Loremen Podcast

Alasdair takes us to the most remote (inhabited) place on earth! Prepare yourself for mutineers, Neo-Pagans and a giant glass ball full of noisome gases. We meet Thursday October Christian and discover that paradise is not all it's cracked up to be. There's a lot to learn from this episode: when not to go to a party, how many Chuckle Brothers there were, and which is better, Tahiti or Norfolk? Lor...

James has dug up a genuinely spooky inn-based tale this week. The Birdcage is a 600+ year old public house with a fearsome ghost, a horrible history and a serious pigeon problem. Be warned, this ghost frightens women, children, Australians and pornographers alike. The Loreboys also encounter Batman's shabbiest foe, and wilfully denigrate the filmography of a beloved comic actor. (Sorry, Robin Will...

Old York, Old York. So York they named it York. Amy Gledhill (Radio 2, The Delightful Sausage, A Lovely Time) joins the Loreboys to delve into the story of York's original party animal: Brother Jucundus. He was a monk-about-town who took a little more of the holy spirit than was good for him. "Up, up, up we go!" This episode features a cut-out-and-keep joke that listeners can say whenever they are...

King Jimmy the 1st and/or 6th of England and/or Scotland had quite a rough ride, from “witnessing” a political assassination in utero to being attacked by the world’s rudest cat. This monarch’s silver spoon was something of a double-edged sword (like that special knife designed for cutting grapefruit and/or your tongue). In fact, some believe that little Jim Royal didn’t make it out of short trous...

Leicester is home to many things: the grave of King Lear, the Leicester Comedy Festival and the blue-hued, metal-clawed, child-eating ogress Black Annis. All of these are covered in this special live episode from the festival, featuring an actual audience of socially-distanced lorefolk. PLUS: Bonus Material! (i.e. things James forgot to say during the livestream.) Loreboys nether say die! Support...

Just a wee one to let you know we are appearing *online* as part of Leicester Comedy Festival on Saturday 20th Feb *2021*. James throws in a few bonus nuggets of folklore, featuring: pigs, beans, socks, Americans and Leicesterians.  £5 tix are here...  https://comedy-festival.co.uk/event/loremen-live-online/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning comedian Jenny Collier makes her annual Valentine's pilgrimage to tell the Loreboys about another Welsh romance. As usual, the story in question proves... disturbing. This week it's The Lady in the Lake - but not the one you're thinking of. Prepare for Welsh words that sound rude in English, and English words that are distinctly rude about the Welsh. Content Warning: This is a very l...

A time-hopping ghost story from Oxfordshire, this episode boasts not only a "magic" potion, but trials, castles, clumsy legs and Henley-on-Thames. Essentially, James has just watched Christopher Nolan's Tenet and decided to tell a simple story as extravagantly and confusingly as possible. It's actually a really good yarn. But you'll need to watch a number of YouTube explainer videos to appreciate...

Chris Cantrill of The Delightful Sausage (BBC Radio 2) returns! And, having moved to Cumbria, he has a brand new story up his grubby little sleeve. Meg Merrilies was a highwaywoman from "the pasten days" who was ruthless in her pursuit of riches, a hobby which some say has continued beyond the grave... However, Chris devotes most of the show to describing a nearby tea room's delicious tray bakes....

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841) is a remarkable compendium of mass hysterias, written by the Scottish curmudgeon Charles Mackay. Alasdair (half-Scottish curmudgeon) takes James on a tour of the stand-out fads, fancies and follies: from Dutch tulip-fanciers, via slow-poisoners, to some cracking haunted house scams. Brace yourself for chilling tales of faux-ghosts. (...

If you've ever thought, "they couldn't make it up," then you are about to be proven so very wrong. They DID make this one up! But don't let that put you off. This bit of hoax-lore from the Isle of Wight has medieval romance, time travel and a solar eclipse: all the excitement of a parish newsletter, plus cocktails and a cameo from Michael Legge. By the way, do you know Tom Collins? He's been chatt...

Ah, the Peak District: nestled snugly betwixt Lancashire and Yorkshire. Quiet, peaceful, serene... that is until the Loreboys rock up!  Long-time listeners will know that the Gabriel Hounds are invisible flying dogs that presage death. We track them down to the Hope Valley, and what must be THE rudest village in England. Warning: we pour scorn on a so-called ghost farmer and dish more dirt on Jesu...

Did Jesus’s uncle Joseph (presumably on his mum’s side) retire to England’s West Country? Did he bring the Holy Grail with him? Common sense and recorded history say, ‘no’. James Shakeshaft says… ‘maybe?’ Join the Loremen in this festive dive into bizarre Christmas traditions, weird biblical outtakes and the dubious origins of the Holy Grail. We livestreamed the recording of this episode on the Lo...

Stuart Goldsmith of the Comedian’s Comedian Podcast joins the Lorebois for some spooky tales from Stu’s old stomping ground of Warwick Castle* where he used to be the jester**. Plus! One tale from Royal Leamington Spa, in which the veteran podcaster delves into a particular… area he has never touched upon before. *An actual castle, not a pub with an overly ambitious name. **An actual jester, not a...

The Loremen are on the hunt for British werewolves, but it turns out the scariest thing of all… is the truth. James and Alasdair uncover grisly stories of cannibalism, Sunny Delight and the world’s deadliest Bean. This episode features some of the least accurate animal facts in podcast history. You’ll never look at a weasel’s ear the same way again. Loreboys nether say die! Support the Loremen her...

Alasdair leads us off the beaten track and across the sea to the northernmost part of the UK: the Shetland Islands. Prepare yourself for a veritable ‘Who’s Who‘ of sea monsters, a ‘Where’s That‘ of obscure place-names and a ‘Why’s This‘ of supposedly Scottish accents. Watch out for an unexpected number of bees, and learn how intimidating Norwegian applause can get… Loreboys nether say die! Support...

This episode comes from the much derided and profoundly strange city of Milton Keynes. The Lorepokes are joined by comedy maverick, steampunk pioneer and practising ritual magician Andrew O’Neill. MK’s ultra-modernist architecture conceals a cursed elm tree, a diabolical neighbour and a time-travelling windmill. Learn the secret of invisibility from Aleister Crowley, try to avoid the Illuminati an...

Alasdair and James return to the borough where the Loremen first saddled up. It may sound like a fairy tale, but South London was once home to a great palace of cast iron and glass. Crystal Palace may have burned down*, but many mysteries remain… Plummet! Into a ghost train full of Victorian skeletons. Dine! Inside an historically inaccurate dinosaur. Marvel! As a vengeful TV psychic comes a cropp...

A thrilling Kentish episode this week! James recounts the legend of 14th century kick-machine Sir Robert de Shurland. He kicked cattle. He kicked commoners. He kicked clergymen. NO ONE was safe from his pied-à-terror! This ep features a B-plot concerning a sailor's corpse with a wicked grin, who wreaked havoc on Kent's coastal churchyards. James pushes the boundaries of podcast storytelling* and g...

The Loremen came together for a special Halloween livestream, and here is the audio thereof! Featuring the much-anticipated reveal of great-grandaddy Shakeshaft's name! (It is not a human name.) James brings you a clock-hating poltergeist, a classic haunted inn and a bunch of skeletons that are believed... to be dead. The stories all connect, but how?  Gather your red string and thumbtacks now, fo...

Alasdair takes us on a journey to the Otherworld. The tale begins at the Peak District's rudest tourist attraction, stops off at Yorkshire's sauciest Neolithic mound and then emerges from the "ancient cavities" of Suffolk. The Green Children of Woolpit raise more questions than they answer. Do aliens exist? Do fairies? What about Australians? What are they all about? Accent warning - the Lorebloke...

Comedian and genuine Canadian Dana Alexander takes us 'neath the waves of the legendary Pacific Northwest (or Pacific Southwest from Canada's point of view). The Nootka Sound was once home to an orphaned Killer Whale called Luna who just wanted attention from sailors. Hey, we've all been there. This episode also features some dodgy Canadian accent work from James and Alasdair, you betcha.   Lorebo...

We figured that every man and his podcast would be doing a spooky special in honour of Halloween month, so we've gone entirely ghost-free. James tells the tale of a kooky doctor trying to dispose of a dead body. The twist? It's a whale's body. The other twist? He's really bad at it. (Feat. Gary Barlow)   Loreboys nether say die! ko-fi.com/loremen @loremenpod www.twitch.tv/loremenpod www.instagram....

Alasdair wows James with England's self-proclaimed "most haunted castle." That description is technically accurate, in that it is a castle that's been on the TV show "Most Haunted".    Alasdair tells a tale of skeletons, charlatans and circus clowns, and James nearly derails the episode with an anecdote about crisps. Crisps... and lies.   Loreboys nether say die! ko-fi.com/loremen @loremenpod www....

The Loremen travel through time and space (which is literally the only way to travel) to visit the dark and delightful Midnight Library Podcast. Yes, this is a crossover episode! We meet the mysterious Miranda Merrick, who regales us with tales of the Great Lake Monsters. Are the monsters great? Or the lakes? The answer is yes. This time, your humble Loreboys are more than out of their depth. Pull...