Absolute Units

The Museum of English Rural Life
  • 4.8 (36)
  • History
  • Updated Biweekly

Lo-fi clip-clops and bleats to relax/study to. Welcome to the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. Based at the University of Reading, we explore the past, present and future of the English countryside. Hosted by Joe Vaughan and Dr Ollie Douglas. Chaotic Good.

  1. 4h ago

    Bad Bunny, Star Wars, and Stardew Valley (Joe and Ollie special)

    Send us Fan Mail What have we been up to lately? What's coming up? And what's the rural significance of Bad Bunny's performance at the Superbowl? In this episode, Joe and Ollie have a general chat about a bunch of different topics, which each connect - in some surprising ways - to the collections we hold here at The Museum of English Rural Life.  Guy Shrubsole on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/guyshrubsole.bsky.socialThe Skylon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(Festival_of_Britain)--- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  2. Jul 16

    What can we learn from the T-rex? (with Tom Oliver and Marzia Briel)

    Send us Fan Mail We're back with our second episode with the University of Reading's Tom Oliver and Marzia Briel! We continue talking about their Nature-centric Catalyst project, how we can rebuild our relationships with the natural world, and what's coming up next for our collaboration with Tom and Marzia at the museum. Relevant links: Nature-centric CatalystTom OliverMarzia Briel--- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  3. Jul 2

    Ego vs eco (with Tom Oliver and Marzia Briel)

    Send us Fan Mail How does humanity fit into nature? How long have we viewed ourselves as being apart from it? And what are the problems that creates? This time, we chat with Tom Oliver and Marzia Briel from the University of Reading to learn about their Nature-centric Catalyst project. We discuss the rights of nature, the advocacy landscape today, and how we can better centre the natural world in our thoughts and deeds. Also, we end with a 5-minute meditation, beautifully performed by Marzia. Relevant links: Nature-centric CatalystTom OliverMarzia Briel--- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  4. Jun 18

    Radical Rural Revisited (Joe and Ollie special)

    Send us Fan Mail Okay. Take 2. Last month we drew to a close two major installations at The MERL: our gallery trail Radical Rural, and our exhibition Voices of the Countryside. In this episode, Joe and Ollie reflect on these two projects. We explore what we learned from them, what they meant to us, and how we want to build on this work for the future. We also talk about the World Cup, explain what the heck went wrong last time, and go on a few other tangents that we don't regret at all. Enjoy. Relevant links: Radical Rural: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/radical-rural-gallery-trail/Man in the Woods' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/man.in.the.woods/?hl=enWild Card's Rewilding the Ghost Woods: https://wildcard.land/campaigns/rewild-the-ghost-woodsCPRE: https://www.cpre.org.uk/--- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  5. May 28

    The art of accessible spaces (with Anahita Harding)

    Send us Fan Mail How do museums engage with accessibility, both as spaces that welcome visitors and as collections of human stories? On this episode, we're joined by the brilliant disability activist and performance artist Anahita Harding.  We discuss Anahita's work in agricultural museums (both the Food Museum and The MERL), the histories of disability in our collection, and how we can improve access and representation for disabled people in the future. Relevant links: Anahita's website: https://anahitaharding.com/Len's Leg: https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/newshow-a-false-leg-inspried-a-farm-safety-campaignCurating Visibility: https://curatingforchange.org/--- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  6. May 18

    50 Million Pheasants Later (with Guy Shrubsole)

    Send us Fan Mail Turns out delays come like London buses. First Joe got the flu. Then we accidentally re-shared the first episode with Guy rather than the new one. If you listened before we caught it, we hope you enjoyed that episode even more the second time. Anyways, we're back! We return in full strength, with the right episode to boot, to pick up once more with the brilliant environmentalist, author, and campaigner Guy Shrubsole. Where last time we charted a potted history of land ownership and access in England, from the Normans to the present day, this time we're honing in on one specific case study: hunting and more specifically grouse shooting. What does hunting teach us about how land gets used and shared? How has hunting changed? And what are the disastrous ecological impacts of unleashing 50 million pheasants each year into the English countryside? --- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  7. Apr 16

    Who owns England? (with Guy Shrubsole)

    Send us Fan Mail It's a simple three-word question. Yet the answer is extremely complicated, expensive, and concealed behind paywalls that run into hundreds of millions of pounds. How did we get here? And how do we get out of it? In this episode, Joe and Ollie are joined by the remarkable author and campaigner Guy Shrubsole (co-founder of Right to Roam) to explore the question of who really owns England. We chart the course of land management in England from the Norman conquest, through to the Tudors, and right up to the present day, with policy changes coming out as recently as 2026. Learn more about Right to Roam: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/ --- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

  8. Apr 1

    Quick schedule update

    Send us Fan Mail Hi folks! We're closed tomorrow for Easter (which is when we'd usually release our next episode). Ollie and Joe are also in and out of the office at the moment, so we're going to use this as a chance for a brief hiatus and we'll then be back to regular programming in 2 weeks' time. See you very soon! --- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan Producer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.htmlSupport the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

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About

Lo-fi clip-clops and bleats to relax/study to. Welcome to the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. Based at the University of Reading, we explore the past, present and future of the English countryside. Hosted by Joe Vaughan and Dr Ollie Douglas. Chaotic Good.

Information

  • Creator
    The Museum of English Rural Life
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    35
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Absolute Units
  • Show Website
    Absolute Units