Podcast appearances and mentions of Richard Scott

‘With his electric Soho, Richard Scott has arrived like a lightning bolt in our midst' said T.S. Eliot Prize judge Sinéad Morrissey on the publication of his first collection in 2018. To celebrate publication of his second, That Broke into Shining Crystals (Faber), Richard will be reading alongside fellow poets Emily Berry (Dear Boy, Stranger Baby and Unexhausted Time) and Jane Yeh (Discipline, Marabou and Ninjas). More from the Bookshop: Discover our author of the month, book of the week and more: ⁠https://lrb.me/bkshppod⁠ From the LRB: Subscribe to the LRB: ⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/subsbkshppod Close Readings podcast: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/crbkshppod LRB Audiobooks: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/audiobooksbkshppod Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/storebkshppod Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

There's reaction to Congleton Town's wins in the FA Trophy and Cheshire Senior Cup, plus Moorlands Radio's Richard Scott gives us the lowdown on what to expect from the FA Cup tie against Chorley as someone who knows both teams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our final episode of The Road to Genome season 5, we speak to the CEO of Genomics England Dr Richard Scott about the work of Genomics England, the creation of the Generation Study, and having the tough discussions to drive the future of genomics.Dr Richard Scott joined Genomics England in 2015. He is also a Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Clinical Genetics at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the UCL Institute of Child Health where his practice focuses on diagnosing children with rare multisystem disorders.

Send us a textJoin your podcast pals at a table at the Beachy Head pub. Enjoying a view of  sloping fields down to the Belle Tout Lighthouse and the sea beyond and take a moment to reflect on another season of Planet Poetry podcasts. Over spent packets of crisps and peanuts we revisit conversations with Danez Smith, Isabel Galleymore, Richard Scott and Isabelle Baafi chosen from among the panoply of marvellous guests we've had this season.  As ever, thank you for lending us your ears. Look for us in the Autumn and for the time being, we wish you a splendid and memorable summer. Support the showPlanet Poetry is a labour of love!If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coffee!

Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…the view from Europe. Lots going on outside the USA. Veteran naval journalists Richard Scott and Xavier Vavasseur are back to bring us up to date on French and British carrier deployments, trends in Europe, and some of the latest naval news from Asia. 

Send us a textStill life? Not as we know it. Trembling with tension and beauty, and roses that cup darkness and secret trauma... Hear Richard Scott share from his extraordinary new collection That Broke into Shining Crystals, just published by Faber. This is brave and shining poetry, timeless and utterly contemporary.Plus Robin and Peter dip into a verdant world, read the Imagist poem, Green, by D.H. Lawrence and, via Chroma by Derek Jarman, find ourselves on the shingle at Dungess by the nuclear power station. Robin talks breezily about Vanitas, the fleeting nature of life, and how she arranged the still life on the cover of her new book, The Mayday Diaries, skull and all...Support the showPlanet Poetry is a labour of love!If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coffee!

Dan Needham is the latest player to reveal more about the Congleton Town squad in our teammates quiz. There's reaction from Richard Duffy after the 1-0 win against Wythenshawe Town and Moorlands Radio's Richard Scott also discusses the season so far. Plus, Congleton Town Ladies coach Martyn Cooke and captain Holly Clark share their thoughts ahead of their final game of the season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm joined by Richard Scott and Polly Moseley from the Scouse Flowerhouse to explore the transformative power of community gardens. They share insights on using wildflowers to create vibrant, biodiverse spaces that benefit both people and wildlife, as well as the challenges and rewards of managing community green spaces. Listen on to discover how their work is weaving nature into urban communities. Links www.scouseflowerhouse.com Other episodes if you liked this one: If you liked this week's episode with Richard Scott & Polly Moseley you might also enjoy this one from the archives:  1. Episode 275: Community Gardening Synopsis: This episode delves into the world of community gardening, exploring how shared green spaces can foster community spirit, provide fresh produce, and promote environmental stewardship. The discussion highlights the benefits and challenges of managing communal gardens and offers insights into starting and sustaining such projects. 2. Episode 173: Sharing and Borrowing Gardens Synopsis: In this episode, host Sarah Wilson speaks with Joyce Veheary, founder of Lend and Tend, an initiative that connects garden owners with individuals who lack their own gardening space. They discuss how this platform facilitates the sharing and borrowing of gardens, promoting community engagement and making gardening more accessible to everyone. Please support the podcast on Patreon

Congleton Town player-manager Richard Duffy speaks to Moorlands Radio's Richard Scott after the Bears beat local rivals Kidsgrove Athletic on New Year's Day where this week's fan away day also comes from. Plus, non-league football writer Andrew Simpson shares why he picked Richard Duffy as his Non-League Paper Manager of the Year for 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is part 3 in our Advent series called The Fire Inside. You can watch the digital service on YouTube: *coming soon... If you had questions during the message, text them to 567-246-0807 and we will contact you to discuss your thoughts. You can also join us in person every Sunday where we welcome your questions and discussion. *Closing Song is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" - Matt Maher -Lyrics: Matt Maher, Ike Ndolo, Hank Bentley, Richard Scott, John Mason Neale, Henry Coffin -Copyright: © All Essential Music, Bentley Street Songs (Admin by Essential Music Publishing) Valley of Songs Music (Admin by Capitol CMG Publishing) Richard Scott Designee Performed by the WCC band with permission under CCS License #4935

Hwæt a Movie returns with Beowulf: Prince of the Geats! Given how hard this one is to find, we'd be surprised if any of you have seen it. Released in March 2007, shortly after SYFY's Grendel and ahead of Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf, this Scott Wegener-directed indie film dives into the epic tale with a unique take on the hero and his legendary battles. And while the film's limited budget and production constraints might be apparent, its dedication to the original text shines through. Making the film more charming and admirable is the fact that the production team and actors all worked for free on this passion project. All proceeds from the sale of the DVDs for Beowulf: Prince of the Geats went to aid both the American and Norwegian Cancer Societies. Get a sense of the film by watching the trailer here. The film stars both Jayshan Jackson and Damon Lynch III as the younger and older Beowulf. Wegener's decision to depict Beowulf as the son of an adventuring African fisherman offers some interesting possibilities and an approach to the character that we haven't seen yet. It's also one of the few film adaptations to follow Beowulf home to Geatland after his time in Denmark. As always, our episode includes an exhaustive summary of the film, a Q&A discussion, and our final ratings. How do these versions of Beowulf, Grendel, and Grendel's Mother stack up against those we've seen before? And how does this quirky, low-budget film score on its fidelity to the source material and its overall entertainment value? As the length of the episode might suggest, we've got a lot to say about this one. This was a delightful film to unpack, and we hope you enjoy hearing about it as much as we enjoyed discussing it. If you're interested in reading more about Wegener's decision to cast black actors to play Beowulf and the responses it prompted, check out the following articles and discussions: Clark, David. "Race/Ethnicity and the Other in Beowulf". In Beowulf in Contemporary Culture, edited by David Clark, 31-50. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019. Nokes, Richard Scott. "Beowulf: Prince of the Geats, Nazis, and Odinists". Old English Newsletter. 41, no. 3 (2008): 26–32.   Listen to our overview, watch the trailer (or find the film if you can), and let us know what you think on our social media: Sagathingpodcast on Facebook Sagathingpodcast on Instagram Sagathingpodcast on Bluesky Or join others like you on Saga Thing's unofficial official Discord

Researchers are hoping take advantage of new gene technology regulations as soon as possible. The Government's planning to introduce legislation this year to let researchers develop and commercialise gene tech products - outside laboratories. AgResearch Science Team Lead Richard Scott says taking it out of the lab will speed progress and reduce red tape. He says projects are already under way on genetically modified grasses. "We've already put forward an application to trial that in New Zealand - and we've got another couple lined up and ready to go." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Genomics has changed considerably over the past 10 years, and we are now exploring how to integrate it into routine healthcare. In this episode, our guests reflect on this evolution and discuss how the key learnings from the past 10 years can shape the genomics ecosystem of the future. They highlight the importance of partnership across teams, organisations and participants, emphasising the importance of keeping participant and patient benefit at the heart of research, whilst also addressing the ethical and safe storage of patient data. In this episode, our host, Helen White, who is the Participant Panel Vice-Chair for cancer at Genomics England, speaks with Dr Rich Scott, CEO of Genomics England.   "Our goal is to ensure that everyone can benefit from the advancements in genomics, but this requires collaboration across disciplines and a commitment to ethical practices in managing and sharing genomic data."   You can read the transcript below or download it here: https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/How_can_we_work_in_partnership_towards_a_new_era_of_genomic_medicine_and_research.docx Helen: Welcome to Behind the Genes.  Rich: There's a whole new era I see coming in terms of the therapies that are directed at the causes of genomic conditions, both in rare conditions and in cancer, and thinking as we do that, about how we structure the system to generate evidence, and to respond to it, and have a conversation about what the right balance of evidence for patients to make a choice about their own care.  Helen: My name is Helen White and I am the Participant Panel Vice Chair for Cancer, at Genomics England. On today's episode I'm joined by Dr Richard Scott, Chief Executive Officer for Genomics England. And today we'll be discussing Richard's recent appointment as CEO, lessons learnt from the last ten years in the evolution of genomics in healthcare, and how these learnings will be taken forward in the next ten years. And we'll also visit the importance of keeping participant and patient benefit at the heart of research, as well as the ethical and safe storage of patient data. If you enjoy today's episode we would love your support: please like, share and rate us on wherever you listen to your podcast.   Before we dive into the interview with Rich, I wanted to take a moment to share my story and tell you a little bit about myself. I have been a member of the Participant Panel at Genomics England since 2018. It was the year before that when I was diagnosed with endometrial, or womb cancer, and was offered the chance to join the 100,000 Genomes Project, which felt like something positive at what was otherwise quite a scary time. It turns out that I have something called Lynch syndrome, that's a genetic condition that increases my chance of developing certain cancers, particularly womb and bowel cancer, which is actually a really useful thing to know as there are things I can do to reduce my chance of getting cancer; things like having regular colonoscopies and taking daily aspirin. I have now been on the participant panel for six years and one year ago I was appointed as Vice Chair for cancer. This is a new and developing role and I am excited to have so far helped recruit more people with lived experience of cancer to the panel and to be assisting Genomics England with connecting to organisations that advocate for people whose lives have been touched by cancer.   So that's enough about me. I am delighted to be joined today by Richard Scott, and I am very much looking forward to our conversation. Welcome, Rich.   Thank you. So Rich, you've recently been appointed CEO of Genomics England. Can you tell me a bit about your background and what brought you to this role?   Rich: It's a really good question and it's one that doesn't have a really very simple answer. I guess what it boils down to is I guess I've always had an interest, even as a child, for whatever reason, in genetics and genomics. I have also then always been drawn to things where I can have an impact and particularly the impact in healthcare and that's what took me to being a medical student. And I guess it's that combination of that particular interest in genetics and being able to see, even when I was at medical school I qualified in 2000 that this was an area of medicine that was going to be really important in the future. And then as I trained, as I did a PhD and as I saw the technology develop and change and then when I saw the UK government and the NHS investing in genomics in a really foresighted way, I found myself eight or nine years sitting at Great Ormond Street as a consultant in clinical genetics where I still practice, I still do one clinic a month there as a clinical genetics consultant seeing families with rare conditions.   But I could see when Genomics England was established that this was something, as I said, really foresightful where we could really collectively across the country make more of a difference together in terms of patient and healthcare outcomes. So I joined GEL eight or nine years ago initially in a subject matter expert role, and really found myself the more time it passed, understanding how working in my role at GEL and helping GEL be a really productive part of what is a busy genomics healthcare ecosystem in the UK, we can make a big difference, and that's the thing that just wakes me up in the morning, is realising how much there is left to do, being proud of the stuff we've done, the difference we've made to participants in our programmes already, but realising that many of those still need our support to do better and the big distance left to go before we really deliver on I think the long-term promise of genomics, and I feel my mixture of skills and experience make me really excited to be in the middle of that.   Helen: Thank you. Yes, it sounds like you've brought many skills and experience, and interesting to hear that as a child you already had that interest in genetics and where that's taken you. Can you tell me what being CEO Genomics England means for you? What are your aspirations for your first year in this position?   Rich: Well, I guess, as you can tell, I'm really excited to take on this role. As I said, as a doctor I'm always focused on the impact for patients and our participants and ultimately it's the broader health of the nation. And the role I see Genomics England playing and being able to play in the future, sort of building on that, the leadership position the UK's always had in genomics – you know if you look back to the discovery of the structure of DNA, the invention of sequencing technologies and also the clinical implementation coming from that government investment and the NHS investment, what excites me most about GEL is that we can be there, playing a critical role alongside others in that ecosystem, whether that's in the NHS, whether it's our participants and the patients who we're aiming to support academia and industry, to create a whole that's greater than the sum of the parts, and I genuinely feel that the UK remains uniquely placed to live out that potential that genomics has, engaging in the questions, not just you know, the scientific questions of: what could genomics test for? Or, how could this be implemented and is it cost-effective?  But also being able to have the nuanced conversation of what we all and our participants in the public and general, expect in terms of the care we receive or how our data is looked after, and getting that really balanced view on how we chart a path forwards where we can really see big differences being made in the future, and I think always being honest to ourselves about where we are today and that things don't come in spotting some position a long time in the future that we want to navigate to, but also being really focused on the here and now and what is possible and what is evidenced, and what the next set of evidence or discussions or conversations in the public we need to have to help navigate ourselves there and that's where at the moment our focus at Genomics England is both being very clear sighted on where Genomics could go, and also thinking very clearly about where we are today, and so very much at the moment for us it's about focusing on the life service we offer to the NHS and we're really proud to be part of a world-leading whole genome sequencing service, the first national health service in the world to be providing that in the context of cancer and rare disease, and so offering and providing our service that contributes to that.   Supporting researchers so that we can keep the flow of discoveries coming and also for example, making sure that our participants in existing programmes continue to get new answers as the science evolves. So, the last year more than 2,000 families had new findings fed back because of new knowledge that's accumulating, keeping that flow going. And then we've got three big research initiatives going on at the moment where we're really focusing on delivering around them. We've got a diverse data initiative where we're really focused on making sure the research library, the National Genomic Research Library, our participants are representative of the UK population, so the discoveries that we're supporting are relevant to everyone; our cancer initiative which is exploring the use of new sequencing technology in the context of cancer, and also looking at the use of image data and other modalities of data, alongside generic data to drive new discoveries.   And then the third initiative is our newborn genomes programme, where we're asking a big question through a research study to generate evidence to ultimately answer the question: should every baby when they're born be offered whole genome sequencing? Most pressingly to improve and broader the range of conditions that we can look for that are severe and treatable. So, this year we're very much focused on delivering on those promises that we've made to our participants and our partners and through those programmes and very much with an eye to the future thinking about what we need to change in terms of the use of underpinning technology, so that we know that we've got the potential to scale, to think about the broader use of genomics in years to come as evidence evolves.   Helen: So Rich, there have been many advances in genomics in the last ten years. What do you think are the big lessons from those last ten years, and what do you think the next ten years will look like for the genomics ecosystem, what impact will this all have on healthcare as we know it?   Rich: So, genomics has changed extraordinarily in the last ten years thanks to shifts both in the technology, particularly the sequencing technology but also some of the computing technology that's there to deal with the scale of data. Ten years ago we were talking about the 100,000 genomes project and beginning the project itself, but it was still very early in the use of whole genome sequencing, that's gone from something where the big question around the 100,000 genomes project was: can this technology be used in routine care in cancer and for rare conditions, and if so, how do we do that?   And we've learnt both I think about that specific question and as I mentioned, we're enormously proud to be part of enabling the NHS whole genome sequencing clinical service, so that has entered routine care. I think along the way the biggest lesson for me is actually one about this being about partnership and about working as a team across many different organisations and with our participants, and recognising that this isn't just about one set of questions, or it's not just about clinical or scientific questions, it's about joining everything up together back to that point around, so a discussion about what people expect – this is about doing stuff together and learning often quite complex lessons about practicalities is one things, for example, one of the really big lessons we learnt around the use of whole genome sequencing in cancer are just practical lessons about handling of tissue samples and the need to make sure the right fridges are available on the right corridor of a hospital, with plugs available to plug them into, through to questions around, as I say, people's expectations around how their data is stored, which it's used for, which again there's really strong precedent for, and as we explored, different uses of genomic technology, we shouldn't just take those previous answers for granted, we need to make sure we validate and check with people what their expectations are.   So I think that's the big one for me is sort of the number of different angles with which one explores questions and the fact that this is very much about doing it together. I think just one other piece which is so easy for us here to take for granted is that doing things at national scale with national scale investment from government, from other funders and from the NHS is absolutely critical and when you look across the world, we are in an extraordinarily privileged position here in this country because of that investment and because that investment recognises the need critically to join clinical care and research in a whole, where you recognise that you're doing multiple things at once, but joining them up rather than them being two worlds, is really, really critical, and we're really lucky to be able to do that at national scale.   So then thinking about what the next ten years might look like for the genomics ecosystem, I think lots of those things continue, so I think national scale and the need for ongoing investment to keep up our position at the forefront in terms of answering these big questions about the use of genomics in healthcare, and to where the evidence supports their implementation to roll them out and keep that link there between healthcare and research, and so making sure the systems talk to each other and I mean that in a digital sense as well as a human sense is absolutely critical.   And then, so in ten years' time what are the areas of healthcare that will have been impacted, or could have been impacted by genomics, I'm really pleased that we're doing a better job for families with rare conditions and people with cancer than we were ten years ago, I think there's a long distance left to run even in those settings for us to do better and to continue to learn, so we expect our major focus to continue to be in those areas where we know they can have an impact and there's more to do. We also then have the different areas where if the evidence pans out to support the use of genomics or if we can implement systems that can support it there can be a big sort of area of growth. For example, our newborn genomes programme is asking questions and developing evidence so that in the future policymakers can decide should that become part of routine care, and I think that's something that could have become part of routine care in the next ten years if the evidence supports it and if that's something that the public support.    If I were to pick one other area where there's a real potential for growth in the coming handful of years it's in something we refer to as pharmacogenomics. What that means is looking at your DNA code (genomics) to help make decisions about prescription of medicines and sometimes that's about avoiding these medicines in people who are at a higher risk of having an adverse reaction, or it's about tailoring the dose because of something about for example the way the person metabolises, chews up, the medicine and so can influence how much dose they need. That actually has an enormous potential; we all have variations in our DNA code that influence how we respond to or metabolise medicines. If you look across primary care, GPs and so forth, primary care physicians and in secondary care, hospital care, I think there's good evidence that actually probably half of all appointments, interactions in those settings, if you were to have DNA data available that could influence how prescription choices are made; sometimes that's about knowing that you're doing the right thing, giving the normal prescription, but sometimes it's about modifying it, that's an area where I think there's a real potential for growth and that's an area that the NHS also really recognise and we're exploring ways in which we might look into that and think about how that might be implemented, because actually a lot of the questions there are about how you make sure the right data, the right information is available to clinical teams and patients at the time that prescriptions are being made.   There's also real potential more broadly in thinking about more common disease settings, there's lots of work going on from various research studies looking at the value of what people sometimes refer to as polygenic risk scores or integrated risk scores, where we use genomics as an element of estimating risk for common diseases like heart disease or cancer, that's something where the evidence is being worked on and is developing, I think we'll see a lot of evidence come out in the coming years and I think that will then influence how we implement genomics to help as part of that risk estimation process, which is routine now in GP practices where you go for an NHS health-check they do it with lots of complicated stuff, at the moment not genomics, and we'll see how that plays out in the years to come.   So I think there's enormous room for growth where genomics where at the moment it's making an important difference to people with certain conditions that we can do better on. In the future I see it becoming very much more part of the routine day to day of healthcare. As we make that transition there's lots to work through about the evidence, the order in which that's done and the way in which we, for example, store data, and make people part of the choice about how their data is used and what I'm really excited about in Genomics England is the role we play in the middle of that, bringing our particular expertise around what we call bioinformatics, which is sort of managing genomic data at big scale, particularly national scale to support healthcare and research, generating evidence that can help inform policy, and also critically drawing things together into the conversation amongst different players in the ecosystem and participants in the public so that we can not just think about evidence in a sort of terribly scientific way but we think about it in the round.   Helen: That's really interesting to hear you speak a lot about getting that evidence because that's critical, but that takes a long time doesn't it, so for example with the generation study, the newborn study it's really important to measure the benefits of that if you're testing young babies, newborn babies for diseases that if you pick up a condition that condition can be treated and something can be done about it early rather than poor parents going through this diagnostic odyssey, but also it's that balance isn't it with not leading to any harm, so if a number of parents come out of that thinking their baby might get a condition and it never happens there's potential there isn't there. But I think in terms of the public understanding of how long it takes to get evidence and everything else that needs to go on in the background I don't think it's always particularly clear that that's a massive process that has to be gone through and there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes – you can't just do these things.   I think as patients/members of the public we're eager to get on and for change to happen and things to be better but it's a big, big process, but also good to hear that you talk about it being a collaborative approach, it's not just Genomics England, it's the NHS, it's members of the public and patient voices, it's other organisations working in partnership, it's a big undertaking.   Rich: No, it is and I think that one of the words you used there was impatience, and I think that's healthy and important to recognise, it can be easy, particularly for example as a doctor, sat in a clinic room to accept the status quo, and at the same time, one needs to recognise the complexity of the questions, the balance, the need to generate high-quality evidence to inform those opinions and I think combining both that sort of impatience and dissatisfaction with the status quo, and that mind-set about thinking really thoroughly and collaboratively about the right evidence that is needed to change policy.   Helen: Yes, really important that those patient voices are there from the beginning, from the planning of obtaining this evidence and that you're measuring the things that matter most.   Rich: One of the areas where I think we've seen that play out, another area where I really see the potential for growth in the future is much more genomics-enabled treatments. We and you and the participant panel have helped us think about there's a whole new era I see coming in terms of the therapies that are directed at the causes of genomic conditions, both in rare conditions and in cancer and thinking as we do that about how we structure the system to generate evidence and to respond to it and have a conversation about what the right balance of evidence for patients to make a choice about their own care, but also policymakers to make choices about funding, decisions and safety decisions, is really important and we've been supporting to a wider work in cancer in the UK called the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad, and likewise we're part of something we call the Rare Therapies Launchpad, where in those two areas we're exploring that, and that's another area I think of real potential in the coming years, and also real nuance as we construct a way of navigating that together and making the most of the potential, but not just sort of rushing in and pretending we know all of the answers at the outset.   Helen: And those launchpads are of particular interest to participants in the wider patient population, there are a lot of people and children with rare, ultra-rare conditions who are desperate for treatments that just aren't available right now, equally for cancer patients there's a big need isn't there for more effective treatments, fewer side effects, that target that person's particular cancer, so it's good news I think for the wider public.   It does seem that innovation and partnerships are crucial to Genomics England's activities so how does Genomics England ensure that participant and wider patient benefit are at the heart of these activities?   Rich: I think one of the really important things is actually governance is sometimes a boring word, sounds like it, but I think thinking about how we've structured the organisation and placed you, as the participant panel, as part of our governance to make sure that when we're thinking about for example access to data in the National Genomic Research Library, participants are sort of driving those decisions, it's an independent committee that makes those decisions with representation from our panel. One of the things is thinking about the governance and making sure that you as our participant panel hold us to account for the decisions that we're making, which I think is really critical.  I think then also as we've learnt a lot over the years, not always getting it right, about how we make sure that participants, or potential participants in the public are involved from the outset in the design of programmes because it always helps. I think certainly before I joined Genomics England I think I would have been unsure about the best ways of going about that and that brings with it sometimes a nervousness. I think the main advice I would say to people listening is to have confidence that just getting stuck in and have conversations is the way to do it. There are then also all sorts of expertise that we've really benefited from being to bear in terms of ways of doing that engagement work and that will come; the first thing is to have the confidence and the desire to put that at the centre of how you decide where your focus should be and how you design programmes.   Helen: I think Genomics England has been very successful with that by integrating that patient voice from the very early days and here we are what eight years on I think now, and yes, hopefully we'll be there for some time to come yet, as long as Genomics England exists. So Rich, with more and more health data being stored, how do we ensure that this sensitive personal data is stored and used safely and ethically across the genomics ecosystem. And actually while we're on this question, can you just explain what genomics ecosystem means, because we use that term I think quite a lot, but I think it's not necessarily understandable to the wider public? Rich: What I mean when I talk about it is I mean the mixture of different people, whether that's sometimes organisations, us, Genomics England, the NHS, the NIHR, National Institute for Health Research; industry partners whether they're people who are from pharma companies or from biotech, academic researchers, participants in programmes – everyone who comes together to work on genomics in the UK and a bit like the word as it's used in biology, it's a sort of busy ecosystem with all sorts of people playing their own role and then working together, and so I think it's a really important thing to recognise that we're part of that and in fact it's one of the things I love most about my role at Genomics England is thinking about all of the different partners that we need to work with and to those outside it I think it can also be a bit intimidating, because it's hard to keep up with who on earth everyone is. So then thinking about the question of how we make sure that data's stored and looked after and used in the ways that people expect and safely and so forth, I think that's absolutely at the heart of my role and our role. And I think one thing is actually always sort of starting at the: why are we doing this? What benefits are we seeking to bring to people? Is that what they expect? What have they signed up for if you like? But that's in a research study or when they've decided to say yes to having a particular test, which is the same in any part of medicine. And if we use that to drive our decisions, that's what's so critical. And so that's where thinking about programmes we run, and also the things that we think might be worth something that we should prioritise in the future is always first driven by the benefit that you might be bringing, weighing up the costs and the potential downsides and harm that might be caused by the use of genomic data in that way and that's what should always drive things, and there isn't a one-size-fits-all, you know, genomic data should be used and stored in this way and that's one of the things that I think making sure that participants and the public are at the centre of the conversation is absolutely critical, it turns out that genomic data is very much like health data at large in many senses and it's very precious for those reasons. It is also special in a few ways. One of the ways that's sort of peculiar if you like is that pretty much the DNA sequence, the genome, that you're born with, is the same one that you hold throughout your life, that's different from say if you do a blood count or something that varies for various reasons over your life and most things in medicine do change quite meaningfully over a much shorter time period. One of the things about the DNA code: A) it makes it more precious because it's very much about you, your whole life; also it makes it more useful and reuseable in many ways, so one of the things that we think about a lot more in genomics is about the storage and reuse of data on an ongoing basis through the lifetime. And I do think that that model in certain settings and potentially more broadly as evidence accumulates, may well be the path that we take forward where you consider your genomic data part of your health record where it can be used and reused. And what we need to do is explore why you would in the first case generate someone's DNA sequence, and what sort of sequence, is it a whole genome or less than a whole genome? What would you use it for in the first place when you first generate it? And what other uses could there be to support the healthcare and have you involved them or the public more generally in decisions about how it's used? Because we do, as I said, see the potential for genomics being just becoming part of the fabric if you like of healthcare, good healthcare, the best healthcare.   Linked to that is the point on research as well, like where people are happy for it, holding their genomic data and understanding how that impacts on longer term health outcomes, something we'll continue to learn about for years and years. So I think the first point is about focusing on the why and whose data it is, one's own genome belongs to you, it doesn't belong to anyone else, what people are happy with and consent to and expect and then always holding that in mind as one makes the choices is critical. I've talked about how we think the governance and the involvement of the participant panel is really critical for that as well. And then it also comes down to doing in various ways, the job that people would expect in terms of, for example, that safety piece, using the very latest tooling to make sure that it's held in a secure way, that it's backed up so that it won't be lost etc. and bringing sort of the right, very good minds around some of those more technical questions, but always with the expectations of the people whose genomes they are in mind and to say are we living up to their expectations, are we doing what they would expect?   So, Helen, I wondered if I could ask you a couple of questions. The first one I wanted to ask is what you're hopeful for in the coming years as a participant panel member?   Helen: Thank you. I've actually already posed these questions to some of the other panel members, so I'll try and make sure I include their responses here as well as mine, but I think it's important to hear from everybody, not just me, Rebecca Middleton and Emma Walters have recorded their responses as well. I think the four main things that panel members are hopeful for is the coming years, the first is equitable access to whole genome sequencing, basically everybody who needs whole genome sequencing should get access to it regardless of where they live, their income, ethnicity or disability, so that's something that we're hopeful will get better over the years.   We know this is essential to improving healthcare, to improving outcomes for patients and generally for sort of greater inclusivity and in genomic research, we want as well as Genomics England, the data is the National Genomics Research Library to be representative of the population as a whole, not just the people who 1) are offered, and 2) agree to have their data in the library. And also, obviously the more data that is held in that library, the more opportunity there is for research across those rare and ultra rare conditions and rare and less common cancers, where it's all about numbers, you need numbers of sets of data in order to draw things together and make conclusions to look for patterns.  And the other thing which I guess comes more under the umbrella of the NHS is that the panel is quite keen, they want everybody who's undergoing genomic testing to receive good support and after care, I think regardless of whether that testing is via the NHS or as part of a research study, sometimes it will be both, but that's for the patients at the coal face that is obviously critically important.  The second, I think broad theme, coming from the panel members' responses is that I think you've mentioned this already, is increased understanding of genomics amongst the general public is really important – there's a need to demystify genomics and to generally improve public awareness of its benefits and to get those conversations going around its regulation and its ethical use, but to do that you need to get meaningful engagement from a wide range of people, you know, that's not always straightforward, there are lots of challenges there, it's all about prioritising inclusivity, accessibility, to make sure you get diverse views and perspectives on genomics and on genomics research.   The other thing that came out very strongly from the responses which we have talked quite a bit about already is about this individualised healthcare. I think we as a panel are very hopeful that there will be this shift towards treatment strategies that are tailored more to the individual and their specific health condition, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, we want effective treatments that will minimise side effects but also through the use of pharmacogenomics, to make sure if there's a risk of a severe, sometimes life-threatening side effect that that can be identified and that individual doesn't have that treatment either at all or has a lower dose, so it's not so toxic.   And let's hear from Emma who talks about this.  Emma: My hope is that we move to a truly individualised healthcare system and I'm really excited to see how in particular pharmacogenomics changes the healthcare landscape. For a long time we've gone with a one-size-fits-all approach, and that's easy to deliver on a large scale basis that the NHS works on, but we know fundamentally that's not how patients work, so to be able to consider individualising medication and knowing which won't work, interests and excites me.   Helen: So the panel is also very hopeful about the development of those innovative therapies, and you talked about the rare therapies launchpad and the cancer vaccine launchpad, because those offer real hope for treating previously untreatable conditions and generally improving accessibility to treatments. And we're also hopeful that there will be a much better understanding of diagnosis of cancer, through things like the multi-model programme, because although there's lots and lots of research going on with cancer there's still a long way to go to have more effective treatments and to improve diagnosis of cancer.   And then just finally just in response to your question, patient and public involvement, this is what the participant panel is all about, we are a group of individuals whose lives have all been touched by either a rare condition or by cancer currently, either we've had that condition ourselves or it's affected our loved one, and we do bring these diverse views and perspectives to Genomics England and I think we have a crucial role in influencing its decisions about what it does with participant data and who has access to that data. It's critically important that Genomics England listens to what matters to the people whose data it holds and who do that, as Rebecca here explains.  Rebecca: Genomics is a fast-moving science and it has the impact to change lives and healthcare for future generations, but genomics is a science of people and therefore the only way you can truly understand the limitations and opportunities of it is to talk eye to eye to the very people it will impact, and not everyone will agree on everything. But how we understand genomics and its power to transform healthcare, our own and that of our children and the ones we love, can only progress at the pace of the people that it will benefit. It's a simple equation but it's not maths and indeed not science: we are all different and unique, our emotions, experience and history will be wrapped up in our viewpoints and thoughts, and that's where the panel comes in, representing and advocating for the very many different voices of genomic healthcare, ensures Genomics England is stronger, healthcare design is more meaningful and research is more impactful.  I have no doubt that the panel of the future will continue to be heard and understood at Genomics England, and I hope it continues to grow to reflect more diverse voices and experiences and continues to be the people inside the science.   Helen: Finally, the panel is also hopeful for increased public and patient involvement in genomics research, this is integral for shaping research both academic and commercial, it helps with identifying research priorities, developing new treatments, basically getting that voice of the patient in there to tell researchers what's the most important and what matters to them.  Rich: So another question Helen, how do the panel feel about the changing genomics landscape? Helen: A good question and I think overall it's a balance between excitement and hope on the one hand, and a bit of apprehension and caution on the other. So the panel is really excited about the advances going on in healthcare, we're entering an age now where we're promised a much more proactive, as opposed to reactive approach to healthcare. You were talking earlier Rich, about having your genome sequence, and this is something that you have for life, it's like your passport, your fingerprint, so from infancy to old age you've got this data which is held somewhere which holds so much promise of predicting if you might develop a disease, whether you might react badly to a drug, so ultimately it offers great potential to improve outcomes for patients, their families and the NHS. Again, we spoke earlier about this holds so much promise for producing the diagnostic odyssey that so many parents go through when the children are born with a condition that doesn't have a diagnosis, potential to diagnose things like cancer a lot earlier where it's more treatable and to prevent disease as well, I know that's something Genomics England isn't specifically looking at, but through screening programmes, using things for example like circulating DNA which may be able to pick up that there are things going on and picking things up earlier means that those things can be dealt with earlier.  I mean thinking of my own personal example, I know I have Lynch Syndrome, I know that I am at risk of developing bowel cancer now, but that means I can do something about it. So I have my colonoscopies every two years, I take aspirin every day because that reduces my chance of getting bowel cancers and I'm much more symptom-aware, so having that knowledge up front is very helpful in being able to move forward and reduce my chance of getting an advanced cancer.  The panel is also very excited about the ongoing collaborations and the novel therapies that are being developed through the rare therapies launchpad, these offer a lot of hope for treating previously untreatable conditions, and improving accessibility to treatments, and obviously more targeted treatments for cancer, you know, we'd need more effective treatments for cancer but with reduced side effects, so that in a nutshell, those are the other positive sort of things that the panel feel excited about. Where they're slightly more apprehensive or concerned, I mean they do acknowledge that there are challenges ahead and there are big concerns about the NHS's ability to cope with increase in demand for genomic testing and particularly worries about education and training of healthcare professionals in genomics, how do they effectively communicate research findings or results to patients if they don't have a broad understanding of genomics?  And then finally, let's hear from Emma.  Emma: I think I'm excited but cautious. I think it's really important to acknowledge that the research being undertaken is groundbreaking and the vast majority of clinicians have very little to know genomics education, and translating these findings into tangible benefits for participants is so very important, and something I think we've really got to make sure we don't lose sight of.   Helen: We talked earlier about awareness among the public about genomics and we do feel that there's a need to drive education forwards, you know but this is challenging, given the rapid pace of developments that we've spoken about, I think even for the panel members who I would say are relative experts in genomics now it's hard to keep up to date, so how do we do that moving forwards? We've talked about security of data, we understand there are moves to link more genomic data sets both nationally and internationally and that clearly has significant benefits because that brings bigger numbers of patients data together, but opens up potential risks in terms of security, so how do we make sure that the security of that data is as good as it is currently when it's held in one pot in Genomics England Research Library.   And just a couple of final concerns that were flagged by panel members, there is some apprehension regarding potential misuse with genomic data by insurance companies; we're given a lot of reassurance about that but there are concerns that could potentially lead to the most vulnerable in society being unable to get affordable cover if they're found to have genomic changes that mean they are at risk of conditions or have certain conditions and there are also concerns about the ethical implications of AI in diagnosis and clinical decision making, you know, AI is obviously a fantastic thing for looking at patterns amongst a big lot of data, but how accurate is it and where does the human come in, in terms of decision making?   So those are, I think, the broad concerns from the panel. I don't know if you have any thoughts on those, Rich? Rich: I think the big thing to say is I think having the participant panel there, you said in the middle of that, become collectively quite expert and you recognise that. Having the ability to have these complex nuance conversations and have people share that and speak directly to us about it I think is the biggest thing – lots of those points there made by the panel, I think both things that we have very much in our mind about things that one needs to balance and focus on, and there are also things that we already talk about which is reassuring I think as well, we talk about with the panel. I think one of the things for us as well is sort of being clear on some of the things where there are really clearly well-established red lines, for example, that point on insurance, but that is very clear and part of our role is making sure that that is there and people can feel comfortable in that context to understand that.  I think the main thing that I would say is thank you to you Helen, and to all of the panel and all of our participants because I said earlier, this is a team thing and you are all very much part of the team and we would not be able to do our jobs in any way, I wouldn't even say effectively, I would say with the relevance, which is the thing that we drive for, the relevance to have impact for people's lives whose data we hold and will hold in the future. And so thank you for being part of the team. Helen: Thank you. And I think thank you to Genomics England for having the foresight to create the participant panel in the first instance, it was there from the get-go and I think a really great opportunity for all of us to be involved in this, to have our voices heard and listened to, so thank you.  We'll wrap up there. Thank you for joining me today and thank you for discussing your appointment as CEO for Genomic England, and your view on what the genomics ecosystem might look like over the next ten years. If you would like to hear more like this, please subscribe to the Behind the Genes, on your favourite podcast app. Thank you for listening. I've been your host, Helen White. This podcast was edited by Bill Griffin at Ventoux Digital, and produced by Naimah Callachand. 

Richard Scott Larson's debut The Long Hallway (University of Wisconsin Press, April 2024) is a lyrical memoir that expresses a boy's search for identity while navigating the darkness and isolation of a deeply private inner world. Growing up queer, closeted, and afraid, Richard Scott Larson found expression for his interior life in horror films, especially John Carpenter's 1978 classic, Halloween. He developed an intense childhood identification with Michael Myers, Carpenter's inscrutable masked villain, as well as Michael's potential victims. In The Long Hallway, Larson scrutinizes this identification, meditating on horror as a metaphor for the torments of the closet.Richard joins host Sara Batkie for a conversation about the masks we wear, the horrors of suburbia, and finding the right home for your work.Richard Scott Larson is a queer writer and critic. His debut memoir, The Long Hallway, was published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Born and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis, he studied literature and film criticism at Hunter College and earned his MFA from New York University.He has received fellowships from MacDowell and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and his work has been supported by residencies from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Paragraph Workspace for Writers, La Porte Peinte, and the Willa Cather Foundation. He's an active member of the National Book Critics Circle, and his writing has been recognized twice by The Best American Essays.

We're thrilled to welcome the co-writers of Morning Sun and many more incredible tracks to the podcast - Richard Scott and Scott Ralph.  We're excited that Rich has returned to the show after we interviewed him and his brothers Kelvin Andrews and Danny Spencer in 2022. This time we're also joined by their longtime friend Scott Ralph, the final quarter of Robbie's songwriting crew from Stoke-On-Trent.  Scott shares what happened when he was invited to LA to write with Robbie alongside his friends, and recalls some hilarious (and embarrassing!) moments. Rich and Scott have penned lots of swing-style songs with Robbie such as Soda Pop and On The Fence, as well as Under The Radar classics like Super Tony and Underkill.   We hear about UFO hunts and an impromptu Gollum cameo at a BRITS after-party - we didn't stop laughing throughout and can see why Rob loves writing with his Stokie mates.======If there is an advert in this episode details will appear below:============**About Robbie Williams Rewind**Join husband and wife Matt and Lucy, as they rewind through legendary pop star Robbie Williams' solo career. Each episode, they have a guest fan to help us relive Robbie's incredible music and tours.Visit: robbiewilliamsrewind.com to discover more episodes, track listings & photos!Follow: @rewindrobbie on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter & TikTok.

On today's episode of The Lives of Writers, Lena Crown interviews Richard Scott Larson.Richard Scott Larson is the author of  the memoir The Long Hallway  (UW Press). He has received fellowships from MacDowell and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and his creative and critical work has appeared in The Sun Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, Harvard Review, and other journals and anthologies.Lena Crown is a book editor for us at Autofocus Books. Her essays are published or forthcoming in The Rumpus, Guernica, Gulf Coast, Narratively, North American Review, The Offing, and elsewhere, and her poems have appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, The Boiler, Poet Lore, No Contact, and Variant Lit.____________Full conversation topics include:-- blocking out time to write-- doing residencies-- horror movies and mass-market fiction as a kid-- writing as a critic and with the NBCC-- the role of film in his life and the book-- a crisis of fiction-- memoir vs book-length essay-- the new memoir THE LONG HALLWAY-- gender, sexuality, and horror-- visibility and hiding queerness-- masks and Michael Myers in Halloween-- horror tropes appearing in memoir-- loneliness and observation-- film form-- fear and shame-- the Midwestern suburbs-- epiphany, revelation, and resolution (or lack of)-- examining our own cruelties-- writing about family-- the next book and gymnasts_______________Podcast theme music  by Mike Nagel, author of Duplex and Culdesac. Here's his music project: Yeah Yeah Cool Cool.The Lives of Writers is edited and produced by Michael Wheaton, author of Home Movies.

A new MP3 sermon from Sandown Free Presbyterian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Thomas Richard Scott B.E.M. Speaker: Rev. Garth Wilson Broadcaster: Sandown Free Presbyterian Church Event: Funeral Service Date: 2/24/2024 Bible: 2 Timothy 4:6-8 Length: 94 min.

‘We've always been here. As long as there has been soldiers, there have been poets. And it's a long sad, venerable tradition.' (Peter Gizzi) A Poetry Review podcast between Richard Scott and Peter Gizzi to accompany the Poetry Review Summer 2022 issue. Richard co-edited the issue with Andre Bagoo. You can read more about their issue here: poetrysociety.org.uk/publications/v…2-summer-2022/ You can buy the issue here: bit.ly/ThePoetryReview Richard Scott's first book is Soho (2018), he guested edited The Poetry Review with Andre Bagoo in Summer 2022. Peter Gizzi's recent books include, Now It's Dark (Wesleyan, 2020), Sky Burial: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2020), Archeophonics (Finalist for the National Book Award, Wesleyan, 2016) and In Defense of Nothing (Finalist for the LA Times Book Award, Wesleyan, 2014). His honours include fellowships from the Rex Foundation, the Howard Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has twice been the recipient of the Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellowship in Poetry at the University of Cambridge. In 2018 Wesleyan published In the Air: Essays on the Poetry of Peter Gizzi. His most recent collection, Fierce Elegy, is available in the Wesleyan Poetry Series in the US, and will be published in the UK by Penguin in July 2024. Music credit: 'A very minimalist improvisation' by Circus Marcus

Recorded by Richard Scott for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on January 3, 2024. www.poets.org

This episode explores the significance of digital twins in the construction industry, expanding into various other sectors. The conversation with Anand Mecheri and Richard Scott covers the evolution, application, and future potential of digital twins, highlighting the transformative impact of this technology. Episode Highlights: Guest: Anand Mecheri CEO ndBIM Virtual Building  Richard Scott Chief Partnership Officer  at Twinview Limited Role of Digital Twins in Construction: The transformation from simple digital models to complex, intelligent systems. Application across various industries, including construction, healthcare, and urban planning. Evolution of Digital Twin Technology: Transition from traditional methods to data-centric approaches. The importance of data quality in digital twin implementation. Challenges in Digital Twin Adoption: Overcoming industry resistance and changing mindsets. Integrating digital twins into existing workflows and processes. Operational Focus and Real-time Data Usage: Using digital twins for real-time performance monitoring and optimization. The role of digital twins in achieving net-zero energy goals. Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement: The need for collaboration across different project stages and stakeholders. Challenges and strategies in fostering industry-wide adoption. Future Outlook and Economic Impact: Prospects of digital twins in driving innovation across sectors. Economic opportunities presented by the growth of digital twin technology. Data Management and Analytical Capabilities: The central role of data in driving digital twin efficiency. Leveraging analytics for informed decision-making. Integration with Smart Cities and Urban Planning: Digital twins in the context of smart city development and urban planning. Potential impacts on city-scale infrastructure and management. Industry Evolution and Continuous Learning: Adapting to rapid technological changes in the construction industry. The importance of continuous learning and skill development. The critical role of digital twins in the construction industry and beyond is unmistakably transformative, signalling a shift towards more efficient, data-driven methodologies. Evolving from basic models to complex, intelligent entities, digital twins are pivotal in enhancing efficiency, fostering innovation, and driving industry-wide change. Their impact, spanning from operational optimization to net-zero energy goals, requires embracing technological advancements, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and continuously adapting to new challenges.

We sit down with Richard Scott, Author and Publisher and past Licensing Coordinator for the NHLPA to discuss the evolution of sports card media, rewriting the rookie card rules, criteria for rejected sports card images, how the card companies and card shops adapted to the changing rules, the impetus for his many books and who the hobby has to thank for the OPC brand's continued existence since 2005 as well as the history of the Charlton Price Guide and more, so join us live and bring your questions and comments as they will be in play. Leighton Sheldon of Just Collect and Vintage Breaks joins for the "Vintage Spotlight" segment as well. Buy RIchard's books on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Richard-Scott/author/B0C4XQ4KQ7 Saturday October 28 @ 7:00pm PST / 8:00pm MST / 9:00pm CST / 10:00pm EST #sportscards #thehobby #o-pee-chee At the time of this livestream, Sports Cards Live and/or Jeremy Lee is partnered with: - TAG Grading - Sport Card Expo - Center Stage App - Just Collect - Veriswap - PWCC Marketplace - MC Sports Cards - LGC Auctions - Slab Sharks - 90's Auction - Iconic Auctions - REA Auctions --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sportscardslive/support

According to the fossil record, ancient humans usually had straight teeth, complete with wisdom teeth. In fact, the dental dilemmas that fuel the demand for braces and wisdom teeth extractions today appear to be recent developments. So, what happened? While it's nearly impossible to know for sure, scientists have a hypothesis. G. Richard Scott shares the prevailing theory on crooked teeth. This TED-Ed lesson was directed by Igor Coric, Artrake Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio.

Humans evolve over time. Most people do not notice that our jaws are becoming smaller as we evolve. In this episode, George Richard Scott, the Author of The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth (1997), unlocks the secrets behind the morphological characteristics of jaws. He also provides insights into how the evolution into this modern society negatively changes the apex of human physical stature. George dives even deeper into the Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth and touches on the diet and its impact on our teeth. Get to know more from George as he delves into tooth morphology.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://thefuturistsociety.net/

When Tracy, a 40-something-year-old Kansas mother of two found Mickey on an online dating site, she thought she had hit the jackpot. He was accomplished, handsome, had his private pilot's license and owned his own real estate company. Within days they were saying I love you and within a month, moving in together. Then, they were talking marriage. It all seemed too good to be true...because it was.Mickey was really Richard Scott Smith, a scammer, cheat, liar and love fraudster who had swindled multiple women out of thousands of dollars, had used multiple aliases and social security numbers. He was also a polygamist, and, at one time, was married to six or more women at the same time. It would take a blog post, a badass bounty hunter, and scores of scorned women to come together to take down the man known as Richard Scott Smith.Show Notes:https://www.sho.com/love-fraudhttps://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/08/love-fraud-richard-scott-smith-update-now-today/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5659010/advertisement

Guest editor of The Poetry Review Summer 2022, Andre Bagoo talks to his contributor Jameson Fitzpatrick. Andre co-edited the summer issue with Richard Scott. You can read more about their issue here: poetrysociety.org.uk/publications/vol-112-no-2-summer-2022/ You can buy the issue here: bit.ly/ThePoetryReview

Support the show for $1/month Chris's Substack - THIN ICE In this episode, Hilliard & Chris chop it up with writers Saeed Crumpler and Richard Scott in this super fun episode. We go IN about the current state of the 2023 WGA Writers Strike and so much more. Tune in for two hours' worth of nothing but industry game! Books Mentioned in the show: Walter Isaacson's STEVE JOBS The Screenwriters Rant Room LIVE PODCAST TAPING! June 23, 2023 2pm-4pm at TCL Chinese Theatre (Hollywood & Highland) Dances With Film FF. RSVP at danceswithfilms.com seating will go fast! Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon! Support our podcast through Patreon Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast. Chris Derrick on Twitter Hilliard Guess on Twitter The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/screenwriters-rant-room/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/screenwriters-rant-room/support

This podcast is a commentary and does not contain any copyrighted material of the reference source. We strongly recommend accessing/buying the reference source at the same time. ■Reference Source https://www.ted.com/talks/g_richard_scott_why_do_we_have_crooked_teeth_when_our_ancestors_didn_t ■Post on this topic (You can get FREE learning materials!) https://englist.me/84-academic-words-reference-from-g-richard-scott-why-do-we-have-crooked-teeth-when-our-ancestors-didnt--ted-talk/ ■Youtube Video https://youtu.be/YKmh9-lNQoM (All Words) https://youtu.be/v8DS6lcfgJA (Advanced Words) https://youtu.be/Ol2DNGQhr3E (Quick Look) ■Top Page for Further Materials https://englist.me/ ■SNS (Please follow!)

In this episode, Hilliard, Chris and writer Richard Scott talk about a lot of fun topics including: the WGA Strike, Structure & Procrastination, the all informing '80 - 20 Rule', British Actors and so much more! Check out the ScreenWriterRR website at www.screenwritersrr.com for information, merch, or our Patreon! Support the show via the Patreon link. Remember support is love! We invest countless hours per week to deliver the actionable content that goes into this podcast. Connect with Us: Chris Derrick on Twitter Hilliard Guess on Twitter Richard Scott on Instagram The Screenwriters Rant Room on Facebook Theme Song by @ThinkDeP --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/screenwriters-rant-room/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/screenwriters-rant-room/support

In this episode we speak with Dr. Richard Scott about his work studying Uto-Aztecan premolars! Article title: Multiple occurrences of the rare Uto-Aztecan premolar variant in Hungary point to ancient ties between populations of western Eurasia and the Americas

Fertility & Sterility brings you some great interviews from ASRM 2022 in Anaheim, CA! In Part 1, we discuss science with leaders in the field and prefesenters from the conference. Topics this month include career-focused women and family planning (Jen Bakkenson) (3:20), live imaging of embryo development (Nicholas Plachta) (8:02), predicting outcomes using AMH in fertilty preservation (Cassandra Roeca) (19:15), IVF stimulation outcomes by race and ethnicity (Iris Lee) (21:09), a chat with Dr. Beth Rakowsky (30:53), assessing expansion of fertility preservation coverage (Allison Komorowski) (35:47), a discussion on uterine NK cells in reproduction (Jessica Kanter) (39:56), the potential of mitochondrial enhacement (Richard Scott) (44:15), updates in recurrent implantation failure (Paul Pirtea, Dominique De Ziegler) (49:43) and a discussion about male infertility (Luis Hoyos, Thomas Masterson) (1:00:18). View Fertility and Sterility at https://www.fertstert.org/

Episode 64: What Happened to Richard Scott Embry?https://www.14news.com/story/13715286/miller-pleads-not-guilty-in-owensboro-murder-case/https://www.14news.com/story/13497261/person-of-interest-identified-in-owensboro-murder/https://www.14news.com/story/13506397/opd-miller-has-lengthy-criminal-record/Richard Scott Embry's song “Doin Time” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzxP66XI6Ok To Become a Patreon Supporter: https://www.patreon.com/operationevilpodcastBuzzsprout Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1785489Support the show

A special today recorded live at Wayne Holloway-Smith's house. Three wonderful poets share new work many of which have never been heard before! Presenting the brilliant Will Harris, known for his brilliant book Rendang. Also, the great Richard Scott who's published with Faber his book Soho was a game changer. And finally, Lucy Mercer whose debut book Emblem is something to behold. All of these great poets here to entertain you for 15 brilliant minutes. Will Harris - https://willjharris.com/poems Richard Scott - http://richardscott.info/poetry.html Lucy Mercer - https://lucy-mercer.com/writing

It's Wednesday, September 28th, A.D. 2022. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Hong Kong Bishop on trial for pro-democracy protests A 90-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong went on trial Monday for his support of pro-democracy protests in 2019. Cardinal Joseph Zen is known for speaking out against China's Communist Party which has asserted control over Hong Kong. Police originally arrested the bishop in May. Shortly after China introduced its National Security Law for Hong Kong in 2020, Cardinal Zen said he was ready to face trial and imprisonment.  Cubans voted for faux homosexual marriage & homosexual adoption The whirlwind of sexually perverted lifestyles has been let loose on Cuba. On Sunday, Cubans voted in favor of a new family code that legalizes faux homosexual marriage as well as adoption for homosexual couples. Sixty-six percent of voters supported the referendum while 33% opposed it. Meanwhile, a different storm made landfall in Cuba this week. Hurricane Ian slammed into the island on Tuesday. The Category 3 storm caused mass evacuations, power outages, and flooding. Britain's Nat'l Health Service reluctantly allows doctor to pray On Monday, England's National Health Service agreed to a settlement with a Christian doctor facing disciplinary measures for offering to pray with his patients.  The NHS investigated Dr. Richard Scott for years based on hearsay complaints. The regulatory body even threatened to remove him from the NHS Practitioners List unless he took a nearly $2,000 “professional boundaries” course at his own expense. The recent settlement says Dr. Scott is allowed to offer to pray with his patients.   Dr. Scott told Christian Concern in a video that the next generation of doctors in England live in fear of expressing their faith. SCOTT: “We now have generation of young doctors who are so scared to open their mouth for Jesus in case the National Secular Society, the General Medical Council, NHS England or anybody else, the British Humanist Association, complains. And would rather they didn't get a complaint because it can be very stressful.” Southern Baptist denomination kicks out pro-homosexual church The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention decided to disfellowship a congregation last week over its open affirmation of homosexuality. Texas pastor Jared Wellman, who serves as the Southern Baptist Executive Committee chairman, told Baptist Press the congregation was “outside the bounds of fellowship with Southern Baptists.”  College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina was founded in 1906. Its website states it is a “Welcoming, LGBTQIA Affirming Baptist Church.”  That's quite an alphabet soup there. James 4:4 says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Two anti-abortion laws in Arizona Two anti-abortion laws took effect in Arizona last week. On Friday, a county judge reinstated an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions. The law has not been in effect since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. However, the judge reinstated the law in light of the court's reversal of Roe this year.  A second Arizona law also took effect Saturday, banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood Arizona is suspending abortions in response to the laws. Pro-life canvasser shot in back On September 20th, a short, 83-year-old pro-life Michigan woman was going door to door in Odessa Township, volunteering her time to urge voters to vote against Proposal 3, a pro-abortion constitutional amendment on the November ballot, reports Channel 8 News. Anna Visser, director of Communication and Education for Michigan Right to Life, summarized what happened when she came to the home of Richard and Sharon Harvey. VISSER: “From her account, the lady, [Sharon Harvey], that answered the door, was upset with her, started screaming at her. And then, as she was walking away, a man, [Richard Harvey], from the house whom she wasn't originally talking to, he came out, and shot her in the back as she was walking away.” The volunteer, who has chosen to remain anonymous, drove herself to the Lake Odessa Police Department and was then treated and released from the hospital. Richard Harvey claims he shot her by accident. The 83-year-old pro-lifer is a long-time volunteer and has had no complaints about how she has discussed the abortion issue at the doorstep of people's homes. According to a Michigan Right to Life press release, the out-of-control rhetoric of President Joe Biden and Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer must end with the shooting of a pro-life volunteer. Visser said, “She is recovering well and is in good spirits.” Americans confused about whether we are a Christian nation The University of Maryland's Critical Issues Poll found 70% of Americans think the U.S. Constitution would not allow the U.S. government to declare the United States a Christian nation. Sixty-two percent of Americans also oppose the United States officially declaring itself to be a Christian nation.  John Jay, the  First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their ruler, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” Not surprisingly, a majority of Republicans (at 61%) are in favor of the U.S. declaring itself a Christian nation.  Psalm 9:17, 20 says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. … Put them in fear, O LORD, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” Tennessee Governor's acknowledgement of God's sovereignty And finally, Tennessee's Republican Governor Bill Lee  signed a proclamation declaring Friday, September 30 a day of prayer, humility, and fasting. The proclamation declared, “We acknowledge God's sovereignty and the need for God's grace over our state and our nation. …. We seek forgiveness for our many transgressions so that our hearts and our minds may be renewed.  … Scripture tells us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the Lord gives wisdom freely to those who ask for it. … The people of Tennessee acknowledge our rich blessings, our deep transgressions, the complex challenges ahead, and the need to pause, to humble ourselves and to seek God's guidance for the days ahead.” Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Wednesday, September 28th, in the year of our Lord 2022. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

In this week's episode Dr Scott shares his journey to becoming a consultant clinical geneticist and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Genomics England. We delve into his passion for clinical genetics, the misconceptions and the barriers medical professionals and general public have understanding the true nature of genomics.   Richard shares his desire to harness the power of genomic technologies for the benefit of all patients in mainstream healthcare. We spend time understanding the path he took to becoming a consultant and CMO, in such a niche medical specialty. We discuss the role of Genomics England and how they are helping improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients in the NHS through their scientific research. Richard explains how pivotal their work is for the future of healthcare and why it is so important communities from across the UK become actively informed and involved.  Learn more about Richard: Dr Richard Scott is Chief Medical Officer at Genomics England, Consultant and Honorary Associate Professor in Clinical Genetics at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the UCL Institute of Child Health where his practice focuses on diagnosing children with rare multisystem disorders.  Richard trained in medicine at Cambridge University and University College London. He specialised in Paediatrics and subsequently Clinical Genetics in London and completed his PhD on childhood cancer syndromes at the Institute of Cancer Research. Twitter: @Rich_Genomics https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/ ------------------------------------- Episode sponsored by MySuture  MySuture™  is an all in one suture practice kit and digital learning platform with direct access to Surgeon advice & training. With this all in one suture practice kit and the MySkills™ digital learning platform, you can learn to suture anytime, anywhere.  The all in one suture simulation kit includes high quality silicone made of advanced nontoxic materials, with height simulation skin, 14 pre-cut wounds, 3 layers including skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle with a mesh reinforcement to provide suture retention, mimic natural anatomy and create a true to life texture.  Buy your suture kit now at: mysuture.com  MySuture Socials: Twitter | Instagram ------------------------------------- Check out our latest platform Peerr Where healthcare professionals learn from the best educators - your peers! ✍️ Make your own quizzes for revision - An invaluable learning tool

Best friend. Head coach. Husband. Red Roses lock Abbie Ward and Bristol Bears Women head coach Dave Ward have an unique sporting and personal relationship, having to combine their marriage with a working life at the Allianz Premier 15s side. On this England Rugby Podcast: O2 Inside Line, Abbie also talks about the difficult discussion she had with her dad about wanting to become a rugby player, her business plan to go to boarding school and life growing up in Cumbria.This pod will also hear contributions from her husband Dave, Abbie's father Richard Scott as well as team mates Marlie Packer and Shaunagh Brown, along with England forwards coach Louis Deacon.FOLLOW:· England Rugby Facebook· England Rugby Instagram· England Rugby Twitter· England Rugby TikTok· O2 Sports Instagram· O2 Sports Twitter SUBSCRIBE:· Subscribe to the pod here. BUY:· Get the latest kits, training and leisure wear from England Rugby StoreAUDIO CREDIT· With thanks to BT Sport for permission to use their Premiership commentary See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Richard Scott has been rocking the world of CG for more than 30 years. He began his career in graphic design, moved into 3D for broadcast and commercials, and then got involved with cutscenes for the games industry. He founded Axis Studios in 2000, and it's steadily grown to a team of 400 people working on VFX and animation for movies, TV, games, and theme parks. Richard discusses his history in CG, from Quantel paintboxes and Lightwave to modern workflows. He also talks about his involvement in the Scottish animation scene, Axis' “The Tall Grass” segment of Love, Death and Robots, and its upcoming animated feature film — which employed an animation supervisor based in Australia. April is Autism Acceptance Month, and Chaos is highlighting some of the upcoming graduates of Exceptional Minds. This week, we have Mina McCauley, who will be graduating with an emphasis in VFX. You can check out her work on Creatively.To learn more about Exceptional Minds, visit exceptional-minds.org or find them on social.

Andrew is joined with Dr. Stephen Guy-Bray who queers the Shakespeare canon, and with his scholarly expertise, explains what it means to provide a queer and homoerotic approach to Shakespeare's oeuvre. Get ready to learn why the queerness of a text is in the hands of its reader. To see more of Dr. Stephen Guy-Bray's work head here: https://english.ubc.ca/profile/stephen-guy-bray/ Follow Dr. Stephen Guy-Bray on Instagram, @stephen.guybray, and Twitter, @SGUYBRAY. You can find his book Shakespeare and Queer Representation (2020) on Routledge's site: https://www.routledge.com/Shakespeare-and-Queer-Representation/Guy-Bray/p/book/9781138389618 Become a Patreon subscriber and you'll get access to the video version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom To see more of Richie Hofmann and Richard Scott's poetry, make sure to follow them on Twitter, @RichieHof and @iamrichardscott. Follow Ivory Tower Boiler Room on Facebook, @ivorytowerboilerroom, Instagram, @ivorytowerboilerroom, TikTok, @ivorytowerboilerroom, and Twitter, @IvoryBoilerRoom! Email us at ivorytowerboilerroom@gmail.com. We love hearing from you about the podcast and are always interested in interview suggestions. Many thanks to the Ivory Tower Boiler Room podcast team: Andrew Rimby, Executive Director; Mary DiPipi, Chief Contributor; Ceren Usta, Marketing Director Podcast Interns: Nicole Arguello and Kimberly Dallas Educational Fair Use: Thanks to Ghostlight Records for "Welcome to the Renaissance" (from Something Rotten!). --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ivorytowerboilerroom/support

Some criminals don't use crowbars to rob you, they use love instead. For the women who met and fell in love with Richard Scott Smith, they thought they had finally found the man they wanted to spend the rest of their life with but what started as romance ended in a nightmare of deceit and debt. Featuring interviews with Sandi and Carla Campbell from the Showtime docu-series "Love Fraud" If you like the show, please rate and review and be sure to follow the show on social media: Instagram: @thestrangeryouknowpodcast Twitter: @tsykpod Sources: ‘It could happen to you': inside the shocking true story of the docuseries Love Fraud. By: Adrian Horton. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/25/love-fraud-showtime-documentary-con-man Con Man Richard Scott Smith. http://scottthecrooksmith.weebly.com Richard Scott Smith of Love Fraud Is Still Conning Women. By: Elena Nicolaou. https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/a33915040/richard-scott-smith-love-fraud-now/ The True Story Behind Love Fraud and Richard Scott Smith. By: Adam Rathe. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a33821604/love-fraud-richard-scott-smith-true-story/ Love Fraud. Showtime. https://www.sho.com/love-fraud How ‘Love Fraud' lothatio Scott Smith ‘scammed' women out of $1 million. By: Michael Kaplan. https://nypost.com/2020/08/29/how-love-fraud-scott-smith-scammed-women-out-of-1-million/ Love Fraud May Just Solve The Mystery of Whatever Happened to Richard Scott Smith. By: Sarah Midkiff. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/08/9960382/where-is-richard-scott-smith-now-love-fraud Emotional Piano Background Music. Migfus20. https://freesound.org/people/Migfus20/sounds/560448/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thestrangeryouknowpodcast/message

Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…a discussion with Richard Scott, one of Britain's leading naval correspondents about the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, the first of which is now leading an international task group on a historic deployment to the Indo-Pacific region. In this Week's Squawk Chris Cavas talks about the goods and bads of locking in ship designs. Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavsShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com .

At the end of all of our interviews, Steve and I always ask our guests two questions: what is something they think that needs to live and what is something that needs to die in the mining industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of these responses we have received to those questions over the years. So on this episode of Ideas That Must, we are joined by, in order, Mark Bennett, Attila Pentek, Richard Scott, Holly Bridgwater, Mark Bennett (again), Marcus Lake, Michelle Carey, Holly Bridgwater (again), Justin Strharsky and Samantha Copeland. Let's find out what they had to say.

Billy Big Time. Showtime. Action

A Tale from KoreaDedicated to  Raphaela and Gideon, Read by Richard Scott. Proofed & audio edited by Jana Elizabeth. Adapted by Bertie. There was once a striped tiger that lived among the highlands of Kang Wen in Korea. Hunters called him ‘The Mountain Uncle', but they rarely caught sight of him. He boasted to his fellow tigers that he had never been wounded by any bullet; while as for traps, he knew all about them and laughed at the tricks used by man to try and steal his wondrous skin. In summer he kept among the high hills and lived on fat deer. In winter, when heavy snow, biting winds, and terrible cold kept human beings within doors, old Mountain Uncle would slink down to the villages. There he would prowl around the stables, the cattle enclosures, or the pig-pens, in hope of catching a tasty dinner. Too often he succeeded. One day in autumn, Mountain Uncle was rambling among the lower hills. Though far from any village, he kept a sharp lookout for traps and hunters, but none seemed to be near. He was very hungry and hoped for game. As he came around a great rock, Mountain Uncle suddenly saw a big tiger like himself - or so he thought.   He stopped, twitched his tail most ferociously, growled terribly, and got ready to spring. To his surprise the other tiger did exactly the same things. Mountain Uncle was sure that there would be a terrible struggle, but of course he expected to win. But after a tremendous leap in the air, he landed in the bottom of a deep pit, bruised and disappointed. There was no tiger to be seen, but instead a heavy lid of logs had closed over his head with a crash and he lay in darkness. Old Mountain Uncle was caught at last.. Yes, the hunter had hidden the pit with sticks and leaves, vines and brushwood, and above it had hung a broken mirror to trick Old Mountain Uncle. By and by, a Buddhist priest came along, who believed in being kind to all living creatures. When he heard an animal moaning, he opened the trap and saw old Mountain Uncle at the bottom licking his bruised paw. "Oh, please, Mr. Man, let me get out. I'm hurt badly," said the tiger. The priest lifted up one of the logs and slid it down, until it rested on the bottom of the pit. Then the tiger climbed up and out. Old Mountain Uncle expressed his thanks saying to the shaven headed priest: "I am deeply grateful to you, sir, for helping me out of my trouble. Nevertheless, as I am very hungry, I must eat you up." The priest, very much surprised, protested that this was no way to thank somebody for saving his life. To say the least, it was very bad manners and entirely against the law of the mountains. The tiger swished his tail, a sure sign that he meant to eat the priest in a moment. As a last hope, the man cried out to a big tree. “Oh great oak tree. You are very wise and old. Be the judge of our quarrel.I have just saved the life of Mountain Uncle. Is it right that he should now eat me up? The tiger says he has a right to eat me because he is hungry. I say he has no right, because I have saved him.” The spirit in the tree spoke through the rustling leaves and declared that the man should go free and that the tiger was both ungrateful and besides, had extremely bad manners. Old Mountain Uncle was not satisfied yet, especially as the priest was unusually fat and would make a very good dinner. However, he allowed the man to appeal once more, this time to a big rock. The spirit of the big rock said: "The man is certainly right, honourable Mountain Uncle, and you are wholly wrong. Your master, the Mountain Spirit, will certainly punish you if you eat up this priest. You will be no fit messenger of the Mountain Lord if you are so ungrateful as to eat the man who saved you from starvation or death in the trap. It is shockingly bad manners even to think of such a thing." The tiger felt ashamed, but his eyes glared with hunger Now he proposed to make a toad the final judge. The toad, with his gold-rimmed eyes, looked very wise, and instead of answering quickly, as the tree and rock did, thought for a long time. The priest's heart sank, while the tiger licked his lips. "I must go and see the trap before I can make up my mind," said the toad, who looked as solemn as a judge. So all three leaped, bopped, or walked to the trap. The tiger, moving fast, was there first. Now while the toad and the tiger were studying the trap,the priest ran off and saved himself by reaching the monastery gates. It was only when at last the toad decided in favour of the man, that old Mountain Uncle noticed the priest was long gone. Before he could lash out in anger, the toad hopped into a crack between the rocks, and crawling far inside, defied the tiger. “Croak! You rude and ungrateful beast. Learn some manners!” he called out. Old Mountain Uncle was so mad with rage and hunger that his craftiness turned into stupidity. He clawed at the rock to pull it open to get at the toad and to tear him to pieces. But the toad, safe inside, only laughed. Unable to do any harm, the tiger flew into a passion of rage. The hotter his temper grew, the more he lost his good sense. Poking his nose inside the crack, he rubbed it hard on the rough rock until it bled. Finally he gave up, and returned to the mountains with an empty belly and a sore nose. And from that day on, he was no longer known as the Honourable Mountain Uncle, but as the tiger who had no manners. I'm delighted to dedicate this story to Raphaela ana Gideon, who support us on Patreon! They tell us they are huge Storynory fans! Thank you, Raphaela and Gideon for all your help and support! And here's Bertie with a short message for Storynory listeners. Bertie - I just thought it'd be nice to read some of the reviews left by our listeners on iTunes. These are just some of the recent ones… “It's so so good. I love the Astropup stories. They're great. Please make more!” And here's one by Issy Sage, “I love Storynory and I love to listen to it when I go to sleep. I love horses. Will you make a story about horses? Thanks.” And this one, I think she likes the story ‘Cretan Bull'. “My name is Julia. I love Storynory. I am 7 years old and I love to go out on my patio with my dad and listen to them. I hope you make more.” Well, thank you very much for all those nice reviews. Unfortunately when you go on iTunes or the Apple podcast app, this is the first review you see.. “Not bad,” by Gabreviews. Thanks Gabreviews.”Not bad I guess. The teller is pretty good. The stories are not very good. Well Richard that's pretty nice for you. Well done. But not so nice for me, the person who writes the stories. So look, this is what you, the audience could do to help us. Please go to ITunes or the Apple podcast app for us and mark some of the nice and flattering reviews as helpful. That will mean those are the reviews that people see first. Also if you can leave us your own thoughts, we would be delighted and we might even read them out. Richard - Thanks Bertie. Read for Storynory.com by me, Richard Scott. For now, goodbye.

Dedicated to Avery Jane Gaffney in New Jersey who kindly supports Storynory on Patreon. Read by Richard. Luna, by Jana. Story by Bertie. Proofed and audio edited by Jana Elizabeth. We continue the story of how our space-travelling hound, Astropup, along with the Parrot and Marlow, took a space tourist on board their ship. Luna is sixteen and wants to celebrate her birthday on the moon. She has brought her cat, Mr Muggles with her. The only thing is - Mr Muggles has run off to join the cat people. Astropup's Space Tourist - Part Two Hello, this is Richard, and this story is dedicated to Avery Jane Gaffney in New Jersey who kindly supports Storynory on Patreon. Read by Richard. Luna, by Jana. Story by Bertie. Proofed and audio edited by Jana Elizabeth.   And in the previous episode we left you on the surface of the moon as Mr. Muggles, a pet cat belonging to Luna, a space tourist, ran off chasing a mouse. Can our friends Astropup, the parrot, and Marlow help Luna find her lost kitty? “Mr. MUGGGGLESS! COME BACK THIS INSTANT!” shouted Luna. But if he was in radio range, he did not obey his owner. He was a typical cat if you ask me. They have a tendency to go wandering off. We dogs much prefer to stay at home where we know dinner is served, and besides, our dog's duty is to guard our masters. “Marlow to Astropup,” came the voice of our friend over the radio. “And Luna too. Listen up. I'm tracking Mr. Muggles. He's travelling at speed across the surface. The best chance of catching him is in the buggy. Wait where you are and I'll join up with you ASAP.” Now the buggy is a piece of kit we have not used often. It's a sort of four wheeled car designed for travelling across moon dunes and the like. Marlow drove it down the ramp of our ship. I could see he had his laser rifle propped up beside him. He wasn't taking any chances, even though the only known life forms living on the moon are mice, which are pretty harmless. Luna and I jumped in the back and Marlow pointed to a computer screen that was tracking all our positions on the moon. The missing cat had finally come to a halt about a mile away. He pointed the buggy in the right direction, and we set out. It was a bumpy ride, because the moon is not at all flat, and once or twice we nearly tipped over. When we were about 150 meters away from the blip on the screen that represented the missing cat, Marlow pulled the buggy up to a halt and said, “Let's go the rest of the way quietly on foot.” “What's wrong? Why can't we call him?” Luna asked. “We can't,” said Marlow. “I've turned off radio contact with Mr. Muggles. To be on the safe side, it's best he doesn't know we're coming after him, just in case he's not alone.” We left the buggy behind and bounced up to the edge of a big crater. Marlow peered over the edge and said softly, “Well, well, what do you know?” “Not much,” I said, and joined him at the top, looking down into the hollow. What I then saw brought out an instinctive reaction in me. The hairs on my back stood on end. “Grrrrrr!” I muttered inside my helmet. “SHSSSSSSH!” replied Marlow. “Who are they?” asked Luna who was now looking too. “Best get back down out of sight,” I said. “Those are cat-people.” “Oh cool!” exclaimed Luna. “No, no, not cool at all,” I told her. “Cat people are our enemies. They're dangerous.” “But what about my Mr. Muggles?” she asked, plaintively. “Best forget about him,” I advised. “He seems happy where he is.” Because, we had just seen Mr. Muggles at the bottom of the crater playing with some kittens of the cat-people. One of them was holding a toy mouse on a piece of elastic, and the others were trying to pounce on it. Quite frankly, he looked like he was enjoying himself, despite the cat commando who was watching over them with his gun at the ready. “Astropup's right. Let's get back out of danger.” “Noooooo, please,” sobbed Luna. “We just can't leave my baby on the moon!” Her space helmet was getting all hot and steamed up with tears. “Oh yes we can!” the parrot squawked, butting in unexpectedly. He was still on board the spaceship following our conversation over the radio. “There's nothing in the contract about rescuing stray pets from the cat people.” He was a hard-beaked business bird, and I say that as one who has never cared for cats. Luna was having none of it. She started jumping up and down, frantically waving her arms, whistling and calling out: “Mr. Muggles, it's time to go, baby! Mr. Muggles, come now, please. You're freaking me out!” “Luna get down,” urged Marlow. “No! I want my cat!” Luna said firmly. Peow Peow (laser gun sound fx) The cat commando was shooting at her. “Ahhhhhhhh,” Luna screamed. Marlow dived over to our prized customer and pulled her behind a rock. He returned a couple of shots. (Laser sound fx ) “Did you get him?” I asked. “I missed and now there's more of them. Six or so cat commandos. Get back to the buggy double quick!” I did not waste any time. I darted towards the buggy which was our only hope of escape. Marlow grabbed Luna by the hand, still screaming, and dragged her along. “No, wait…please,” she begged. “Leave me alone.. I need to rescue my cat. He'll be frightened down there!” she wailed. We reached the buggy just as the cat commandos appeared at the top of the crater and shot at us again. “Aaaarrrrrrrrooooooooo!” I howled! “The tip of my tail stung so bad... like a bucket load of bee stings!! “Aaarrrrooooooo!” I darted back and forth to get away from whatever was biting my tail but the pain followed me...like red hot needles, it was! “OoooooWWW!” Eventually I turned around and caught sight of it - my tail was smouldering. There's no smoke without fire, as the parrot always says. That's when I realised that a filthy cat commando had shot my tail with a laser gun. “Aaaaarooooo!” The worst day of my life! And all because of that traitor Mr. Muggles running off to join the cat people! This business venture thing was not worth it. No amount of money would bring back the fluffy tip of my tail. Well actually it has grown back since then but I did not know that at the time. “Come on Astropup, keep running,” called out Marlow. I knew he was giving good advice. I bounded on, with Luna closely behind. Soon we were back on board the moon buggy. In haste, Marlow pressed the turbo charge button which fired up a small rocket. That was great because a fraction of a moment later we were long gone - hurtling forward at lightning speed. Unfortunately we could not stop when we wanted to and we overshot our spaceship by about a mile and had to turn around and drive back to it. Once Luna had calmed down a little, she found the emergency first aid kit under a seat in the buggy and kindly cleaned and bandaged my wound. “There, there, Astropup. That's better, isn't it? It's just a little nick,” she tried to soothe me. “It's barely a scrape, I promise you'll be fine in no time.” “Just a nick?” I howled. “Fine in no time? Get off!” Looking back now I feel rather bad about my grumpiness. I was rude and ungrateful for her help because I was still fuming about being shot in the tail because of a cat. Once we were safely on board our spacecraft, the parrot began the countdown for the final checks before takeoff. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1…” “Hey, Hey, Hey, wait a minute! Wait a minute, Hey... Don't tell me we're leaving… are we?” asked Luna, starting to become distressed again. “Why, heck yeah!” exclaimed the parrot. “But Daddy booked three days on the moon, as a special treat for my birthday!” she pointed out. “And you can't expect me to leave without my cat?” she said indignantly. “So he did, but I don't think he paid for his little girl to be kidnapped by the cat people.” “I know, I know. But, you know, he'll want his money back,” she warned. “Unless I say you waited to see if Mr. Muggles came back.” “Naaa, he's not coming back,” I said. “He's run off to join the cat people.” I hoped never to see him again. “No, no, that's not true,” said Luna. “Every time he's gone missing for a day or two, he's always, always come back to me.” “Alright,” said the parrot. “We will wait. But if the cat people come within 300 yards of our ship, we're blasting off. It's much too close for comfort with all those laser guns going off. As for Astropup, look at him! He's almost as pale as the moon!” And that's when I realised why making your fortune in business is not as easy as it looks on paper. It's all because of the annoying law that the customer is always right. If you want to get paid you have to be a pleaser. The customer says roll over and you roll over. The customer says sit pretty, and you sit pretty. The customer says wait, and you wait. You might say that's just like a dog's life but there is an important difference. We dogs only obey our masters when we feel like it. If the fancy takes us, we just look at the boss when he issues an order and say, “Are you crazy? I'm not doing that for all the treats in China.” That's called freedom. As soon as you have a client, you give that up. And so we waited for a very long time. I thought it was at least a month. It takes about 28 days for the moon to orbit the Earth and that's what it seemed like to me. Afterwards the parrot told me that it had only been about one and a half days, but it felt much longer because it was so nerve wracking. All that time I was only half asleep, listening with one ear for the cat alarm. Eventually it went off. I woofed and the parrot flew to his computer screen. “Well, now look who it is?” he said. “The cat people?” I barked. “Fire to the rockets! Head for the stars!” “No need for that just yet,” said Marlow. “It's Mr. Muggles. He slipped through the force field we set up at 300 yards from the ship.” “Yay!” exclaimed Luna excitedly. “My little baby came back. I told you he would, didn't I? Aw Mr. Muggles, my Mugglies-wugglies.” Meeeow! Marlow and I went through the airlock and looked out for cat people while Mr. Muggles sauntered back. Luna prepared a tube of milk for him, because you can't drink from a saucer in low gravity, and when he jumped back into the control room she caught him in her arms and hugged him tight. “Ooh, my baby.. I knew you'd come back to me, my darling. You gave me such a fright! Please don't ever run off like that again!” she cooed pathetically. It beats me why some people love cats but it is a fact that they do. It took all my might ‘and a half' to refrain from ripping that exotic mog from stem to stern! He almost got me blown away, he did. “What made you come back?” asked the parrot. “Oh, I got bored with the cat people. They're too serious. All they think about is becoming masters of the universe. I'm not interested in all that politics,” he said. “Let's get on with the important stuff,” said Marlow. “One, two, three …” “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday dear Luna, Happy birthday to you!” “Ah that's so sweet, thank you everyone,” said Luna delightedly. “This is embarrassing,” I said. “We should have bought a cake but we didn't know where to find one in outer space.” “Oh don't worry about that, Astropup,” said Luna, “It's really been the best birthday ever. I got to go to the Moon! Thanks so much for looking after me and I'm so grateful that you waited for Mr. Muggles to come back. I do hope your tail gets better soon!” And then she kissed my face and scratched my belly, which is my favourite thing, but nobody's done it for ages. It made me think of my Jenny back on earth. We safely returned Luna and her Mr. Muggles to a space taxi that took them back to earth and her billionaire daddy. And I'm glad to say that all the money was paid into the ‘Interplanetary Bank of Birds'. And so we had successfully completed our first business venture. And now it was time for us all to take our annual holidays. And I'm delighted to dedicate this story to Avery Jane Gaffney who supports Storynory On Patreon. Avery thanks so much for your generosity. We know you like mysterious stories about cats - we hope this one was mysterious enough for you! Come back soon, to Storynory.com. For now, from me, Richard Scott, goodbye!

Astropup in ‘Gone with the Wind'.  Dedicated to the Alrashed kids. Hello, Astropup here. In the previous episode of my adventures, the parrot and I had pinched a rose from the Planet of the Holy Cows.  We had managed to return to the spaceship and blast off. This episode will also go with a blast.    My tail was wagging because I like us all being one happy family. Polly and the parrot were nuzzled up all cosy, and even the rose seemed to be smiling. It was in the end, just a rose, but had a kind of happy glow to it. I wondered how long it would last, and whether Polly would still be happy when it began to get dry and withered.    Polly kept glancing at the red rose that stood in a plastic beaker of water fixed to her perch.    “Well done,” I said to the parrot. You plucked the rose.”   “Well done Astropup,” replied the parrot with rare praise. “I could not have sneaked in and plucked the rose without you luring the bull guards off into the woods.”   “Those cows must have loved that rose to guard it so carefully,” I said.    “Yes, they think it's sacred,” said the parrot.    Well you should have seen the look on Marlow's face when he heard the word ‘sacred'.   “It's never wise to steal something ‘sacred',” Marlow muttered under his breath. Fear smells you know, and I can sense when he's afraid. I saw him quietly close the airlocks and get the ship ready for blast off. Soon we were lifting up into the air, and Marlow did not relax until we had left the planet's atmosphere and were once again coursing through space in the direction of the wormhole that had brought us to this corner of the universe.     Now I have been through a number of wormholes in space, and I can tell you that they differ greatly. Some are itsy-bitsy small, and others have expanded into great gaping tunnels. This particular wormhole was about big enough to allow a modest spaceship the size of ours to pass another spaceship of similar size coming the other way. And one great big enormous spaceship could easily block it.    Unfortunately, that was what had happened. As we were approaching the hole, Marlow said, “Hey guys, there seems to be something stuck in the mouth of the tunnel.”   “Like what?” asked the parrot.    “Well come and take a look,” said Marlow.    The parrot fluttered over to where he could see Marlow's computer screen.    “Oh,” he said. “That was quick. It must have overtaken us.”   “What must have overtaken us?” asked Marlow.    “The bull battleship from the planet of the Holy Cows.”   “Oh,” said Marlow. “That would explain why it has those two big horns on the top.”   We continued to glide towards the hole and the bull battleship. Both Marlow and the parrot just stared at the screen, mesmerised it seemed, but not knowing what to do. The silence was quite eerie - enough to make you go barking mad. I am very sensitive you know, and I feel danger coming. I could hold back no more.    “Arooooooooooooh!”   My cry of anguish was responded to by a sound 10, no 100, no 1000 times louder. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”   At the time, that was the scariest sound I have ever heard in my entire career in space. But moments later it was surpassed by an even more terrifying sound.  “THWWWWWWWWWARP!”     And moments later we were struck by an invisible missile that jolted our spaceship into reverse. Polly fell off her perch and started to flap her wings around the cockpit. “How rude!” she exclaimed. “No manners at all.”   “WWWWHAT in the Universe was that?” I asked, bewildered.   “That was a giant cow fart!” replied the parrot.   And:    “THWWWWWWWWWARP!”   Another ginormous bolt of wind slammed into our ship, propelling us back in the direction of where we had come from the Planet of the Holy Cows.    “Why?” I whined. “Why are they doing this?”   “We've got something they want!” called out Marlow.    “Hey! They're not after my dog biscuits are they?”   “Of course they're not interested in your chew-chews!” squawked the parrot. It's a flower they seek.”   And then he turned to his beloved with passion in his beady eyes and spoke as follows:   “Yes, Polly, you are smart and can see what has happened. I confess, I plucked a sacred rose for your sake. This rose has flowered for 10,000 years. An entire planet of Holy Cows has watered it, revered it, and worshiped it. I risked the wrath of these ferocious bulls for you, Polly, my love, because you are the object of all my love and affection, and the least I can do is to present you with a single red rose.”   “You did that?” asked Polly. “For me?”   “Yes, I did,” affirmed the parrot. “For you.” I was not quite sure if he was proud or ashamed of his deed. But Polly was in no doubt about what she thought on the matter.    “CORRRRR!  What a loser!” she exclaimed. “You have to go stealing other people's flowers to try and impress a girl, and in the process, you get us all into danger. Well leave it up to me to sort out this mess, because I'm going to give that flower back to its rightful owners.”   And taking the sacred rose in her beak, she pushed herself off the side off the window and propelled herself towards the emergency escape shoots.    “No Polly!” cried the parrot.    But she was quick. She flew straight into one of the three escape capsules, and bashed the red button with her beak. It shot her straight out of the front of our spaceship and sent her hurtling towards the giant bull battleship. On the monitor we saw how the bull battleship opened its giant mouth and swallowed the capsule containing Polly and the sacred rose into its belly.    “She, she's gone!” stuttered the parrot. I have never seen him look so shattered. His bright yellow plumes had turned perfectly pale.   The bull battleship blasted off with the terrifying roar of another giant cow emission.      “We must follow them!” said the parrot.    “Sorry, Mr Parrot, Sir,” said Marlow. “No can do. They've let us off this time, but it would surely be certain death for us to return to the Planet of the Holy Cows. They won't take too kindly to a bunch of aliens who stole their sacred rose.”   “But what about Polly?” asked the parrot.    “Well she returned the rose to them. I think they'll be pleased with her.”   And so with Marlow at the helm, we resumed our path back towards the wormhole and our homeward journey.    But that was not the last we heard of Polly. The parrot was still in touch with her via the intergalactic dating site. He sent her a message asking, “How are you my love?”   And he received this reply:   “I am very well, no thanks to you and your thieving ways. The Holy Cows are eternally grateful for me for returning the sacred rose. I have grafted the flower that you sacrilegiously picked back onto the stem that you left behind, and it is now blooming as before. In their gratitude for my service, the Holy Cows have given me the honorary title of Priestess Polly. I have grown very fond of this pleasant planet, and have decided to make it my home. I have plans to open a luxury bird spa, and invite weary birds from all over the galaxy to stay and recuperate. I have always wanted to be a business bird, and now my dream is coming true. Farewell my parrot. Thanks for rescuing me from the Lizards. Have a nice life.”   While the parrot read this message to us, he puffed out his chest. I thought he was trying to look brave. He contemplated for a moment before concluding:    “You know, two birds of a feather aren't always meant to be together.”   “That's clever,” I said, “because it rhymes. Are you now a poet?”   “Naaaa,” squawked our friend. “For the time being, I'm going to stick to astrophysics, philosophy, and languages. I shall leave the romantic stuff to love birds.”   And so we resumed our journey, the three of us, as before. And to be honest, neither Marlow nor I was entirely sad to have parted ways with Polly.     And I'm delighted to dedicate this story to the Alrashed kids who support us on Patreon. Thank you so much for your kind generosity. We really appreciate you helping us to give stories to the world. For now, from me, Richard Scott, goodbye. 

‘Astropup and the Sacred Rose'   Dedicated to Teddy and Ernest Wallace in Australia   Read by Richard Scott. Story by Bertie. Proofed and audio edited by Jana Elizabeth. Hello, This is Astropup,   In a previous episode, I told you how my friend, the parrot, dated Polly from the Planet of the Lizards. They met over the intergalactic net. Not that Polly was a lizard herself. She was a parrot who was being held captive by a family of lizards. The parrot rescued her from her gilded cage, and we escaped back into space. So now there were four of us on board our ship. The parrot was totally smitten by Polly, and he was busy making wedding plans, but it turned out that she was resistant to his charms. In fact, the ‘Love Match Made in Space' was not working out well at all.    The parrot did all he could to charm and amuse Polly. He called her “My dear hen-friend.” He preened her plumage. He even offered to play Japanese Scrabble with her, but she picked up one of the game pieces in her claw and shook her beak.    “Perhaps you could tell me a story?” she suggested. I woofed my support for this excellent idea because, when I am not sleeping, I myself wile away the endless space journeys by composing my memoirs, which you are now hearing.     The parrot took up her suggestion, and spent three days (measured in Earth time) recounting how he became president of the World. His angle was slightly different from my version of the story. According to him, his term as President was a huge success. I'm not sure how much of the tale Polly heard, because she had her head on one side and her eyes closed, but he didn't seem to notice that she was dozing.   At the end of his story, when he had described how the people of the world begged him to take a job as emperor for life, he refused the crown three times - an episode that I must have missed. He asked her. “Would you like to hear another chapter of my remarkable biography?”   “No thanks,” she said. “I almost died of boredom listening to the one you just told.”   “Hmm,” he said. “I shall try a different literary form. He took a pencil in his beak and contemplated. After some time - at least two of my sleeps - he had composed a poem.    “Polly my love, you are, you are, Brighter than a shooting star.  A blaze of multicoloured perfection Sweeter than the fruitiest confection.  But you play harder for me to get  Than the hardest shelled puzzle yet.  More mysterious than the most cryptic crossword clue. What a brilliant find, for a genius mind, are you!”   While he was reciting his little heart out, Polly pretended not to be paying much attention, but I do believe that she was pleased with the parrot's poem, and flattered, because for several hours she laid off complaining. But when he asked her if she would like to play 3d chess, she replied,   “It is plain that you do not understand me, or female birds in general.”   After this rebuff, our parrot seemed to lose hope. He spent long periods lost in thought. “Are you sulking?” asked Polly. At first, our parrot appeared not to hear the question, until she squawked it again, only louder - and right in his ear. “I said, are you sulking?”   “Why on earth would you think that my dear?” replied the parrot, shaking his head.     “Because, you have been silent for a full ten minutes. A first in my experience.”   “I was wondering,” said the parrot, “what I could do that would please you?”   “Well,” said Polly. “A genius level brain shouldn't have trouble figuring it out, but I shall help you. I like flowers. In particular, I like roses, red ones.”   “But we are in the middle of space!” protested the parrot. “There are no roses here.”   “All I want is a single red rose. Is that too much to ask? Are my tastes extravagant? Are you calling me unreasonable?” fired back Polly.    “No, no, no, of course not, I would never mean to imply any such thing, my dear. Oh look.” he was examining the space charts. “There's a planet with a rose on it, and it's only a million light years out of our way.”   “You see, what you can find if you only look,” said Polly.   At this point Marlow put in a word, “Ah, hum, I think I should point out, Polly, because my friend the parrot is a little shy to explain this, that a million light years would take us 50 million years to travel, which is quite a detour.”   “But a second in the eternity of love!” she replied.    “Ah-Ha!” exclaimed the parrot. “Never fear, Polly my dear!”   “I don't fear,” replied Polly, but the parrot took no notice.   “It just so happens that in precisely 13 hours and 4 minutes time, we will be passing the entrance to a wormhole that leads directly to the planet where there is a rose ready and waiting to be plucked. We'll be there in no time!”   There was no holding back the parrot on his Mission of Love.  We entered the wormhole in space, which is a direct but uncomfortable way to travel, as gravity goes up and down and all over the place, and we're thrown about a fair bit. I was sick and the parrot nearly puked on Polly, but fortunately missed his beloved, or she might have had even more to say than usual.    At the end of the wormhole, we travelled onward for a few more Earth hours until our destination came into sight - a beautiful green and pink orb!    “By the way,” said Marlow, “what's this place called?”   “The Planet of the Holy Cows,” said the parrot.    “Well, Holy… !” exclaimed Marlow. “What a peculiar name! I hope they have nice flowers there..”   The parrot merely said, “I shall be back shortly with a rose for my dear Polly.”   “Hang on,” said Marlow. “You can't go wandering around a strange planet on your own. You'd better take Astropup with you.”    “Yes sir!” I replied. “I shall guard our comrade, the parrot with my life.” On this occasion, he seemed quite touched by my dogged loyalty.    As soon as I set my paws down on the grass, I was glad that I had volunteered for this mission. The air was damp and fresh with a hint of wild rabbit or something similar on the breeze. What a delight! This was a heavenly place, with fields, and hedges, hills, clumps of bushes, pink-tinted streams, and trees full of blossom, and we could hear the twittering of bird song - although the parrot was too focused on his mission to notice his fellow creatures. He looked at the compass strapped to his foot. It was pointing up the hill. He fluttered and I trotted on upwards.     We began to come across cattle nibbling on the grass - black and white cows, swishing their tails. They must have been the Holy Cows.     “Who owns them? Who milks them?” I asked.      “They are entirely independent,” replied the parrot. “And they only make milk when they need it for their calves.”   We carried on climbing up the hill. Eventually the parrot said,     “The next field is where the rose grows. I have come to fetch a rose for my love that is unique and special, which is why it is guarded by three bulls with golden horns.”   I did not like the sound of that, and I soon saw the animals he was talking about. And unfortunately, they saw me. These bulls were the size of Earth Elephants and stood on hind legs wearing helmets with their golden horns sticking out. They were carrying nasty looking weapons that were something like a cross between a gun and a baton. As we approached, two of them began to stamp and snort at me. They did not seem to notice the parrot who sneakily fluttered overhead.     “Uh oh,” I thought. “These are the biggest, scariest animals I've ever seen, and that includes the space sharks.” For a moment I froze and pointed my nose towards them. Then they charged, and I turned and ran with my tail between my legs as fast as I could, heading for a clump of trees which was the only cover I could see.     Normally we dogs chase cats, squirrels and the like up trees, and all we can do is jump and woof at the trunk. I don't suppose you have ever seen a dog actually climb a tree, because normally we can't. But in this instance, the only case I know about in the whole of canine history, I, a dog, shot straight up that tree. I was that scared! I just ran at it, and up I pounced like a cat. Soon I was hugging a branch for dear life as one of the bulls head butted the tree. The whole ground shook and the tree leant backwards and creaked. Whoo! I fell to the ground. Seeing as I am not actually a cat, clinging to branches is not my thing. I fell out of the tree and landed in a thick hedge. I was stunned for a moment, and ‘came too' soon enough to scramble into the thicket. My fur was full of  thorns and twigs, but I kept going deeper and deeper into the undergrowth. I could hear the bulls snorting, but ever more far away. It seemed they had no desire to trample through the trees.   I hid deep in that thicket, trembling until darkness fell. It was a small planet with short days and I did not have too long to wait. Finally I crept out and made my way downhill towards the place where we had parked the space ship, half expecting to find that it had lifted off, leaving a shallow crater where it had stood. But my loyal friends had waited for my return. I was overjoyed to greet them; yapping, jumping up and licking Marlow's face and nuzzling the parrot. For the first time, I saw that even Polly was happy.   And that's where we leave Astropup, the Parrot, Polly and Marlow for now.   And we're delighted to dedicate this story to Teddy and his younger brother, Ernest who live on the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia. They listened to our stories recently on an 8 hour road trip. Teddy is going halves with his mum, Adele, to support us on Patreon, which is a very generous use of his pocket money. Thank you Teddy, we really appreciate your support! For now, from me Richard, Goodbye!   Astropup in ‘Gone with the Wind'.  Dedicated to the Alrashed kids. Hello, Astropup here. In the previous episode of my adventures, the Parrot and I had pinched a rose from the Planet of the Holy Cows.  We had managed to return to the spaceship and blast off. This episode will also go with a blast.    My tail was wagging because I like us all being one happy family. Polly and the parrot were nuzzled up all cosy, and even the rose seemed to be smiling. It was in the end, just a rose, but had a kind of happy glow to it. I wondered how long it would last, and whether Polly would still be happy when it began to get dry and withered.    Polly kept glancing at the red rose that stood in a plastic beaker of water  fixed to her perch.    “Well done,” I said to the parrot. You plucked the rose.”   “Well done Astropup,” replied the parrot with rare praise. “I could not have sneaked in and plucked the rose without you luring the bull guards  off into the woods.”   “Those cows must have loved that rose to guard it so carefully,” I said.    “Yes, they think it's sacred,” said the parrot.    Well you should have seen the look on Marlow's face when he heard the word ‘sacred'.   “It's never wise to steal something ‘sacred',” Marlow muttered under his breath. Fear smells you know, and I can sense when he's afraid. I saw him quietly close the airlock and get the ship ready for blast off. Soon we were lifting up into the air, and Marlow did not relax until we had left the planet's atmosphere and were once again coursing through space in the direction of the wormhole that had brought us to this corner of the universe.     Now I have been through a number of wormholes in space, and I can tell you that they differ greatly. Some are itsy-bitsy small, and others have expanded into great gaping tunnels. This particular wormhole was just about big enough to allow a modest spaceship the size of ours to pass another spaceship of similar size coming the other way. And one great big enormous spaceship could easily block it.    Unfortunately, that was what had happened. As we were approaching the hole, Marlow said, “Hey guys, there seems to be something stuck in the mouth of the tunnel.”   “Like what?” asked the parrot.    “Well come and take a look,” said Marlow.    The parrot fluttered over to where he could see Marlow's computer screen.    “Oh,” he said. “That was quick. It must have overtaken us.”   “What must have overtaken us?” asked Marlow.    “The bull battleship from the planet of the Holy Cows.”   “Oh,” said Marlow. “That would explain why it has those two big horns on the top.”   We continued to glide towards the hole and the bull battleship. Both Marlow and the parrot just stared at the screen, mesmerised it seemed, but not knowing what to do. The silence was quite eerie - enough to make you go barking mad. I am very sensitive you know, and I feel danger coming. I could hold back no more.    “Arooooooooooooh!”   My cry of anguish was responded to by a sound 10, no 100, no 1000 times louder. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”   At the time, that was the scariest sound I have ever heard in my entire career in space. But moments later it was surpassed by an even more terrifying sound.  “THWWWWWWWWWARP!”     And moments later we were struck by an invisible missile that jolted our spaceship into reverse. Polly fell off her perch and started to flap her wings around the cockpit. “How rude!” she exclaimed. “No manners at all.”   “WWWWHAT in the Universe was that?” I asked, bewildered.   “That was a giant cow fart!” replied the parrot.   And:    “THWWWWWWWWWARP!”   Another ginormous bolt of wind slammed into our ship, propelling us back in the direction of where we had come from the Planet of the Holy Cows.    “Why?” I whined. “Why are they doing this?”   “We've got something they want!” called out Marlow.    “Hey! They're not after my dog biscuits are they?”   “Of course they're not interested in your chew-chews!” squawked the parrot. It's a flower they seek.”   And then he turned to his beloved with passion in his beady eyes and spoke as follows:   “Yes, Polly, you are smart and can see what has happened. I confess, I plucked a sacred rose for your sake. This rose has flowered for 10,000 years. An entire planet of Holy Cows has watered it, revered it, and worshiped it. I risked the wrath of these ferocious bulls for you, Polly, my love, because you are the object of all my love and affection, and the least I can do is to present you with a single red rose.”   “You did that?” asked Polly. “For me?”   “Yes, I did,” affirmed the parrot. “For you.” I was not quite sure if he was proud or ashamed of his deed. But Polly was in no doubt about what she thought on the matter.    “CORRRRR!  What a loser!” she exclaimed. “You have to go stealing other people's flowers to try and impress a girl, and in the process, you get us all into danger. Well leave it up to me to sort out this mess, because I'm going to give that flower back to its rightful owners.”   And taking the sacred rose in her beak, she pushed herself off the side off the window and propelled herself towards the emergency escape shoots.    “No Polly!” cried the parrot.    But she was quick. She flew straight into one of the three escape capsules, and bashed the red button with her beak. It shot her straight out of the front of our spaceship and sent her hurtling towards the giant bull battleship. On the monitor we saw how the bull battleship opened its giant mouth and swallowed the capsule containing Polly and the sacred rose into its belly.    “She, she's gone!” stuttered the parrot. I have never seen him look so shattered. His bright yellow plumes had turned perfectly pale.   The bull battleship blasted off with the terrifying roar of another giant cow emission.      “We must follow them!” said the parrot.    “Sorry, Mr Parrot, Sir,” said Marlow. “No can do. They've let us off this time, but it would surely be certain death for us to return to the Planet of the Holy Cows. They won't take too kindly to a bunch of aliens who stole their sacred rose.”   “But what about Polly?” asked the parrot.    “Well she returned the rose to them. I think they'll be pleased with her.”   And so with Marlow at the helm, we resumed our path back towards the wormhole and our homeward journey.    But that was not the last we heard of Polly. The parrot was still in touch with her via the intergalactic dating site. He sent her a message asking, “How are you my love?”   And he received this reply:   “I am very well, no thanks to you and your thieving ways. The Holy Cows are eternally grateful to me for returning the sacred rose. I have grafted the flower that you sacrilegiously picked back onto the stem that you left behind, and it is now blooming as before. In their gratitude for my service, the Holy Cows have given me the honorary title of Priestess Polly. I have grown very fond of this pleasant planet, and have decided to make it my home. I have plans to open a luxury bird spa, and invite weary birds from all over the galaxy to stay and recuperate. I have always wanted to be a business bird, and now my dream is coming true. Farewell my parrot. Thanks for rescuing me from the Lizards. Have a nice life.”   While the parrot read this message to us, he puffed out his chest. I thought he was trying to look brave. He contemplated for a moment before concluding:    “You know, two birds of a feather aren't always meant to be together.”   “That's clever,” I said, “because it rhymes. Are you now a poet?”   “Naaaa,” squawked our friend. “For the time being, I'm going to stick to astrophysics, philosophy, and languages. I shall leave romantic stuff to love birds.”   And so we resumed our journey, the three of us, as before. And to be honest, neither Marlow nor I was entirely sad to have parted ways with Polly.     And I'm delighted to dedicate this story to the Alrashed kids who support us on Patreon. Thank you so much for your kind generosity,  we really appreciate you helping us to give stories to the world. For now And that was ‘Astropup and the Sacred Rose', read by me, Richard Scott.  And we are delighted to dedicate this story to Teddy and his younger brother, Ernest who lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia. They listened to our stories recently on an 8 hour road trip. Teddy is going halves with his mum, Adele, to support us on Patreon, which is a very generous use of his pocket money. Thank you Teddy, we really appreciate your support! For now, from me Richard, Goodbye!

  Wicked Uncle and the Trolley Rage Dedicated to Naomi, and her family from Monterey, California, USA.   Written by Bertie. Read by Richard Scott. Mrs.Wilson read by Jana. Proofed, edited & inspired by Jana Elizabeth.   Mum was at the supermarket looking for vegan Haggis. Now why was she searching for such a thing?  A question you might well ask. Well it was Dad's birthday. And Dad is a quarter Scottish. And with each passing year, he grows more proud and sentimental about the part of him that is Scottish, and increasingly forgetful that he is actually three quarters English.  This year he wanted to celebrate his birthday by eating Haggis, which is the national dish of Scotland, and by tradition is made out of sheep's innards, minced with onion, porridge and suet, and cooked inside the sheep's stomach. It's a recipe that the kids, Jeremy and Jemima, described as “EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWYUK!” Although many people say that Haggis is delicious.   Earlier in the year, on the 25th of January, when all true Scotts celebrate the birthday of their national poet, Robert Burns, by eating Haggis, Jemima decided to become vegan. She swore an oath in front of the family, never again to have meat, milk, nor eggs and she was especially solemn about not eating Haggis.   “This is a dark day,” declared Dad. “Our daughter has turned out to be a terrible disappointment to me in my middle age.”   “Oh don't be silly Nigel,” said Mum. “She has a perfect right not to eat meat if she doesn't want to. And besides, the supermarket sells vegan Haggis. Jessica told me that it's truly scrumptious.”   As it turned out, when they tried the vegan Haggis that evening, even Dad agreed that it wasn't half bad. And when it came to his birthday, he was keen to have it again.   So now you know why Liz - or Mum, as we usually call her, was pushing her trolley down the aisle hunting for vegan Haggis. “I hope they still sell it,” she said to herself, because it was not in the place where she remembered finding it last time. Then her long-sighted vision fell upon a sign that read: “Special offer: Half Price Vegan Haggis.” “Ooh yes!” Mum cried out loud, and hurried towards the sign. She could spy just one vegan Haggis lying at the bottom of the refrigerator. But just as she was swooping in on her prey, another trolley came hurtling towards her from the other direction, vigorously propelled by a demon-eyed lady who seemed oddly familiar.   Mum quickened her step and reached the refrigerator seconds ahead of her rival. Just as her fingers were gripping the packaging, she felt a judder as the demonic lady with the rage rammed her trolley. “Ouch!” Mum winced, as a metal corner jolted into her thigh.   “Hands off that Haggis!” commanded the other lady. “Why? I was here first,” retorted Mum. “And don't you know you shoved your trolley into my leg? I expect I'll have an ugly bruise tomorrow.” The demon lady made a grab for the Haggis. “Oh no you don't!” shouted Mum. Her reflex was faster and scooped it out of the lady's reach just in time. “It's mine!” insisted the other lady. “I need it for my son. He's vegan you know?” “Well so is my daughter,” said Mum. “Besides, there are lots of lovely things here to choose from - vegan cheese, vegan sausages, vegan chicken.” “Disgusting the lot of them!” remarked the lady with a face that demonstrated her feeling. “Only the Haggis will do. My husband's from Aberdeen. Now hand it over!” “Shan't,” said Mum. “I'll call the manager.  There'll be video footage you know.”   “Yes, and it will show you ramming my thigh with your trolley!” “It will show you stealing my Haggis.” At this point Mum let out a little laugh. “Oh come on. This charade is ridiculous. And don't I know you from somewhere?” “You should do. I am Mrs. Wilson, the new Chair of  the Parent Teachers' Association at School. And if you don't hand over that Haggis, I'll have you blacklisted from the association.” “Great. That will save me plenty of time and money. I made 350 cupcakes for your last sale.” Mrs. Wilson drew herself up for her parting words: “You haven't heard the last of this!” And marched off in the direction of the vegan cheese counter. That evening, the vegan Haggis tasted especially delicious. Mum told the story about Mrs. Wilson's trolley rage and Dad said that Mum was a warrior worthy of the clans. But suppertime the following evening was not such a great success. Mum, who is an excellent cook, made vegetarian bolognese which was perfectly delicious, but Jemima was not hungry and did not want to eat so much as a fork-full. “What's wrong?” asked her mother. “Go on, you can tell me anything?” “It was horrible at school today,” said Jemima. “Archie Wilson is claiming that you ruined his birthday because you stole his vegan Haggis.” “Stole it?” exclaimed Mum. “That's the most outrageous accusation I've ever heard!” “He says you swiped it out of his mum's shopping bag just as she was loading the car.” “What? I did no such thing!” “He says Mrs. Wilson has called the police about it.” “Humph, she's bluffing,” said Mum.   “But just then the doorbell rang. Jeremy went to answer it and called out, “Mum it's for you. The fuzz are here.” And so poor Mum spent the next half hour giving her account of the trolley incident to the police. “I've got an awful bruise,” Mum told them. “I would show it to you, but it's on my thigh. Isn't there any video footage? That will prove what happened right away.” “Unfortunately,” said PC Jill Windmill, “the camera was stolen the day before the incident.” “Aren't people awful these days,” commented Mum. “Yes they'll nick anything, even a Haggis,” smirked the police officer. “You don't believe this silly story, do you?” asked Mum. “Well it's your word against hers,” the officer said reassuringly, before adding, “but I'll send my report over to the Criminal Investigation Department. Our sergeant over there is Scottish. He might have his own perspective on the case. By the way, what was the value of this Haggis, roughly speaking?” “About £3.75,” said Mum with a sigh, wondering if there weren't any burglaries that needed investigating. The trolley incident just would not go away. All week at school, Jemima had to put up with comments like, “Watch out, there's a thief about,” and “Don't leave your phone on the table when she's around,” and “She comes from a criminal family you know,” and “She says she's Scottish, but she's really from Kent.” Things came to a head when Archie Wilson pushed Jemima over in the playing field. Jeremy  rushed to his sister's aid, and planted his fist on Archie's nose. Everyone involved was sent to see the headteacher, who told them that the school had a “zero tolerance policy on bullying,” and suspended Jeremy for two weeks. The headteacher then called Mrs. Wilson to apologise profusely on the part of the school for the cut on her son's nose. While Jeremy was off school, Uncle Jeff came over for dinner one evening. He congratulated Jeremy for punching Archie Wilson on the nose and high-fived him, though Mum tutted and said there was never any need to resort to violence. She cooked vegan shepherd's pie, and the talk of the evening was what they should do about the endless conflict with Mrs. Wilson. “I'll tell you what,” said Uncle Jeff, “leave it to me. I'll meet her for coffee and negotiate a peace settlement.” Jeff emailed Mrs. Wilson, explaining that he was Liz's brother-in-law, and suggesting that they meet at StarBottom's CoffeeShop for a chat about how to clear up some recent misunderstandings. Mrs. Wilson replied positively, but changed the venue to her home at 11 am the following Tuesday. The Wilsons lived in a large town house with columns holding up the front portico. An expensive German car was parked in the driveway. Jeff rang the doorbell. He was clutching a peace offering, an extra large Haggis from a famous gastronomic shop in London. It was said to be the Prince of Haggises, and it was not cheap.   When the door opened, Jeff smiled broadly and said, “Good morning Mrs. Wilson, I am Jeff  Brown.” “And I am the maid,” said the lady in front of him. “Mrs. Wilson is expecting you in the drawing room.” Jeff strode into the drawing room, and greeted the actual Mrs. Wilson. She shook his hand without getting up from her chair, and gestured for him to take a seat on the other side of the fireplace. “But first, let me give you this little present,” said Jeff, handing over the Haggis. “It is of course very kind of you,” said Mrs. Wilson, examining the label, “but I'm afraid that you must take it back with you. You see, we recently followed my son's example and became a vegan household.”   “Oh silly me!” exclaimed Jeff. “I quite forgot. It was a vegan Haggis that started this little contretemps.” “Er no, I wouldn't call the theft of a Haggis a little contretemps, no,” responded Mrs. Wilson.   Jeff sat down in his chair. He could feel that the meeting was not flowing quite as he had planned. “Yes, well, this is the misunderstanding that I was hoping to clear up. My sister-in-law would not steal anything; let alone a Haggis.” “If you sincerely believe that,” declared Mrs. Wilson, “then I'm afraid that you do not know your sister-in-law as well as I do.” “You only met her once, as far as I know!” exclaimed Jeff. “Yes, but I summed her up right away. And my good judgement was confirmed soon after, when her out-of-control children mugged my son Archie in the school playground.” “Mugged?”asked Jeff. He wanted to say, “But that's ridiculous,” but he knew that accusation would not help his diplomatic efforts. “Yes, mugged,” said Mrs Wilson. “My son was mugged by Haggis thieving hooligans.” Jeff heaved a sigh. “Is there anyway we can patch this up between our families?” “I say nothing against your side of the family,” said Mrs. Wilson, “but I'm afraid that your brother has married into a bad lot.” At this point Jeff had so suppress a laugh. His sister-in-law, Liz, was one of the most harmless people he knew. She was anything but, ‘a bad lot'. “Well,” said Jeff. “Thank you for inviting me round. If you would like another chat, you have my email address.” “My secretary has it,” corrected Mrs. Wilson. “Yes, indeed,” said Jeff. Uncle Jeff did not like to admit failure but on this occasion he had to report back to the family that he had not budged the formidable Mrs. Wilson. Mum said, “Oh well, I won't be making cupcakes for the PTA again.”  But when the round-robin email came round asking for contributions, she thought, “I don't want to appear petty or small minded. I should keep the high-ground and not let Mrs. Wilson bring me down to her level.” Her signature cupcake had swirl of buttercream and a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands on top. She spent the entire weekend in the kitchen baking 150 of them, which Jeremy and Jemima delivered to the school early on Monday morning. At going-home time, Liz's cupcakes sold like hotcakes - or so it seemed, because Jeremy and Jemima noticed that they were all gone within 15 minutes. “It's very odd,” said Jemima. “I didn't see more than about two dozen of Mum's cupcakes out on sale.”   “Perhaps Mrs. Wilson scoffed them,” said Jeremy. He was joking of course. But as it turned out, he was not so very far wrong. Two days later, Uncle Jeff arrived at the house. Mum answered and her brother-in-law had a big smile on his face. “You look pleased with yourself,” she said. “Well that's because I am,” he replied. “And I've brought a little something to help us celebrate. He handed over a bottle of vintage Champagne. “That's very generous,” said Mum. “Don't thank me, thank Mrs. Wilson.” said Jeff. “Let me come inside. I'll show you something you will find interesting. And call the kids. I want them to see this.” When the family had gathered, Jeff took out his oversized mobile phone and showed everyone some pictures. “What do you think those are?” he asked. “They're Mum's cupcakes,” answered Jeremy. “Exactly, I would know them anywhere. Only I found these pictures on the social media pages of Mrs. Wilson, where she was showing off the fancy birthday party for her darling little daughter. It turns out that the catering included 100 scrumptious little cupcakes, and judging by these pictures of kids with crumbs and cream all over their faces, they were enjoyed by all.” “The cheek!” exclaimed Mum. “I baked those for the Parent Teacher Association!” “A very good point,” said Jeff. “And when I brought that home to Mrs. Wilson, she of course denied everything, but all the same, asked if I would pass this fine bottle of bubbly on to you with her compliments.” “Well that's a turn-around,” said Mum. “Hey Mum!” exclaimed Jeremy. “Don't you think Sherlock Holmes would be envious of our Uncle Jeff?” “I think he would, but Holmes and Watson did not have the benefit of the internet in their day. Well after that fine piece of sleuthing, Jeff, you'll have to stay for dinner. We're having vegan Haggis.” “I think that will go rather well with Champagne,” said Jeff. “Where did you get the Haggis? I hope you didn't steal if from Mrs. Wilson?” “No,” said Mum. “I could not risk another incident of trolley rage. This time I made it myself. It has Black Kidney Beans, Carrot, Swede, Mushrooms, Red Split Lentils, Onions, Pumpkin and  Sunflower Seeds, Salt, and Ground Spices.” “Sounds yum,” said Jeff.   And in fact, Mum's vegan Haggis turned out to be twice as yum as the one from the supermarket, and far less controversial.   And this story was inspired by our very own Jana Elizabeth who had her own similar trolley rage experience once upon a supermarket. And I am delighted to dedicate this story to Naomi, and her family from Monterey, California, USA. Naomi loves animals. The Birdy stories are her favourite, but of course she also likes to keep up with whatever shenanigans are going on with Wicked Uncle. Well thank you Naomi and your family for being so generous and supporting Storynory on Patreon.   For now, from me Richard, goodbye!

  The Bøyg   Dedicated to Sylvie. Peer Gynt: Richard Scott. The Bøyg: Jana Elizabeth. Peer's Mother: Bertie. Solveig: Jana Elizabeth.   Story adapted by Bertie. Audio Edited & Produced by Jana and Bertie. Solveig Song: Sung by Jana Elizabeth. Illustration: Bertie.   Bertie: Peer Gynt has escaped from the hall of the Mountain King and the trolls by leaping into vast empty darkness. He is not sure if he is floating or falling. And then he hears a voice... Voice: Peer!   Peer: Who are you?   Voice: I am, myself.   Peer: You are yourself. That makes no sense.   Voice: Can you say as much?   Peer: What is the meaning of these strange words?   Voice: You are never yourself, you are too busy pretending to be somebody else, Prince Peer, future emperor of the world.   Peer: Show yourself! Let me fight you!   Voice: You trust your fists and your youthful strength, but your inner self is weak. How ready you were just now to give up your humanity!   Peer: But in the end I refused!   Voice: By leaping into nothing you escaped from your own emptiness.   Peer: Who are you that speaks in these riddles?   Voice: I am the Bøyg.   Peer: Well Bøyg, will you kindly release me from this void?   Voice: I will release you if you can tell me of one time when you were true to yourself.   Peer: It is correct that in my 20 years I have not often been true to myself. But I've changed recently. Truly, you must believe me.   Voice: I asked for an example, not pleading.   Peer: I was ready to give up my humanity just now, and I would have become a troll, but for one thing.. if I could not see beauty, I would never see my love again, not even in my dreams. I refused.  I stood firm. I was true to myself.   Voice: Interesting. But should I believe that even the worst of souls can be true on occasion? Even one who swore to be false?   Church Bells ring out   Peer: What do those bells mean?   Voice: This time you were fortunate. You were saved by the sound of church bells rung by one who is good and pure. Had she not remembered you - had she not come to your rescue -  you would have stayed here forever, suspended in darkness, nothingness, emptiness.   Peer:  Who saved me, tell me who saved me?   Voice: Do you not know? Are there so many people in your life who are good and pure?     Peer: What is their name? I can't think of anyone.   Voice: Solveig of course, Solveig, Solveig, Solveig. Church bells and birds singing Peer: Hello Light! Hello Sun! How I missed your life giving warmth!   It was Solveig who rescued me from the darkness and the void. It was Solveig who remembered me, and who rang the church bells for me. She brought me back to the light. She thought of me. If only I could see her now.   Solveig: Peer?   Peer: Solveig, is it you?   Solveig: Yes, I came to find you, to warn you. Ingrid's father has had you declared an outlaw. He says you came to kidnap his daughter from her wedding. If you go back to the village you will be killed.   Peer: Well that's no loss. I didn't mean to go back to my old life anyway.   Solveig: But your mother is grieving for you. She thinks you are lost, dead. She is dying of a broken heart.     Peer: What should I do?   Solveig: Why? You must sneak back to see her of course. Let her know you are alive. And then you must disappear. Leave this land.  Make your way in the world.   Peer: And leave you?   Solveig: I shall keep you in my heart. I promise.   Peer: Why, why me? I am a good for nothing. A bad son, a fantasist, a poet. What use am I?   Solveig: Everyone has good in them, and what I see in you my love, is warmth from your heart, creativity and romance. Yes, some may say you are immature, but that is something that life will cure. Now, go! You must hurry to your mother before it is too late. But make sure nobody sees you on the way, because they will haul you before the magistrate if they do. Peer.. Be safe.. I will keep you in my heart, and one day we will be reunited.. in this world or the next.   ..cue song.. Music - knocking on door   Peer's Mother: Who's there?   Peer: Mother, it is I.   Peer's Mother: Who?   Peer: Your son, Peer.   Peer's Mother: I don't believe you.   Peer: Ha! Well nothing's changed there then!   Peer's Mother: Peer. You have come back to me. Thank you God for saving you.   Peer: Mother, do you see my bed and my duvet? They are the same as when I was a child.   Peer's Mother: I see them. You used to say that it was a sleigh, and Blackie our cat was a reindeer to pull you through the air at night, away to a magic castle made of ice.   Cat: Meow.   Peer: Dear Blackie. She is still with us.   Peer's: She is ancient now.   Peer: But still able to pull a sleigh. Come Mother, close your eyes. Let me take you on a journey. The sleigh bells are tinkling. We are flying, flying through the stars. Look, there is the ice palace, glistening on the mountain top. Let's drop down for a while and speak to the Snow Queen.   Peer's Mother: My eyes are tired.   Peer: Sweet dreams, dear Mother, sweet dreams. And if you don't see me for a while, know that I remember you. I must go, for they have made me an outlaw.     Peer's:  Go, go son, and stay safe. Send me word to me if you can, that all is well.   Peer: Goodbye dear Mother, I shall, I shall.   So I must leave the village where I was born, and everyone I love, my mother, Solveig, Blackie the cat! There is no one else that I shall miss. I have three lumps of gold in my knapsack, the nuggets that I picked from the Hall of the Mountain King. I will head far away from here, to the sea and pay my passage to go abroad, trade goods on the Silk Road, make my fortune, and I shall only return when I have been crowned emperor of the world! Then they shall all laugh on the other sides of their faces.   And I'm delighted to dedicate this episode to Sylvie and her Mother Alison, who support us on Patreon. Sylvie's favourite story is Astropup and the Dog Master. And her favourite character is the parrot. Parrot: Thanks so much Sylvia and Alison!   Music Thank you so much to our wonderful Richard! The Storynory version of Peer Gynt is read by Richard Scott, with help from Bertie, Amarni, Sophie and me, Jana. Bertie has adapted the script from the drama, by Henrik Ibsen, and we have recorded and produced our own version of the music by the Norwegian composer, Edvard Greig. We have drawn our own illustrations too. Producing these stories takes a huge effort and a massive amount of time, so if you can support us, we would be incredibly grateful. The front page of Storynory.com has links to our Patreon page, and also to PayPal. And now you can even donate with Bitcoin.   There will be five episodes of Peer Gynt in all. For now, from all of us at Storynory.com - Goodbye.  

Interview with Richard Scott   Hello, and welcome to Jana's studio, where I talk to fascinating people about fascinating things. In this episode we're going to peek behind the scenes of  Storynory and meet our very own, Richard Scott. Richard has been working with Storynory for the past 10 years and is best known as the dogged voice of our space travelling hound, Astropup. You can also hear his spellbinding tones on many of our fairy tales, and our Wicked Uncle series. And I think he's particularly skilled at reading poems, which include some of my favourite pieces of audio on Storynory. Richard studied at Cambridge University, before doing a year's course in Classical acting at London's Central School of Speech and Drama.     Here is a clip of Richard as a contestant in Pointless - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppKyWJukZr8 Jana - Hi Richard, thank you for joining me today.   Richard - Hi Jana, thank you.   Jana - So Richard, can I begin by asking you what prompted you to become an actor?   Richard - It really started at secondary school for me - I got cast in some big parts in the school plays and developed a real love for learning lines and acting on stage. When I then moved on to university, I had the “acting bug” and tried to do at least two plays each year. I was lucky enough to act in some great theatres in Cambridge and even go up to the Edinburgh Festival twice. The second time I played “Peter Pan” for the whole month of August. It was great! Jana - Did you do any acting when you were growing up?   Richard - I have two younger brothers so we were always making up our own plays...and getting our teddy bears involved...and then performing the plays to our parents. At primary school, my first acting role was as an Oompah Loompah! They painted our faces with paint from the Art room and it didn't wash off for a week!   Jana - Aww wonderful. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is actually one of my favourite films. All of our listeners know you have a range of amazing voices including a dog, a parrot, children, adults. How do you create those characters and voices?   Richard - I owe a lot to Bertie. He writes the stories and creates the characters and then sends me the stories. The characters that he creates are so vivid and imaginative that I feel I have to do them justice and give them a voice that reflects Bertie's great writing. I love reading the Parrot in Astropup but I'll let you into a secret - it's not easy! He is so squawky that I sometimes get a sore throat afterwards!   Jana - Ooh I'm sorry about that. I never knew… Oh the joys and perils of bringing great stories to the world! Bertie and I see you read the stories behind the microphone, and you always seem very well prepared - how much preparation do you put into a story or a poem?   Richard - Preparation really important. I need to know what I am saying as I read the stories but also know what I am about to say next. To me, great storytelling is not only painting a picture of what is happening, but it is also expressing the emotion of what I felt when I first read the story.   Jana - Of course, yes. Do acting skills help you in other parts of your life?   Richard - Definitely! It helps massively with confidence. When you are fully prepared to read a story or about to go on stage with all the lines that you need to remember in your head and you're basically about to transform into a different character. If you can handle that, then you can definitely handle anything life throws at you. Jana - Wow… well you haven't given birth yet.   Jana - Richard, what's your favourite story on Storynory?   Richard - That is such a tough question, Jana! I have read so many stories, myths and poems over the past 10 years for Storynory that it is not easy to pick a favourite. Of course, Astropup is very close to my heart and I get so excited when Bertie sends me a new Astropup story and I get to be the first person to read what is going to happen next in the series. That is very cool. If I had to pick a favourite then it would be between ‘Orpheus and the Lyre', written by Bertie and ‘The Cat that walks by himself', by Rudyard Kipling. With ‘Orpheus' , Bertie changed the Greek myth to a rhyming poem. It is such beautiful writing and it is so sad and romantic that I think I can admit that I can't listen to it without getting a tear in my eye by the end. “The Cat that walks by Himself” I read  almost 10 years ago when my cat, Snufkin, who I miss very much was only a kitten. It reminds me of her whenever I listen to it. It is such a brilliant ‘Just So' story that I recommend you listen to it if you haven't already….I am also very proud of my bat voice in it. The bat only makes a very short appearance so listen out for him!   Jana - How lovely! I'll make sure to listen to ‘The Cat that Walked by Himself', in honour of Snufkin!   Jana - Do you get nervous when you perform?   Richard - I do get nervous more so before I go on stage because there's always the safety net when recording that when I do make a mistake we could always go back and record it. But the most nervous I've been was actually before I had to go on tv. I was on a quizz show, and the presenter asked me not only to do an impression of Astropup, but to actually read one of the questions in the voice of Astropup. That was extremely nerve wracking. I actually think Bertie's got a clip of it somewhere on YouTube. Maybe he can post it up.   (voice of Alexander Armstrong and Richard)   Alexander: Thanks very much indeed, Richard !  What do you like to do, Richard?   Richard: I like long distance running and I read stories for a website that produces free children's stories every week.   Alexander:  That's fun, do you do it every week?   Richard: Not every week.  About once a month. But I read the stories, not in my own voice, but in the voice of a dog.   Alexander:  Two things, two things, actually, three things.  No one told me about this job.   Assistant:  Is there a voice over you're not doing?   Alexander: Allegedly yes.   Assistant: That's  extraordinary. That's thing one .   Alexander: Ok, so thing two, what's the dog called?   Richard: The dog is called Astropup.  He's a dog who likes to travel in space and time.   Alexander:  Thing three.   Richard: Yes,   Alexander: What's he sound like?  Read the top clue in the voice of Astropup.   Richard:   A near instant cooker patented by Percy Spencer in 1945   Audience:  Applause .   Jana - Wonderful! So Richard, how important is good diction and pronunciation in acting?   Richard: Extremely!   Jana: I understand you warm up your voice before recording a story. So for our aspiring actors and public speakers out there, here are a few vocal exercises we'd like to share with you. These exercises are actually called tongue twisters. There are a whole range of exercises you can do depending on what you're using your voice for and especially helpful if you know your trouble spots. And for those of you listening at home do feel free to join in.   Richard: So jana, you repeat after me… Many Mincing Maidens meandered moodily moorwards   Jana …   Richard - A pale pink proud peacock pompously preened its pretty plumage   Jana…   Richard - Betty bought a better bit of butter but the butter betty bought was bitter   Jana …   Richard - She sells sea shells on the sea shore - good for s's   Jana …   Richard - Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.   Jana...   Richard - And this is a tricky one! The sikh's sixth sick sheep is sick.   Jana… Thank you Richard. That was fun. And lastly would you like to read your favourite sonnet for us?   Richard - Yes I would love to. It's one of my favourites and also my mums favourite.   Sonnet 130 By Shakespeare. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound;I grant I never saw a goddess go;My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare   As any she belied with false compare.   Richard - And Jana, I know how fond you are of Shakespeare's Sonnet 43. This one's for you...   Sonnet 43   When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,For all the day they view things unrespected;But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,How would thy shadow's form form happy showTo the clear day with thy much clearer light,When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed madeBy looking on thee in the living day,When in dead night thy fair imperfect shadeThrough heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!All days are nights to see till I see thee,And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me. William Shakespeare. Jana - Beautiful.. very moving! And thanks again to Richard Scott, for joining me today. It's been a real treat.   Richard - Thank you Jana …Been a pleasure. Jana - And as ever, I'd like to remind you, if you'd like to join us on our mission to give a liberal education to the world , you can support Storynory on Patreon. You can find the link on our website Until next time, take care of yourselves. From me, Jana, and Richard, at Storynory.com. Goodbye!  

Story ~ Fear Story written by Jana Elizabeth. Read by Richard Scott.   Attribution Toy Music Box Sound Effects by Pond5   Yay freedom!   Now that Emily was 12, she could walk to school without her parents. And even better, she could go with her best friend, Heidi, who lived on the same street as her.   The only problem was, that Emily had to walk the long way round, which took them a good 15 minutes longer. She just could not take the shortcut through the park.     Most days it didn't matter that much, but there were times when it was a real a pain, like when it was raining, or when they were late for registration.     But Heidi never complained. Even if it meant getting a detention for being late, Heidi walked beside her friend.   They had been hanging out at each other's houses for as long as they could remember. The best times were when they had sleepovers and could sit up late talking about anything and everything and everyone.   So if anyone understood why Emily could not walk through the park, it was Heidi.   Emily was a sweet girl, bubbly in nature and full of fun, except when she was shy at times. She thought it was really tough to be both bubbly and shy - like both parts of her personality were fighting.   And she had an even bigger  problem… A problem that affected her daily life, as it caused her to avoid certain places where ‘they' might be.   She was always conscious of where she went and got quite good at finding ways to avoid bumping into any of ‘them'. It was always in the back of her mind to take a preemptive tactic to keep away from ‘one'. I mean she planned ahead good and proper before she headed outdoors or to a friends' home. She could spot ‘one' a mile away! And if ever that happened, she'd hurtle across the road in a flash to the other side, sometimes without thinking. (Which is obviously very dangerous as we all need to be aware of road safety!)   She was beginning to feel that her own fear was hindering her from living life to the full. She was starting to become tired of constantly dodging her big fear:   Dogs!   All dogs!   Big bouncing dogs!   Tiny yappy dogs!   Even the cutest little teddy bear dogs with big puppy eyes!   She was scared of them all!   But the strange thing was, she didn't dislike dogs. In fact she was quite fond of the idea of them.   What she wanted so badly was to be able to pet a dog like ‘normal' people did. She was sad that she wasn't like her big sister, Lola or Heidi who were able to happily and easily play with a friend's dog, without going into a full blown panic attack! Poor Emily really felt she was missing out. She had tried many times to pluck up the courage to pet one but just couldn't manage it. There had been brief moments where she very bravely agreed to accompany her parents for their long country walks they enjoyed so much. You see, they lived in a little part of England, called Oxford which is blessed by lush, green countryside. A great place to go for beautiful walks along the River Thames where dog lovers also take their beloved pets for fresh long runs or walks along the meadow.   Emily's nightmare!   There were those times when Emily was younger, that she had tried to overcome her fear. She'd muster up the mental strength to venture out for a family walk, and face her fear, but it usually ended in tears and a feeling of dismay.   “Daddy, quick there's a dog coming! Help me!”   “Ok, ok calm down Emily, it's miles away.”   “Oh no, it's off the lead!” she shrieked. “Just hold my hand, it'll be fine,” her dad would say with a reassuring smile. And then she'd hold on to her dad for dear life, heart beating fast, until the owner and perfectly nice dog passed her. It had to be some distance away before she could let go of her dad's hand and breath a sigh of relief again. And it didn't seem to help when she'd watch her sister fussing over a friendly dog, playing with him and tickling his belly and happily talking to his owner about what breed the dog was, how old he was, what his good and bad habits were, how much it cost to groom his coat, and other dog owner chit chat.   She hated the fact she had a mental block when it came to dogs. She had no idea where it came from. People would ask if a dog had bitten her. But no. Nothing like that had happened that would easily explain it. She had no idea where her fear came from?   And the worst part was that her fear sometimes caused her the most excruciating embarrassment.   There was another time, 4 or 5 years back, when the family were out walking in Port Meadow, when a dog wanted to come and say ‘hello', much to Emily's horror!   And that was the time her dad absentmindedly let go of Emily's hand to pet the dog and say ‘hi', back. Emily broke out into uncontrollable hysterics!   She was so frantic that she accidentally wet herself!   The poor owner looked horrified and hastily took her dog away. It took a lot to calm down Emily. Not surprisingly,  that was Emily's last outing to the meadow, for a long time.   The next day, her mum and dad gave her a beautiful music box. Emily's parents hoped it would make her feel better. It had a little song and the words were:   “Thank you my friend For lifting my heart So truly.. Thank you my friend For taming my soul I was unruly.. Sing this happy song, No more being afraid..”   She liked to listen to it at night when she was lying in the dark.   Occasionally the whole dog  thing got to her and she would cry: “Mummy, why can't I be like Lola? Why am I so afraid of dogs and she isn't? Why am I so different from everyone else?”   Lola, for instance had a part time job as a receptionist at the dentist surgery where Emily was registered. She hadn't told Emily that the dentist had a dog. A huge Doberman called Max. But he was a gentle giant, who slept under the desk. When Emily was standing there once, he licked her leg - and I needn't tell you that Emily completely freaked out.   Her mother would try to console her, “Darling, there's nothing wrong with you. Honestly have you seen Lola when a spider gets near her? You'd think a murder was taking place! What I'm trying to say is, that lots of people have fears of different kinds - you're not alone. I know it's hard for you because you know how much Lola wants a puppy. Daddy and I have discussed and agreed that we'll put it on the back burner for now. We've told Lola that we have to postpone the idea for now but will consider it when the time is right.”   “Lola said she hated me Mummy,” Emily said tearily. “And she called me a freak!”   “Yes I know,” replied her mother with a sigh. “We all talked about this and Lola did apologise to you. Look I'm sure your phobia will pass as you get older. I don't think it'll be a problem forever, ok?”   “I hope so Mummy,” said Emily drying up her sniffles in her mothers' blouse.   But it was a problem. And then, it became an even bigger problem. Probably the worst thing that could have happened, happened.   Her best friend got a dog.   “How could you do this to me?” was her reaction when Heidi broke the news about her fluffy brown and white cavalier spaniel puppy.   “But he's so sweet,” said Heidi, “and besides I didn't want to do this to you. My mother has always wanted a dog, and now she's working part time, she can take him for walks.”   “But.. but.. I'll never be able to come to your house again!” Emily exploded.   And the next day she got up ten minutes early to walk to school on her own.   And when Heidi arrived at school, Emily ignored her.   That evening, Emily's mum asked what was the matter. But she did not reply. She went straight up to her room and put her headphones on.   And while she was lying there she wondered if she would avoid Heidi the next day. And the day after. And what would she say if she bumped into her ex-best friend on the street - and what if she had her little dog with her? How in the world would she keep wearing a ghost face then?   And then she thought about how they had played together.. since they were just three years old. And how Heidi had walked the long way round with her, even when it was raining, even when they were late for the school bell. Heidi had been very supportive to Emily over the years and she realised she couldn't lose her best friend over this.   And she got up, went out the front door, and walked round to Heidi's house, a few doors down, and rang the bell. The first thing she heard was a shrill little ‘yap yap'. She shuddered. Even though she could tell from the sound that it was only a tiny little thing that made it - practically a mouse you might have thought - that didn't help. She felt a familiar foreboding. Heidi's dad opened the door. He said, “Oh, hello Emily. Heidi's in the back room cleaning up some pee with disinfectant. Her mother made her sign a contract that she would commit to. She's never been fond of dogs, but gave in, in the end because she begged her for one so much.”   Emily thought for a moment, “Really?”     “I suppose you've come round to see Schumfy?” said Heidi's dad. “We can't help loving the little scamp, he knows he's cute and can get away with anything.”   “Yes, I'm really looking forward to giving him a cuddle,” said Emily. It was a lie but not as big as the one Heidi had told.   She opened the door to the back room, and saw the little thing come bounding towards her.   “Ahh!” She quickly slammed the door.     “Emily, are you ok?” said Heidi's voice through the door.  Emily was too busy taking deep breaths to answer. Eventually she said, “Hold his collar. I'm coming in.”   Soon she was facing her fear! Schumfy was about ten inches long, had floppy ears, and was scrabbling to be released from Heidi's firm grip. His claws were scratching frantically on the floor, as he tried to come near enough to greet her. She turned away her head. “All right, let me stroke him.” It took all her courage to say that. She cautiously pet the little wriggling bag of fluff for at least ten seconds. It wasn't long. But it was a start.   And that was ‘Fear', written by Jana Elizabeth and read by me Richard Scott, for Storynory.com.   And Jana is going to do a little piece about phobias under the section of the website called ‘Jana's Studio'. She has written a short article with her personal take on fears and phobias, including an interview with a child/adolescent psychiatrist, Dr Andrew West. She's also got other plans up her sleeve with upcoming music, more interviews and articles on factual topics including a fun interview with ‘yours truly' coming up soon.  So look out for that! For now, from me, Richard, goodbye.

Finette Part One   Dedicated to Dane and Emma   Adapted by Bertie. Read by Richard. Proofread & audio edited by Jana Elizabeth.   Hello, this is Richard. And I'm here with a fairytale from Brittany in the north of France. The story is adventurous, romantic, and quite long - so I'm going to read it in two parts. Once upon a time, in the land of Brittany, a noble baron, by the name of Kerver lived in a fine castle with his thirteen children. But Kerver Castle, although strong and impressive, did not have enough bedrooms for the whole family. The youngest son, Yvon, had to share a room with one of his older brothers. This Yvon had the nickname of “Fearless,” which was well deserved. For once, when he was only twelve years old, he had fought a wolf with his bare hands. When he reached sixteen years of age, he decided to leave the cramped castle, and go out into the world in search of a good fortune, a good woman, and a spacious place to live.     His father cheerfully agreed to let Yvon follow his plan, because, to be honest, he had so many children that one more or one less did not matter that much to him.   Yvon set off in a ship, flying a blue flag emblazoned with a picture of a unicorn attacking a lion. This was the Kerver family coat of arms.   Underneath the picture was the word, “onward” which was the Kerver family motto.   Onward he sailed over a calm sea, but his journey ended abruptly some nights later when the ship struck a rock. The timbers made terrible sounds, creaking, ripping, and wrenching, as the whole vessel tore in two.   Yvon found himself floundering in the sea among the debris. He gulped down salty water, which tasted foul, and thought, “I was not born so I could feed the fishes this night.” He mustered all his strength. “Onward!” he shouted and began to swim towards the shimmering silvery light which he rightly understood to be the shore. Some time later, dripping and exhausted, he dragged himself onto the sandy beach and fell asleep.   He slept until dawn, then pulled himself up and began to explore. He wandered for a whole day before he came to a farm. As he walked up the track and past the barns he saw that the main house was huge - as tall as a church it was.   “Is anyone around?” he called out. The only reply was a low mooing from a shed.   He went up to the huge door of the house and knocked as hard as he could. No reply.   It was only when he picked up a huge rock and used that to bang on the door that he heard a voice within that bellowed, “Door open!” Then the door opened by itself, and Yvon found himself looking up at a giant.   “Who are you, and why are you standing there gorping at me like an idiot?” asked the large fellow.     “My name is Fearless,” said Yvon, “and I am on a journey to seek my fortune. Right now, I need some food and a place to rest at night. I'm strong and willing to work.”   “Well,” said the giant. “Go round the back of the house, and you will find a plate of boiled potatoes and cabbage on the kitchen window sill. That will be your supper. You can sleep in the cow shed. In the morning you can muck out all the manure from the shed. I will be going out to look at my sheep. Make sure you have this simple job done before I return.”   “Yes, sir,” said Fearless.   “Oh, And one other thing,” added the giant. “Make sure you don't go nosing around the house while I am away, or you shall regret it.”   “Right-oh,” said Yvon, and he went to look for his supper and some clean straw to lie on in the cow shed.     At the break of day, Yvon awoke to the sound of the giant stomping over the fields. He got up and threw open the door of the shed. The light poured in, and he looked at all the piles of cow manure. “It shouldn't take more than an hour or two for a strong lad like me to clean it all out,” he thought to himself. Then he glanced over at the house.   “I reckon,” he reasoned with himself, “that the giant is keeping something in that house that he really doesn't want me to see. And I further reckon that he doesn't want me to see it because it's valuable. He warned me not to go and take a look, but I didn't earn my nickname of Fearless by not taking any chances.”   And so he ambled across the yard, wondering if anyone else worked on this farm, for he was yet to spot another human being below the size of a giant. When he reached the house, he called out, “Door open!” and the great door opened.   He stepped into a high vaulted haul, lit by burning candles. On either side were many doors. He pushed one open and found a room that was empty, apart from a fireplace where a pot hung above some logs. An intense heat was radiating out of it.   “That's strange,” Yvon said to himself, “because the fire isn't lit, and yet the cauldron is as hot as a volcano. I reckon that must be because it's using magic.”   He stood on a chair and peeped into the pot. It contained a luminous orange broth with a wrinkled surface. Could it be carrot soup? If so, it was made from the brightest carrots he had ever seen. It was so dazzling that his eyes hurt. He took a log from the fireplace and dipped it into the soup. When he pulled it out, it was covered in the thick liquid and then he realised it was molten gold.   “Very nice,” he said to himself.“This wooden log is now a golden log. That might prove useful on my travels. What other valuables will I discover in this house of wonders?”   He carried on looking into rooms until he found a parlour where he found something even more interesting than the pot - a young woman was arranging golden flowers in a bowl. She looked up at him. Her large dark eyes were startled. “Who are you and what is your business here?” she asked.   The boy tried to figure out her place in the house. Was she a servant or a lady? Her dress was bright, almost dazzling. Not, he thought, in the most tasteful fashion for a woman of a noble family, but her jewellery suggested wealth. There was no shortage of bright bangles on her wrists, and on her chest she wore an unusual necklace made of a gold chain and six golden bullets.   “My name is Yvon, though you may call me Fearless,” he replied, “and I have taken a job as a stable boy in the service of the giant.”   “Oh, unfortunate youth!” exclaimed the woman, throwing her hands up in the air as she spoke.   “Me? Unfortunate? I don't think so,” he insisted.   “The giant will give you nothing but impossible jobs!” she explained.   “Why, don't be silly! All I have to do is to sweep out the cow shed. It's less than half an hour's work for a strong lad like me.”   “Hercules could not do it in ten weeks!” insisted the woman. Every time you chuck the dung out of the door of the shed, twenty times as much manure will blow straight back in. You'll disappear under a pile of cow poo!”   “Funny, he didn't mention that,” said Yvon.   “No, he wouldn't, would he?” she said. “But I will tell you something useful. Take a fork, turn it the wrong way round, and use the handle to sweep the dung. It will all fly out by itself.”   “Right-oh,” said the boy. “It's very kind of you to mention that important detail. I'm most grateful.”   He returned to the shed where he used the fork the wrong way round, and all the cow dung flew out of the door. The job was done in a matter of minutes - and just in time too because sooner than expected, he felt the ground tremble as the giant stomped back to the house. He went out to meet the master.   “How did you get on?” asked the giant.   “All done,” replied Yvon.   “Really?” asked the giant, and he went to inspect the cow shed. When he saw that all was spick and span, he asked, “Who helped you do this impossible job?”   “No one, sir,” replied the boy.   “Really?” asked the giant, again.   “Yes, really sir. All this dung cleaning is my own work. And I'm happy if you like what I've done. I aim to please.”   “Hmmffff,” said the giant, before saying, “Well tomorrow, I'm going out to the fields again. While  I'm away, you can go up the hill and fetch my horse.”   “Yes, sir,” said the boy.   “And be sure,” added the giant, “that you don't go nosing around the house, or else…”   “Oh yes, to be sure,” replied Yvon.  But the next morning, as soon as the giant was gone, he did just as he had been told NOT to do. He went into the house to find the young woman. He discovered her in the kitchen baking bread.   “You again? Why have you come back?” she asked.   “Yesterday, when you were so helpful to me, I forgot my manners,” said Yvon. “I did not ask your name or what you are doing in this house.”   “Since you are so curious about everything,” she replied, “I will tell you that my mother was a fairy who was taken prisoner by the giant. I grew up in this house, and it is my misfortune to live here. My name is Finette.”   “Well, Finette, I am pleased to meet you,” said the boy. And he sat down at the kitchen table with her, and told her all about his young life and adventures. Finette listened with great interest, until eventually she said, “It is getting late. What task did the giant give you?”   “Oh just to go and fetch his old nag from the hill,” said Yvon.   “Just to go and fetch his old nag from the hill!” exclaimed Finette. “And I don't suppose he mentioned that his horse breathes fire from his nostrils and kicks and dances like a troop of Cossacks and will toss you off his back in a moment?”   “No, he didn't mention that,” said our hero.   “Well listen. Take the golden bit that hangs behind the stable door, and force it between the horse's teeth. After he has it in his mouth, he will be as tame as a lamb.”   “Thanks Finette,” said the lad. He ran to the stable to fetch the golden  bit and tackle, before climbing the hill to the field where the horse was out to pasture. For a moment, the animal looked at him with blazing eyes, and then charged like a bull, snorting fire from his nostrils. Fearless Yvon stood his ground and rammed the golden bit between the horse's teeth. The giant's horse immediately became calm, allowing Yvon to saddle him up and ride him down the hill. On the way, he noticed that the fiery breath had singed his coat, but he was otherwise unscathed. He reached the house just as the giant was returning from his sheep.   “I see you tamed my horse,” said the giant. “Who helped you?”   “No one sir,” replied Yvon. “I am riding him fearlessly all by myself. I like a spirited horse.”   “Are you certain nobody helped you?”   “Yes, sir,” said the boy.   “Hmmmmph!” exclaimed the giant. “Well tomorrow, I have another easy job for you. All you have to do is to jump into the dark and  bottomless pit at the end of the farm and collect the rent from the goblins who live inside it. And mind you keep away from the house, alright?”   “Yes sir” said Yvon. “You can rely on me, sir.”   But the next morning, as soon as the giant was gone, he slipped into the house to look for Finette. He found her upstairs dusting the furniture.     “And why have you come today?”  she asked.   “Because yesterday, I forgot my manners, and only spoke about myself,” he said. “I want to ask you all about what your favourite games were when you were a child.   And Finette happily told him all about her childhood pastimes, including paddling in the stream behind the house, collecting wild flowers, and keeping a baby goat.   Time passed very quickly - until she remembered to ask him what his task for the day might be.   “Oh, just to jump into the dark and bottomless pit and to collect the rent from the goblins who live inside it,” he said.   “Just jump into the dark and bottomless pit and collect the rent from the goblins who live inside it? Is that all?” asked Finette sarcastically.   “Yes, that's all I have to do,” replied the boy, fearlessly.   “Well,” said Finette, “this is what you must do. Jump down into the pit. You need not fear because you will float in mid air. There you will bump into some goblins also floating around in the dark. Ask them to give you the rent, but only what you can carry. If they give you too much, you will sink down and down and never be seen again. But if you ask for only what you can carry, they will give you a bag of gold, and you will rise up to daylight again.”   This was the strangest task of all, but the boy trusted in the words of his wise friend. He did just as Finette had told him. He stood at the top of the bottomless pit and shouted, “Downward Fearless!” before jumping straight in. At first he fell through the darkness, further and further down, until at last he stopped falling and floated in mid air. In this part of the pit, golden winged goblins glowed in the darkness, flitting  this way and that.   “What have you come for,” asked one of them.   “Give me the rent, but only what I can carry,” said Yvon fearlessly.  Just as Finette had said, the goblin gave him a bag of gold, and he floated safely up to the top and out into the fresh air. Just as he was getting used to using his eyes in the daylight again, he saw the giant.   “Who helped you fetch this?” asked the giant.   “No one sir, you can see that I brought it all by myself,” replied the boy.   “Hmmmmph!” said the giant. “Well, come to the house an hour from now and you will receive the reward that you deserve.   “Thank you sir,” said Yvon, before going to fetch his plate of cabbage and boiled potatoes from the window sill of the kitchen.     Meanwhile, the giant stomped into his great house and called out, “Finette! Finette! Come here and don't delay!”   Finette soon appeared before him with a curtsy.   “Here are your orders,” said the giant, “Listen carefully, and carry them out well. This evening, the stable boy will come to the house. Take the golden knife from the kitchen and use it to chop him up and throw him into the soup. He will make my supper all the more satisfying.”   Finette nodded and curtsied, “Yes, sir,” she replied.   Some time later, Yvon knocked on the door. Finette went to the kitchen to fetch the golden knife, and she walked softly into the hallway and commanded. “Door open!” The door opened and, as expected, she saw Yvon standing on the step.     “Come with me to the kitchen,” she told him. There they found a cauldron containing golden broth that was bubbling away merrily, though no fire was lit below it.   “Now help me,” she said and they chopped up anything they could lay their hands on - rugs, boots, curtains, stools, and chucked them into the the soup.     “Now give me your finger,” said Finette. Using the golden knife, she pricked his skin and let three drops of blood fall into the pot.   “That's it, I don't think we have forgotten anything. We'll leave it to boil, for now it is time to flee.”   The pair tipped toed through the hallway, out the magical door, and started to run in the direction of the sea.   Meanwhile the giant, who had been snoozing in a room by the fire, woke up and called out, “Finette! Finette! Bring me my supper!”   When he received no reply, he got up and looked in the kitchen. There he saw the soup simmering in the pot. He took down a ladle, scooped up some liquid, and slurped it warily, for it was hot.   “Finette!” he called  out, “You forgot to put salt in it!” But then he felt weary and strange, his legs started to give way, and he collapsed on the kitchen floor in a deep sleep.   By the time he awoke, the pair of fugitives were well on their way. He came storming out of the house, and chased after them with great strides. Yvon and Finette felt the earth tremble.   “Do not give up hope yet,” said Finette, “for perhaps one of my charms will save us.” She pulled a golden bullet from her necklace and threw it onto the ground with the words:   “Golden bullet, save us pray, Stop the giant on his way.”   As she spoke, a great ravine opened at the feet of the giant, and he tumbled straight down into it.   “Now run!” said Finette, and the pair ran onto the shore. The deep blue sea stretched out in front of them.  Behind them they could hear the giant scrambling out of the ravine.   “Now what do we do?” asked Yvon.   Finette plucked a second golden bullet from her necklace and hurled it into the sea with the words:   “Golden bullet, bright and pliant,Save us from this frightful giant.”   As soon as a she had spoken the magical words, a beautiful ship rose out of the foam like a swan spreading its wings. The pair dived into the sea and swam up to where it lay anchor. A sailor dropped a rope ladder over the side, and first Finette, and then Yvon climbed up. The ship set sail, but it had not gone far before the giant reached the shore and dived in. He was swimming after them with many a great splash.   “Now how do we escape?” asked Yvon.   Finette took a third bullet from her necklace and cast it into the sea with the words:   “Golden bullet in the sea, Save us now, finally.”   And as soon as she had spoken the magical words a sea monster rose up out of the depths of the sea and swallowed up the giant.   The crew cheered and sang as they sped across the waves.   “My clever Finette, we are saved,” said Yvon. “Come with me to Kerver Castle and let us be married.”   But Finette did not look happy. She stared out to sea.   “What is the matter, my enchantress?” asked Yvon.   “I see the future,” said Finette sadly. “You shall forget me.”   “No, how is that possible?” asked Yvon. “You are the most unforgettable person in the entire world.”   Finette turned to look at him.   “We must beware of the giant's aunt,” she said. “For she is a powerful witch and she shall seek revenge on us.”   And that was the first part of Finette, a tale from Brittany,  adapted by Bertie for Storynory, and read by me, Richard Scott.   And we are delighted to dedicated this story to Dane and Emma, and their parents, Chris and Liz, who are our latest supporters on Patreon. Chris writes, “Storynory brightens our morning commutes and creates great discussion points for our family. Emma's favorite story is the Evil Mouse and Dane's favorite story is The Three Dogs.”Well thank you so much. And Bertie says that one of the pleasures of  gathering supporters on Patreon is that it gives us a chance to get to know our listeners better.   If you would like to join us on our mission to entertain and to educate through audio, please checkout Storynory.com for the link to our patreon page. …………………………...