both the past and finding a way into the future, from a seeming end to new beginnings. He offers the 4 tracks as one complete suite, which then is also separated out into individual pieces. My favourite here is his paean to the old Sycamore Gap tree that was attacked in Northumberland, which has since been regenerating. Schlafes Bruder by Andy Aquarius, Kimi Recor favorite track Back To The Fire Andy Aquarius has teamed up with Kimi Recor on this fine sort-of-EP. Andy plays Celtic harp, synths, and provides some vocals, and Kimi sings and plays monochord, a type of ancient stringed instrument. As the instrumentation suggests, there is an uncannily ethereal feeling to these tracks. My favourite track (Back To The Fire) utilizes Kimi's crystalline vocals to their fullest, creating an atmosphere drenched in melancholy and lamentation. Psych Against Cancer Vol 3 Part 2 by Psych Lovers favorite track Spinning Through Eternity This is the second of this year's benefit release for Macmillan Cancer Support, a whopping 55 tracks of psych and space music. As anyone knows who has experienced it, hospice is a wonderful support in a time that is so difficult to experience. Choosing my own contribution, Tom Kelly’s “Spinning Through Eternity,” but I also highly recommend Empty House, Helicon, and Vincent Carr's SUMIC The Veils “Lungs” Single 2026 Ahead of a new full-length release, Australian artist Tim Andrews has released this single. There is a delicate touch in the orchestration, as there was in Asphodels, but has a more hopeful feel. This is a wish for things to go well, for new beginnings somewhere different, for a life full of love shared. (3:46) Under Celestial Alignments by Nordic Giants UK neo-classical, ambient, post rock duo return with this lovely all instrumental release. Their sound is lush and orchestral, pianos and strings feature largely here. A start to finish listening is highly recommended, as each piece flows so well into the next. Citizen Of Glass by Agnes Obel favorite track Familiar Moody release from this multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer from Berlin. Arrangements are rather spare, yet also somehow lush. Instrumentation includes various keyboards and percussion, cello, violin, and trautonium (which is an instrument from the 1920s that sounds like glass, you will know what it is, when you hear it). The harmonies on my favourite track are chillingly unearthly. No Return Address by Mind Overclock favorite track Cold Distance Can psych be both bluesy and whimsical? Of course it can! This band proves that, with this nifty EP. Dreamy, velvety vocals; warbly, spiky, fuzzy guitars; and flights of fancy abound. I'm choosing Cold Distance to indicate what to expect, but please don't hesitate to check out the charm of enjoying Breakfast On Orion.) Heol Las by Huw Marc Bennett favorite track Y Fedwen (The Birch) Welshman Huw Marc Bennett, a multi-instrumentalist and composer pulls from folk, psych and jazz with these lovely original tunes. Delightfully bucolic, these tracks all bring visions of medieval village and farm life to me. There is a sweetly picturesque delicacy to his music, but it is also robust and earthy. Orchard by LYRRE Lyrre is also promising us a new release in May, and they've released two singles ahead of the game. These are both very much in their excellent blend of metal and folk, recognizable largely by the vocals and hurdy-gurdy of Michalina Malisz. The band aptly backs her on guitars, bass, and drums. Both of the singles are driving and compelling, but I'm choosing “Orchard,” as my favourite of the two.

We are delighted to welcome historian, author and broadcaster Tracy Borman back to Alnwick Castle on 24th April to speak about her new novel The House of Boleyn. Tickets are available now at alnwickcastle.com - we hope to see you there.As a preview for the event, and in fact as a preview for the book, which is published just one day before Tracy returns to Alnwick, we spoke with her about The House of Boleyn. You will hear a little about what to expect from the talk on 24th April, as well as the process of writing and researching the book, discussion of the Boleyn household at Hever Castle, and the what ifs of Anne Boleyn's story. Of course, we also get into the story of Anne and Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, as well as how the court of Henry VIII was like being in The Traitors!You might hear a little bit of crackling when you listen to the episode, this is a result of our remote recording but we have done our best to minimise it wherever possible.We hope this podcast with Tracy Borman whets your appetite for what is sure to be a brilliant talk in April - get your tickets now!

fWotD Episode 3246: Loveday (1458) Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 25 March 2026, is Loveday (1458).The Loveday of 1458 (also known as the Annunciation Loveday) was a ritualistic reconciliation between warring factions of the English nobility that took place at St Paul's Cathedral on 25 March 1458. Following the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in 1455, it was the culmination of lengthy negotiations initiated by King Henry VI to resolve the lords' rivalries. English politics had become increasingly factional during his reign, and was exacerbated in 1453 when he became catatonic. This effectively left the government leaderless, and eventually the king's cousin, and at the time heir to the throne, Richard, Duke of York, was appointed protector during the king's illness. Alongside York were his allies from the politically and militarily powerful Neville family, led by Richard, Earl of Salisbury, and his eldest son, Richard, Earl of Warwick. When the king returned to health a year later, the protectorship ended but partisanship within the government did not.Supporters of King Henry and his wife, Queen Margaret, have been loosely called "Lancastrians", the king being head of the House of Lancaster, while the duke and his party are considered "Yorkists", after his title of Duke of York. By the 1450s, York felt increasingly excluded from government, and in May 1455—possibly fearing an ambush by his enemies—led an army against the King at the First Battle of St Albans. There, in what has been called more of a series of assassinations than a battle, the personal enemies of York and the Nevilles—the Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Clifford—perished.In 1458 the king attempted to unite his feuding nobles with a public display of friendship under the auspices of the Church at St Paul's Cathedral. Following much discussion and negotiation, and amid the presence of large, armed, noble retinues which almost led to another outbreak of war, a compromise was announced. To celebrate, a procession was held by all the major participants, who walked hand-in-hand from Westminster Palace to the cathedral. Queen Margaret was partnered with York, and other adversaries were paired off accordingly, and the sons of the dead Lancastrian lords took their fathers' places. Certain reparations were ordained, all by the Yorkist lords, who for their part accepted full responsibility for the Battle of St Albans. They were ordered to make payments to the dead lords' widows and sons, and masses were paid for the souls of all who had died. Contemporaries varied in their views of the accord. Some wrote verses expressing hope that it would lead to a new-found peace and prosperity; others were more pessimistic as to its value.In the long run, the king's Loveday and its agreements had no long-lasting benefit. Within a few months, petty violence between the lords had broken out again and, within the year, York and Lancaster faced each other at the Battle of Blore Heath. Historians debate who—if anyone—gained from the 1458 Loveday. On the one hand, the crown publicised its role as the ultimate court of appeal but, conversely, although the Yorkists were bound to pay large sums in compensation, this was done with money already owed by the government. Fundamentally, factional discord was highlighted on the public stage, and the war it was intended to prevent was only deferred.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:15 UTC on Wednesday, 25 March 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Loveday (1458) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Joanna.

President Trump urges the UK to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, to help defend the vital shipping route from Iranian attacks. Israel says it's hit more than a-hundred Hezbollah command centres in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, says she has found extra money to offer support to people struggling with higher heating oil costs. Also: The public is invited to vote an new artwork to remember Northumberland's Sycamore Gap tree.

Welcome back, to The Dark Paranormal.When our listener Ben moved from the Northumberland coast into an old inland house with his grandmother, he expected to feel the change, and the strange atmosphere that often comes with ageing buildings. What followed was something far darker. What begins with unsettling discoveries and a house that never seemed to let light fully in, slowly builds into a terrifying account of a presence, rituals, and the kind of haunting that changed two lives forever.Stay safe,Kevin.We're giving a full weeks trial of our Patreon away! Just head over on the link below and away you go!www.patreon.com/thedarkparanormalIf it's not for you? Simply cancel before your trial expires, meanwhile enjoy FULL access to our highest tier, and thank you for being the best listeners by miles.By making the choice of joining our Patreon team now, not only gives you early Ad-Free access to all our episodes, including video releases of Dark Realms, it can also give you access to the Patreon only podcast, Dark Bites. Dark Bites releases each and every week, even on the down time between seasons. There are already well over 190+ hours of unheard true paranormal experiences for you to binge at your leisure. Simply head over to:www.patreon.com/thedarkparanormalTo send us YOUR experience, please either click on the below link:The Dark Paranormal - We Need Your True Ghost StoryOr head to our website: www.thedarkparanormal.comYou can also follow us on the below Social Media links:www.twitter.com/darkparanormalxwww.facebook.com/thedarkparanormalwww.youtube.com/thedarkparanormalwww.instagram.com/thedarkparanormalOur Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com* Check out Progressive: https://progressive.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

FULLY & COMPLETELY: REDUX"In Violet Light" - The Tragically HipEpisode Show Notes——————————————————————————————————Fully & Completely: Redux | "In Violet Light" - The Tragically Hip (2002)——————————————————————————————————Hey, it's jD here.Some albums don't just meet you where you are - they find you exactly when you need them. **"In Violet Light" is that record.** Released in June 2002, it's the one that pulled jD hard back into The Tragically Hip after a stretch of distance. And if you listen closely, it makes total sense why. This isn't a band trying to hold on - it's a band that has let go of every obligation and is just making music for themselves. **The result is one of the most quietly assured records of The Hip's entire career.**This week on Fully & Completely: redux, jD and Greg LeGros go track by track through "In Violet Light" - the eighth studio album from The Tragically Hip, recorded in the Bahamas with legendary producer Hugh Padham - and make the case that this record has no business being this good, this far into a career.——————————————————————————————————EPISODE OVERVIEW"In Violet Light" landed in a 2002 music landscape that included Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head," Queens of the Stone Age's "Songs for the Deaf," Beck's "Sea Change," and Broken Social Scene's "You Forgot It in People." The indie pop explosion was just beginning to blow the roof off Canadian music. The Hip were eight albums deep, the mainstream had largely written them off, and **they responded by making one of their best records.** No fat. No filler. Eleven tracks of lean, confident, beautiful rock and roll.The album was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas - the same studio where AC/DC recorded "Back in Black" and Bob Marley cut some of his most enduring work - with Hugh Padham, the producer behind the gated drum sound that defined the 1980s (Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight," Sting's solo catalogue, The Police's "Synchronicity"). **jD and Greg break down why that combination - this band, this producer, this place - produced something genuinely special.**——————————————————————————————————TRACK BY TRACK HIGHLIGHTS**'Are You Ready to Love'** - The opener sets the whole album's thesis. jD hears the first verse as a direct response to the critics and mainstream fans who had written The Hip off. **"They're pulling the plug. They've got our whole dug." And then - the chorus arrives like a shrug and a fist at the same time: are you ready for love?** A great rock and roll song that doubles as a mission statement.**'Use It Up'** - Built on a lyric attributed to the booklet of a Raymond Carver collection, this is a track about seizing everything, wasting nothing, and making music for the love of it. Greg hears Radiohead's "OK Computer" in the verses and the Georgia Satellites in the chorus - **and somehow The Tragically Hip pull both of those things off in the same song.** A slow burn that rewards headphones.**'The Darkest One'** - jD turns up whatever he's listening to every single time this song starts. **"The wild are strong and the strong are the darkest ones - and you're the darkest one."** Greg calls it a safe place. A song about freedom of expression, comfort, and the strange intimacy of being fully understood. Don't let the Trailer Park Boys video fool you - this song could have broken them wide open.**'It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken'** - The centrepiece. The lead single. **Both jD and Greg pick this as their track of the record - the first time in the history of Fully & Completely that hosts have landed on the same song.** Named for a Canadian graphic novel by Seth and a phrase used by band staffer Molly Lorimer to describe life on the road, it's a song about mortality, aging, and the strange grace that comes when you stop fighting. Death is swirling all around it - and it's still one of the most uplifting things The Tragically Hip ever made.**'Silver Jet'** - The one that changes gears just right. Greg connects this song personally to the empty skies over the Danforth in the days after 9/11, and the feeling of the first plane cutting back through the silence. **A song about hope, fear, and the things that pull your gaze forward.** The wolves of Northumberland. An archipelago. A green star. Only Gord.**'Throwing Off Glass'** - Companion piece to 'Trick Rider' from "Phantom Power" - if that song is about his son, this one is about his daughter. A slow builder that rewards patience. **A soundscape that would fit comfortably on "Coke Machine Glow."****'All Tore Up'** - A great drinking rock and roll song. Dottie the bluegrass singer. Open concept. Getting a little happening with old friends. **No one else writes a lyric like this and makes it fit inside a song this well.** Turn it up.**'Leave'** - A waltz in 3/4 time. Beautiful backup vocals. A late-night phone call at three in the morning. **"You better be dying." And they were.** An emotional gut-punch that doubles as a permission slip - to leave a job, a relationship, a place that no longer fits.**'The Dire Wolf'** - A pseudo-history lesson disguised as a rock song. Tallulah Bankhead and Canada Lee, stars of Hitchcock's "The Lifeboat." Ann Harvey of Isle of Morts, Newfoundland, who rescued 163 shipwrecked souls in 1828. A poem called "Sea Surface Full of Clouds" by Wallace Stevens. **Greg pulls all of this from memory. It's an entire university lecture wrapped in six minutes of music that absolutely slaps.****'The Dark Canuck'** - The closer. Possibly the longest Tragically Hip song ever recorded at six and a half minutes. A time signature change halfway through. **Canadian soldiers as peacekeepers. Apple, Zippo, and Metronome as record labels. Jaws at the drive-in. The Dark Canuck playing second on the double bill.** Nobody at the drive-in is staying for it. And that's sort of the whole point.——————————————————————————————————WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERSThis is the album that brought jD back to The Hip in earnest - **the record that cracked open the second half of his relationship with this band.** It's also the episode where he and Greg pick the same song for the first time. And it's the one where jD, partway through discussing 'Leave,' pauses to talk about his mother. **Listen for that moment. It's what this podcast is for.**"In Violet Light" is a masterpiece with no business being this good eight albums in. And this episode earns every minute of its runtime.So there's that.——————————————————————————————————SOURCES & CREDITS• HipMuseum.com• This Is Our Life: The Tragically Hip in the 1990s (Michael Barclay)• "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" - graphic novel by Seth• "Sea Surface Full of Clouds" - poem by Wallace Stevens• Ann Harvey of Isle of Morts, Newfoundland - historical record• Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas - production history• Raymond Carver - attributed quote in "Use It Up"——————————————————————————————————CONNECT WITH THE SHOW• Facebook: facebook.com/groups/tthpods• Instagram: @tthpods• YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods• Email: tthpodcastseries@gmail.comThe Tragically Hip Podcast Series - Est. 2018#TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #InVioletLight #FullyCompletely #GordDownie #TragicallyHip #CanadianRock——————————————————————————————————Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's Monday Mailtime, and Producer Dom is back in the hot seat reacting to two listener stories that don't rely on shadows or figures in the dark… just open space, broad daylight, and something unseen that knows you're there.First, Katie takes us to a disused railway crossing in Lancashire, an exposed stretch high above a valley with nowhere for anything to hide.Sunrise.Clear skies.Total visibility.And yet, halfway across, the world seemed to mute itself.The air grew heavy.A slow, hollow impact echoed beneath her feet.And an intrusive thought surfaced that didn't feel like her own: This isn't a place people were meant to linger.Locals say workers died there during a 19th-century collapse, no memorial, no marker.Just resumed work.Did the crossing remember?Then Steven shares a chilling encounter on an old military parade square in Northumberland.Open land.Bright evening sky.No theatrics.Just the unmistakable sound of drill-perfect marching rising from the ground itself.A single command.Silence.And the overwhelming sense that for a brief moment… he wasn't observing history, he was part of it.No crumbling castles.No midnight vigils.Just two vast, empty spaces, and something that didn't want company.Are these residual echoes of trauma?Intelligent presences reacting to the living?Or does land itself hold memory?Producer Dom reacts, breaks down the patterns, and asks the question we always come back to on Monday Mailtime: when the environment changes around you… is it ever just in your head?Have a story to share? Email us and you could feature in the next Monday Mailtime.A Create Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, I take a historical digression to look at the four major Thomases of the English Reformation - Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store: QUEST25 The coupon code is valid through March 9 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 292 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 27th, 2026. Today we are taking a digression into history by looking at the four Thomases of the English Reformation (with one bonus Thomas). We'll also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing and publishing projects. First up, let's do Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store. That coupon code is QUEST25 and as always, the links to the store and the coupon code will be available in the show notes of this episode. This coupon code is valid through March 9th, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. I am very nearly done with Cloak of Summoning. As of this recording, I am 35% of the way through the final editing pass. This episode should be coming out on, let's see, March the 2nd. I'm hoping Cloak of Summoning will be available a few days (hopefully like one or two days) after this episode goes live, but we'll see how things go. In any event, it should be out in very early March, which is not far away at this point. I'm also 14,000 words into Blade of Wraiths, the fourth book in my Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series. Hopefully that will be out in April, if all goes well. That's my secondary project right now, but once it gets promoted to primary project once Cloak of Summoning is available, my new secondary project will be Dragon Mage, which will be the sixth book in the Rivah Half-Elven Thief series. I'm looking forward to that since it is going to bring to an end a lot of ongoing plot threads. So it should be quite a fun book to write and hopefully to read. That should hopefully be out in May or possibly June, depending on how things go. In audiobook news, Cloak of Titans, the audiobook narrated by Hollis McCarthy, should be available in more audiobook stores than it was this time last week, though it's still not on Amazon, Audible, or Apple. Brad Wills is working on recording Blade of Storms and I think the first six chapters are done. Hopefully we should have those audiobooks available to you before too much longer. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. 00:02:18 Main Topic: The Four Thomases of the English Reformation Now without further ado, let's get to our main topic and it's time for another of my favorite topics overall, a digression into obscure points of history. I've mentioned before that Wolf Hall (both the TV show and the book) is a lot easier to understand if you are at least passingly familiar with the key figures of the English Reformation, which happened during the reign of King Henry VIII. But who were these key figures? I had a history professor who said that to understand the English Reformation, you need to know about the four Thomases of the English Reformation: Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer, since each one of them altered events in a major way. Fun fact: only one of the four died from natural causes and right before he was about to go on trial for treason, which would have likely ended with his execution. The English Reformation was a tumultuous time and the Tudor court was not a place for the faint of heart or the morally scrupulous. So let's talk about the four Thomases and one bonus Thomas today. But first to understand them, we should look at three background trends that converged and boiled over during their lifetimes. #1: Henry VIII needs an heir. King Henry VIII was quite famously married six times and executed two of his wives in his quest for a male heir. To the modern era, this sounds odd and chauvinistic, but one of the errors of studying history is assuming that the residents of the past had any interest in 21st century standards of behavior. By the standards of Henry's time, having a male heir to assume the kingdom after his death was absolutely vital. In fact, an argument could be made that Henry was attempting to act responsibly by going to such lengths to father a male heir, though naturally he went about it in a spectacularly destructive and self-absorbed way. Remember, Henry's father, Henry VII, came to the throne after a 30-year civil war, and there were noble families that thought they had a better claim to the throne than Tudors and would be happy to exercise it. A good comparison is that the lack of a male heir for Henry VIII was as serious a crisis as a disputed presidential election in 21st century America would be. You can see evidence for this in Henry's famous jousting accident in 1536. For a few hours, people were certain that he was dead or was about to die, and this incident caused a brief constitutional crisis. If Henry died, who would rule? His daughter, Mary, who he had just declared a bastard? His young daughter Elizabeth from Anne Boleyn? His bastard son, Henry FitzRoy? A regent? One of the old families who thought they had a claim to the throne? Now, these are the sort of questions that tend to get decided by civil wars, which nobody wanted. So Henry needed a male heir and it weighed on him as a personal failure that he had been unable to produce one, which was undoubtedly one of the reasons he concluded that several of his marriages had been cursed by God and needed to be annulled. Though, of course, one of Henry's defining traits was that his self-absorption was such that nothing was ever his fault, but a failing of those around him. #2: The Reformation is here. At the same time Henry was beginning to have his difficulties, the Protestant Reformation exploded across Europe. The reasons for the Reformation were manifold. There was a growing feeling across all levels of society that the church was corrupt and more concerned about money than tending to Christ's flock, a feeling not helped by the fact that several of the 15th and 16th century popes were essentially Renaissance princelings more interested in luxury, money, and expanding the power of the papal states than in anything spiritual. Many bishops, archbishops, abbots, and other high prelates acted the same way. The situation the early 16th century church found itself in was similar to American higher education today. Many modern professors and administrators go about their jobs quietly, competently, and diligently, but if you want to find examples of corruption, folly, and egregious waste in American higher education, you don't have to try very hard. Reformers could easily find manifold examples of clerical and papal corruption to reinforce their arguments. Additionally, nationalism was beginning to develop as a concept, as was the idea of the nation state. People in England, Scotland, Germany, and other countries began to wonder why they were paying tithes to the church that went to build beautiful buildings in Rome and support the lavish lifestyle of the papal court when that money might be better spent at home. For that matter, the anti-clericalism of the Reformation was not new and had time to mature. At the end of the 14th century, Lollardy was a proto-Protestant movement in England that challenged clerical power. In the early 15th century, the Hussite wars in Bohemia following the teachings of Jan Hus were a preview of the greater Reformation to come. Papal authority had been severely damaged by the Great Schism at the end of the 14th and the start of the 15th century when two competing popes (later expanded to three) all tried to excommunicate each other and claim control of the church. In the aftermath, Renaissance Humanists had begun suggesting that only the Bible was the proper source and guide for Christianity, and that papal authority and many of the church's practices were merely human traditions that had been added later and were not ordained by God. A lot of the arguments of the Reformation had their earliest form from the writers of the 15th century. Essentially, the central argument of the Reformation was that the believer's personal relationship with God is the important part of Christianity and doesn't need to be mediated through ordained priests in the official sacraments of the church, though such things were still important. Of course, all the various reformers disagreed with each other about just how important and what the nature of that relationship was, how many sacraments there should be, and what the precise relationship between the individual, the church, and the state should be (and that argument got entangled with many other issues like nationalism), but that was a central crux of the Reformation. So all these competing pressures have been building up, and when Martin Luther posted his statements for debate on church reform in October of 1517, it was the equivalent of lighting a match in a barn that had been stuffed full of sawdust and was suffering from a natural gas leak. #3: The printing press. So why did Luther's action kick off the Reformation as we know it and not the other proto-Protestant movements we mentioned? I think the big part of that is the printing pass, perhaps the biggest part. The printing press did not exist during the early proto-Protestant movements, which meant it was a lot harder for the ideas of reform to spread quickly. The Lollards in particular wanted to translate the Bible into English instead of Latin, but the Bible is a big book and that is a lot of copying to do by hand. In 1539, after a lot of encouragement from Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII decreed that an English Bible should be placed at every church in England. In 1339, that would have been an impossible amount of copying by scribes. In 1539, thanks to the printing press, it was essentially on the scale of the government embarking on a mid-sized industrial project, perhaps a bit of a logistical and organizational challenge and you have to deal with contractors, but by no means impossible. The printing press made it possible for the various arguments and pamphlets of the Reformers to spread quickly throughout Europe. Luther published tracts on a variety of religious and political topics for the rest of his life, and those tracks were copied, printed, and sold throughout Europe. In fact, he had something of a flame war with Thomas More over Henry VIII's "Defense of the Seven Sacraments". Kings and governments frequently tried to suppress printers they didn't like, but the cat was out of the bag and the printing press helped drive the Reformation by spreading its ideas faster than had previously been possible. AI bros occasionally compare modern large language model AIs to the printing press as an irreversible technological advancement, but one should note that the printing press of the 16th century did not require an entire US state's worth of electricity and an unlimited supply of water. So those were some of the undercurrents and trends leading up to the English Reformation. With that in mind, let's take a look at our four Thomases. #1: Thomas Wolsey. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was Henry's right hand man during the first 20 years of his reign and essentially the practical ruler of England during that time. He started his career in Henry's reign as the almoner, essentially in charge of charity, and it ended up becoming the Lord Chancellor of England. Since Henry was not super interested in actually doing the hard work of government, Wolsey ended up essentially running the country while Henry turned his full enthusiasm towards the more ceremonial aspects of kingship. Wolsey was an example of the kind of early 16th Century church prelate we mentioned above, more of a Renaissance princeling than a priest. However, as Renaissance princelings went, you could do worse than to have been ruled by someone like Wolsey. And if you were a king, you would be blessed to have a lieutenant as diligent in his work as the Cardinal. Granted, Wolsey did amass a large fortune for himself, but he frequently patronized the arts, education and the poor, pursued some governmental reforms, and deftly maintained England's position in the turbulent diplomacy of the time. He was also much more forgiving in questions of religious dissent than someone like Thomas More. Wolsey was the most powerful man in England at his apex, and the nobility hated it for him because his origins were common. So long as he had Henry's favor, Wolsey was untouchable and the nobility couldn't move against him. But the royal favor came to an end as Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was unable to produce a son. Since Catherine had previously (and briefly) been married to his older brother Arthur before Arthur's death, Henry became convinced (or succeeded in convincing himself) that his marriage was cursed by God for violating the prohibition against sleeping with your brother's wife in the book of Leviticus. His eye had already fallen on Anne Boleyn and Henry wanted an annulment and not a divorce in his marriage with Catherine. In the eyes of God, he would never have been married at all, and then he could marry Anne Boleyn with a clear conscience. Here, Wolsey's gift for diplomacy failed him, but perhaps it was an impossible task. Catherine of Aragon was the aunt of Emperor Charles V, who at the time was the most powerful man in Christendom. All of Wolseley's efforts to persuade the pope to annul the marriage failed, partly because the pope had already given Henry VIII dispensation to marry his brother's widow. Wolsey's failure eroded his support with the king. Anne Boleyn likewise hated Wolsey partly because she believed he was hindering the annulment, and partly because he had blocked her from marrying the Earl of Northumberland years before she had her eyes set upon Henry. Finally, Henry stripped Wolsey of his office of Lord Chancellor, and Wolsey retired to York to take up his role as archbishop there. Wolsey's popularity threatened Henry and Anne, so Henry summoned him back to London to face treason charges. Perhaps fortunately for Wolsey, he died of natural causes on the journey back to London. His replacement as Lord Chancellor was Thomas More, the next of our major for Thomases. #2: Thomas More. More was an interesting contrast-a Renaissance Humanist who remained a staunch Catholic, even though Renaissance Humanists in general tended towards proto-Protestantism or actual Protestantism. He was also in some ways oddly progressive for his time. He insisted on educating his daughters at a time was considered pointless to educate women about anything other than the practical business of household management. Anyway, More's training as a lawyer and a scholar led him to a career in government. He held a variety of posts under Henry VIII, finally rising to become the Lord Chancellor after Wolsey. In the first decades of his brain, Henry was staunchly Catholic and despised Protestantism, in particular, Lutheranism in general and Martin Luther in particular. In 1521, Henry published "Defense of the Seven Sacraments" against Luther, and More helped him write it to an unknown degree. In their dislike for all forms of Protestantism, More and Henry were in harmony at this point. More was involved in hunting down heretics (i.e. Protestants) and trying to convince them to recant. During his time as the Lord Chancellor, More ended up sending six people to be burned at the stake for heresy, along with the arrest and interrogations of numerous others. This rather clashes with his "humanist man of letters" aspect, but More was undoubtedly convinced he was doing the right thing. And while he might have believed in education, he most definitely did not believe in freedom of conscience in several areas. To be fair to More, in the view of many at the time, Protestants, especially Anabaptists, were dangerous radicals. Likely More viewed hunting heretics in the same way as some modern politicians view hunting down covert terrorist cells or surveilling potential domestic terrorists. Harsh measures true, but harsh measures allegedly necessary for the greater good of the nation. However, the concord between More and Henry would not last. Henry wanted to set aside Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, which More staunchly opposed. More especially opposed Henry breaking away from Rome and becoming head of an independent English Church. At first, More was able to save himself by maintaining his silence, but eventually Henry required all of his subjects take an oath affirming his status as head of the church. Thomas Cromwell famously led a deputation to try and change More's mind, but he failed. More refused, he was tried on specious treason charges, and beheaded in 1535. Later, the Catholic church declared him the patron saint of politicians. This might seem odd given that he oversaw executions and essentially did thought police stuff against Protestants, but let's be honest-it's rare to see a politician even mildly inconvenience himself over a point of principle, let alone maintain it until death when he was given every possible chance to change his mind. Probably the most famous fictional portrayals of More are A Man For All Seasons and Wolf Hall. I would say that A Man For All Seasons was far too generous to More, but Wolf Hall was too harsh. #3: Now for the third of our four Thomases, Thomas Cromwell. After Wolsey's fall and More's refusal to support Henry's desire to either annul his marriage to Catherine or to make himself head with the church so he couldn't annul the marriage, Thomas Cromwell rose become Henry's new chief lieutenant. Cromwell is both a fascinating but divisive figure. For a long time, he was cast as the villain in Thomas More's saga, but Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall really triggered a popular reevaluation of him. Like A Man For All Seasons was too generous to More, I would say Wolf Hall was too generous to Cromwell. Nonetheless, I suspect Cromwell was and remained so divisive because he was so effective. He got things done on a scale that the other three Thomases of the English Reformation never quite managed. Cromwell's origins are a bit obscure. It seems he was either of non-noble birth or very low gentry birth and his father Walter Cromwell was a local prosperous tradesman in a jack of all trades with a reputation for litigiousness. For reasons that are unclear, Cromwell fled his birthplace and spent some time in continental Europe, possibly as a mercenary soldier. He eventually made his way to Italy and started working for the merchant families there, gaining knowledge of trade in the law, and then traveled to the Low Countries. When he returned to England, he became Cardinal Wolsey's right hand man. After Wolsey's fall, Cromwell went into Parliament and defended his master whenever possible. This loyalty combined with his significant talent for law and administration caught the eye of Henry and he swiftly became Henry's right-hand man. Amusingly, Cromwell never became Lord Chancellor like More or Wolsey, but instead accumulated many lesser offices that essentially allowed him to carry out Henry's directives as he saw a fit. Unlike More and Wolsey, Cromwell had strong Protestant leanings and he encouraged the king to break away from the Catholic Church and take control of the English Church as its supreme head. Henry did so. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon was nulled. The rest of Europe never accepted this until Catherine died of illness and it became a moot point. In 1533, he married Anne Boleyn. Like Cromwell, Anne had a strong Protestant bent and began encouraging reformers to take various offices and began pushing Henley to make more reforms than he was really comfortable doing. For example, Cromwell was one of the chief drivers behind the English Bible of 1539. This, combined with Anne's inability to give Henry a son, contributed to Anne's downfall. Unlike Catherine, she was willing to argue with Henry to his face and was unwilling to look the other way when he wanted a mistress, and this eventually got on Henry's nerves. Events are a bit murky, but it seems that Henry ordered Cromwell to find a way he could set aside Anne and Cromwell complied. Various men, including her own brother, were coerced and confessing to adultery with Anne on charges that were most likely fabricated and Anne's "lovers" and Anne herself were executed for treason in 1536. Cromwell had successfully used a technique that many modern secret police organizations and dictatorships employ- if you want to get rid of someone for whatever reason, accuse them of a serious crime, coerce them to a confession, and then have them executed. Joseph Stalin did basically the same thing when he purged the Old Bolsheviks after Lenin's death. Henry married Jane Seymour shortly after Anne's execution, and she finally gave Henry his long-waited son, though she died soon afterwards of postpartum complications. Cromwell also oversaw the dissolution of the English monasteries in the 1530s. Monasticism had become quite unpopular even before the Reformation, especially among humanist writers. The concentration of property in the hands of monasteries made for a ripe target. Using Parliament and with Henry's approval, the monasteries of England were dissolved, the monks and nuns pensioned off, and the various rich properties held by the monasteries were given to the king and his friends. Cromwell himself profited handsomely. This was essentially legalized theft, but there was nothing the monasteries could do about it. Cromwell pushed for more religious reforms, but that combined with the dissolution of the monasteries caused "The Pilgrimage of Grace" in 1537, a rebellion that Henry was able to put down through a combination of lies, stalling, outright bribery, and brutal repression under the Duke of Norfolk (more about him later). Cromwell was at the zenith of his power and influence, but his reformist bent and made him a lot of enemies. For that matter, Henry was increasingly uncomfortable with further religious changes. He wanted to be head of his own church, but essentially his own Catholic Church, not his own Reformed or Lutheran one. Cromwell's alignment with the reform cause gave his more traditionalist enemies a tool to use against him. Cromwell's foes had their chance in 1540 when Henry married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Cromwell had heavily pushed for the match, hoping to make an alliance with the Protestant princes of Germany against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor. For whatever reason, Henry took an immediate dislike to Anne and never consummated the marriage, which was swiftly annulled and Anne pensioned off. Henry blamed Cromwell for the failed marriage and Cromwell's enemies, particularly Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Gardiner of Winchester, were able to convince Henry to move against him. Cromwell was arrested, stripped of all the titles and property he had amassed, and executed in July of 1540. The sort of legal railroading process he had born against Anne Boleyn's alleged lovers and numerous other enemies of Henry's was used against him. This was one of the very few executions Henry ever regretted. Within a year, the French ambassador reported that Henry was raging that his counselors had misled him into putting to death the most faithful servant he had ever had. Once again, nothing was ever Henry's fault in his own mind. The fact that Henry allowed Cromwell's son Gregory to become a baron and inherit some of his father's land shows that he likely changed his mind about the execution. For once in his life, Henry was dead on accurate when he called Cromwell his "most faithful servant". He never again found a lieutenant with Cromwell's loyalty and skill. The remaining seven years of Henry's reign blundered from setback to setback and all the money Henry obtained from the dissolution of the monasteries was squandered in indecisive wars with France and Scotland. I think it's fair to say that the English Reformation would not have taken the course it did, if not for Cromwell. As ruthless and as unscrupulous as he could be, he nonetheless did seem to really believe in the principles of religious reform and push such policies whenever he could do so without drawing Henry's ire. #4: Now the fourth of our four major Thomases, Thomas Cranmer. If Thomas Cromwell did a lot of the political work of the English Reformation, then Thomas Cranmer wrote a lot of its theory. Cranmer was a scholar and something of a gentle-minded man, but not a very skillful politician. He seemed happy to leave the politicking to Cromwell. I think Cranmer would have been a lot happier as a Lutheran pastor in say, 1950s rural Nebraska. He could have married a farmer's daughter, had a bunch of kids, and presided at weddings, funerals, and baptisms where he could talk earnestly about Jesus and Christian virtues, and he probably would have written a few books on obscure theological points. But instead, Cranmer was destined to play a significant part in the English Reformation. He started as a priest and a scholar who got in trouble for marrying, but when his wife died in childbirth, he went back to the priesthood. Later, he became part of the team of scholars and priests working to get Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. While he was at university and later in the priesthood, he became fascinated by Lutheran ideas and became a proponent of reform. As with Cromwell, Henry's desire to marry Anne Boleyn gave Cranmer his great opportunity. Anne's family were also in favor of reform, and they arranged for Cranmer to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury. The new archbishop and the like- minded clerics and scholars laid the legal and theological groundwork for Henry to break with Rome and become head of the English church with Cranmer and the rest of the reform faction wanted to be used to push for additional church reforms. He survived the tumults of Henry's reign by total loyalty to the king – he mourned Anne Boleyn, but didn't oppose her execution (though he was one of the few who mourned for her publicly), did much the same when Cromwell was executed, and personally sent news of Catherine Howard's adultery to the king. Because of that, Cranmer had a great chance to pursue the cause of reform when Henry died and his 12-year-old son Edward VI became King. Edward's uncle Edward Seymour acted as the head of the King's regency council, and Seymour and his allies were in favor of reform. Cranmer was at last able to steer the English church in the direction of serious reform, and he was directly responsible for writing the Book of Common Prayer and several other key documents of the early Anglican church. But Cranmer's of luck ran out in 1553 when Edward VI died. Cranmer was part of the group that tried to put the Protestant Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but Henry's daughter Mary instead took the crown. Mary had never really wavered from her Catholicism despite immense pressure to do so, and she had last had a chance to do something about it. She immediately brought England back to Rome and started prosecuting prominent reform leaders, Cranmer among them. Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy and sentenced to be burned, but that was to be commuted if he recanted his views in public during a sermon, which he did. However, at the last minute, he thunderously denounced his previous recantation, asserted his reformist faith, and vowed that he would thrust the hand that signed the recantation into the flames first. Cranmer was immediately taken to be burned at the stake, and just as he promised, he thrust his hand into the flames, and his last word is that he saw heaven opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Cranmer had spent much of his life trying to appease Henry while pushing as much reform as possible, but in his final moments, he had finally found his defiance. When Mary died and Elizabeth took the throne, she returned England to Protestantism. Elizabeth was much more pragmatic than her half siblings and her father ever were, so she chose the most expedient choice of simply rolling the English church back to as it was during Edward VI's time. Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and religious articles, lightly edited for Elizabeth's sensibilities, became the foundational documents of the Anglican church. So these four Thomases, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer were central to the events of the English Reformation. However, we have one bonus Thomas yet. Bonus Thomas: Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a powerful nobleman during the reign of Henry, and the Duke of Norfolk was frequently Henry's lieutenant in waging various wars and putting down rebellions. He was also the uncle of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry's second and fifth queens. He was also involved in nearly every major event of Henry's reign. So with all that, why isn't Norfolk as remembered as well as the other four Thomases of the English Reformation? Sometimes a man would be considered virtuous by the standards of the medieval or early modern age, yet reprehensible in ours. For example, for much of the Middle Ages, crusading was considered an inherently virtuous act for a knight, whereas in the modern age, it would be condemned as war mongering with a religious veneer. However, by both modern standards and Tudor standards, Thomas Howard was a fairly odious character. For all their flaws and the morally questionable things they did, Wolsey, More, Cromwell, and Cranmer were all men of conviction in their own ways. More and Cranmer explicitly died with their faith. Cromwell's devotion to the Protestant cause got him killed since he insisted on the Anne of Cleves match. Even Wolsey, for all that he enriched himself, was a devoted servant of Henry after his downfall never betrayed the king. By contrast, Norfolk was out for Norfolk. This wasn't unusual for Tudor nobleman, but Norfolk took it to a new level of grasping venality. He made sure that his daughter was married to Henry's bastard son, Henry FitzRoy, just in case FitzRoy ended up becoming king. He used both his nieces, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, to gain power and lands for himself, and then immediately turned against him once he became politically expedient. In fact, he presided over the trial where Anne Boleyn was sentenced to death. After the failure of the Anne of Cleve's marriage, Norfolk made sure to bring his young niece Catherine Howard to court to catch Henry's eye, and to use the Anne of Cleve's annulment as a lever to get rid of Thomas Cromwell. Both stratagems worked, and he attempted to leverage being the new Queen's uncle to bring himself to new power and riches, as he had with Anne Boleyn. Once Henry turned on Catherine Howard, Norfolk characteristically and swiftly threw his niece under the bus. However, as Henry aged, he grew increasingly paranoid and vindictive, and he had Norfolk arrested and sentenced to death on suspicion of treason. Before the execution could be carried out, Henry died, and Norfolk spent the six years of Edward VI's reign as a prisoner in the Tower of London. When Edward died and Mary took the throne, she released Norfolk since she was Catholic and Norfolk had always been a religious traditionalist suspicious of reform. He spent the remaining year of his life as one of Mary's chief advisors before finally dying of old age. As I often say, history can be a rich source of inspiration for fantasy writers, and the English Reformation is full of such inspiration. Wolsey, More, Cromwell, and Cranmer can all make excellent inspirations for morally ambiguous characters. For that matter, you can see why the reign of Henry VIII has inspired so many movies, TV shows, and historical novels. The real life events are so dramatic as to scarcely require embellishment. So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show and thank you for listening as I went on one of my little historical digressions. I hope you found the show enjoyable. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.

Anne Boleyn may be one of the best-known figures in British history. But how much do you know about her connections to Alnwick Castle and the Percy family?In this episode of the Alnwick Castle Podcast, we explore the Boleyn-Percy connection in depth with two amazing experts: Natalie Grueninger, from the Talking Tudors podcast, and Owen Emmerson, from Hever Castle. Natalie and Owen explain the origins of the story that Anne Boleyn was engaged to the future 6th Earl of Northumberland, and the effect this would have on both their lives.They also spend time discussing the Ecclesiasties, an amazing prayer book that survives in the Alnwick Castle archives and that once belonged to Anne Boleyn. Everything about this book, from the bindings to the images and ideas inside, is remarkable, and you will hear all about it.You can see the Ecclesiastes in person this year at Hever Castle, where it has been loaned for the new exhibition about Anne, called Capturing A Queen. Visit their website for more details.For more Tudors on the Alnwick Castle Podcast, please explore our back catalogue - there are several episodes to choose from! And look out for next month's episode where we will be joined once again by the brilliant Tracy Borman to discuss her latest book, The House Of Boleyn.

At its heart, regenerative agriculture is an opportunity to reset a farm's relationship with both nature and economics. Most farmers who take the time to re-think their system, to reduce their use of expensive inputs, to mix livestock and crop production into long rotations, and to maximise the efficacy of free natural resources (such as sunlight and water), find that they are more economically resilient, that nature thrives in their fields and that they're just happier and healthier people.In this programme we hear from four UK farmers who've unleashed the power of regeneration on their farms - we'll hear their stories, and we'll ask what tools have enabled their success.With Graham Rutherford from Viewlaw Farm in Northumberland, Verity Megginson from Kirkburn Manor Farm in East Yorkshire, Rhys Jones from Pearson Gape Farming Partnership in Cambridgeshire, and Sian Jones from Moelogan Fawr in North Wales.This programme has been sponsored by Regenerate Outcomes.Farm Gate is part of 8point9.com.Listen to the edited audio version by searching for Farm Gate wherever you get your podcasts.

Was Anne Boleyn really too socially inferior to marry Henry Percy, heir to the powerful Earldom of Northumberland? For centuries, Anne Boleyn has been portrayed as an ambitious social climber, a woman of comparatively humble origins who dared to reach beyond her station. According to popular tradition, her relationship with Henry Percy was doomed because she was simply too low. But the historical evidence tells a very different story. In this video, I examine the truth behind one of the most persistent myths in Tudor history and reveal why Anne Boleyn was not an outsider at court, but a woman firmly embedded within England's elite aristocratic networks. Discover: • Anne Boleyn's powerful Howard and Butler ancestry • The overlooked importance of the Ormond inheritance • Why Anne arrived at court as a prospective countess • How Tudor society actually viewed rank, lineage, and marriage • Why Henry Percy's proposed marriage was politically dangerous, not socially impossible • How post-1536 propaganda reshaped Anne Boleyn's reputation Far from being a middle-class newcomer, Anne Boleyn was the granddaughter of the Duke of Norfolk and connected to one of the most influential noble dynasties in Ireland. At the very moment Percy considered marriage, royal policy itself was preparing her for an aristocratic match. So why has history continued to describe her as “too low”? #AnneBoleyn #TudorHistory #HenryPercy #HenryVIII #Tudors #BritishHistory #RoyalHistory #HistoryDebunked #TudorCourt #WomenInHistory #EnglishHistory #HistoryDocumentary

Episode 261 of The Popko Project Podcast features a powerful and nostalgic conversation with Aaron Fink (former guitarist of Breaking Benjamin) and Baxter Teal (of Deepfield), as they discuss the highly anticipated live event “We Are Not Alone.” On March 7th at Front Street Station in Northumberland, PA, Fink reunites with original Breaking Benjamin members […]

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Newspaper headlines Trump pulls support for Chagos and Britain faces 1936 moment Brits detained in Iran receive 10 year prison sentence, family says Radical SEND support shake up risks political backlash Starmer appoints Antonia Romeo as head of UK civil service Danika Mason Australian presenter apologises for drinking before slurred Winter Olympics report Yes there is a right way to stack the dishwasher. Here are the 5 rules Smiling fossil discovered in Northumberland Why theres no quick fix in sight for the problem of dazzling headlights Police statement in full after Andrew arrest Sir David Attenboroughs 100th birthday to be marked by BBC with special programmes

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Why theres no quick fix in sight for the problem of dazzling headlights Starmer appoints Antonia Romeo as head of UK civil service Danika Mason Australian presenter apologises for drinking before slurred Winter Olympics report Smiling fossil discovered in Northumberland Newspaper headlines Trump pulls support for Chagos and Britain faces 1936 moment Yes there is a right way to stack the dishwasher. Here are the 5 rules Radical SEND support shake up risks political backlash Sir David Attenboroughs 100th birthday to be marked by BBC with special programmes Brits detained in Iran receive 10 year prison sentence, family says Police statement in full after Andrew arrest

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Brits detained in Iran receive 10 year prison sentence, family says Smiling fossil discovered in Northumberland Newspaper headlines Trump pulls support for Chagos and Britain faces 1936 moment Sir David Attenboroughs 100th birthday to be marked by BBC with special programmes Starmer appoints Antonia Romeo as head of UK civil service Why theres no quick fix in sight for the problem of dazzling headlights Radical SEND support shake up risks political backlash Police statement in full after Andrew arrest Yes there is a right way to stack the dishwasher. Here are the 5 rules Danika Mason Australian presenter apologises for drinking before slurred Winter Olympics report

In 1522, Anne Boleyn returned to the English court, and within a few years, she was already at the centre of political tension, whispered promises, and poetic legend. Long before Henry VIII began his pursuit, Anne was linked to two influential men: Henry Percy, heir to the Earl of Northumberland, and Sir Thomas Wyatt, courtier and poet. Did Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy secretly promise to marry? Was there a binding precontract, something that, under Tudor canon law, could have invalidated a later royal marriage? Why did Cardinal Wolsey intervene? And what really lies behind Wyatt's famous poem “Whoso List to Hunt” and its haunting line: “Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am”? In this episode, I explore: Anne Boleyn's place in the Tudor marriage market The political implications of a precontract The Cavendish account of Percy and Anne The later denials in 1532 and 1536 The myths surrounding Thomas Wyatt The Spanish Chronicle story How Anne's reputation began forming long before she became queen Subscribe for more Tudor history deep dives, myth-busting, and documentary-style episodes on Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, and the Tudor court.    #AnneBoleyn #TudorHistory #HenryPercy #ThomasWyatt #HenryVIII  

Clare Balding heads to Brockley and Ladywell for a leafy London wander with Hana Sutch, co founder of the walking app Go Jauntly. Growing up in a family that didn't walk for pleasure, Hana discovered the joy of rambling in her twenties, when a visit to her husband's native Northumberland showed her the calming power of putting one foot in front of the other. Later, as a new parent in the city, she struggled to find accessible green spaces - an experience that inspired her to create the app which helps walkers navigate routes easily, including by following images of landmarks.As they wander, Hana discusses the challenges of building a start‑up as part of a small team of four, including hearing from big players in the field that she would never succeed.Their route is a four‑mile urban circular starting in Ladywell. Avoiding main roads where possible, they head up and around Hilly Fields, down to Ladywell Fields and on to Blythe Hill before ending the walk, where they met, in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries. You can find out more at www.gojauntly.com The walk Hana and Clare took together will go live on the app when the programme is broadcast.Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

Chillingham Castle is located in Northumberland, England and dates back to the 12th century. The village of Chillingham surrounds it and the village sits between Scotland and England and so it was regularly under attack. What once was a monastery became a place of true horror with some claiming that the torture that occurred here is some of the worst in history. For this reason, many people think that this is the most haunted castle in Britain. And yet, this is a family home today. Join us for the history and hauntings of Chillingham Castle!   Check out the website: http://historygoesbump.com Music used in this episode: Main Theme: Creepy Carnival Theme  Created and produced by History Goes Bump Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Other music in this episode: Music: The Princess In The Big Castle [Film Score] by Sascha Ende Link: https://ende.app/en/song/12289-the-princess-in-the-big-castle-film-score

We return to a place we haven't seen since Episode 1, back when I had no idea what I was doing, in order to do Northumberland and Sunbury the right way.  Northumberland and Sunbury are getting the full treatment they deserve, over three years after I first stumbled through them. History, geography, and of course, a look at some of the more interesting and fun spots in both towns, including Pineknotter Brewing, a pinball bar, and the Squeeze-In, a narrow hot dog joint that's been serving up dogs five seats at a time since 1945 [correction to the podcast, BTW: the Squeeze-In is not 12 feet wide, it's only eight feet wide!].  I interviewed Curt and Thad Benner, 4th generation Sunbury natives and brothers, who opened Eclipse Craft Brewing 7 years ago. Curt makes great beer, Thad makes great pizza, and they also have teaberry vodka. Can't beat it!  What I'm Drinking Today is a 16 year old Tomintoul single malt, and it was wonderfully relaxing. The Smack Dab In The Centre segment is a reminder to grab yourself a new Central PA Tasting Trail passport, and start getting your ticket punched for tasty drinks and great discounts.  Your Uncle Lew also has a little 'love connection' advice about Valentine's Day. No, really, I do!  Next episode should be a chat with Elk Creek chef Jon Forshey about making stews, and there's a lot more to it than I realized.   See you in two weeks! Until then? TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE PODCAST! Seen Through A Glass is sponsored by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. Come visit Centre County!   This episode uses these sounds under the following license: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Champ de tournesol" by Komiku at https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ arrow-impact-87260 Sound Effect found on Pixabay (https://pixabay.com) "Glow" by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au  Music promoted by https: //www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ All sounds sourced by STAG Music Librarian Nora Bryson, with our thanks.

Pine martens were once common in Britain but now, they're one of our rarest carnivores.  These slinky, tree-dwelling predators had virtually disappeared in England and Wales by the turn of the 20th Century. But pine martens are making a comeback.We follow Ranger Dan Iceton at Wallington estate in Northumberland, as he tries to encourage pine martens to make these woodlands their forever home.And we discover conservation success in other parts of Britain where the animals have returned.Follow the story and secret lives of the mysterious mammal making a comeback in our forests.[Ad] Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure. Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more.   Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element, in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor.  https://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/ Production:  Producer: Michelle DouglassHosts: Rosie Holdsworth and Dan IcetonSound Editor: Jesus GomezWith thanks to: Dr Stephanie Johnstone and Vincent Wildlife Trust Image © Caroline Legg  Discover more:  Visit Wallington, looked after by the National Trust https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/wallington Find out more about pine martens with Vincent Wildlife Trust: https://www.vwt.org.uk/species/pine-marten-2 Read about Martens on the Move: https://pinemartens.uk/ Report your sighting and help citizen science: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/a8c5d8e084dc4ecb9b92c57c42769d1f  

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I'm joined by folklorist and writer Icy Sedgwick to celebrate the release of her new book Bring Me Love — a deep dive into the strange, beautiful, and sometimes unsettling traditions of love magic.We begin by talking about why it might make the perfect gift for lovers of folklore and the esoteric. From there, our conversation wanders through centuries of romantic divination, courtship rituals, and charm magic, including dumb cakes, St Mark's Eve rituals, wishing wells, and the curious payments once made to fairies.Icy explains how love charms were passed down orally, how mistakes became tradition, and why simple, material-free magic was often the most powerful. She explains everyday divination with cheese, eggs, and household objects, and looks into deep connections between plants, flowers, and courtship — from yarrow and hemp seed spells to the Victorian language of flowers and the dangerous allure of the mandrake.We also venture into darker territory, with stories of poppets, sympathetic magic, and unsettling historical love spells, alongside more playful customs like shoe-throwing for marriage, Valentine's bird omens, and cowslip divination games.In the Plus show we continue with Poppets, cartomancy and magic to stop one's lover straying. We also get into Icy's other work on ghostlore from around the world. And Icy tells me about her upcoming projects exploring Northumberland's rich mythic landscape.It's a wide-ranging, thoughtful, and often humorous conversation about love, magic, and the human need to seek connection — whether through flowers, charms, spirits, or superstition.Show notes:Get the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bring-Me-Love-Finding-Divination/dp/1786789744/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0Icy's Books: https://www.icysedgwick.com/books/Fabulous Folklore Podcast: https://pod.co/fabulous-folklore-with-icyIcy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icysedgwickIcy's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ladyicypopKeep in touch?https://linktr.ee/darraghmason

Hey huns come see our shows - Hannah is doing hers at Top Secret Comedy Club on 16th Feb and Big S is doing hers on 4th March at Museum Of Comedy, links here: https://thetopsecretcomedyclub.co.uk/events-listings/hannah-byczkowski-rip-hannah-bitch-cough-ski/ https://www.museumofcomedy.com/wip-suzie-preece-mcshow/ This week we get into the Beckham saga, Hannah's bday gift (ooo!), and of course we give a Northumberland shout out to Anna's BnB Glencoe House in Wooler, it's utterly gorgoues, give it a go! https://www.instagram.com/glencoehousewooler/ Amongst the chaos you'll discover Hannah's a brave kooky scuba diver and Suzie has a rant about periods and near shart. Story One There's something lurking off the coast off Scotland... come with us down into an eerie naval cave...  read by Big S Story Two  Christine is playing with her imaginary friend Harry... read by Hannah Story Three Big S has a horrid tale called 'Unsettling Uber driver'... you may never ride again. CREEP OF THE WEEK Cow cow cow! ... is from ...Amy. We go to South Tyneside Hospital to see the most COMPELLING evidence we have so far?!! WE LOVE YOU HUNS, ENJOY xoxoxox JOIN OUR PATREON! EXTRA bonus episodes AND a monthly ghost hunt for just £4.50!  Or £6 for AD-FREE EPS and weekly AGONY HUNS! We'll solve your problems huns!  Sign up here: www.patreon.com/GhostHuns MERCH IS HERE: www.ghosthuns.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The arts remain one of the best ways to preserve culture in a way that people can interact with. Literature, folk music, and art, among others, allow us to experience culture, even secondhand, using tangible sources. Even better, we can create our own responses to this culture using our chosen cultural medium. Painter Ralph Hedley captured ordinary, working-class life around Tyneside and Northumberland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We'll explore how he captured scenes of ritual, tradition, and custom in his beautiful paintings, and investigate what they can tell us about the way folklore shows up, primarily in cities.  But we're also focusing on his work as an example of how much community rituals mattered in the past as a way of bringing people together. We need that now, more than ever. Let's go and explore the work of Ralph Hedley in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/ralph-hedley/ Donate to Stand with Minnesota: https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

The Farne Islands in the North Sea, off the coast of Northumberland, have a very special species of seabird during the summer that fiercely protects its young with its dive-bombing technique. However, it's the Arctic Terns' ability to fly thousands of miles during their migration from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle that really sets them apart.  Join Rosie and Rangers Dan Iceton and Tom Hendry on Inner Farne as they spend time with the Arctic Terns and experience their dive-bombing tactics first-hand.   [Ad] Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure.   Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more.   Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element, in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor.  www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/ Watch a video of this podcast on the National Trust's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@nationaltrustcharity/podcasts  Production:  Hosts: Rosie Holdsworth and Dan Iceton Producer: Katy Kelly  Sound Editor: Jesus Gomez  Contributor: Tom Hendry Discover More:  Find out more about The Farne Islands: Our work at Farne Islands | Northumberland | National Trust Follow us @wildtales Instagram account If you'd like to get in touch with feedback or a story idea you can contact us at podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk 

A Lancaster County man is accused of stealing human remains from 100 graves at Delaware County's Mount Moriah Cemetery. Jonathan Gerlach, a resident of Ephrata, is also being investigated in connection with November’s theft of two bodies from Good Shepherd Memorial Park in Luzerne County. A new study from Penn State University finds a ‘hot-spot’ of melanoma cases in central Pennsylvania. The study found a pattern of skin cancer in counties with or near farmland. That hot spot spans 15 counties and includes Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union and York Counties. Last week, WHYY’s Terry Gross appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to celebrate Fresh Air's 50th anniversary. A 61-year-old Hanover man died at UPMC Pinnacle Hospital after a fire late Friday night according to the York County Coroner's Office. We’re learning more about a chase that ended in a stand off and shooting Friday in Berks County that closed down Route 61 for nearly six hours. The city of Harrisburg has been awarded a $750,000 grant under a program administered by the state Department of Community and Economic Development. The funds will be used to make significant upgrades to the Capitol Area Greenbelt, a popular 26-acre outdoor recreation space. If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at www.witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you. Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, an interview we just conducted with Madeleine Wattenbarger and Axel Hernández of the Cooperativa de Periodismo in Mexico and Ambar Ruiz of Radio Zapote about the case of autonomous resistance and repression in the Mazateca community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in Oaxaca, Mexico, so named for being the birthplace of the Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón, revolutionary Mexican anarchist who was murdered by medical neglect by the US prison system in 1922 (check out our 2022 episode on the history). We talk about the rise to economic and political power of the family of Manuel Zepeda and his daughter Elena, their weaponization of the judiciary against community defenders resisting a hijacking in 2014 of the traditional community assembly and the years of organizing by Mazateca women whose loved ones face long prison sentences. We also speak about the case of Miguel Peralta, a Mazateca anarchist challenging his 5 decade sentence related to this case, as well as the recent murder by medical neglect while in prison of militant anarcho-punk Yorch Esquivel at the hands of the Mexican state at the behest of UNAM. Media mentioned: Observatorio Memoria y Libertad: https://observatoriomemoriaylibertad.org Facebook and Instagram Radio Zapote: https://radiozapote.org/ Avispa Midia: https://avispa.org/en/ Cooperativa de Periodismo Instagram and Youtube: https://www.instagram.com/chingadamadrx/ Cooperativa de Periodismo Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIrcSb3v_q8hxD1iqulLSw Groups to follow: Mazatecas Por Libertad (facebook) Presos Politicos de Eloxochitlan de Flores Magon (facebook) Further reading: "A Oaxacan Indigenous Community Fights a New Round of Bogus Charges," NACLA "Communal care, backbone of resistance in Oaxaca," Ojalá Excerpts of our translation of the MANIFESTO OF THE FEMALE SELF-DEFENSE FORCES IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM (June 2023, translated & narrated): https://ahuehuete.substack.com/p/eloxochitlan And finally, a letter from Miguel Peralta to Yorch, narrated by Miguel Peralta Announcements Xinachtli Phone Zap Continues First up, Chicano anarchist prisoner Xinachtli (state name Alvaro Luna Hernandez) was transferred on December 23rd from a hospital in Galveston back into solitary at McConnell Unit in Texas as punishment for the call-in campaign. He's still lacking access to an ADA-accessible bathroom and shower unit and has not had his property or commissary card returned. According to his supporters, Xinachtli is still experiencing weakness in his legs and has now been forced back into a completely inaccessible space, where he faces a serious risk of another life-threatening fall or injury. Xinachtli's supporters demand remains: Xinachtli must be moved out of McConnell into an ADA-accessible facility that can address his medical needs. McConnell has already proven it can't and won't provide adequate resources to care for Xinachtli in his current state. They are putting his life in danger. Updated phone blast at https://bit.ly/xphoneblast Instagram at @FreeXinachtliNow McConnell Unit: +1 361 362 2300 McConnell Unit Director Angela Chevalier +1 361 362 6328 TDCJ Executive Director: +1 936 437 2101 To learn more about his case, check out our interview with Xinachtli from late 2024, or the earlier recording of him telling the story of his case. Prisoners for Palestine Hunger Strike Continues Four members of the Prisoners for Palestine collective, which we covered in our November 30th 2025 episode, continue their hunger strike with 3 of them at around or beyond 60 days without food as of this recording. As the situation is shifting daily, we suggest you get updates for ways to provide solidarity and the current demands of the hunger strikers at PrisonersForPalestine.org Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Presente! Revolutionary Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, returned to the ancestors on November 23, 2025 after 25 years in federal prison. The Imam was convicted in 2002 for the murder of a sheriff's deputy and Al-Amin continued to be incarcerated despite the video-taped confession of another man with the means and the motivation for the killing. You can find a brief writeup and further readings, right before notes about the state murder by medical neglect of Yorch in the December 10th issue of In Contempt Stop Cop City RICO Dismissed Judge Farmer finally decided to dismiss the RICO charges against the 61 defendants in the Stop Cop City case on the grounds that they were filed improperly. This doesn't remove the domestic terrorism or arson charges against some remaining defendants, and the state says it will refile the RICO charges but for now that's a little off our comrades' plates. To learn more, check out our latest episode on the subject from October. Jessica Reznicek In Transitional Housing Catholic Worker and pipeline saboteur Jessica Reznicek has entered transitional housing and left prison, proper. You can read her address to the public at the ABCF website. To hear an interview on her case, check out the one linked in our shownotes. You can write directly to Jess at: Fresh Start Women's Center (Women's Residential Correctional Facility) 1917 Hickman Rd, Des Moines, IA 50314 Northumberland 2 Has Some Charges Dismissed Judge Rosini dismissed 11 charges total between defendants Cara and Celeste—including one count of ecoterrorism and several misdemeanors. The two friends from Massachusetts were accused of liberating hundreds of minks from a fur farm in PA that kills thousands of minks every season. As Phily Anarchist Black Cross says: There is a pretrial conference in February. After that will come trial. While this is big and exciting news, the case isn't over yet. Cara and Celeste still have many charges to fight. Trial will come with extra costs on top of the other legal fees. You can donate and learn more at phillyabc.org/nu2 Prairieland Defendants Trails Scheduled Finally from DFW Support Committee: A date has been set for the start of the Prairieland Defendants' federal jury trial: February 17th! We have been told by multiple lawyers this date is very unlikely to change. The North Texas federal court circuit in Fort Worth is well know for being fast and firm with trial dates. Also, Dario Sanchez's state trial is set for 1/12 in Johnson County. This is not a lot of time! We're calling on supporters everywhere to do everything you can to help the defendants get the best defense possible. That means continued fundraising for expert witnesses and other trial expenses, writing letters to keep their spirits up, and raising awareness to highlight the importance of this case. If you're able to come to DFW for the trial please do! We will have other concrete asks soon, so please stay tuned! Letter writing info is available at: https://dfwdefendants.noblogs.org/getinvolved/ Fundraiser links: https://www.givesendgo.com/supportDFWprotestors https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-artist-des-revol-an-immigration-attorney https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-maricelas-family-while-she-fights-for-justice . ... . .. Featured track: De Cara A La Pared by Lhasa from La Llorona  

Zoe Apostolides is a journalist and columnist, writing for The Guardian, The Telegraph and the Financial Times. Her new novel is 'The Homecoming', born out of conversations with her Grandmother. When she transcribed these, she thought... could I spin a sinister story out of this?It follows Ellen, a young ghost-writer, who is sent from London all the way to a rural manor house in Northumberland. When she finally arrives at the crumbling Elver Hall, urgently knocking on the door in the midst of a biblical storm, Ellen's never felt more alone. Her phone has no signal and the local taxi-driver refuses to take her further than the bottom of the lane. When Miss Carey suddenly appears on the stairwell in her white dressing gown, it's enough to make Ellen want to run back to London as fast as she can.We talk about how her career taught her wide and be interested in everything, which is great grounding for novel writing. Also, hear why as a city girl, much of the story came from her fetishing the countryside. You can hear how she delicately plays with the traditional tropes of horror, how to get the atmosphere right, and how she makes someone scared in writing.This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to https://ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code ROUTINE at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.Also, this episode is supported by Faber Academy. Make the most of their fantastic writing courses in 2026 at https://faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel/Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutineko-fi.com/writersroutineGet a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.com/shop/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.