6 episodes
The Town That Didn't Stare Podot
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- Religion & Spirituality
There is a town in England called East Grinstead. It is a quiet, unassuming town, with a beautiful church and a row of timber framed Tudor houses on the high street. It is everything you'd expect from a quaint, middle-class town. And yet, it is the town that didn't stare; the home of alternative religion in the UK. From the Scientologists to Opus Dei, druids to Mormons, East Grinstead has it all. But why?
Praise for The Town That Didn't Stare:
"Arch and funny, but... deeply serious in trying to understand the peculiar history of the town" – Financial Times
"Facinating... mysterious, it really hooks you in" – BBC
"Brilliantly arch" – Sunday Times
"Hilton is an engaging narrator, tip-toeing the lines between nostalgia, comedy and truth-telling" – The Big Issue
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Land of the South Saxons
From the early humans of the Middle Pleistocene era through to the Norman conquest, the history of Sussex is a tale for the ages. East Grinstead, the town that didn't stare, is nestled in this landscape, but what do we know of the thousands of years before the bricks, houses and churches of the town sprang up? What do we know of this wild land where rhinoceros once roamed free? What emerged from the malaria filled marshland of the Sussex coast?
The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.
Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.
End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.
Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.
The interviewees on this episode were: Mark Roberts, Miles Russell, Damh the Bard, Christopher Hewitt, Caroline Metcalf and Jon Ronson.
This is the first part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
The Scientologists on the Hill
In 1959, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, one of the world's most controversial religions, bought a manor house in the sleepy Sussex town of East Grinstead. In doing so, he changed everything for that town. East Grinstead was now world famous, not as a middle class commuter town with a beautiful timber-clad high street, but as the focus point of global concerns about abuses and corruption in alternative religion. How did it happen? What is life like for British Scientologists? And what did this little town do once it became Britain's home of occultist belief systems?
The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.
Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.
End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.
Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.
The interviewees on this episode were: Tony Ortega, Professor Eileen Barker, Jon Ronson, Charlotte G, Jon Atack, John Sweeney, Peter Fagg and Ken Eckersley.
This is the second part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
The Ley of the Land
There is something that makes East Grinstead special, and has drawn extraordinary people to what looks, on the surface, like a very ordinary town. Amongst those who read the land like a book – like a religious text – there are those who say that the town marks the confluence of ley lines, the invisible underground energy currents that, for millennia, have silently and secretly governed the fate of mankind. Could it be that the town that didn't stare is Britain's most unusual town because of these ancient, mystic powers?
The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.
Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.
End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.
Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.
The interviewees on this episode were: Graham Gardner, Professor Elizabeth Loftus, Amelia Tait, Louise Devoy, Richard Creightmore, Marc Heal and Damh the Bard.
This is the third part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
The Guinea Pig Club
What is the Guinea Pig Club?
At the height of the Second World War, the sleepy Sussex town of East Grinstead played host to one of the most remarkable and revolutionary medical facilities of the 20th Century. The town's famous Guinea Pigs were severely burned airmen who had come to the Queen Victoria hospital for treatment under the scalpel of the great Archibald McIndoe. What happened from there has become the stuff of local legend and earned East Grinstead its nickname: the town that didn't stare.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.
Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.
End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.
Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.
The interviewees on this episode were: Emily Mayhew, Gordon Bebb, Jonathan Parrett, Kathryn Ferry, Jonn Elledge and Martin Jennings.
This is the third part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
A Very British Killing
In 1556, three martyrs are burned at the stake. In 1812, the Prime Minister is gunned down in the House of Commons. And in 1996 a businessman is shot returning to his mansion.
This is the story of East Grinstead, its violent history and its ghosts.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.
Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.
End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.
Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.
The interviewees on this episode were: Nick Hall, Caroline Metcalf, David and Anne-Noelle Pinnegar, Barry Depp, Christopher French, Jonathan Parrett and Kim Sengupta
This is the fifth part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Why East Grinstead?
East Grinstead, the home of Scientologists, Mormons, Rosicrucians and more; a nexus for ley lines, a perfect Prime Meridian settlement and Britain's most haunted town. But why?
Why is East Grinstead, this little town in Sussex, so strange? What happened to make East Grinstead this unstaring town? Is this a question that can ever be truly answered? And do we really want to know the answer?
The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.
Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.
End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.
Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.
The interviewees on this episode were: Ian Sellar, Eileen Barker, Jack Valero, Jon Ronson, Jonathan Parrett, Jack Tindale, Tim Bale and Itiel Dror.
This is the final part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.
The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.