Bloomin' Legends with Johnny Vaughan & Gavin Woods

Global Player Originals
Global Player Originals
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Comedy

Join mates Johnny Vaughan and Gavin Woods as they uncover the jaw-dropping stories of history’s boldest icons and unsung heroes. From outrageous escapades to ingenious breakthroughs, every episode is packed with legendary tales you didn’t learn in school (but wish you had). With sharp wit and a shared sense of curiosity, Johnny and Gav turn history into a rollercoaster of laughs and surprises. Whether it’s daring escapes, bizarre inventions, or the quirky habits of history’s game-changers, you’ll be hooked on their unique take on the past. Perfect for history buffs, comedy lovers, and anyone who enjoys a cracking good story, Bloomin’ Legends is your new favourite podcast for unforgettable adventures through time. Get in touch with @BloominLegends on tik tok & Instagram. For advertising opportunities on this podcast, email: GlobalStudiosSales@global.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global Production, produced by Ben Fairclough.

  1. 9h ago

    Mark Anthony: The John Terry of Ancient Rome

    Friends, Romans, countrymen… get a load of this. He was a disgraced party boy in his twenties, a war hero in his thirties, and ruling a huge chunk of the Roman world by his forties. He became Julius Caesar’s right-hand man, fell for Cleopatra, and went all in on battles, banquets and spectacularly bad decisions. In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods take on Mark Antony — the brilliant soldier, legendary liability and hopeless romantic they’ve dubbed “the John Terry of ancient Rome”. What You’ll Hear in This Episode: 🍷 Brilliant soldier, terrible dinner guest – drinking, gambling and hiding from creditors before he’d even turned twenty. How Rome’s wayward party boy found his calling commanding cavalry 💪 Apparently related to Hercules – Antony claimed divine ancestry and even styled himself to look the part. Johnny and Gav consider whether being descended from a demigod is the ancient equivalent of having had trials at Crystal Palace 🗣️ The funeral speech that sent Rome into meltdown – with Caesar murdered, Antony turns a public funeral into a political masterstroke. Blood-soaked clothes, an inheritance for the people, and a crowd that’s suddenly very interested in finding Brutus 🐍 Cleopatra knows how to make an entrance – she arrives on a golden barge dressed as a goddess. He’s a man with a taste for lion-drawn chariots. Naturally, they hit it off and start a dining club dedicated to outrageous excess ⚔️ Marrying your rival’s sister only gets you so far – fragile alliances, brutal revenge and a return to Cleopatra. How Antony’s relationship with Octavian went from sharing power to fighting for control of the Roman world 💔 A disastrous battle and an even worse message – the retreat at Actium, the false report of Cleopatra’s death, and a tragic ending that sounds like Shakespeare made it up If you love ancient Rome, larger-than-life characters and history’s most spectacular rises and falls, this episode of Bloomin’ Legends is for you. Got a legend you want us to cover? Or know someone who’s brilliant at their job but an absolute liability after a few drinks? Johnny and Gav want to hear about them. 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin’ Legends is a Global production. New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

  2. 4d ago

    The Extra Legendary Bit: The Worst Party Tricks We've Ever Heard

    A man who attempted to sniff a piece of string up his nose and pull it out of his mouth, with no practice, in a packed pub, on a Sunday lunchtime, and got thrown out covered in his own sick. And a dad whose signature party piece involved a recorder, an empty sleeve, and a finger poking out of his flies. The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation. What You'll Hear in This Episode:🪢 Gary and the string trick – he'd seen someone do it once, never practised, gathered everyone round the bar to watch… and it ended in vomit and a barring 🎼 The one-armed flute player – one listener's dad had a party routine so cringeworthy his own sons would leave the room when they saw him reaching for the jacket 🏥 Johnny's grandad, the tube-insertion champion – a pioneer of modern anaesthesia who has a engraved tankard from his grateful students for winning a competition doing basically the same trick as Gary 🍺 Man Size Issues – Johnny and Gav accidentally start a men's health podcast about moobs, Spanx, and why nobody can trust anything they're told about butter If you love funny true stories, listener tales, terrible party tricks, pub disasters and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you. Got a story that can top this week's madness? 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben Fairclough New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

  3. Aug 26

    Leo Major: The Canadian Sniper Who Captured 93 Germans on His Own

    He lost an eye at Normandy and refused to go home. He broke his back and carried on. He captured 93 German soldiers on his own. And then, in April 1945, he liberated an entire Dutch city single-handedly by running around it all night with a machine gun and a bag of grenades, convincing the Germans they were surrounded. In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Leo Major, the French-Canadian scout and sniper who treated his own safety as an optional extra, and became one of only a handful of Canadians ever awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal twice. What You'll Hear in This Episode:👁️ He lost an eye and stayed anyway – hit in the face by a phosphorus grenade days after landing on Juno Beach, doctors wanted to send him home. He pointed out he only needed one eye to fire a rifle 🪖 93 prisoners, one man – how a single Canadian scout captured two German soldiers, marched them to their own commanding officer, and ended up with an entire company surrendering to him 🎖️ The medal he allegedly refused – the story goes he turned down a decoration because he didn't think Montgomery deserved the respect of a salute 🦴 A broken back, then back to work – a landmine killed the chaplain and driver beside him and threw him through the air. Thirty miles to a field hospital, morphine every fifteen minutes 🔥 The liberation of Zwolle – after his friend Willie Arsenault was killed, Major spent an entire night alone faking a full-scale invasion, organised the Dutch Resistance, burned down the Gestapo HQ, and by dawn the Germans had gone. The city named a street after him 🇰🇷 Korea in running shoes – he goes back for another war, slips 18 men through the Chinese lines in plimsolls, takes a hill, and then refuses an order to retreat for three days If you love World War 2 stories, war heroes, military legends and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you. Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben Fairclough New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

    Leo Major: The Canadian Sniper Who Captured 93 Germans on His Own

  4. Aug 23

    The Extra Legendary Bit: Worst dinner guests in history

    Johnny picks a war criminal over David Walliams as a dinner companion. That's where this one starts. What You'll Hear in This Episode: 🍽️ Dinner Party Guests From Hell – Listener Kevin assembles a 10-person table including John Fury, Slobodan Milošević, Katie Price, James Corden and David Walliams. Johnny would rather sit next to the war criminal. Any day of the week. 🧖 Celebrity Steam Room – Johnny recalls the time the steam cleared and he found himself naked with Ross Kemp, Ainsley Harriott, Lee Chapman and Dr. Fox. Ross pitched a show. It was terrible. 💣 History's Biggest What If – The boys debate the single decision that may have saved Britain in WWII — and why one bomber over Berlin changed the course of modern history. 🏅 George Broadley: A Real Blooming Legend – Listener Lee shares the story of a man who dug through Blitz rubble with his bare hands, rescued children, and was awarded the George Medal by King George himself. Got a story that can top this week's madness? 📩 Send it to bloominlegends@global.com and we'll decide if it's Bloomin' Legendary or just brilliantly bonkers. 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download from your app store or visit www.globalplayer.com New episodes every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss one! This is a Global Original Podcast, produced by Ben Fairclough.

  5. Aug 19

    Joan of Arc: The Saint Who Led an Army at 17

    She was 17, had never held a sword, and travelled 300 miles across France to find a king who was hiding among his own courtiers. She walked straight past the decoy, found him immediately, then told him something privately that apparently only he could have known. Within moments, the sceptical future king was visibly shaken, and Joan was given an army. In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Joan of Arc, the teenage peasant girl who claimed she was on a mission from God, lifted the Siege of Orléans, crowned a king, outsmarted France's most educated theologians and became one of history's most extraordinary saints. What You'll Hear in This Episode:👑 The secret meeting – how Joan spotted the real Charles among a crowd of courtiers and told him something that apparently turned him from sceptic into believer. But what did she actually say? 🐎 300 miles on horseback – how a 17-year-old girl travelled across France to find the future King after claiming she'd been ordered to drive the English out. 📚 Joan vs the professors – how an uneducated teenager went head-to-head with France's top theologians and left them struggling for answers. ⚔️ The teenage general – how Joan helped lift the Siege of Orléans, led French armies into battle, took a cannonball to the helmet and carried only a banner rather than a weapon. 👑 Crowning a king – how Joan marched Charles to Reims and helped turn the supposedly illegitimate Dauphin into the crowned King of France. 🔥 The trial – how Joan was interrogated, accused of heresy and condemned at just 19, with wearing men's clothes becoming part of the case against her. 👻 The fake Joan – how, five years after her death, another woman appeared claiming to be Joan of Arc — and somehow even Joan's own brothers went along with it. If you love history, saints, medieval warfare, unbelievable true stories and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you. Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube. Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben Fairclough New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

    Joan of Arc: The Saint Who Led an Army at 17

  6. Aug 16

    The Extra Legendary Bit: Why All Guard Dogs Are German Soldiers

    Johnny has gone full barking mad this week, realising that all three of the world's top guard dogs are German, you can imagine every one of them in a helmet, and that Alsatians are only called Alsatians because nobody in Britain would buy a German dog after World War I. The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation. What You'll Hear in This Episode:🐕 Johnny's German dog theory – Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds: all guards, all German, all looking like they should be wearing a helmet. Plus the true story of why Alsatians are called Alsatians (only in Britain) 🐟 The Doberman who saved a koi carp – one listener's dog bangs on the back door "like the Gestapo demanding entry" while gently holding a 14-inch fish in her mouth 🏛️ The pharaoh's curse update – Tertius returns to Egypt with a fedora and a stolen pyramid shard, hoping to undo a curse, and ends up bribing his way into sealed tombs 🦈 The naked shark swim – four drunk Australian teenagers strip off to swim across Sydney Harbor in the dark, nearly get hit by a speedboat, and later discover bull sharks had moved in If you love funny true stories, listener tales, dog nonsense, Australian chaos and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you. Got a story that can top this week's madness? 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben Fairclough New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

  7. Aug 12

    "The Worst Woman Who Ever Lived?" Elizabeth Báthory

    She spoke four languages, owned more land than the King of Hungary, and may have tortured and murdered up to 650 young women over 25 years. When they finally caught her, she was so powerful they couldn't even put her on trial - so they bricked her up inside her own castle and left her there until she died. In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods tackle Elizabeth Báthory - the 16th century Hungarian countess considered the most prolific female serial killer in recorded history, and the first true villain Bloomin' Legends has ever covered. What You'll Hear in This Episode:🏰 The Blood Countess – how one of Europe's most powerful noblewomen allegedly used her wealth, land, and total impunity to torture and kill for over two decades 🐴 The most horrific execution ever? – as a child, Báthory witnessed a man sewn alive into a dying horse with his head left poking out, and it may have shaped everything that followed 🩸 The blood-bathing myth – did she really bathe in the blood of virgins? Almost certainly not — that detail was invented by a Jesuit writer over 100 years later 🤴 Too powerful to punish – why the King of Hungary wanted her gone, how her downfall was probably motivated by debt, and why she never stood trial 🧱 Bricked up alive – her final punishment: walled into a room in her own castle with no doors, no windows, and no sunlight for three and a half years until she died If you love true crime, dark history, serial killers, medieval horror and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you. Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben Fairclough New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

    "The Worst Woman Who Ever Lived?" Elizabeth Báthory

  8. Aug 9

    The Extra Legendary Bit: A Beach Bar Brawl and a Christmas Plumber

    A night out turns into a beachside evacuation. Thirty Royal Marines charge into the dark wearing boots, body armour and ballistic helmets, armed with whatever they could find in the galley, including a two-handled boiling pot. The Extra Legendary Bit is the bonus episode where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods leave the history books behind and dive into the unhinged, moving and brilliant stories sent in by you, the listeners. What You’ll Hear in This Episode: The Royal Navy Run Ashore That Got Out of Hand – Gareth remembers his late dad Sean: a teenage Navy recruit, a police-car-light heist in Pensacola, and the Caribbean night a beach bar bust-up required a full Marine rescue mission.Can a D******d Still Be a Legend? – Mary asks the big question: can one heroic act outweigh years of being difficult? Johnny answers with a surprisingly profound passage from Tolstoy about why human beings are like rivers.Uncle Dave, the Christmas Plumber – Jason nominates the man who has spent 40 years keeping elderly customers warm, fixing boilers for free and quietly being a bloomin legend. 🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel! Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: bloominlegends@global.com 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Cassie Merritt New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

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About

Join mates Johnny Vaughan and Gavin Woods as they uncover the jaw-dropping stories of history’s boldest icons and unsung heroes. From outrageous escapades to ingenious breakthroughs, every episode is packed with legendary tales you didn’t learn in school (but wish you had). With sharp wit and a shared sense of curiosity, Johnny and Gav turn history into a rollercoaster of laughs and surprises. Whether it’s daring escapes, bizarre inventions, or the quirky habits of history’s game-changers, you’ll be hooked on their unique take on the past. Perfect for history buffs, comedy lovers, and anyone who enjoys a cracking good story, Bloomin’ Legends is your new favourite podcast for unforgettable adventures through time. Get in touch with @BloominLegends on tik tok & Instagram. For advertising opportunities on this podcast, email: GlobalStudiosSales@global.com Bloomin' Legends is a Global Production, produced by Ben Fairclough.

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