This is the ‘Happy Valley’ of Sgt Catherine Cawood, and the home of the Cragg Valley Coiners. Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate was born here, his wife, Sylvia Plath, is buried here. We stayed in a converted piggery on a hilltop, where jackdaws tapped at the window and the fog sealed us off from the world outside.
Category Archives: Podcast
Caerleon
A misguided attempt to record on site, an ‘outside broadcast’ which degenerates into a pub crawl. I’m joined by Caerleon resident Will O’Connell, a man whose knowledge of Caerleon you could inscribe on the little toe of the tiny toed ant. Most of this podcast takes place in the Roman fortress town in south Wales. It’s a fascinating place, but we spent most of our time in the pub. You’ll learn nothing.
East Anglia and the Fens
A trip to East Anglia, to the Fens and to Norfolk in search of finger in the ear folk singers, Brexit country and a vision of the future when the floods come and the UK becomes a minor archipelago, its lowlands lost and forgotten under the North Sea.
Ceredigion
The dubious story of the Neanderthal twins of Tregaron, and the all too true account of the equally reclusive Stafford Beer, who played a part in world events.
Jura
George Orwell is on the Scottish island of Jura writing 1984, smoking roll ups and trying to shake off tuberculosis.
Slough
William Hershel, professional musician, amateur astronomer, discoverer of Uranus, built a telescope in Slough so huge it remained the biggest in the world for fifty years.
Bath
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in Bath. Jane Austen was there only a few years before. Maybe the two crossed paths.
Tintagel
The Cornish pastiche: Tintagel, a castle on a rocky outcrop, is this Camelot? No, it’s not.
The Omphalos, Sandycove
The Omphalos, Sandycove, near Dublin, is a Martello tower and the setting of the opening chapters of James Joyce’s Ulysses. ‘Omphalos’ is the Greek for ‘navel’, the centre of the ancient world. Ulysses is a navel novel.
The Warminster Triangle
Reg Presley, suddenly rich from the proceeds of a hit song, devotes his money and time to uncovering the secrets of the Warminster Triangle: UFOs, crop circles and the changing shape of planet Earth. Reg is voiced by Long John Silver.