A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

What could be more worthy of a Christmas episode than a ghost story? Answer: twelve ghost stories!  This week Mike and Will find plenty of seasonal cheer in the scribblings of a 15th century monk from Yorkshire, whose collected tales of wandering spirits Monty transcribed in 1922.  Expect lashings of purgatorial terrors, a stocking-full of redemption and a whole load of bad wassailing, ghostly and...

This episode Mike and Will dust off their acting chops and take to the stage as they cover Auditor and Impresario, M.R. James’s little-know comic play! Expect diabolism, drama, demons and dreadful sub-GCSE-level acting! The image to the right is none other than M.R. James himself, playing they the part of Peithetairos in an 1883 student production of Aristophanes’ The Birds at Cambridg...

In this episode Mike and Will cover the concluding third of ‘ The Five Jars ‘, M.R. James’s little-read children’s book. Expect earwig racing, bat balls, dragons and horseshoe mayhem! The readings for this episode once again come from the excellent Librevox audiobook of The Five Jars , read by Peter Yearsley. Links: Iron in Folklore (Wikipedia) The wonderful world of mouse...

In this episode Mike and Will delve into the middle third of M.R. James’s ‘The Five Jars’ and encounter talking owls, two flavours of sinister old women, and all manner of supernatural trickery and tomfoolery! Readings this week are once again extracted from Peter Yearsley’s excellent Librevox recording of this story, with added help from Debbie Wedge. If you don’t ha...

This week, Will and Mike don their academic tweeds, gather their notes and ascend to the podium to bring you their conference report on MR James and the Modern Ghost Story .  Join us for 45 minutes of (un)learned comment, digressions and wild speculation – plus more expert commentary from author Helen Grant ( @helengrantsays ), comics writer John Reppion ( @johnreppion ) and horror expert Pr...

This week Will and Mike explore the borders between psychedelia and twee when they crack open The Five Jars, Monty’s only novel.  Prepare yourself for enigmatic springs, helpful trees and cantankerous cats – and two very confused podcasters. Show notes: Parents beware – Will drops his guard and utters a foul-mouthed profanity at 12:48.  Chapter one was a real struggle at times. T...

In this episode Mike and Will batten down the hatches and prepare for the onslaught of ‘ The Malice of Inanimate Objects ‘ by M.R. James. Readings for this episode are taken from Curious Creatures , Robert Lloyd Parry’s excellent audiobook which features a selection of lesser-heard M.R. James stories. Many thanks to Robert for giving us permission to use them! The full CD can (an...

Season’s greetings listeners! We have a Christmas bonus episode for you here, an exclusive readings of one of Charles Dickens’s supernatural Christmas tales ‘ The Story of the Goblin who Stole a Sexton ‘ which appeared as part of The Pickwick Papers in 1836. For more information on Charles Dickens and M.R. James, check out Episode 41 in which we talk to M.R. James scholar J...

Seasons greetings James fans! In this episode, Will and Mike take a further turn towards the Victorian by pairing up James with his great literary love, Mr Charles Dickens.  Just what influence did he have on James? Lest their amateur speculations take a less than academically rigorous turn, they are joined by James expert Jane Mainley Piddock (@jmainpidd), to tell us all about Monty’s stran...

This week Mike and Will attempt some foul necromancy with MR James’ little-known tale ‘The Experiment’ .  Ghosts and Scholars described it as “weak and difficult” story: can your hosts revive it from the dead? Story notes Rosemary and Daroll Pardoe’s invaluable notes , from Ghosts and Scholars Bishop Moore : a hardcore bibliophile after James’ own heart, h...

This episode Mike & Will false-start their way through the unfinished M.R. James manuscript ‘Merfield Hall’ (or should that be ‘Merfield House’?). Big thanks to our reader this episode Debbie Wedge . Show notes: ‘Merfield Hall’ manuscript (Ghosts & Scholars) What exists of the manuscript(s) for this story can be read online at the Ghosts & Scholars w...

An episode of two parts this week.  In part one, Will and Mike open their box of James ephemera to play the “dreadful Game of Bear”.  We only have the opening pages of this unfinished tale, but fortunately three leading Jamesians have tried to finish the story. Big thanks to Kirsty Woodfield who returns to read for us this week. In part two, we speak with Antonia Christophers and Noel...

This episode Mike & Will pack their tents, pull up their socks and strap on their woggles (woggles are a scout thing, right?) as they explore M.R. James’s ‘Wailing Well’ ! Big thanks to Debbie Wedge for providing the readings for this episode. Show notes: Worbarrow Bay This story was read to the Eton boy scout troop during a camping trip to Worbarrow Bay in Dorset. Today Worb...

This episode Mike & Will take a look at M.R. James’s East Anglian guidebook ‘Suffolk and Norfolk’. It’s got churches, lots and lots of churches, but also murder, mayhem, mermen, giants, green children and much more! Show notes: Skeletons at Sparham (civitasperegrina.tumblr.com) Tom Hickathrift the Giant Killer (Wikipedia) Hill of Health, Wordwell (explorebritain.com) Mi...

This episode Mike & Will tackle ‘Moose’ by M.R. James. No wait, that’s not right. Ah yes, ‘Rats’ by M.R. James, that’s the one. The episode features readings by Lewis Davies and the illustration to the right by Alisdair Wood . Show notes: Tom Tiddler’s Ground by Charles Dickens (Project Gutenberg) The quote about rats which opens this story is from thi...

This episode Will and Mike are thrilled to be joined by top M.R. James scholar and author Helen Grant to help them struggle their way through unfinished M.R. James story fragment ‘ Marcilly-le-Hayer ‘. Thanks to our readers this episode, Tom Hemmings and Debbie Wedge. Show notes: Marcilly-le-Hayer map (Monty’s World) You can view the eponymous French town on our mapping app Monty...

In this special Christmas Bonus episode, Mike and Will give their thoughts on Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of ‘The Tractate Middoth’ by M.R. James , which aired on UK TV last night along with Gatiss’ documentary ‘M.R. James: Ghost Writer’. Please note that this episode contains spoilers about both programmes so if you are planning on watching either then make sure yo...

In this semi-Christmas episode, Mike and Will don their druid costumes and head down to rural Dorset for some pagan goings-on in ‘ An Evening’s Entertainment ‘ by M.R. James! Big thanks to Paul Warren for providing the artwork to the right, titled ‘The Unsearchable Way (A Warning to the Curious)’. For more of Paul’s artwork visit Paul’s Website . This epis...

This episode concludes our coverage of M.R. James’s masterwork ‘ A Warning to the Curious ‘, and we also speak to James expert Patrick J. Murphy, whose essay ‘Lay of a Last Survivor – Beowulf, the Great War, and M.R. James’s “A Warning to the Curious”’ impressed us greatly when researching this story. Lewis Davies returns again to lend his voice to the readings...

The waiting is over, it’s finally time for Mike & Will to tackle what is arguably M.R. James’s masterpiece – A Warning to the Curious ! It’s a biggie, so we will split our coverate of this story over two episodes. Our examination of this story will conclude in episode 31. To assist them in their task, Mike and Will are joined by Tom Baynham , whose article ‘A Retu...

This episode Mike and Will whip out their podcasting binoculars and peer through them at ‘A View from a Hill by M.R. James. This episode we are very lucky to have actor Scott Wichman ( @scottwichmann ) as our reader! Scott is starring as comedian George Burns in “Say Goodnight, Gracie” at the Virginia Rep later this month: do check that out if you can!  His co-producer Ryan Corbe...

This week we’ve got an interview for you with two splendid chaps from the U.S., who are delving into what lies behind MR James’ stories. Patrick J. Murphy and Fred Porcheddu are also super-fun guys and we hope you enjoy hearing their take on what made Monty tick, the deeper meanings in his stories, and just what academics get up to in reading rooms all day. Patrick and Fred’s rec...

In this episode, talking owls. Yes, you heard me correctly. Talking owls. Has Monty completely lost his marbles? Mike and Will ask just that in this episode on ‘ After Dark in the Playing Fields ‘ by M.R. James. Readings by kind permission of grand panjandrum and actor Robert Lloyd Parry ! The full reading of this story and many others can be found on Robert’s double-CD ‘ C...

In this episode Mike & Will don their funeral garb and shuffle mournfully into ‘ There was a man dwelt by a churchyard ‘ by M.R. James. A big thanks to Robert Lloyd Parry for giving us permission to use readings extracted from his excellent CD ‘ Curious Creatures: The Shorter Horror of M.R. James ‘, available to purchase from his website nunkie.co.uk ! An equally big th...

This episode it is the turn of ‘ A Neighbour’s Landmark ‘ by M.R. James to receive the critial going-over it deserves at the hands of Will and Mike. Thanks to Kirsty for the excellent readings! Show notes: ‘”They’ve got him! In the trees!” M.R. James and Sylvan Dread’ by Steve Duffy (Ghosts & Scholars) ‘So jarred were all my nerves’ : supernatura...