Royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England
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This week Dr. Amy S. Kaufman drops in to talk about our favorite representations of Robin Hood, how he has changed through history, and her new novel, The Traitor of Sherwood Forest.About our guest:Amy S. Kaufman is the author of The Traitor of Sherwood Forest, a Robin Hood retelling based on the medieval ballads (Penguin Books, 2025). Amy holds a PhD in medieval literature and has written about the Middle Ages for both academic journals and popular websites, including The Washington Post. She is co-author of The Devil's Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past (University of Toronto Press, 2020).A former English professor, Amy now writes full time from Vancouver, where she can't stop taking pictures of the mountains. The Traitor of Sherwood Forest is her debut novel.
Former hero Robin Hood has been stealing from the rich-poor and giving back to the poor-rich, giving the new King of England a headache! King Mutt recruits Lady Godwin and Phileaux to stop him. With a new woodland guide to help them, can the monster hunters track down the secrets of Sherwood Forest?Additional Music in this Episode: '"Thatched Villagers" and "The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod: https://incompetech.com/.Center for Reproductive Rights: https://reproductiverights.org/
This week the crew of the Enterprise get transported to Sherwood Forest and we talk about Wrestlemania and Sinners.Intro Music:"Fanfare for Space"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This Week on the Podcast: Why Marketing Matters When Selling Your Home! Thinking of selling your home? You’ve probably wondered: Is professional marketing really necessary? Should you host an open house right away? Does the time of day make a difference? What if your home didn’t sell fast — should you still do an open house? We’re answering ALL these questions in this week’s podcast episode! Discover how a multi-tiered marketing approach can maximize your home’s exposure, bring in more buyers, and help you stand out in a competitive market. — House of the Week: 12350-A Sherwood Forest, Mount Airy — $750,000 This stunning Colonial-style home offers the perfect blend of privacy and elegance: 2.55 wooded acres 4 bedrooms | 2.5 bathrooms Just under 3,000 sq ft of finished living space Side-load 2-car garage Family room with cozy wood stove insert Upgraded kitchen w/ beautiful countertops Hardwood floors + new carpet + fresh paint Primary bath w/ new LVP flooring Upper-level laundry for added convenience Roof (2019) | Water heater (2021) Large composite deck for entertaining Partially finished basement with walkout Don't miss your chance to own this private retreat just minutes from town! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Narrator: Thomas Jones
In episode 55, author Amy S Kaufman joins me in the Greenwood to discuss her work studying medievalisms, especially how they can be used for nefarious ends, and a brand new medievalism of her own making, the brand new novel 'The Traitor of Sherwood Forest' which will be available from Penguin Books on April 29th 2025.For more from Amy S Kaufman and her new novel go to: www.amyskaufman.comTo learn more about how medievalisms are often used as tools of propaganda and oppression, check out her earlier works including:The Devil's Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval PastMuscular MedievalismFor more from Into the Greenwood:www.instagram.com/intogreenwood/www.threads.net/@intogreenwoodbsky.app/profile/intogreenwood.bsky.socialwww.facebook.com/intogreenwoodTo support the podcast go to:www.patreon.com/IntoGreenwoodorwww.buymeacoffee.com/intogreenwoodOur selected charity: Trees, Water & PeopleInto the Greenwood is produced by Thaddeus PapkeTheme music is by Plastic3intogreenwood@gmail.comSupport the show
Tief im Sherwood Forest versteckt sich Robin Hood und seine "Merry Men", um Jagd auf reiche Reisende zu machen und deren Gold unter den Armen zu verteilen. Gleichzeitig sitzt in Nottingham der Sheriff und versucht genau dies zu verhindern und seine Goldtransporte zu schützen. In dem asymmetrischen COIN-Spiel "A Gest of Robin Hood" treten zwei Spieler genau so gegeneinander an. Wir sagen euch, wer das meiste Gold migenommen hat und wie wir den Ausflug ins Mittelalter fanden.
Es ist das 13. Jahrhundert in Sherwood Forest. Der Wald ist dicht, Nebelschwaden ziehen über moosbewachsene Äste. Versteckt zwischen uralten Eichen lebt ein Mann, der zum Mythos werden soll – ein Gesetzloser, der die Reichen bestiehlt und den Armen gibt. Noch Jahrhunderte später wird man über ihn sprechen: Robin Hood. -- In dieser Folge BRITPOD begeben sich unsere Abenteurer Alexander-Klaus Stecher und Claus Beling auf Spurensuche ins mittelalterliche England: Wer war Robin Hood? Obwohl noch heute jeder seinen Namen kennt und Hollywood ihm ein filmisches Denkmal gesetzt hat, stellt sich die Frage: Hat es ihn wirklich gegeben – oder ist er das Produkt von Legenden und Heldenerzählungen? Claus und Alexander diskutieren die Ursprünge der Legende, beleuchten historische Hinweise auf mögliche reale Vorbilder und zeigen, wie sich das Bild von Robin Hood im Laufe der Jahrhunderte verändert hat – vom rebellischen Gesetzlosen zur moralisch aufgeladenen Heldenfigur der viktorianischen Ära. Die Episode geht der Frage nach, warum seine Geschichte bis heute eine derart große Faszination ausübt - und liefert eine mögliche Antwort: Robin Hood ist mehr als nur eine Sagengestalt. Er verkörpert universelle Themen wie Gerechtigkeit, Freiheit und den Widerstand gegen Machtmissbrauch – und bleibt damit zeitlos relevant. BRITPOD – England at its Best. -- WhatsApp: Du kannst Alexander und Claus direkt auf ihre Handys Nachrichten schicken! Welche Ecke Englands sollten die beiden mal besuchen? Zu welchen Themen wünschst Du Dir mehr Folgen? Warst Du schon mal in Great Britain und magst ein paar Fotos mit Claus und Alexander teilen? Probiere es gleich aus: +49 8152 989770 - einfach diese Nummer einspeichern und schon kannst Du BRITPOD per WhatsApp erreichen. -- Ein ALL EARS ON YOU Original Podcast.
Coco shares her passion for historic buildings and her Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) ancestors, who were part ofthe travelling showman community in Cheshire. Coco's family specialised in ghost illusion shows, and hergrandmother was the last of her family to be born in a wagon in Sherwood Forest. We discuss her successful campaign to save an ancient castle and her supernatural encounters with ghosts, spirit guides, and fairies, including a childhood sighting of a parade of brightly coloured tiny people…
The Gents travel to Sherwood Forest to chat about the 1973 animated movie Robin Hood! :30 - Movies We've Seen (Captain America: Brave New World, Anora, Longlegs, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, 12 Angry Men, Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, The Boys in the Boat, Robin Hood Men in Tights, Star Wars the Sequel Trilogy) 35:00 - TV Shows We've Seen (Invincible, The White Lotus, Slow Horses, Portrait Artist of the Year, Cobra Kai, Severance) 45:45 - Robin Hood (1973) Get bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Next episode: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
It's a Papke Family roundtable with Richard Hopkins-Lutz (Rick), Maryanne Papke (Momo), Name Redacted Papke (Theo), Roger Papke (Marcus), and Jeff Massie (Uncle Max) as we discuss George Segal's questionable turn as the hero(?) of Sherwood Forest.Is this a long lost masterpiece of cinema? No. Not really.Did we enjoy it anyway? We sure did.Does it weirdly feel like the first draft to 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights'? Listen and find out!For more from Into the Greenwood:www.instagram.com/intogreenwood/www.threads.net/@intogreenwoodbsky.app/profile/intogreenwood.bsky.socialwww.facebook.com/intogreenwoodTo support the podcast go to:www.patreon.com/IntoGreenwoodorwww.buymeacoffee.com/intogreenwoodOur selected charity: Trees, Water & PeopleInto the Greenwood is produced by Thaddeus PapkeTheme music is by Plastic3intogreenwood@gmail.comSupport the show
Get ready for an adventure with Tess as she delves into the mystery of Robin Hood!
In this captivating episode of MusicalTalk, Nick and Hannah reflect on the theatrical and cinematic delights of 2024, including the dazzling movie adaptation of Wicked and the Robin Hood pantomime at the London Palladium. Then, they turn their attention to 2025, diving into the most anticipated productions on the horizon. Get ready for a deep dive into the mysterious and magical Coraline, as well as Disney's vibrant stage adaptation of Hercules. But that's not all—listeners also hear from MusicalTalk presenters and fans from the past as they share their own highlights and heartfelt stories from the year, making for a truly nostalgic and celebratory look back at 2024.
You all ever wonder what Mitchell and Clifford did before the Podwood Forecast? Well, this episode is gonna be a little window into our previous show, Talk the Pulse, which was a podcast where we interviewed local music artists from Central Illinois. Featured in this compilation are six episodes of the show that include interviews with Nic Gundy, Unamused Dave, Emily Hope, and Gregg Brown. Clifford also takes the time to share some backstory on their time on the show. Hope you enjoy this blast from the past! Sign up for My Podcast Reviews today using our link! https://mypodcastreviews.com/?ref=podwoodforecast Listen to the show on whatever platform you prefer! Just go to this link: https://anchor.fm/podwoodforecast Check out our sosh meeds! https://www.facebook.com/podwoodforecast/ https://www.instagram.com/podwoodforecast/ Subscribe to Clifford's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ImCliffordToday/ Follow our band Sherwood Forest! https://www.facebook.com/musicofsherwood/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/2U9eals0CKSoRQ7UTv0uQl?si=WUZxyR_yTxSL1qRLV1O9Uw
BONUS episode featuring my summer of presidential travels as I fit in as many birthplaces, gravesites, homes, and other sites into one history professor's summer break. The third and final leg: join me as I visit Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas!Check out "How I Spent My Summer of Presidential Travels, 2024, Part 1"!Check out "How I Spent My Summer of Presidential Travels, 2024, Part 2"! Links to Previous Episodes Mentioned:Birthplaces"Thomas Jefferson and Shadwell""William Henry Harrison and Berkeley Plantation""John Tyler and Greenway""Zachary Taylor and Montebello""Woodrow Wilson and Staunton" Homes"Thomas Jefferson and Monticello""James Madison and Montpelier""James Monroe and Highland""Andrew Jackson and the Hermitage""John Tyler and Sherwood Forest""James Polk and Columbia""Andrew Johnson and Greeneville" "Bill Clinton and Chappaqua" Gravesites"Thomas Jefferson's Tomb""James Madison's Tomb""James Monroe's Tomb""Andrew Jackson's Tomb""John Tyler's Tomb""James Polk's Tomb"Support the showVisit the social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
We are back and with our longest episode to date! (So that should make up for our long absence) This time, we are sharing our favorite films that are generally rated below 3.5 on letterbox'd. This gives us the chance to defend our favorite flicks that aren't overall liked by general audiences. So get ready for some hot and unpopular takes! Sign up for My Podcast Reviews today using our link! https://mypodcastreviews.com/?ref=podwoodforecast Listen to the show on whatever platform you prefer! Just go to this link: https://anchor.fm/podwoodforecast Check out our sosh meeds! https://www.facebook.com/podwoodforecast/ https://www.instagram.com/podwoodforecast/ Subscribe to Clifford's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ImCliffordToday/ Follow our band Sherwood Forest! https://www.facebook.com/musicofsherwood/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/2U9eals0CKSoRQ7UTv0uQl?si=WUZxyR_yTxSL1qRLV1O9Uw --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podwoodforecast/support
100.4 6=1When faced with extinction, humanity's last hope rests with a disgraced scientist and a secretive cult.Written by Richard Reynolds (groundzerocomics.co.uk)Narrated by Luke Kondor (https://www.lukekondor.com)Produced by Chidozie Uzochukwu (www.x.com/studio55audios)With music by Spheriá (https://soundcloud.com/spheriamusic)And Andrew kn (https://soundcloud.com/andrew-kn)And Myuu (https://www.thedarkpiano.com/)And Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.orgThe episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)A quick thanks to our community managers, Jasmine Arch, Joshua Boucher, and his eyeless ones Mary Pastrano and Cody CzarzastyAnd Joshua Boucher for helping with our submission reading.And to Ben Errington the ongoing explosion of content being fired out of his Social Media canon.Richard Reynolds is the owner and operator of Ground Zero Comics, a small comic shop in Mansfield, England, but he writes and creates his own comics whenever he can find the time. You can read some of his work via the ‘free comics' sidebar at groundzerocomics.co.ukLuke Kondor started writing on his computer in his early teens and never looked back… and now he has very sore eyes. He also runs and produces a short story podcast called The Other Stories, which has amassed over 11-million downloads and has a monthly listenership of ~100k downloads. Currently he lives and works on a dining room table in the middle of Sherwood Forest. For more head to www.lukekondor.comJoin TOS+ to access over 90 exclusive episodes, get regular stories in higher quality audio, a week early, and ad-free, at https://theotherstories.net/plus/Support the show, get audiobooks, and more at https://www.patreon.com/hawkandcleaverJoin our communities for book clubs, movie clubs, writing exercises, and more at https://theotherstories.net/community/Leave a voicemail or get in touch at https://theotherstories.net/submissionsCheck out our writing courses at https://theotherstories.net/courses/Grab some merch at https://gumroad.com/hawkandcleaverThe Other Stories is a production of the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver, and is brought to you with a Creative Commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Don't change it. Don't sell it. But by all means… share the hell out of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today, we're journeying to the heart of Sherwood Forest to explore the legendary figure of Robin Hood and his fascinating appearances throughout video game history. We start by uncovering the origins of Robin Hood as a mythical figure born out of England's turbulent medieval times, delving into his transformation into a symbol of rebellion against tyranny. Then, we'll explore his evolution in gaming, from early 8-bit platformers like Robin to the Rescue to modern multiplayer titles such as Hood: Outlaws & Legends. Finally, we'll reflect on Robin Hood's enduring legacy in both history and gaming. So, string your bows and join us as we take aim at this timeless legend on today's trip down Memory Card Lane. Find out more at https://a-trip-down-memory-card-lane.pinecast.co
SpaceTime with Stuart Gary | Astronomy, Space & Science News
SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 138*Discovery of the Outer Solar System's Magnetic FieldScientists have discovered evidence of an ancient magnetic field at the far reaches of our solar system. Research published in AGU Advances, based on 4.6 billion-year-old grain samples from the asteroid Richie, suggests the presence of a weak magnetic field during the formation of the outer solar system. This field, although weak, could have been instrumental in the formation of the outer planets, including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The findings provide new insights into the magnetic influences shaping our solar system.*Southern Launch Gets Green Light for Orbital MissionsSouthern Launch has received federal and state government approval for its Whalers Way orbital launch complex in South Australia. The site is poised to support up to 42 orbital rocket launches annually, with plans for multiple launch pads and comprehensive tracking facilities. This development marks a significant step forward for Australia's growing Space industry.*Axiom Unveils New Lunar Spacesuits for NASAAxiom Space has revealed the new spacesuits for NASA's Artemis 3 mission, set for a lunar landing in 2026. Designed to withstand the harsh lunar environment, these suits feature improved mobility and dust resistance. The new design includes interchangeable segments to accommodate various body types, reflecting advancements in spacesuit technology since the Apollo era.The Science RobertA study has identified a decline in low-pressure weather systems, crucial for rainfall in southern Australia, since the mid-20th century. Meanwhile, the largest study of brain volume to date has found genetic links between ADHD and Parkinson's disease. In wildlife news, taming wild elephant calves has been shown to increase stress levels, potentially affecting their health. Finally, the paranormal world is abuzz with sightings of Robin Hood's ghost in Sherwood Forest, though sceptics remain unconvinced.www.spacetimewithstuartgary.comwww.bitesz.com
On our latest Trending Topics with England Golf, we explore two key areas of its operations, Championships where we're joined by James Crampton and Rules, with Sam Barker-Sabido. England Golf run many Championships throughout the year at all levels. James talks about what's involved in applying for an event, hosting an event and the benefits and positive side-effects that can come with hosting one of these tournaments. Not all championships are at elite level and EG also host many handicap events. Towards the end of the episode, we're joined by Simon Williams, GM of Sherwood Forest GC, to tell us what it's like to host an EG Championship. Sherwood Forest have hosted many and Simon gives the inside view, from a club that has done so. Sam Barker-Sabido also talks to us about the importance of his role within England Golf and stresses why clubs need to continually educate their members on the rules of Golf and what to know when holding competitions. There are many initiatives to assist with Rules education both for Golfers and also those who want to take on a "Rules" role within their club. https://www.englandgolf.org/rules-of-golf https://www.englandgolf.org/2024-england-golf-events https://www.sherwoodforestgolfclub.co.uk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescrampton122/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-barker-sabido-a39510153/
Simon Sansome was born, raised and continues to live in England. He had what he considers a normal childhood except for the fact that he did have and has today dyslexia. As he describes it, reading even to day some forty-two years after he came on the scene, is extremely difficult for him. He does, however, write well. He will tell us about his growing up, going to a British college, then joining the workforce and eventually going to a university. Yes, college as he will tell us is different from university. In 2014 he was struck with a slipped disc. Unfortunately, the chiropractor who then attempted to fix the problem only made matters much worse and Simon became paralyzed from the waist down. Simon determined to move forward and went back to the university where he graduated in 2018 with a degree in journalism. Along the way Simon created a Facebook page and a community called “Snowball Community”. As the community evolved Simon and later others began posting information about accessible places first in England and then elsewhere as well. Today Snowball has received countless awards for all it is doing to promote accessibility and Simon tells us that they expect to have over a Million viewers on a regular basis. Snowball Community will soon be providing opportunities for restaurants, shops and other places to obtain in-person accessibility assessments and the ratings from those assessments will be available to promote the businesses that are evaluated. Simon by any standard is unstoppable and inspiring. I trust that you will agree. About the Guest: Simon sustained a life changing injury when he was 32 which left him disabled from the waist down. It forced him to take early retirement and he decided to go to DMU to study Journalism and pursue his passion for writing. In 2016, while at DMU, Simon set up a Facebook Snowball Community with the idea of raising awareness of, and improving, disabled access. His award-winning campaign has had a global impact and the page now reaches more than 20 million people a month. Simon is also an award winning film/documentary producer after his life story was brought by Amazon Prime and his film ‘Access All Areas' won 16 international film awards including best film. Simon is also founder of Snowball Community a global disability app where you can leave reviews on how accessible a place is. Which is available on Android and Apple devices. The app has had 40,000 reviews in 12 months making it the biggest disability app in the world helping thousands of people daily. Simon has won a number of major awards he is widely considered to be one of the most influential disabled people in the UK. He was named in the top ten of the most influential people in the UK 2023 and this yeas won the Digital and Tech award at the Disability Power 100 and won the prestigious Santander X national award and will represent the UK at the Santander Global awards 2024. Ways to connect with Simon: https://www.facebook.com/FreezeSnowball https://twitter.com/FreezemySnowbal https://www.instagram.com/freezesnowball?igsh=MTl5ZHMxb3FvdzV1dA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.tiktok.com/@snowball.community?_t=8jKD9oRZmPw&_r=1 About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi there. This is your host, Mike Hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. I love to say that every so often, but here we are once again, and now we are talking with Simon Sansome, who is over in England. So it is about 736 in the evening there, and it's 1136 where I am. So Simon, welcome to unstoppable mindset. Simon is a he's going to talk about snowball and I don't want to give that away. He also is a person with a disability. So again, welcome to unstoppable mindset. Thank you very much. It's Simon Sansome ** 02:01 a pleasure to be here. Michael Hingson ** 02:02 Now I am curious about something that just popped into my head. Do you all have daylight savings time over there that takes effect at some point? Yes, we Simon Sansome ** 02:10 do. Yes. Michael Hingson ** 02:12 When will that start? Simon Sansome ** 02:13 No idea whatsoever. It just pops up on my iPhone and changes itself 02:17 these days. Yeah. Yeah. I Simon Sansome ** 02:22 mean, best thing from working at home doesn't really affect me. Yeah, well, it's not like I lose an hour or gain an hour because I just stay in bed or get up, you know, get it when, when I need to. So, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 02:33 now I'm just really curious. I'm gonna look at my calendar. I think, 02:39 I think it's April. Michael Hingson ** 02:40 Is it all the way to April? Yeah, with Okay, over there, it's April. Well, here Daylight Savings Time begins. Oops, I'm sorry. Daylight Saving Time begins next Sunday. So you can tell we're recording this in advance of when it's going to actually go up everyone but daylight savings time here in the US, begins on March 10 so time Time flies. However, when you're having fun, I guess Simon Sansome ** 03:13 there is a rumor over here that Daylight Savings Time was actually created by Benjamin Franklin so we could play golf in Scotland. Is that what it was, apparently so, but obviously we've got nothing to verify that, but that's the rumor. Well, Michael Hingson ** 03:26 yeah, but it didn't get implemented all that soon. But you know, on the other hand, um, Benjamin Franklin is also one of the main characters in the new James Potter series, the outgrowth of the Harry Potter books. Oh, I didn't know that, because he is the Chancellor of Alma alaran, which is the American or US School of magic. So he's been around a while. This guy, Franklin, he's done a lot of stuff. But anyway, nevertheless, welcome to unstoppable mindset, and we're really glad that you're here. Why don't you start by telling us kind of about the early Simon growing up and some of those things. Yeah, Simon Sansome ** 04:06 of course, I grew up in a village called burst in Leicestershire, that for most people, nobody knows where Leicestershire is. Everyone thinks of Nottingham when they think of Les share because it's the cloak, because of Robin Hood. So Nottingham Sherwood Forest is about 40 miles north of Lacher. However, we have become more famous over the recent years. We won the premiership in 2016 in Leicester City, which went was was a fantastic thing for the city. And then Richard the Third interesting fact, it was found under my car parking space. Dickie three. I was working for social services at the time, and Dickie three under my car parking space. So that was fun, I know, but no grew up in a normal house, Mum, three sisters, went to school, was dyslexic, wasn't diagnosed. I did terribly at school, great at cricket, loved the sport, played a bit of rugby and. And, yeah, just, I suppose really, you know, I worked. I worked all the like, Saturday jobs, and worked in a fruit and veg shop from the age of 14 to 16, getting up at four, four o'clock in the morning, going to work for a few hours, then going to school, falling asleep at school before Yeah, and then going to close the shop up at night. And I did that for one pound 25 an hour, which was, you know, child slave labor, yeah? So really, your average childhood, nothing really exciting going on there. Michael Hingson ** 05:33 So did you ever go to Sherwood Forest? Simon Sansome ** 05:35 Many times it's a nice walk. Yeah, is it we go on a regular basis due to the fact that it's you can hire a they're called trampers over here. It's a big mobility scooter, and so you can go around Sherwood Forest in the mobility scooter. So we'll get there quite a lot, because it's a nice outing. What Michael Hingson ** 05:52 kind of trees? Simon Sansome ** 05:55 Big oak, okay, big ones, yeah, willows, oaks and lots more. You know, it's a forest. Michael Hingson ** 06:02 How big is? How big is the forest? Simon Sansome ** 06:04 Absolutely no idea whatsoever. It's big. It's a forest. Yeah, you know, it's a good few miles across, a few, good few miles wide. You're going to get lost in it, if you if there wasn't a path, yeah, yeah. Well, Michael Hingson ** 06:19 and it's nice that after all these years and all the reputation that it has, and Robin Hood hiding in it and living there, and all that, that it really does still stand and people honor it, which is cool. Yeah, Simon Sansome ** 06:31 I the best thing about Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, if you've seen it, he arrives in Dover on by sea, and then by night, he's walked to Nottingham, which is about 250 miles, he's fast, Michael Hingson ** 06:47 and when you got to go after the sheriff, you know, you, you've got a mission, you got to do it, Simon Sansome ** 06:51 yeah? So fat place Walker, him and him and Morgan Freeman, Michael Hingson ** 06:57 well, my favorite movie is actually a slightly different one. It's called Robin in the seven hoods. Have you ever seen it is, Simon Sansome ** 07:04 is that the, I don't know if, no, I'm thinking of Robin Hood, many types. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 07:09 Robin and the seven hoods, stars, well, the Rat Pack, basically. Okay, and so Bing, Crosby is no Frank Sinatra is Robbo. It takes place on the in Chicago during the gang times. So Frank Sinatra is Robbo. Dean Martin is John, or Little John. Bing Crosby was Friar, tuck and other people. Peter Falk was Guy Gisborne. Okay, you know, so they had all the characters. It was, it was really a cute movie. I've always loved to watch that movie. It's a lot of fun. So, and needless to say, it was a comedy and, and at the end, most everybody ends up behind, you know, in concrete. It in behind a wall, except for Friar Tuck who gets the girl? Fair enough. I think Robbo doesn't get walled up either, but it's a fun movie. But anyway, no Sherwood Forest. It's all on the south side of Chicago, okay. But anyway, so did you go to college? I Simon Sansome ** 08:16 went to college and dropped out and then moved when? Because I just didn't get along college. Well, the thing is, because I had undiagnosed, I was undiagnosed dyslexic, yeah, in the like, you know, 80s and 90s, it wasn't really recognized as a thing, no. So I really couldn't really write until I was 1516, so I didn't go to what you would I went to a college. But the college isn't what colleges in America, or secondary rather than higher education. So we go, we go primary school, high school, college, university, okay? And so I went to, I went to Leicester college to did, what did I do there? It was film, I think, yeah, for about a year, dropped out and then got a job in Scotland, and moved Scotland just on a whim and became a training manager in a hotel. And the idea was, is I wasn't going to be rich, I but I thought, if I could be a waiter, if I can be a barman, if I can be the head of the departments in a hotel in the catering industry, then I've got a job for life. Yeah. So I've got a backup plan. So because once you've worked in a bar, in a restaurant, or you've been a chambermaid, which I've done, or kitchen shoe chef, or whatever, you know, you can pretty much walk into any job anywhere, and just, you know, you're always going to have a job if you need to, you can find things. Yeah, yes, absolutely. And that was the plan, because I didn't have an education behind Michael Hingson ** 09:39 me. And then, and I'm amazed at the number of people, and I shouldn't be, because I understand the history who happened to have dyslexia or who were on, what we would say now is on the autism spectrum, who were never diagnosed. I've talked to a number of people here on on stop. Mindset who talked about the fact that they were autistic and didn't even know it until they were in their 30s or even 40s, and it was very freeing to figure it out, because they knew they were different, but they didn't understand what what was really going on with them, and then in the last 15 or 20 years, they finally got enough of a diagnosis, a lot of information. So they, oftentimes, they figured it out even before the medical profession did. Simon Sansome ** 10:37 Yeah, same thing that happened with me. It was late diagnosis, yeah. So, so after Scotland, I moved back down to moving with my sister to help her out, because she had a child, and she was struggling. She was single mother. And so I got a job working at British Gas in Leicester, which is in the call center, and I got and after a painstaking working a nine to five job in a call center, thought, I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. Yeah. So I returned to education. And I returned to Loughborough College, which is up the road, and my then teacher, my sociology teacher, after handing in my first assignment as a mature student, she went, right, you're dyslexic, have an assessment. And that's when it really Yeah, and that's when it changed. That's when everything changed for me. Michael Hingson ** 11:28 So what changed and why did it? Well, I can understand why, after the diagnosis, Simon Sansome ** 11:33 I got the support I needed, that I didn't that I didn't realize myself, that I needed so kind of support, extra reading lessons, extra tuition, how to read and write, how to spell, very patient teachers, and a lot more encouragement as well from the college, which then helped me go on to university as well. So yeah, so Michael Hingson ** 11:57 your your teachers helped you teach your brain to connect and be able to eventually really recognize, yes, so Simon Sansome ** 12:07 I learned very visually. I can't really read. Can't really read very well. However, I'm an excellent writer, which is ironic. And I was writing everything and everything because I enjoyed writing so much. But I couldn't read software. I couldn't read out loud. And if I would read, sit there and reading your book, I would have, I call them brain farts, but their memory lapses or something, where you can read a whole page, or three or four pages of a book, and you can read it absolutely fine, but I've got no idea what's happened in those three pages, the information just doesn't Michael Hingson ** 12:42 stay there. Yeah, the disconnect is still pretty strong. Yes, very much. So, Simon Sansome ** 12:47 so I learn visually. So I was, I mean, back in the day, I was a huge film fan, and that explains the reason why. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 12:53 but, but you could write so you could, you could communicate. And whether, whether you, I assume, probably more often than not you, you wrote via a keyboard. Yep, Simon Sansome ** 13:05 very much. So I also used the dragon talk back in the day, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 13:09 but you don't. How did you do with like, writing with a pen or a pencil? No, I Yeah, no, I can do that quite well. You can do that quite well as well. Yeah, yeah. Simon Sansome ** 13:18 I kept my journal as well. I kept a diary, yeah, just because it helped me to write. So Michael Hingson ** 13:24 do you still use Dragon? No, Simon Sansome ** 13:27 no, God, no. It's atrocious. I don't I haven't used it for about 15 years, so I don't know where it is now. Oh Michael Hingson ** 13:34 gosh, it it is incredibly much better than it used to be when it was dragon. Dictate. Now it's Dragon Naturally Speaking, I use it a lot, and when I discover it has mispronounced, I can read or not mispronounce, but misrecognized or misinterpreted, I can correct it, and it doesn't take much in the way of corrections. But Dragon is so much better than it used to be. Yes, I use Dragon Professional and and I do type a lot and compose a lot, but I also find when I'm doing something that takes a while to do because it's long, it's much better to use Dragon to do it. Simon Sansome ** 14:18 Yes, No, I never really got along with Dragon. I used it, but a big fan of it. But however, the dictation on my Mac and my phone is absolutely perfect for me. We'll come to it shortly. But I'm a journalist as well now, and so I can write a story within 10 minutes, 500 or 1000 words within a few minutes. It's great, and Michael Hingson ** 14:40 you would find that that Dragon has that same level of accuracy, because I think a lot of the algorithms went from Dragon to other technologies, or the other way around. But Dragon is really great today. 14:55 Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 14:56 so, you know, I can't, I can't complain a lot about Dragon. And it really does help a great deal. It's a whole lot cheaper than it used to be, but that's another story. You know, of course, the original Kurzweil Reading Machine for the blind that read print out loud by being able to look at a page and recognize the characters. The original Ray Kurzweil machine was $50,000 and now you get free OCR on an iPhone or an Android device or or very inexpensive anyway, and optical character recognition is a common place kind of thing anyway. So yes, lot different than it used to be. The world does progress and move forward. It certainly does so you did eventually go to university. What did you do there? Simon Sansome ** 15:41 Yeah, so the first time I went to university. So I went twice, I did criminology. Oh, wow. Because I was enjoying writing so much, I thought I'd like to be a crime writer. What a waste of the time. If you want to learn about crime, you don't go and do you don't go and do criminology at university. So because it was so boring and so dull, I dropped out after the second year again. I mean, I was doing okay. I was getting about 50s, you know, so, two, two ish at university, but I really wasn't enjoying it, and I wasn't putting any effort into it. And so, yeah, I dropped out and looked for a job and went to work for the council. So Michael Hingson ** 16:27 the council being so, Simon Sansome ** 16:29 I worked for the local authority. Left City Council. Okay, yeah, the city council. Okay, great, okay, yes. So I, Michael Hingson ** 16:36 I that was different. It was, Simon Sansome ** 16:39 it was, it was very interesting, because I wasn't enjoying university, that was the thing, and so Michael Hingson ** 16:46 and so you decided to leave criminology at the university and go look at the criminals of the council, right? Simon Sansome ** 16:51 Pretty much. Yeah, I started off in housing. I worked as a housing assistant for a couple of years, working up there, and then, after a number of years getting a bit of experience under about doing some volunteering for youth services, um, I moved on to social services. And I was there till I left the council. And that was, that was an education. I did that for about eight years. And so, yeah, that and nothing prepares you for working for social services, going to see people intimate house you know, into their homes, their immediate environments, how people live, the poverty, the destruction, the drugs, the deaths you know, every you know, everyone's everyday life that you take for granted. And it certainly was an eye opening experience and a very worthwhile life education, Michael Hingson ** 17:43 yeah, at the same Yeah, it is a great education at the same time, when you do it and you care, you are also hopefully able to help people and make a difference, even if it's with one life that Simon Sansome ** 17:56 was the intention. So our specializing in adult mental health and physical disabilities by the time I left, and what you see every day is you try and get some positives from it, because you are saving lives and you're trying to make people safe, and that's your job. And at the end of the day, you get people who just don't care and just want to die and kill themselves. And yeah, it's people dying on you every day, especially if you come to the hospitals, that's interesting. I didn't I got transferred to one of the hospitals here in Leicestershire and but even before I had a case or went to see went to see a patient, to get them discharged from hospital, I had like, nine deaths on my table, wow. And so I got transferred back, just in case I thought I was killing people, even I hadn't seen anyone. Michael Hingson ** 18:46 So did, do you think you ever really did make a positive difference to any of those people who were really losing hope, or who had lost hope? Were you? Were you able to help? Simon Sansome ** 18:55 I mean, the thing is, is because you're the first point of call, so I was on effectively, emergency call outs. So you go and make sure that person is safe, you make sure they've got food, make sure they're okay, and then you pass it on to a long term team. So mine was the emergency intermediary department, like working with the police, ambulance service, firemen and so on and so forth. We would do joint visits. And so I really never got to see the long term effects. I was there to put the plan in place and then let a longer term, longer team, manage that person and the cash plan, or whatever was needed. So well, Michael Hingson ** 19:31 it's a it is a process, no doubt. So when did, when did you leave the council? What year was that Simon Sansome ** 19:39 that was? When was that that was 2015 Michael Hingson ** 19:42 Oh, okay, well, yeah. And then what did you go do? Because at some point after that, your life changed. Simon Sansome ** 19:48 My life changed. So it actually changed while I was working for the council. Um, so I became disabled in 2014 um. So I we're not 100% sure how the injury happened. I'll explain. So I was doing Ruby training at Victoria Park during that week, and I we also had a ton of bark delivered to our driveway because our driveway needed doing. And so I have this I slipped a disc, and I don't know if it's from the or it's from playing with me that I don't know, or rugby training anyway, not from cricket, not from Cricket. No, I have played cricket for a while, since then I played it as Michael Hingson ** 20:30 a lad. Cricket is very slow. Oh, cricket's amazing Simon Sansome ** 20:34 you. It's more technical than baseball. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 20:37 I know. I understand. I When I visited New Zealand and listened to some cricket on the radio, and it was really hard to follow because it it generally does move pretty slow, so I know it's very technical, and I never really caught on to the rules. I did figure out rugby a lot more than than I was able to figure out rugby Simon Sansome ** 20:58 is 80 minutes. I mean, cricket lasts for five days. It's beautiful. Yeah, I Michael Hingson ** 21:02 understand, but you have to take the time to really learn the rules. And I didn't have enough time to really listen to the radio, I guess Simon Sansome ** 21:11 that's right. Anyway, yeah, so I had a slip disc. I've had a slip disc before, and normally I would take some ibuprofen, do my exercises, try and pop it back in. On this occasion, me and Kate, my new wife, we were going away on a honeymoon to Mexico, and so I went to see a chiropractor in the local area. And it was doing well, you know, I was getting better. I was exercising. What I was walking further. It was had I took a few weeks off work because it was really very uncomfortable, and couldn't really visit people in their homes when I'm really uncomfortable. However, on the fifth or sixth visit, this newly trained chiropractor decided she was going to have a go at putting the disc back in for my honeymoon, and she crushed levels three, four and five of my spine while doing that, and that hurt. I screamed. I didn't know what she did. I thought she slipped. I thought she she could. She warned me it was going to hurt, yeah, and it did. It really did okay. And I after I couldn't get my shoes on, so she was on. So she helped me get my shoes on, and effectively, she just threw me out after I screamed. I think she knew something that had gone wrong. I didn't know at the time. I just thought she put my disc back in because I was in so much pain. I collapsed outside where Kate was waiting for me in the car. And I went home and said, Look, I'm just going to go to bed. I'll sleep it off. And the following morning, I woke up, I thought I had a stroke because I had no sensation from the waist down. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 22:50 yeah. My wife was a t3 para, so it was basically from the bottom of the breast down. But I understand exactly what you're saying, Simon Sansome ** 22:59 yeah. So it was a very unusual situation. I didn't know what to do. Kate had gone to work that morning. We lived in a cul de sac, a dead end road for you and me. Michael Hingson ** 23:10 Nope, no cul de sacs. Very well, that's okay, Simon Sansome ** 23:14 okay, that's fine. I wasn't too sure on the terminology for the American audience. Michael Hingson ** 23:18 It's it's a term over here, too cool, Simon Sansome ** 23:21 excellent. And so I was shouting for assistance. There's nobody there. I didn't have my phone on me. Phone was downstairs, and so I threw myself out of bed, did an army crawl, threw myself down the stairs, but naked, and I don't really remember a lot after that. I don't mean apparently my mom came round. Apparently, the ambulance came round. But I you know, but I don't remember a lot what happened. I really don't. What I know is, when I was taken to hospital, I had an MRI. Don't remember the MRI at all. Obviously, I'm under painkillers at this time, and there's a lot going on, and I'm in shock because I'm paralyzed from the waist down. And yeah, they they did an MRI. The emergency doctor said it was cordial. Quite a syndrome. Cordiaquinas syndrome is fully recoverable if you get an operation within 2448 hours. However, for whatever reason, and we still don't know the answer to this, the consultant overall, the A and E doctor, and said, It's not cordial Corona syndrome, and they put me on the ward for three months not knowing what to do with me, because they didn't know what was wrong with me. And by the time the by that time, the damage had been doing. Needed to do it within a 48 hour window to stop any permanent damage. But no, they left me there, and I was unfortunately left there to rot for three months. The damage had been done, and then I was paralyzed from the waist down for forever. I still, you know, I'm a wheelchair, full time wheelchair user. Now I. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 25:00 yeah. By then it was irreversible and there was nothing you could do. Yeah, Simon Sansome ** 25:04 very much. So, Michael Hingson ** 25:06 so as a paraplegics, can you? Can you now? Well, I've summoned that. You then went through some sort of physical therapy and strengthening and so on. Yeah, Simon Sansome ** 25:17 absolutely. So I went through physio for a while. I mean, some of it has come back. Some of it did come back for a while. They said you probably going to get better for a while, but then it's going to deteriorate again. So the point where the first, after a year, I could walk, you know, 200 meters, maybe, with a walking stick and a frame. So I was getting out, you know, I could walk slightly. I could, you know, so that wasn't too bad, okay, however, then I got a drop foot, so that went so I couldn't really walk anywhere, because I got no balance. And then the other Association went to my legs, so I got to a point where I could walk slightly, a little, and then it started disappearing over the years. It's been 10 years now. So now I've while I've got about, in my right leg, I'd say about, ooh, 10% sensation. But my drop foot, there's nothing at all. Can't feel it, so you can drop it off, I wouldn't notice. And in my left leg, I've probably got about 10% usage. So I can move my legs, I just can't feel anything, and then my bowels and bladder have gone as well. So I've got a self catchpherized and stuff as well. Michael Hingson ** 26:25 Yeah, which? Which my wife always had to do. She was born with scar tissue on her spinal cord, so she's always been that way. We always been apparent. So obviously huge difference in your lifestyle going forward. And how did you cope with all that? What did you do? What did you decide to do? Because you strike me as a person who isn't going to let a lot row of grass grow under your feet, as it were. Well, I Simon Sansome ** 26:55 mean, we didn't know. Wow, this is the thing. We were stuck because I couldn't work, okay? And work made me take ill health retirement. They didn't want me back at work. Even though I didn't want to do that, I was forced to take ill health retirement at 32 we me and Kate. This is where me and Kate were very sensible. Is because Kate was earning a good wage, I was earning a good wage, and we brought the house. That was in case any of any of us lost our jobs, we could still afford the mortgage and the bills. Okay, wouldn't leave us with a lot of money, but we could just, we wouldn't lose the house, right? So if we, if we brought a huge because we had a nice three bed, semi detached, it was a really nice house, but it we could have Afford a House shovel the size, but if we did that, we'd be really stretching ourselves. So because we were sensible. That gave me the option to go and we needed to cover the mortgage effectively, because the bills were the bills and the mortgage were effectively case wage, and so we didn't have really any money to live on. You know, we're talking about 2030, pound a week after all, the bills will come out and the mortgage. So I decided that I was going to return to university to retrain, um, after pretty much the day afterwards. Uh, let's let city council told me how to take ill health retirement, and I applied to university to check do a journalism because I enjoyed Michael Hingson ** 28:14 writing. Did the health retirement then give you some income, Simon Sansome ** 28:18 very little. It was 134 pound a month. And it still is about, I think it's going to be up to inflation, like 150 pound a month. I get it after life, not much. Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, I was 32 there's no money in the park for the ill health retirement, yeah. But what would happen is, is it would give us time to sort things out, and the student loan would cover any food bills, or, you know, anything we needed for that for three years. So it gives us a little leeway. So it gives us a little bit of an income. It takes the pressure off Kate and so I returned to university to train as a journalist, and that's again where everything starts to change again. So, Michael Hingson ** 29:04 but you could write, so there you go, yeah, Simon Sansome ** 29:07 um, couldn't spell. It still can't spell, but I could tell a story, yeah, so I can get it checked by Kate or my mom or whoever. So, yeah, it's, it was interesting. So yeah, I got accepted. And I was twice the age of everyone else there, which was a little bit embarrassing, but I didn't really care. I was more mates with I'm still in contact with them. Actually, I'm still, and this is like 2000 what, 15 until 18 I graduated. Yeah, I'm still in contact on Facebook and stuff with all my lecturers, not the people I went to university with, because, yeah, but all lecturers I'm still in contact with. Michael Hingson ** 29:46 So, you know, I want to come back and continue the story, but now I'm a little bit curious. Given the way things work over here, a lot of times, somebody clearly made them a. Stake in terms of dealing with your diagnosis and so on. Did you ever think about any kind of litigation or going after them legally and looking for funds that way, or anything like that? Simon Sansome ** 30:11 We had to. Never sued anyone in my life. Never wanted to. Yeah, but we're getting to the point where I you know, wheelchairs are expensive. Equipment's getting expensive. Mobility scooters are expensive. We need an adapted vehicle, brooches, medication. We need carers. We need, you know, personal help with personal care, adding confidence power, which was really expensive, and so we didn't realize at the time how expensive having a disability was. So we got to the point where we had to take legal action. And we saw a lawyer, we got recommended one, and after five years, they settled. They didn't go, he didn't go to court. And so that was put in a trust for my protection. Yeah, yeah, because I am going to deteriorate later in life, and the cost of that is going to be extortionate, so that is well protected. So yeah, Michael Hingson ** 31:16 yeah, it's unfortunate you have to do that sometimes my involvement in litigation was that I was thrown off of an airplane because of my guide dog, and we, we sued, we eventually settled years ago. Was back in the early 1980s it's an education to go through the process, and it did go to court. There was eventually a settlement. But it was even really hard to get a good jury, because some of the original people who were potential jurors worked for airlines, or new people who worked for airlines, and so they said they'd be prejudiced, and it didn't matter that a blind person with a guide dog was ejected from an airplane simply because of the dog. Yeah, of course, today that that couldn't happen, well, it could happen, but it would. It can. He Simon Sansome ** 32:10 still does. It does. It Michael Hingson ** 32:11 does and but the laws are, are more substantive, but even so, it lawsuits are, are really not an easy thing at all, and there's a lot of emotion that goes into it, and there's a lot that one has to decide they want to put up with. And you don't really know a lot about that until you're in the middle of it, unless somebody really sits you down and describes this is what's going to happen. I had a little bit of that, but I know how difficult it is to do people have told me I should sue the hospital that put me in an incubator when I was born prematurely, simply because that could cause blindness. And other people have actually sued successfully 20 and 30 years after they were born, they litigated, and I just felt, look, medical science had already started to be told that a pure oxygen environment could lead to what at that time was called retrolateral fibroplasia, which is now retinopathy or prematurity. But I think 2030, and 40 years later, suing doesn't accomplish anything and and so my parents and I talked about it a lot, and we all agreed that that doesn't make any sense to do, and we didn't, and I have no regrets about that, but your situation is significantly different than that. Yeah, Simon Sansome ** 33:44 we had to move house. We had to double our mortgage. We couldn't stay in the house we were in at the time. And yeah, it was, it was a painful experience. So yeah, we needed, we needed an adaptive property at the end of the day, and we simply couldn't afford one. So you found Michael Hingson ** 34:03 one, or did you build one? Or so Simon Sansome ** 34:07 we couldn't find one. We actually brought one off plan, but we had to double our mortgage to do it. Yeah, that was interesting. So that wasn't pleasant, pleasurable at all, but we managed it. So Michael Hingson ** 34:20 we had instances where we built a house from scratch. First one was a manufactured home, and then we we moved to New Jersey in 1996 and we built a house there because we couldn't find a house that we could relatively easily modify. And if you modify a home, the cost is so expensive because you've got to redo doors, you've got to redo counters, you've got to redo a lot of things. That's assuming you can find one that doesn't have too many stairs for a person in a chair, and that you can can ramp those but. If you build a home, there's really no additional cost other than the cost that we had in New Jersey, because it was in an area where they only had two story homes, so we did have to put an elevator in. So that was an additional cost, but that was the only additional cost, because, as you're pointing out, everything else was on plan and you you design it in, there's no additional cost for building lower counters if you're doing it from the outset. So we did that. But then when we moved to we moved back to California, we couldn't find a place to build, and so then we did have to modify a home and it and the problem is that you can't really put it in the mortgage, and it's a little different today than it was when we moved back out here in 2002 but we couldn't put it in the mortgage, so it was $150,000 that we had to find. And eventually it it worked out as you, as you pointed out with like with you. Then we moved here to Southern California. We built this home, and I am, I'm very glad that we did. It's, it's a great house. Simon Sansome ** 36:05 Yeah, we've got a lovely home now. It's fully adapted. It's great, you know, it's large. I can get around quite easily. So it's a it's very nice, Michael Hingson ** 36:14 all one floor, Simon Sansome ** 36:17 all one floor. Yeah, it's extremely long. Michael Hingson ** 36:19 There you go. Well, so you went back to university and and clearly that was a major commitment and dedication on your part to decide to do that, but you didn't. What was the university like? How accessible was the university? Simon Sansome ** 36:36 Oh, it wasn't accessible at all for me. So I had a manual hospital, manual wheelchair. At the time, I couldn't push myself around because of my spinal damage and the spinal damage that I've got. I can't really push myself well in a manual wheelchair, right? And we didn't have any money for a scooter, so the first year, I was really struggling because we didn't know what services we didn't know what services we could access. We didn't know what was available. I'm newly disabled. I'm new to this world, even my work for social services, and until you're sitting in the chair, what you know about the world is absolutely nothing. And so it wasn't until I came across Disability Services at the University who helped me apply for a grant with the snow interest in the UK, and they provided me with an electric scooter. Well, that was brilliant. I mean, oh my god, yeah, it's like I found freedom. Because obviously, you know, so my university is called, my university is called Democrat University. And although it's not on a hill by any means whatsoever. There is a slope going all the way down to the main campus. And it's quite, it's quite a long road, but the slope is very subtle school it helps, yeah, but if you're pushing yourself in a manual wheelchair up that slope, by the time you get to the main road, you're absolutely exhausted. You just can't push yourself anymore. Yeah, and it's about, it's about a quarter mile along the whole campus. And so, yeah, I was pushing myself backwards with my foot on the floor up the hill to get the classes and stuff. And I just said, This is ridiculous. This can't carry on. And so I spoke to Disability Services, and they helped me out. So, Michael Hingson ** 38:16 so what did you do once you So you went to the university, you you did that, and you were committed to making it happen and and there, there had to be times that they would have been tempting to give up, but you didn't. No, Simon Sansome ** 38:30 I wasn't really tempted to get up. I mean, I have side effects from my corticoana syndrome. I have, like, seizures in the legs, which can happen anytime, and that causes that knocked me out for a few days. Yeah, so I did get a few medical exemptions here or there, but, you know, the the lecturers were more than happy knowing that I was capable of doing the work, yeah, which is cool. Yes, very much so. But I did have to have a couple of exemptions here or there, but nothing major. But while I was at university, that's when I set up the Facebook page, which is now known as snowball community, and that's what brings us to it. So, right, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 39:05 so tell us all about snowball and yeah, and everybody should know that I teased at the very beginning. I said, Well, now isn't it time that we should remember that snowball was the name of the pig in Animal Farm. And Simon's not read Animal Farm, so I Simon Sansome ** 39:24 got red Animal Farm can't read, sorry. Michael Hingson ** 39:27 Well, go listen to it. Then, you know, it's not that long on the book. It's not that long. Simon Sansome ** 39:33 No. So when, when, after a year of recovery, when I was going to university, so I went. So we were going out for a meal. It was the first meal me and my wife went out following the injury, okay? And there's a really nice place in Leicester, Spanish tapas, and it was the first time out in the wheelchair for a meal, and we couldn't get in. Okay? We called up and the wheelchair wouldn't go through the door. There was a step. At the front. And they're like, can you step over? That went, No, not really. But what happened was, as well, they put a table in front of the disabled entrance as well. Oh, that was good. Yeah, they had a ramp that went into the road, so that was interesting. And then the disabled toilet was upstairs, and so it was an emitted, a mitigated disaster. It really was atrocious. And this, and we didn't know this, we know I've never paid attention to say what access, you know, it just something we'd never, you know, I've never really been in a wheelchair before, so why? Why would I, yeah, yeah, and only if Michael Hingson ** 40:42 you took an interest, but most people wouldn't think of that, yeah, yeah, exactly understandable. So Simon Sansome ** 40:48 yeah, we just thought, you know, what else can we not get into? And it turns out quite a lot. And so a couple of days later, I decided to set up a Facebook page. It was called Ability access. Back then. It's now, of course, now being rebranded snowball community. And you know, all it was, it wasn't anything special. It was a very simple Facebook page, and it was to raise awareness of disabled access in the Leicester area. That's all I wanted to do. I didn't want awards. I didn't want recognition. I didn't want any of that. But however, within like, I think it kind of triggered something in people. It's not mold. It snowballed. Yeah, exactly. And I'm not too sure why or how, but I started putting a post of pictures of things, of places I couldn't get into, and videos, and, you know, me being angry, and so on and so forth. And, you know, within a like, within a month, I had 1000 followers. You know, they went to 2005 1000. And just kept on growing and growing and growing. Then we got nominated for many the page got nominated for awards. He started winning awards. And that's when I, at the time, I decided I was going to create something, if I could, called snowball community, which was an app. I had the idea of a disability app, but I'll come to that in a second. And yeah, it just, it just would not stop growing at the moment, I think it's about 110,000 followers on social media, and in 2019 it became the most read disability page in the world because people sharing videos, people sharing stories. You know, we were reaching an audience of over 30 million people a month. At one point, it just got absolutely crazy. And I just mean, I couldn't carry on doing that. I mean that took a lot of time, that took a lot of effort. And we just said, Look, we can do something with this. We can use the audience we've got. We've got an audience who follows it on a regular basis, who comments on a regular basis. And I said to Kate, we could do something really special here. And so I just Yeah. Once I graduated in 2018 I graduated from university with, again, a two one with honors in journalism, and I was working as a freelance journalist as well, which is great. It's because I could work whenever I like, but really, ability access would now snowball, just started to take over my life on the social media pages. And I said, Look, we could design an app here and create an accessibility app, and it took years of design to try and get it right. It really did. We took, we took, we did consultations, but also we couldn't afford it at the time either. We had to raise money for it as well. That's quite hard. And so, no, it's at the moment. Snowball was launched last year, and we are looking to get 100 that it's won national awards. It's one we came back from Barcelona last week. Okay? It won funding at a global award ceremony. And it's really snowballing. It's, we're expecting 100,000 reviews on the app this year. Michael Hingson ** 44:04 So do you? So have you created an actual nonprofit organization out of it, like snowball.org or anything like that? Simon Sansome ** 44:15 No, I really wanted to. I wanted it to be a charity organization. Yeah. And the reason I wanted it to be a charity organization, because I had assistance from a charity organization in the UK while at university, however, um, here in the UK, there are very strict rules and regulations on what you can spend the money on if you're a charity. And I wanted to set up a fund to help students who have disabilities at university, so I can do that. But also, I wanted to give 10% of the profits to local businesses who can't afford to do their own adaptations. We're talking small businesses, coffee shops, you know, local cafes, bakers and butchers and so on and so forth, fruit and veg shops who simply haven't got the 1015 grand what's required to make their stores excess. Possible. So I still, I'm still ever have every intention of doing that, but I couldn't do that as a charity organization. The rules and regulations wouldn't allow me to spend the money where I wanted to and where I thought thought, see if it where it's needed to do so for the communities across the UK. So I actually set it up as a limited company with the intention of probably 10% of the profit aside for local businesses to apply for grants when we start making money. Michael Hingson ** 45:30 Yeah, well, but that is, I would still say that is exciting. You're, you're, you're channeling all of that, and hopefully you'll be able to do some major things to to help raise a lot of awareness. So what other kinds of things do you do to help raise awareness about disabilities and so on? Simon Sansome ** 45:50 Yeah, so we're launching a number of profiles, at the moment, a number of things. So what we're doing is, I'm sure you have it in America as well with you, probably for your restaurants and pubs and everything you have, something similar to a food safety hygiene certificate. Yes, I'm not too sure what you call it. Over there, we have a certain similar thing here. It's a rating from one to five, okay? And we're launching something called the snowball membership scheme, and we're taking our 70 staff over the next few months to cover the whole of the UK. And what we're going to be doing is we're launching a scheme where businesses, whether it's Frankie and Benny subway McDonald's, can sign up to the system where we will go out and basically view a disability consultation for 250 quid and give you a full breakdown of what you can improve on your business, but also gives you an access rating that you can promote on social media and say, Look, come to our business. We are disabled friendly, yeah. But what that does is that creates a huge opportunity for businesses and the snowball app, because we are creating the biggest disability app in the world, and it tells you where you can it tells you where you can access, where you can go, okay, where you can eat, where you can shop, but also, more importantly, where you can spend your own money. And I was doing some research earlier today, before this interview. And according to one, I think the valuable 500 is the disabled community in America has $8 trillion of disposable income right to spend on things like restaurants and cinema tickets and so on and so forth, to cafes and, you know, clubs and shops and whatever, per year. So $8 trillion is going unspent because the disabled community in America, which is 60,000,060 1 million, I believe, don't know where to spend their money. Michael Hingson ** 47:48 Well, when you think about the fact that it's the largest minority worldwide, you hear anything from 20 to 25% of all persons have some sort of disability. The The only, the biggest challenge that I see is the problem is that the disabilities aren't uniform. That is, it isn't the same. The needs that that you have, to a degree, are different than the needs that I have. The bottom line, however, is that even if you deal with it in that term that everyone has different kinds of disabilities. The fact of the matter is, it's still awareness. And while you need physical access to get into a restaurant, I need access to be able to to know what's on the menu and know what it's going to cost. And you don't have as much of a need for that, as I do, because you can lift a menu and read it in theory, but the fact is that we all have different challenges, and as I've said a couple of times on this podcast, we need to really redefine disability. First of all, disability doesn't mean a lack of ability at all. This isn't really the issue, because we do have terms like disciple, discrete, you know, they're not all negatives and and so disability is is really something different than what people have made it into. Disability is a characteristic that everyone has, and it manifests itself differently. I love to say that that the reality is, for most people, your disability is that you're light dependent, because most people don't do well in the dark, and they and Thomas Edison fixed it by inventing the light bulb, but it still is a disability, even if it's covered up, because most of the time you have light disability is a characteristic that everybody manifests. It's just that we do it in different ways. Simon Sansome ** 49:44 No, I completely agree. I'm hoping that the system that I've created will address that. So, because what we've done as well is not, it's not just the question of, oh, we're going out there and is disabled friendly, is wheelchair accessible? We're doing. Know, full disability consultation on the business. So, do they have Braille menus? Do they have a change in place facility? You know, is there a lift? Is there Braille on the lift, that kind of thing, and so. And we're also introducing something called the stimulation rating as well. And this is touch, touch, taste, sight, see and spell. And this is to give you an indication of what those things are at that place for people with visual impairments, for mental health issues and learning disabilities. Because, for example, if you go to the British Library, very quiet, you know it's going to be quiet. Okay. If you go to the Natural History Museum in London, well, some days it's really nice and peaceful on other days, because you've got 10 school 10 coaches of school children, absolutely chaotic. Okay, so it does vary considerably. And the whole idea is, is, while it's not a perfect rating system, because, like you said, there are so many different types of disability, not every disability is the same. Yours is different to mine. We're trying to incorporate a holistic approach to making sure that people feel comfortable going there, because they can relate to something that's on the assessment, and they can see what's there, so they get the full report, and therefore they can have an individual, independent, independent, independent decision on whether that place is suitable for them. So it's not a perfect system where it can be changed quite easily through feedback. It can be improved through feedback. It's like a moving model at the moment. It's like 16 pages long the assessment. But hopefully it will with the feedback we're getting and how it will grow. It will hopefully evolve into something absolutely fantastic for everyone to be inclusive everywhere. Michael Hingson ** 51:42 Well, and that's a cool thing, clearly, to do. One of the things that I know well is that you and I were introduced by Sheldon Lewis at accessibe. Sheldon is in the nonprofit part of accessibe in helping to find places that need Internet access and who are nonprofits, especially in the disability world, and helps provide accessibe for that. And I don't know whether you all are doing much yet with accessibe, but clearly it's a great place to get involvement in the whole issue of internet website access is is a horrible thing. I mean, we have so many websites being created every minute, and the reality is that none of the major internet website building companies, including Microsoft and Google, do nothing to insist that for website is being built, it has to be accessible right from the outset. So, you know, accessibe is a great, inexpensive way to help with all that, and I'm assuming that Sheldon and you are working on that somewhat. Simon Sansome ** 52:54 Yes, we are. We've had a discussion, and unfortunately, accessibe isn't available on apps at the moment, but that is something they're working on, and you introduce it soon. So I'm, I think once it's available on the apps, I will after, course, Michael Hingson ** 53:07 but it is, however, the reality is that restaurants and other places do create websites, and people go to websites, and so that's, that's right now, the place where accessibe can make a significant difference. Simon Sansome ** 53:22 Absolutely, I completely agree they should have it on there. Yeah. So Michael Hingson ** 53:26 that is, that is a that is certainly one place where, you know, we can help. And certainly every restaurant should have an accessible website and and if they're going to have menus on the website, then there are certainly guidelines on ways to make those accessible, and that is part of what needs to be done. Simon Sansome ** 53:46 Yes, and I completely agree with you. I support it, of course, Michael Hingson ** 53:50 yeah. And you're right, apps, apps today, that's a different process. It's a different animal, but it will come, and that'll be something that that we'll be able to see. But in the short term, Simon Sansome ** 54:02 yeah, I've told Sheldon, straight away, we'll get it on there straight away, as soon as soon as they've done the development for the apps, for access to be Michael Hingson ** 54:09 Yeah, but right now, well, okay, but right now for your app, it could be accessible. You just build it that way, but it's not the app. But every restaurant should have an accessible website, and that really ought to be part of what you look at when you're going to a restaurant, to explore what and how accessible they are. Having accessible and inclusive websites is certainly something that is very straightforward to do today. Yes, Simon Sansome ** 54:38 it is, but businesses are lazy Michael Hingson ** 54:42 well, but you know, they also that they are, but they also think that it's more expensive than it needs to be, and that's part of the whole issue. I mean, if you go to a restaurant and it's not accessible because you can't get into it, so they're still lazy. They didn't make it. Accessible right from the outset, and either they're going to where they're not, and it's a lot No no, no offense in any way intended, but it's a lot less expensive to make a website accessible than it is to modify an entrance so that you can get in with a wheelchair when there are steps or a very narrow door. Yeah. So it is yeah, laziness goes always Yeah. And Simon Sansome ** 55:23 hopefully, if they do have initiatives that hopefully snowball, can help me out with that, with the credit that we want to provide to small businesses, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 55:30 yeah. And I understand that most businesses are pretty small and don't necessarily have a lot of money to spend, but with websites, that's where accessibe can make a big difference right from the outset? Yeah, absolutely, which is pretty cool. Yes. So what's, what's next as you go forward with snowball What are, what's the future going to hold? Simon Sansome ** 55:52 Oh, my God, right. So, I mean, we're having a huge expansion, as I said, we're taking on about 70 staff to cover the whole of the UK. We're actually looking to franchise it as well across North America and Europe. We've also asked to be consultants for a number of governments as well. So it's going from strength to strength to strength. Every week, we keep on getting inquiries. We've got customers signed up already for the assessments, for the membership schemes. Loads in London. London's really taking off quite nicely. So it's where we're going at the moment is, I don't know, but in a couple of years time, I think we're going to be a major player in the app world for accessibility, because we already are the most that we are the biggest disability app in the world at the moment. Mm, hmm. By a long, long way, by, you know, 10s of 1000s of reviews. So nobody's really going to catch up with snowball, but we still need people to use it on a regular basis. That's the thing, because all the information we get is usually generated. Okay, in the UK, we're doing really well. In America, we need a bit more help. Yeah, but, you know, I was having a I was doing another podcast a couple of weeks ago in America, and there's a chap who wants to give us 10,000 locations of petrol stations across America where they went, because he doesn't know where to post it. All this information on accessible fueling stations across America, where they'll come out and help you to fill yes and you to fill your yes and stuff, and do help to pay for it. And he's just got no idea where to post it. So parallel, we think he's going to get we will win early stages of talks, and he wants to give us that information to help people to travel across America, and so they know where they can go and get their car filled up with assistance. So it's just we need people like that to leave reviews, to add places to use it on a regular basis, even if you go, even if you spot a car, you know, disabled car parking bay, you can have that. If you find an accessible toilet, add the accessible toilet. If you find an accessible restaurant, add the restaurant. Even if you find an inaccessible restaurant, add the inaccessible restaurant, because it will stop people going there and being disappointed. So all that information is extremely relevant to help people to be live a more independent life. So we need as many people across the world, including America, to download to to add reviews like you would on TripAdvisor. Is TripAdvisor for the disabled community. We just need more reviews and more people to use on a regular basis, and it will grow considerably. And therefore, once that's grown, we can start helping people more with like booking cinema tickets, booking airline travel holidays, and expand it that way as well. Because once businesses know that you're booking it through snowball, then they know you need extra assistance. So Sheldon, Michael Hingson ** 58:43 has Sheldon talked to you about access find? Uh, no, okay, access is again, right now, it's website oriented, but access find is a database that accessibe created of accessible websites, and any website can say, you know, we have, we have made our website accessible, and it's checked, but then, when it is, then they are included in access, find. And it might be interesting to explore that, both in terms of websites, but finding ways to expand it. So we can, we can explore that and talk about that one. So what? What motivates you? I mean, you're doing a lot. Why? Simon Sansome ** 59:28 It's the frustration of not being able to so, I mean, yes, remember, I for 32 years, I was fully independent. I could go anywhere in the world. I wanted to Okay, and it's the frustration that the world is not I'm not going to say it's not welcoming, because it's not that's not quite right. I'm going to say uneducated. And the ignorance of that everyone can access everything after having an injury like mine is very small mindedness, and I get. Frustrated that, because I travel a lot for work. I travel all over the world, and when we turn up to places, you know, we haven't got the right room, we can't access the hotel, we can't access the restaurant. It's got to the point where we don't choose where we want to go the place chooses us, yeah, and I don't, I don't think that's fair, no. And so I just want an equal opportunity world. That's what I don't like being turned away from places where we want to go for a family meal. I don't like being turned away from the cinema because the disabled seats so close to the screen. You know, it's, you know, it's just It frustrates me. And that's what, you know. I think that's what keeps up, keeping me going, but also as well, is when I was in hospital, because I got told I would never sit up again. I got told I was going to be on my back for life. Okay? And I'm very fortunate where I am. I mean, I know that sounds really stupid, because I'm paralyzed from the waist down, but I am very fortunate where I am, and I see, especially from a social services point of view, there are so many more people worse off than I am okay, and I just want to help them as much as I can. I want to give them choice. I want to give them a bit of independence. I want them to have that freedom of not being restricted to, you know, five, five places to go and eat, or, you know, the only place you can go to the cinema. I want you to the only tourist attraction you can visit. I want them to be fully inclusive. I want them to have a good life, you know. And I think snowball can help a lot of people do that. Michael Hingson ** 1:01:40 Well, that's cool. So if people want to learn more about Snowball or access the app and so on, how do they do that? And how do they reach out to you? Yeah, Simon Sansome ** 1:01:50 I'm on LinkedIn. Simon Samson, just send me a message. That's not a problem at all. Spell, if you would please. Yeah, S A N for November, s o m for mother, E for Echo, Michael Hingson ** 1:02:03 and first name Simon, s, i, m, o n, Simon Sansome ** 1:02:05 that's correct. You can also, you can also email us at support at snowball dot community,
Did you know oak supports over 2,300 species of wildlife? Discover this and more fascinating facts in our episode dedicated to the nation's favourite tree. We join Trust experts, Jules and Kate, at Londonthorpe Woods, near Grantham, to find some fascinating growths on oak trees, known as galls, and learn why hunks of deadwood are so important. We then visit the star of the show and 'Lincolnshire's best kept secret' - the astonishing 1,000-year-old Bowthorpe Oak. It's one of 12 amazing oaks in the running for 2024 Tree of the Year. Which one will you vote for? Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive. Adam: Well, in this podcast, we're looking at the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year competition, which is all about oaks and is on a quest to find the nation's favourite one. And there are lots to choose from. There is the Elephant Oak in the New Forest, the Queen Elizabeth Oak in West Sussex, the Darwin Oak in Shropshire, the Capon Oak on the Scottish Borders and plenty of others to choose from across Wales, Somerset, County Fermanagh, Cheshire and well, lots of other places as well. And you can vote for your favourite oak by going to the shortlist of them at the voting site woodlandtrust.org.uk/vote, so that is woodlandtrust.org.uk/vote and we'll repeat that again at the end of this podcast. Well, today I'm going to see one of the oaks in contention for the Tree of the Year, the Bowthorpe Oak in Bourne, in Lincolnshire, a tree which has a hollow interior and had previously, that interior had been fitted with seats and had been used as a dining room for 20 people in the past, 20 people! It must have been an enormous oak and that's not a practice I think that's recommended these days. Well, certainly not. But nonetheless it's a great oak which has played a great big part in the local landscape and is much loved, not just in the UK but attracts plenty of visitors from abroad as well. Now, oaks have an amazingly important part in our culture and in days gone by were, I think, central in Druid folklore, for instance, in fact one amazing fact I have learnt making this podcast is that the name Druid comes from druer, the Celtic for oak for the word oak and wid means to know, so Druid means oak-knower, so there's a good fact for you. Anyway, enough of me. I'm off to meet some people who know all about oaks and unusually I am not starting by a tree. So, unusually, we're starting in a car and I'm joined by two women from the Woodland Trust. So first of all, introduce yourselves. Kate: I'm Kate Lewthwaite. I am citizen science manager at the Woodland Trust. Adam: Wonderful. And our driver for the day is... Jules: Hi, I'm Jules Acton. I'm a fundraiser with the Woodland Trust. Adam: So we're going to look at a few oaks today, one of which is actually in the running to be the Tree of the Year, and you can vote on that still and I'll give you details a little later on on how to do that. But first of all, you were telling me that you have a little present for me. I always like to start the day with a little present. Jules: It's always good to start the day with a little present, I think and here's a little one for you. Adam: Oh, and it's wrapped up in tissue paper. It's an early Christmas present. How very good. So what is that? OK so do you want to describe it? Jules: OK so it's a little, it looks like a little woody marble really, doesn't it? And it's got a little tiny hole you can see just there and some extra other little tiny holes. That is an oak marble gall. Adam: An oak marble...ghoul? Jules: Gall. Adam: And how do you spell that? Jules: G A double L. Adam: G A double L and what what is it? Jules: So this is this is incredibly special, so this has in many ways changed human culture, this little tiny thing. Certainly amplified human culture. So this is a gall, which is made by, and it's made by a little tiny wasp. And the wasp lays a an egg in the in the bud of the tree of the oak tree. And it makes the oak change and it sort of changes chemically. It's really strange. And it makes the the oak form this little marble shaped thing on the end of a twig. And that becomes home for the gall wasps' larvae, and so that the little larva grows up inside it and it has this its own special home, but it's also full of lovely food. So that's interesting itself and that it's it's it's it's got this sort of little little home but it what's particularly interesting human, from the human perspective is that these kind of galls were used to make ink for about 1,000 years and the the kind of ink that they made, it was used, I think, until the middle of the 20th century. So kind of until quite recently. So Shakespeare's plays were written on oak gall ink, Newton's theories, the American Declaration of Independence, huge amounts of historic documents. Adam: So just trying to understand that, Shakespeare's plays were written on ink created by this thing? Jules: By a gall like, yeah, this kind of thing by by a gall. Yeah. But you can you can still now you can make gall gall ink from these little little things here. So it in many ways it it amplified, this little tiny thing we've got here, amplified the whole course of human history, culture, etcetera in our part of the world. Adam: Quite an extraordinary place to start our journey today. Wonderful. So, OK, so we're, yes, we'll put that away nice and safe and we'll start our journey. Kate, do you just want to start by telling me what we're going to do when we get out of the car? Kate: We're going to have a walk round Londonthorpe Wood, which is one of the Woodland Trust sites, one of our thousand woods that we own and we're going to see an oak tree that Jules has found for us to go and talk about. Adam: Fantastic. All right, well, let's go. Jules: Well, well so we've just seen some amazing galls on what looks like quite a young tree, it's probably about 30-years-old, would you say, Kate, this one? Kate: Maybe, yes. Jules: And, yeah, they're they're bright red and they're on the underside of the oak leaves and they look a bit like cherries and Adam: I was going to say, the one you showed me was all grey, you gave me an old rubbish one, didn't you? This is what they look like when they're on the tree. It's red, it does look like a cherry. Jules: Yeah, this is a particularly stunning one, isn't it? And they they are literally called cherry galls. And they again Adam: They're called cherry balls? Jules: Cherry galls. Adam: Galls, cherry galls. Jules: And they're about the same size as the marble gall that we saw earlier. And I believe they are also caused by a gall wasp. And but what is good about these kind of galls is that they're relatively easy to spot. So once you get your eye in, you start seeing them everywhere, so it's a really lovely thing to start doing, you know, with children or just looking yourself when you're out on a on a walk, you know. Adam: Wow. So that shows that a wasp has formed that? Jules: Yeah Adam: And these are non-stinging wasps, aren't they? Jules: These are non-stinging wasps. They're teeny, teeny, tiny wasps. They don't look like your your black, you know the big black and and and yellow stripey things that come at your ice cream, not that there's anything wrong with those wasps, they're lovely too. Adam: Inside that gall is baby wasps? Is that? Jules: There will be a little larvae inside there. Adam: And that's what they're using as as food, or is it? Jules: Yes, that's their home but it's also their food source. And I'm not at some point in the year the the the little tiny wasp, once it's developed, will will kind of drill its way out and then be set free to the to the wider world. But I think we'll find some other kinds of galls, actually. So it might be worth us moving on a little bit and just see if we can. Adam: OK. Moving on, yeah, that's politely telling me to be quiet and start walking. Jules: Oh sorry *laughs* Adam: Sorry, there's a, oh it's a tractor going up and down the field next to us. So that's what the noise is in the background. But the fact that we we sort of just held a branch here and and Kate was already, you know, lots of wildlife, jumped onto her jumper, does raise the issue about how many, how much wildlife an oak supports. And I was hear some fantastic number. Just tell me a little bit about that. Jules: We know that the oak supports more than 2,300 species and that they could be species that that feed off the oak, that live inside it, that live on, on, on or or around it, that you know they perch in it. So species using the the oak tree in all different ways and they are, they they they're birds and mammals, they're lichen, fungi, invertebrates. All sorts of different kinds of species, but what's important, I think, is that they're only the species we've countered, and I think there are a huge number more that we just haven't got around to counting would, would you agree, Kate? You probably know more about this than me. Kate: Yes, definitely. And some of those species can live on other types of tree, and some are only found on oak trees, so they're particularly important. And of course, we haven't started talking about the value of deadwood and all those wonderful rare beetles whose larvae live in the wood. So there's lots to be said about that as well. Adam: I'll tell you what, let's just walk all further away from this tractor, which sounds closer than it is, and you can tell me about the importance of the deadwood. Jules: Well we might see some spectacular deadwood. Adam: Oh well, we might see some, OK. OK, so we have stopped by some deadwood and you're going to explain why, is that right? Right. OK. Kate is going to explain. Well, why have we stopped here, Kate? Kate: Because deadwood is absolutely fantastic and we have a history of a nation of being a little bit too tidy and taking it away and using it for firewood and other things, when actually it's an amazing habitat in its own right. I'm just looking at the variety of rot holes, of larval galleries where the insect larvae have fed, and then the adults emerged. And it is like a whole habitat in its own right. And actually deadwood is really rare. Much of the woodland in the UK is not felt to be in good ecological condition and one of the reasons for that is a lack of deadwood. So it's incredibly important habitat and we don't have enough of it. Jules: One of the things I didn't understand until recently and Kate, you might know more about this than me, but there's there's different kinds of deadwood. So if you have, it's important to have deadwood in different formats, so standing deadwood so when the old tree is still standing upright, and and deadwood that's lying down on the ground. Adam: Right. What what why, so it matters if it's vertical or horizontal? Jules: It it it matters that you have both kinds. Adam: And why? Jules: Because, I feel like I'm at the edge of my knowledge, so it's because about it's about different habitats, isn't it Kate, is that right? Kate: Yeah, I think so. And the the wood will rot at a different rate. It's quite ironic because the one we're standing at now is actually at a 45° angle. So it's neither vertical nor nor horizontal. And of course, oak trees are absolutely full of of tannins, which I think are the same compound you find in the oak galls that enable the writing. But they also mean, you know this huge, great piece of deadwood here could be around for hundreds of years because it won't, it will rot very, very slowly. Jules: And and one of the great things is when you have deadwood right next to living wood as well, because that creates all these different conditions which will suit different kinds of invertebrates and fungi as well, so that that's really important to have this collection of of different kinds of wood in in you know in a similar area. Adam: Excellent. OK, we've, we've stopped. We've stopped Kate, and you've got very excited. Kate: It happens quite easily when I'm out in nature. And there's a whole pile of knopper galls on the floor here, and they're black. You know, they've dropped off the tree. They've done their job. The the wasp has flown off. But I wondered if we could, I've no idea if this is gonna work, I wondered if we could actually try writing with them because they are oozing black. Adam: Oh my, right, this is so exciting. OK, so this is like this is a modern day Shakespeare. Have you got? OK. The line is to be or not to be. I see. Hold on a second. So you've picked it up, right, I I think you might do something to it. Kate: Well, I might have to. Shall we see, shall we see if it just? Adam: Right, but you're not, you're just gonna? Jules: Ohh there we go. Kate: There is a brown ooze and it's I think it's not just from the path. Adam: I was going to say, it's not just mud. Kate: It's not. It's this kind of coffee colour. Adam: Wow, OK. And you are writing to be or not to not be. Kate: I am writing to be or not to be, I I don't know if I break it open a bit more if you might get. Ohh. This is gonna stain my nails, isn't it? Adam: OK. Ohh dear, don't worry I'll I'll pay for the the visit to to the nail parlour. Kate: *laughs* I shouldn't worry. Yes, we are actually getting some. Adam: To be or not to be. Well, I'm sure that would have actually been mixed with water or something. Kate: Most likely Adam: Or some alcohol and put into a quill, but that does what hold on, let me just rub it, see. Well, I can confirm that is not just what we have now created ink. Proper exciting. Kate: Absolutely. Adam: Thank you very much. Well, we're heading away from our ink gall-bearing oaks to see the main attraction of the day, which is a short drive from here. It is the Bowthorpe Oak, one of the contenders for Tree of the Year. It is rooted in a grass paddock behind the 17th century farmhouse nearby. In 2002, the Tree Council, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, designated the Bowthorpe Oak one of 50 great British trees. One of the 50 greatest British trees in recognition of its place in our national heritage. And I'm meeting the current custodian of the oak who runs the farm in which it lives. George: My name is George Blanchard and I am one of the family members here that farm at Bowthorpe Park Farm. Adam: Right. And you have, we're standing by this famous tree. People come here to see this tree? George: They do, yeah, we get them from all over the world. A lot of lot of UK, obviously, Europe and America, we get a lot of interest from America. Adam: Well, tell me a bit about this tree. George: So this tree, the Bowthorpe Oak, is the UK's largest girthed oak tree. It's absolutely stunning as you can, as you can see, fully in leaf at the moment it looks amazing and yeah, that's it's claim to fame. Adam: Right it's wide the widest I think it was the second widest tree in the UK. Is that right? George: We know it's the largest largest oak tree in in terms of it's it's the most complete, you know. So I think there could be wider ones, but not quite as complete. Adam: Not quite as good as your tree! George: Yeah, exactly. This is yeah *laughs* Adam: No, I agree. And and is is this a family farm? Is this? George: It is yeah. Adam: Right so you've grown up, you've you played under the boughs of this tree. George: I have. Yeah, yeah and and inside it as well. Remember it is hollow so. Adam: Right. Yeah. So tell me a bit about the sort of the folklore and the stories around the tree. George: Yeah so oak trees naturally start to hollow at around 500 years old, but this one was hollowed even further, back in the 1700s by a chap called George Pauncefort and Adam: It was, it was, it wasn't naturally hollow, he hollowed it out? George: They they do, they do naturally hollow, but he hollowed it even further. And you can tell this when you're looking inside it, because the the sides are quite flat. It's very unnatural. You can see so the hollowing has been done by by tools. And so he also put benches around the inside of it and a and a doorway on on the west side and even even sort of paved the flooring but and and put a pigeon loft in the crown, which I think, I think back in the day in the 1700s, if you had a pigeon loft in your tree, you were somebody *laughs*. Adam: Ohh really that's like Lamborghini time, right? OK, forget your Lamborghinis, I've got a pigeon loft in my tree. George: Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And he would have parties in there as as you would, wouldn't you? Adam: Well, yeah, of course. I mean, you've gone to all that trouble. Was he a member of the family? Was this being passed down? George: No, no, there's no there's no relation, no relation. We've we've only been farming here since the sort of late 40s. Adam: Right. OK, amazing. Amazing stuff. And I mean, and it looks in fairly, I mean as you say, it's in good leaf, it's in also just it looks to the untutored eye in good nick as well, generally healthy. George: It is yeah. Really good really good condition currently. We lost a a limb off the back and that was that was quite concerning because it's it's quite dramatic when they shed a shed a limb, but it is what they they naturally do. We have an inspection done on the tree annually, but at the time of losing the limb, we were, we were quite concerned. So we upped the type of inspection we had done. And they were quite, quite invasive, I say invasive it was, you know, using really small drills, to see if there's any adverse rotting in any places. But no, they were really happy with the condition of the tree and and how healthy it is so other than any sort of man-made issue, I don't see why it shouldn't carry on growing as it is. Adam: And it's amazing because, I mean, you know, it's taken us quite a while to get here and people come here all this way just to see this tree. George: They do, yes, yes, seek it out, we call it Lincolnshire's best kept secret. Adam: Right. Amazing. From all over the world? George: They do yeah yeah. From all over the world. Like I say, a lot of a lot of Europe people come from Europe and a lot of people come from America. We find that the two two types of people from America, those that really appreciate it and those that just can't get their head around it because it's nowhere near as big as their redwoods *laughs* Adam: Right? Call this big. Call this big, you should see... George: Exactly. Yeah, call this big, we've got bigger. Adam: Yeah OK. Brilliant well thank you very much, I will take a tour round it. George: Thank you. Adam: So one of the other, now I have to say, first of all, let me have a look at the front front, we've taken a book with us because Jules has published a book called Oaklore and you've brought it out here because there is a poem about this oak in your book. Jules: There is and it was written well over 100 years ago by a poet called John Clare and but the interesting thing is when he wrote this poem this would have already been an ancient tree, so it's it's quite an interesting record that he was standing in awe, looking at this tree, just like we are now really. Adam: Right, right. So when did he write this? Jules: I don't have the exact date in front of me, but I know it's over well over 100 years ago. Adam: OK, well over 100 years and you're going to put on your best poetry reading voice. Jules: *laughs* I'll have a go. Adam: Go on, give us, I always love, I mean, we did this in the Sherwood Forest podcast where we took a book about Sherwood Forest and a book about a tree to the tree it's about. So we're now going to read a poem about the tree we're standing by. So this poem by John Clare. Jules: And it's called Burthorp Oak. So here we go. Burthorp Oak. Old noted oak! I saw thee in a mood Of vague indifference; and yet with me Thy memory, like thy fate, hath lingering stood For years, thou hermit, in the lonely sea Of grass that waves around thee! Solitude Paints not a lonelier picture to the view, Burthorp! than thy one melancholy tree Age-rent, and shattered to a stump. Yet new Leaves come upon each rift and broken limb With every spring; and Poesy's visions swim Around it, of old days and chivalry; And desolate fancies bid the eyes grow dim With feelings, that earth's grandeur should decay, And all its olden memories pass away. Adam: Brilliant. That's that's a lovely poem to read by by the tree. Jules: I think it's quite interesting that he says age rent and shattered to a stump so it it sort of suggests that the tree is in a worse condition than now, wouldn't you say so Kate? And it looks like it might be happier now than when Clare saw it. Kate: I was just looking at it and I mean it looks like some of those shoots have put on a good foot of growth this year. So that's the amazing thing about ancient oaks is they they so-called retrench. So all the limbs, the limbs drop off, they become shorter and and and wider and then they might all just start to sort of grow again and it sort of goes through these amazing cycles. Certainly there's a lot more vegetation on it than when I last saw it 15 years ago. It looks fabulous. Adam: And also a lot of oaks grow very tall. This isn't so tall it it is wider, isn't it? It's a squatter tree. Is that because it's actually not had to compete, because it's actually in a field by itself isn't it? It's not competing for light with lots of other trees. Kate: Yes, maybe. And also trees like this do, the really ancient trees they do tend to become short and squat and it's part, and hollow, and that's part of their survival strategy is that they'll shed some of these top branches and they'll, they'll shorten and and widen. Adam: Right. I mean, oaks are really important, aren't they in the UK especially, they're part of the national identity, really, aren't they? And and a lot of that's got to do with folklore, which I know, Jules, you've written about as well. Jules: Yeah, I mean the the oak has been part of our culture well, as far as as, as as far as we know as far as written records go back and even we we believe that the the Druids themselves were very also very interested in oak trees and they worshipped in oak groves and they particularly worshipped mistletoe, the rare mistletoe that came off off oaks. Of course, we don't have written records on the the Druids, so we don't, we know very little about them, but that's certainly what we believe. And then it's been threaded throughout our our history and our culture that the oaks right up to the present day, you know people are still writing about it and painting painting oak trees and you've got wonderful ambassadors like Luke Adam Hawker who is very inspired by oak trees and goes out drawing them. Adam: Why do you, I mean I don't suppose there's an answer, but do you have a take on why we've landed on the oak as such a a central part of our mythology and identity? Jules: Well, I I think I think all of our native trees will play a role in that in our folklore and our mythology and and our culture, I think the oak is is is a particularly impressive tree isn't it, especially when you're standing next to a tree like this that that is so majestic and and you know the words like majestic, kingly, queenly, grand, they they just sort of pop into your head. There is just something incredibly awe-inspiring about the oak tree. And then, as we've we've seen before it, it just has such a huge impact on our ecology as well. So I think I think it's just something it it does a lot of heavy lifting culturally and also naturally the oak tree. Adam: And almost every pub is called the Royal Oak. Jules: Yes, yes, I think there's at the last count there's well over 400 pubs called the Royal Oak. Adam: And you know that personally by visiting them? Jules: Well, I've yes, I've I've tried to count them all. I've still got some way to go *both laugh* Adam: Yeah. OK, OK, alright. Well, it's it's a good project to be having. Jules: So there's an interesting story behind the that name the Royal Oak. And the reason the pubs are called that relates back to a very special oak tree, the Boscobel Oak. Now we have to go back in history a few hundred years. And it takes us back to the Battle of Worcester and the son of Charles I was in in battle with the with, with, with the parliamentarians, and he took a drubbing at the Battle of Worcester, and he needed to escape. And he reached this place called Boscobel House, and he was going to hide out in, in that house and try and escape the the soldiers, the the enemy. But it was very insecure and one of his advisers suggested he, instead of hiding in the house, he hid in the oak tree. So they spent the whole night in the oak tree, which subsequently called called the Boscobel Oak, and this and and and they escaped capture and the king spent the whole night with this chap called William Careless as he as he was called Adam: William Careless? Jules: William Careless who turned out not to be careless at all because he actually saved the king. And apparently the king sort of curled up with his head on Careless' knee and and he, they they got away. They got away with it and because of that you know that then obviously led into a whole series of events which ultimately led to the restoration of the monarchy and said King became Charles II and and because of that there was an enormous celebration of oak trees. So they they they were raised in status even further. So we've got all the Royal Oak pubs which are effectively commemorating that occasion. But there's also a great day of celebration was declared. It was the 29 May. I think that was the King's birthday, and it was 29 May. And it became oak apple day. And that was when we would all when people across the land would would gather and and celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. And one of the things they used to do was they people would bring branches with oak apples, which is another of those amazing galls. And the more oak apples you had on your branches, the better the better you were, you know, the, the, the cooler you were at the party. And if you didn't bring oak branches with you, apparently people would be mean to you and they'd whip you with nettles. Adam: Blimey, this story took a turn! Jules: Yeah, these parties got these these parties got quite out of hand. I actually think we should bring these days back. Not, no nettles. But I think actually wouldn't it be great if we spent every 29 May celebrating our amazing oak trees and and and also the wider nature around us. Adam: Yeah, we've missed it this year, but I'm putting a date in for us to meet at a Royal Oak somewhere between us on 29 May. Jules: Yeah, let's do it. Let's party. Yeah. And maybe drink a glass of oak flavoured wine or whisky. Adam: OK, never had that, but I'm I'm up for it. I'm up for it. Kate, this is also important because this is in the running for Tree of the Year. Kate: Absolutely. So the Woodland Trust hosts the UK Tree of the Year competition, and this year we've focused on oak trees. Adam: So so they're all oaks. Kate: All of them are oak trees this year, so we've got 12 candidates from across the UK and the wonderful Bowthorpe Oak here is one of them. It's my local tree so I'm a little bit biased, but these trees all tell amazing stories. We've got one that's shaped like an elephant in the New Forest. We've got one that has survived being in the middle of pine plantation in the Highlands of Scotland and we've got one that's sadly under threat from a bypass in Shrewsbury. So we've got some amazing stories from these trees and the public can vote. So voting closes on the 21 October 2024 and you can go to the Woodland Trust website so it's woodlandtrust.org.uk/vote. Adam: There were some cow noises just as you said that in the background! Just to prove that we're in a farm *all laugh*. Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Join us next month when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff partners and volunteers. And don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you are listening. And do give us a review and a rating. If you want to find out more about our woods and those that are close to you, check out the Woodland Trust website. Just head to the visiting woods pages. Thank you.
99.1 Mr. LundinA man, haunted by a childhood encounter with a mysterious figure named Mr. Lundin, returns to London and finds himself drawn to a fateful decision on Westminster BridgeWritten and narrated by Luke Kondor (https://www.lukekondor.com)Produced by Karl Hughes (https://x.com/karlhughes)With music by Chris Zabriskie (https://chriszabriskie.com/)And Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.orgThe episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)A quick thanks to our community managers, Jasmine Arch, Joshua Boucher, and his eyeless ones Mary Pastrano and Cody CzarzastyAnd Joshua Boucher for helping with our submission reading.And to Ben Errington the ongoing explosion of content being fired out of his Social Media canon.Luke Kondor is the award-winning creator and voice behind The Other Stories podcast, with over 12 million downloads. He was recently commissioned by the George A. Romero Foundation to write a four-part audio drama set in the world of Night of the Living Dead. Currently, he lives and works in the middle of Sherwood Forest, dances with his Bengali partner, sings songs with his pet cat, and sometimes gets sad for reasons he can't quite explain. He wants you to know that you're going to be okay.For more head to www.lukekondor.com.Join TOS+ to access over 90 exclusive episodes, get regular stories in higher quality audio, a week early, and ad-free, at https://theotherstories.net/plus/Support the show, get audiobooks, and more at https://www.patreon.com/hawkandcleaverJoin our communities for book clubs, movie clubs, writing exercises, and more at https://theotherstories.net/community/Leave a voicemail or get in touch at https://theotherstories.net/submissionsCheck out our writing courses at https://theotherstories.net/courses/Grab some merch at https://gumroad.com/hawkandcleaverThe Other Stories is a production of the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver, and is brought to you with a Creative Commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Don't change it. Don't sell it. But by all means… share the hell out of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Addie Bond, Sherwood Forest Executive Director, sits down to discuss her organization's mission to break the cycle of poverty for kids through a balance of camp activities and evidence-based programs. As a youth-development agency anchored in a summer camp, Sherwood Forest immerses kids in nature to create separation between their school lives and camp lives. And it works—100% of leadership training graduates go on to graduate from high school! Participants learn how to try new things and fail successfully, building resiliency skills that support their growth in all aspects of life.
Contrary to popular belief, Robin Hood may not have been the merry medieval outlaw of Sherwood Forest. Rather, a look at real historical figures who inspired the legend are narrowed down to the most unlikely suspect: an Anglo-Saxon hitman who may have assassinated the King of England.Today's guest, Peter Staveley, proposes that Robin Hood lived during the time of William II (near the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066), rather than Richard I and Prince John of the late 1100s. He argues that Robin was responsible for the death of William II, also known as Rufus, in what was long considered a hunting accident in the New Forest in 1100. This act conveniently paved the way for William's brother to ascend the throne as Henry I. Staveley places Robin deep within the geography of South Yorkshire, with strong ties to historic Hallamshire, Loxley, Bradfield, and Ecclesfield, challenging the traditional narrative and the long-held association with Nottingham.We explore how Yorkshire, particularly Sheffield, might reclaim the legacy of Robin Hood from Nottingham and reveal the true, rougher man behind the legend.Staveley is author of “Robin Unhooded, And the Death of a King.”
While much of my interview with Rob James includes information about visiting the annual Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forest, if you don't anticipate being able to make that particular trip, the episode also includes discussion about promoting wildlife diversity in Sherwood, the importance of the Robin Hood legend for the local community, and more!To learn more about the Robin Hood Festival go to: visitsherwood.co.uk/home/robin-hood-festival-2024/Or simply visitsherwood.co.uk for planning a trip any other time of year or for learning more about what remains of this ancient oak forest.For more from Into the Greenwood:instagram.com/intogreenwoodtwitter.com/intogreenwoodthreads.net/@intogreenwoodfacebook.com/intogreenwoodyoutube.com/@intothegreenwoodpodcast6559To support the podcast go to:patreon.com/IntoGreenwoodorbuymeacoffee.com/intogreenwoodOur selected charity: Trees, Water & PeopleSupport the Show.
Robin Hood is back! He does look a little different from the last time though.Either way, Hammer take us back to Sherwood Forest, does this adventure work better than the last attempt?“The House Of Hammer Theme” and incidental music - written and produced by Cev MooreArtwork by Richard WellsAll the links you think you'll need & more!https://linktr.ee/househammerpod
In this conversation, Professor Alison Milbank discusses the concept of the parish and its importance in the life of faith. She shares her experiences growing up in the Church of England and the changes she has witnessed due to secularization. Milbank emphasizes the significance of the parish as a local community that brings together people of different ages and cultures. She also explores the threats to the parish, including the influence of secularization and the rise of bureaucratic managerialism in the Church. Milbank argues for a return to the core activities of the church and a focus on mission and evangelism. They also discuss the significance of parish buildings as spaces for community engagement and the potential for the parish to address issues such as mental health, social justice, and environmental sustainability. Despite the challenges, she expresses hope for the future of Christianity and the resurgence of faithfulness. Alison Milbank is Professor of Theology and Literature at the University of Nottingham, where she works in the field of religion and the arts. She has had a particular interest in horror fiction from Daughters of the House: Modes of the Gothic in Victorian Fiction in 1992 to God and the Gothic: Religion, Romance and Reality in the English Literary Tradition (2018). She has also published on Dante reception (Dante and the Victorians, 1998) and on fantasy and religion (Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The Fantasy of the Real, 2007). She is also an Anglican priest, currently Canon Theologian and Priest Vicar at Southwell Minster, a cathedral and parish church in a small town near Sherwood Forest. In 2010, with Andrew Davison she wrote For the Parish: A Critique of Fresh Expressions and in 2023, The Once and Future Parish, with six lectures on the book available on you tube at https://www.youtube.com/@sshoxford5856/videos Associated with the Radical Orthodoxy movement, she co-edited Preaching Radical and Orthodox, with John Hughes and Arabella Milbank Robinson. Presenting Sponsor: Phillips Seminary Join conversations that expose you to new ideas, deepen your commitment and give insights to how we can minister in a changing world. Supporting Sponsors: Torn Curtain Arts is a non-profit ministry that works with worship leaders, creatives, and churches to help avoid burnout, love their work, and realize their full creative potential. Theology Beer Camp https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/ Future Christian Team: Loren Richmond Jr. – Host & Executive Producer Martha Tatarnic – Guest Host / Co-Host Paul Romig–Leavitt – Associate Producer Danny Burton - Producer Dennis Sanders – Producer
Kevin Costner stars as a Robin Hood with the winning smile and bow skills to make maidens quiver. Yet it's Alan Rickman who steals the show portraying a villain dark as Snape and as cold as Hans Gruber. Is robbing the rich to help the poor even relevant today? Clamber up a tree and join the Brains in the 'Ewok Village' of Sherwood Forest!
Book one-on-one story sessions hereRead this as an article, and share your thoughts hereIn part 1 of this two-parter on belonging, we were getting into moving between circles of belonging.I attended a class recently with the wonderful artist-teacher-ceremonialist-textile practitioner: Laura Burns. I interviewed her some time ago; dig back and have a listen if you'd like. She spoke about moving between circles of belonging, and gave the example of queer folks who were born in a family who are not welcoming to queerness, especially in their own children. These children experienced a crisis of belonging in their families. Those who stood their grown often found the strength to do so because of finding new belonging with other queer folks. In this other circle of belonging, that part of themselves—that integral part of themselves—was not just tolerated but very welcome. We can't live without belonging somewhere. How can we find the strength to disagree and stand for principles in one circle of belonging, unless we find belonging in another circle?For myself, when I came into seeking spiritually, I didn't find much belonging in my own culture, in secular society or in a church. I found belonging in a spiritual path from another land. When I fell out of that, I found belonging in marriage, and in connection with the lands where I grew up. Now I'm seeking a diversity of belonging, because I'm suspicious of putting too many eggs in one basket, especially baskets of human belonging. We see this moving between circles in the animal world too. If the mother of a group of ducklings is killed, they may follow another mother. We see it on an international level. When Einstein couldn't stay in Europe at the onset of World War Two, he found some belonging in the United States. When young men from the United States were drafted into the Vietnam War, and they refused to risk their lives for a cause they abhorred, they found belonging across the border in Canada. I have a great uncle named Walter, back in England, more than a hundred years ago. His father had died and his mother lacked the means take care of him and his sister. She left them in Sherwood Forest (famous for Robin Hood). They were found beneath the trees by passer-by's, and the call went out, ‘Who will care for these children?'Someone took Walter, another took his sister. The people who took them in were not biological relations, but relations nonetheless. They raised the children up, and Walter married into my family. Those kids found a kind of belonging, and Walter and I are part of the same extended family, although I'm too young to have met him in the flesh.In this way, people and animals are sometimes forced to find belonging, unsure of whether they'll find it or not, of whether they'll even survive. But for many of us, we may at least step into another circle of belonging to find some strength so we can turn and make a stand in the circle giving us trouble. Like finding belonging in a queer community to make a stand when coming out with one's family. Or taking a step into a spiritual community to come out as weirdly spiritual with one's colleagues. Or taking a step into an earth-connection group to make a stand with one's ascendant-minded congregation. Laura Burns also spoke of a mentor of hers, who as a child got bounced around from one foster home to another, and couldn't find anything close to the kind of belonging that she needed. She found it in spirit. A spiritual belonging where she dwelled, in the absence of human belonging. Now, as she grew up, she was able to find and forge connections within fellow humans, but for some time that spiritual belonging was enough to keep her alive. Human and Spiritual Belonging: A Figure-EightLaura Burns suggested that human belonging and spiritual belonging could be conceived of together as a figure eight. Energy moves around this form, with each one feeding into the next. Human belonging can help spiritual belonging can help human belonging can help spiritual belonging can help human belonging. When things go sideways in human belonging—because we can be strange and fickle—then there is spiritual belonging. It is more steady, though perhaps more difficult to conceive and understand for our mammalian natures seeking warm skin and food. Spiritual belonging can feel vast and cosmic, or near and intimate. Both are important, and both can feed each other. Moving Between Vocational CirclesIn business, moving between circles could mean stepping into a new field to gradually build up connections, clients, and funds; while keeping one foot in the old arena. For myself, my old arena is working with media— films, podcasts, paintings and such. I'm stepping into helping people think in stories, as I'm doing with this article. I thought I might leave the media work quicker than I have, but I'm realizing that this is a slow step, and that actually there's more connection between these two fields than I had realised. It may not be such a bad thing to keep a foot in both. Story PromptsConsider a circle to which you belong, which feels prescient and relevant to you now. This could be family, friends, an interest group, an area of the earth or business that you're involved in. What do have to offer to this circle? Of that, what is understood and welcome in the circle and what is not? Then consider another circle of belonging.What do have to offer to this circle? Of that, what is understood and welcome in the circle and what is not? Consider how you might adjust yourself in relation to this first group, and in relation to this second group, so that you can express all that you want to express, and receive nourishment in kind. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.Thanks for reading!Until the next. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe
Overtaxed, overworked, and paid off with a knife, a club, or a rope. No, we're not talking about today's politics, we're traveling back to Sherwood Forest! We've seen a few versions of Robin Hood in our time. Some might say too many. At the end of the day, it might just be this one that's worthy of earnest praise. So trend-setting in action/adventure film that it'd feel cliche if you didn't know better. But now you *will* know better!
"Doctor, I am going. Perhaps it is best.” Our First President to die in a foreign country, John Tyler, 10th President of the United States.! Learn about his tumultuous post-Presidency; his illness and death; his funeral, burial, and commemorations, plus his controversial gravesite!Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other information!Episode Page:Season 1's John Tyler Episode-"John Tyler and Greenway Plantation" on his birthplace!Season 2's John Tyler Episode-"John Tyler and Sherwood Forest" on his home!Support the Show.Visit the social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
In this long-awaited episode, we talk about the video game franchise that meant so much to both of our childhoods, Spyro the Dragon. We discuss the first three original games that were released on the Playstation One--Spyro the Dragon, Spyro: Ripto's Rage, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon--as well as the more recent Reignited Trilogy that recreated those original classics. Also in this episode, Mitchell quizzes Clifford on his BBC Robin Hood knowledge and Clifford quizzes Mitchell on his Kingdom Hearts knowledge. Sign up for My Podcast Reviews today using our link! https://mypodcastreviews.com/?ref=podwoodforecast Listen to the show on whatever platform you prefer! Just go to this link: https://anchor.fm/podwoodforecast Check out our sosh meeds! https://www.facebook.com/podwoodforecast/ https://www.instagram.com/podwoodforecast/ Subscribe to Clifford's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ImCliffordToday/ Follow our band Sherwood Forest! https://www.facebook.com/musicofsherwood/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/2U9eals0CKSoRQ7UTv0uQl?si=WUZxyR_yTxSL1qRLV1O9Uw --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podwoodforecast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podwoodforecast/support
Allen, AJ and April conclude their look at Robin Hood and The Sorcerer Part One — the opening story of the popular ITV/Showtime 1980s TV series written by Richard Carpenter and starring Michael Praed. This episode includes special contributions from Claire Stemp (author of The Haunting of Galloglass Hall), Conrad Westmaas (actor in the Doctor Who audio dramas and Robin of Sherwood: Tales Untold), Andrew Orton (author of The Hooded Man volumes 1 and 2), Sytse Wilman (Dutch journalist and creator of the Robin of Sherwood podcast) and Thaddeus Papke (host of Into the Greenwood podcast). We also have the second part of our interview with actor Mark Ryan (Nasir) who talks about his childhood in Sherwood Forest, Nasir's backstory, and the various attempts to revive Robin of Sherwood. A production of the Wright On Network. Contact us at prydonian.post@gmail.com X @sofederation www.patreon.com/wrightonnetwork
Naomi visits Sherwood Forest and gets her first experience of Robin Hood! What did she love, what did she hate? Plus, your answers to what you could do better than 100 random people for a billion dollars!
The interview with filmmaker and National Energy Talk host Mark Stansberry started off discussing a shared petro-powered experience involving motion pictures and media. The Crude Life's founder Jason Spiess had the privileged to be invited on to the production studio and set of Sherwood Forest, a docufilm about a historic time in American [...]
This week on Fika with Vicky it's just going to be us as I look into the world of Robin Hood, its origins and the trail it has left behind. I'll be giving my thoughts on The Sherwood Oracle having spent some time with it, and discussing Ivanhoe and Sir Walter Scott. I may not be an expert, but it is a subject I am passionate about. So, consider this an introduction episode as we begin an adventure that will lead to more guests, more books and more Sherwood Forest. About Robin Hood: From the Nottingham Castle site - “A rebel. A revolutionary. An icon. Nottingham's famous outlaw truly is the stuff of legend. An international icon of English folklore whose name is known all around the world. A charismatic and defiant defender of the poor, Robin Hood continues to inspire and entertain new generations to this day.”
Robin Hood is perhaps the most recognisable figure in English folklore, darting through legend in Sherwood Forest. Yet discussions in the past tried to claim Robin as an ancient god, recast as a literary outlaw, or as one of the Good Folk, whether a local sprite or Robin Goodfellow himself. How did these writers draw the conclusion that Robin Hood was anything other than a leading character in a series of medieval ballads? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/robin-hood-myths/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/ Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social Tweet Icy at https://twitter.com/IcySedgwick
"In ye year of Grace, Mary and Uncle Fred, 1190, Wallace Greenslade, an itinerant announcer, was bounde for Nottingham when ye coach was stoppd inne Sherwood Forest by Robin Hood who did persuade himme to join hys bande as second sackbuttist and part-time dustman. Greenslade did don Lincoln Green and did assiste ye outlaws in their recklesse adventures." (Radio Times listing for 'Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest', December 1954) This week Tyler and guest Chas Early look at the Robin Hood-themed episodes of The Goon Show - Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest from Series 5 and the special from 1956, Robin Hood, as well as some brief chat about the earlier Christmas Pantomime of Robin Hood from Series 3 which only exists now in script form. All three shows share some similar dialogues and scenes and each featured special guests: Charlotte Mitchell in Ye Bandit; Dennis Price and Valentine Dyall in the 1956 Robin Hood; and Dick Emery & Carole Carr back in 1952. There's a lot to unpick so splug yourself on a gillikin spike and tune in!
March Madness 2024? No no no. On the JFH Podcast, we're creating a massive bracket to determine the greatest album of 2004. JFH staffers Chase Tremaine, Josh Balogh, Scott Fryberger, and Evan Dickens pit against one another on this episode to narrow the year's top 64 down to only 32. You will have the chance to vote on the top 32 within the JFH Podcast Facebook group. This episode is sponsored by Sherwood Forest, whose new single "Disentangle" is available now. Click here for more information. The JFH Podcast is hosted and produced by Chase Tremaine and executive produced by John DiBiase and Christopher Smith. To meet the people behind the show, discuss the episodes, ask questions, and engage in conversations with other listeners, join the JFH Podcast group on Facebook.
The wait is now over and you can finally stop wondering what Clifford and Mitchell's favorite films were from last year! Sign up for My Podcast Reviews today using our link! https://mypodcastreviews.com/?ref=podwoodforecast Listen to the show on whatever platform you prefer! Just go to this link: https://anchor.fm/podwoodforecast Check out our sosh meeds! https://www.facebook.com/podwoodforecast/ https://www.instagram.com/podwoodforecast/ Subscribe to Clifford's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ImCliffordToday/ Follow our band Sherwood Forest! https://www.facebook.com/musicofsherwood/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/2U9eals0CKSoRQ7UTv0uQl?si=WUZxyR_yTxSL1qRLV1O9Uw --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podwoodforecast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podwoodforecast/support
Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. That's what Robin Hood was known for. Today, it's what the governments of the world are known for. And Robinhood is an app that allows regular people to buy, sell and trade stocks and cryptocurrencies. The app came upon controversy during the Gamestop debacle, and we are fortunate to have the general manager of crypto at Robinhood with us today to answer the tough questions, and the not-so-tough questions. There's a slight chance for a Sherwood Forest-style serenade as well. But only slight, because it turns out that assuming that Robinhood employees can actually play a guitar that's sitting in their living room may be a poor bet. So let's get down to business as we steal your attention from the rich so we can give it to the poor who don't have podcast access on our episode #715 of The Bad Crypto Podcast. Full Show Notes at: badco.in/715 SUBSCRIBE, RATE, & REVIEW: Apple Podcast: http://badco.in/itunes Google Podcasts: http://badco.in/google Spotify: http://badco.in/spotify Amazon Music: http://badco.in/amazon FREE NFTs when you JOIN THE BAD CRYPTO NIFTY CLUB at https://badcrypto.uncut.network FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: @badcryptopod - @joelcomm - @teedubya Facebook: /BadCrypto - /JoelComm - /teedubyaw Facebook Mastermind Group: /BadCrypto LinkedIn: /in/joelcomm - /in/teedubya Instagram: @BadCryptoPodcast Email: badcryptopodcast[at]gmail[dot]com Phone: SEVEN-OH-8-88FIVE- 90THIRTY DISCLAIMER: Do your own due diligence and research. Joel Comm and Travis Wright are NOT FINANCIAL ADVISORS. We are sharing our journey with you as we learn more about this crazy little thing called cryptocurrency. We make NO RECOMMENDATIONS. Don't take anything we say as gospel. Do not come to our homes with pitchforks because you lost money by listening to us. We only share with you what we are learning and what we are investing it. We will never "pump or dump" any cryptocurrencies. Take what we say with a grain of salt. You must research this stuff on your own! Just know that we will always strive for RADICAL TRANSPARENCY with any show associations. Support the show: https://badcryptopodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A kingdom burdened by war, taxes, and a tyrannical monarch ...As England struggles to carry on in the absence of the good King Richard, other forces begin gathering to grab power. Meanwhile, those who suffer most are the common folk, crushed under the weight of excessive taxation and lawlessness.Rich soundscapes, original music, and compelling voice acting bring the medieval world of Robin Hood to life, immersing listeners in an epic tale of bravery and justice--in a way you've never heard before.CAST and CREW for this episode:Alicia Hansen as Maid Marian Andy Harvey as Friar TuckJonathan Cooke as Robin Hood Sound design by Alicia HansenVoice track editing by Craig HartWriting, Directing, and Production by Alicia Hansen, Jonathan Cooke, and Craig HartEpisode music by Dominic Treis; LRT Media theme composed by John CampbellCover art by Craig Hart; Robin Hood logo by Jonathan WinsteadRobin Hood: Rising to Honor is a production of LRT Media and Eternal Future Productions
In this episode, we're flipping the script with a Patreon takeover topic from our listener, Emma!
Stephen Cohen is an English-born historical fiction and non-fiction writer, with a passion for delving into the depths of both imagination and history. Hailing from Sutton-In-Ashfield, England, Cohen's love for storytelling was nurtured amidst the enchanting landscapes of Sherwood Forest, where he would often play with his child, fostering a deep appreciation for the mysteries of the past.A seasoned traveller, Cohen has explored over fifty countries, immersing himself in diverse cultures and landscapes. His wanderlust led him to reside for a year or more in seven different countries, each experience enriching his understanding of the world and its myriad histories.During his travels, Cohen developed a particular fascination with the relics and remnants of World War II, actively seeking out historical sites associated with the conflict. His journeys yielded not only cherished memories but also a vast collection of photographs documenting his encounters with the echoes of the past.Cohen's profound interest in World War II evolved into a dedicated hobby, inspiring him to delve deeper into the era's complexities. This passion culminated in the creation of his debut novel, "Blue Ring Assassins," a gripping tale set against the backdrop of wartime intrigue. Originally conceived as a standalone work, the success of "Blue Ring Assassins" has propelled Cohen to expand it into a trilogy series, set to captivate readers with its blend of historical authenticity and thrilling narrative. As 2024 unfolds, the eagerly anticipated continuation of Cohen's saga promises to transport audiences on a riveting journey through the annals of history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Artifice'A struggling artist from a renowned family, tries to overcome his creative block by illegally enhancing his AI printer, SARA, into a sophisticated art-making machine.'Written and narrated by Luke Kondor (https://www.instagram.com/lukeofkondor)Produced by Karl Hughes (https://twitter.com/karlhughes)With music by Chris Zabriskie (https://chriszabriskie.com/)And Thom Robson (https://www.thomrobsonmusic.com/)And sound effects provided by Freesound.orgThe episode illustration was provided by Luke Spooner of Carrion House (https://carrionhouse.com/)A quick thanks to our community managers, Joshua Boucher and Jasmine ArchAnd Joshua Boucher for helping with our submission reading.And to Ben Errington, the Quantum Quill, his content transcending the limits of any one social media platform.Luke Kondor started writing on his computer in his early teens and never looked back… and now he has very sore eyes. He also runs and produces a short story podcast called The Other Stories, which has amassed over 11-million downloads and has a monthly listenership of ~100k downloads. Currently he lives and works on a dining room table in the middle of Sherwood Forest. For more head to www.lukekondor.comJoin TOS+ to access over 75 exclusive episodes, get regular stories in higher quality audio, a week early, and ad-free, at https://theotherstories.net/plus/Support the show, get audiobooks, and more at https://www.patreon.com/hawkandcleaverJoin our communities for book clubs, movie clubs, writing exercises, and more at https://theotherstories.net/community/Leave a voicemail or get in touch at https://theotherstories.net/submissionsCheck out our writing courses at https://theotherstories.net/courses/Grab some merch at https://gumroad.com/hawkandcleaverThe Other Stories is a production of the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver, and is brought to you with a Creative Commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Don't change it. Don't sell it. But by all means… share the hell out of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is it true that Robin Hood hung out in Sherwood Forest and stole from the rich to give to the poor? No. No, it's not. Find out the real story in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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