Extraordinary Stories of Britain Stories of Britain

For a thousand years, British kings and queens have been crowned at Westminster Abbey.  This podcast tells the story of the coronation:   from babbling bishops to falling dukes,  spurned queens to monarch murders,  stolen stones to dazzling diamonds and belly-busting banquets to mighty majesty.   

Thee hundred years ago, Jack Sheppard was the most famous man in the country.    Britain’s first celebrity was not a royal,  an actor,  or aristocrat -  but a petty thief.    This podcast tells the story of how an East End chancer became so famous, that a third of London’s population took to the streets to see if he could cheat the noose. 

For 700 years Newgate Jail was the darkest, dirtiest and most miserable dungeon in London.  We uncover some of its terrible and terrifying prison stories:  from cannibals to the fearsome ghost of a black dog;    from a boy chimney sweep sent to hang at Tyburn, to a world-famous novelist imprisoned for his ideas.   Hear about London’s Georgian Mafia boss,  and the man who inspired Dickens’ Fagin.  Songs, stories and strange tales in this prison podcast.

 
For our December episode, we are at Stonehenge for the winter solstice.   We investigate the mystery of  Stonehenge’s little-known  neighbouring sister  Woodhenge -  was it once home to the largest “city” in the world?  We hear about the strange legend of the Cuckoo stone.   
 We find out how – 4,500 years ago -  the first stones at the henge were dragged 180 miles from Wales.    We tell the story of how the first metalworker in Britain came to be buried near the henge,   and find out how to dowse the mysterious lay lines that run under the great monument.  Are the initials of Britain’s most famous architect inscribed into the monument?    We wait with the druids, wiccans and witches for the winter solstice.   

This podcast tells the story of witchcraft.   From the ancient witches of Wales to the medieval sorceress known as the Witch of Eye.   From the brutal torture of the pilliwinks, to the British king who wrote a book on witches.  From the gruesome story of the Pendle Witches, to a “witch” imprisoned during WW2 by the British government.

Our Halloween special tells the story of the Pendle witches  - the most famous witch trials in British history.    This chilling court case saw dozens of Lancashire women imprisoned for witchcraft, with accusations of stolen babies,  teeth taken from corpse skulls,  talking dogs and crippling curses.