The BackTracker History Show

The Dean Lane Pit Disaster Season:  4 Episode: 26 If you happen to be strolling around Dame Emily Park in Bedminster and you see, by the skate park, a large concrete slab that used to be the base of a bandstand, you may be intrigued to know that it covers the pithead of the Dean Lane Coal Mine. The site of Bristol's worst mining disaster. It was a normal Friday afternoon and those above groun...

The Evil in her Eyes Season:  4 Episode: 25 Noreen O’Connor aged 46, former nurse, was charged with murdering Miss Friederika Alwine Maria Buls, known as Marie aged 77, whose body was found in a bedroom at “Gardeen,” a cottage shared by the two women at Loxton, Somerset.  They had been living together quite pleasantly for a while. Even after Marie had two strokes, Noreen nursed and cared...

The Charitable Railway Ladies Season:  4 Episode: 24 Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol and was opened on 31 August 1840, as the western terminus of the Great Western Railway. Thousands of Victorians were employed by railway companies, from the locomotive driver on the footplate to the booking clerk in the station. For some of those people working the ra...

The Legend of Maude's Elm Season:  4 Episode: 23 A huge elm tree north of Cheltenham was felled in 1906 as it had become so dangerous. It used to be a favourite resting place for the Duchess of Devonshire, but this tree had a terrible origin story. Full of mystery, love and betrayal. This show is about a tale that has become embellished over time to become a local legend. So what happened at...

The Sad and Tragic Life and Death of Alice Woodman Season:  4 Episode: 22 In their shabby cottage in Cheltenham, Alice Woodman was found with her head nearly severed from her body, and lying by her side was a young man named Sydney George Smith, who was also suffering from a terrible wound in his throat, but what exactly happened?  THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edited from...

The Bristolian Creator of Penguin Books Season:  4 Episode: 21 Sir Allen Lane was a 20th-century pioneer of paperback publishing in England, whose belief in a market for high-quality books at low prices helped to create a new reading public and also led to improved printing and binding techniques.  THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bri...

The Beatles and Bristol Season:  4 Episode: 20 It was 1964 and they were the biggest stars on the planet. Mobbed by screaming fans wherever they went. Here’s what happened when the Fab Four came to Bristol THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.  If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to...

The Devizes Workhouse Murder Season:  4 Episode: 19 On the morning of 30th January 1882, Charles Gerrish, who was sentenced to death at the Wilts Hilary Assize for the murder of an old man named Stephen Coleman, in the Devizes Workhouse, paid the extreme penalty of the law in Devizes prison. This was the first private execution which took place within the prison. Wiltshire had been remarkably...

The S.S Great Western and the Hero Engineer Season:  4 Episode: 18 Seven adventurous souls were grouped the Great Western 's bows, talking excitedly, their, hearts beating faster. They were on an adventure that would bring them either ephemeral fame, or disappointment, ridicule, maybe death. And they had paid 35 guineas for the privilege. They were the passengers who were  sailing from B...

Dickie Valentine: The Forgotten Fifties Singing Icon Season:  4 Episode: 17 On May 6, 1971, popular 1950s singer Dickie Valentine, his pianist Sidney Boatman and drummer Dave Pearson were killed in a car crash in Glangrwyney near Abergavenny. They were travelling along the bridge to a gig at the Diamond Club in Caerphilly when it happened. Here was a born entertainer who rose to fame to becom...

Season:  4 Episode: 16 Three people were killed and three injured when the Imperial Airways liner, City of Washington , bound from Bourget for Croydon, crashed at Neuf Chatel near Boulogne, the North of France on 30th October 1930. One of the victims was 29 year old Bristolian, Conrad James, a successful engineer who was coming home from Cairo to marry his sweetheart. Find out more about the...

Season:  4 Episode: 15 45 year old Charles Houghton had been convicted of the murders of two elderly sisters, Eleanor and Martha , for whom he worked as a butler.  They had given him notice after 22 years working for them due to his drinking problem.  He shot them both on the 7th of September 1926.  Listen to the events that led up to his despicable decision and what happened a...

Season:  4 Episode: 14 James Aitken, nicknamed 'John the Painter', was a Scottish radical and arsonist who went around the major Royal Navy dockyards in 1776 in an attempt to burn them down in an act of sympathy with the American Revolutionaries.  Listen to this incredible tale of one man's mission to gain notoriety and wealth. THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edited from a B...

Season:  4 Episode: 13 The arrival of Easter has been associated with eggs for centuries, The egg, an ancient symbol of new life, has been associated with pagan festivals celebrating spring, but it was a Bristol chocolate company that first came up with the bright idea to make them out of cocoa. Hear the story of this devout Quaker family and the creation of one of the most iconic companies f...

Season:  4 Episode: 12 A plaque at the top of The Bank at Robin Hood’s Bay tells the story of a heroic rescue which took place 19th January 1881, when a collier brig the ‘Visiter’ foundered in a violent storm whilst carrying a cargo of coal from Newcastle to London.  The vessel, registered at Whitby and locally owned, was by then elderly, having been built in 1823 at Sunderland. She had...

Season:  4 Episode: 11 Bousquet, who boxed under the name of Del Fontaine, was convicted and sentenced at the Old Bailey. His subsequent appeal, on the grounds that he was " punch drunk" through boxing, and insane at the time of the crime was dismissed.  The good-looking Fontaine was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death. The execution in London aroused great emotion. His frie...

Season:  4 Episode: 10 In this episode, we continue with the fascinating tale of the exploits of Captain Augustus Agar and his crew during the Russian Civil War when, during a mission to transport agents, they saw an opportunity to attack the enemy. All they had was a small motor boat and one torpedo. THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Brist...

Season:  4 Episode: 9 The  British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919  was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was  Operation Red Trek .  In this episode we hear from Captain Augustus Agar VC DSO RN (1902-03) and his recollections of his part in this great campaign which played a key role in enabl...

Season:  4 Episode: 8 James Ricketts had gone to Bristol to deliver a cartload of potatoes and was just heading back home at 4pm. He had stopped off at the Carpenter's Arms, Two Mile Hill for a drink where he was joined by a strange man whom he eventually left with. Whilst they had been in the pub, James had shown the man his canvas bag full of money from the sale of the potatoes. What h...

Season:  4 Episode: 7 Mary Kennedy of Baptists Mills in Bristol is one of an elite group of people who made landfall at Sydney Cove in January 1788. They numbered approximately 1,373 people, consisting of convicts, male and female, a few children, officials, marines and their wives and seamen. The voyage is known to history as ‘The First Fleet’.  THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specia...

Season:  4 Episode: 6 I recently visited this iconic landmark on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. The famous creaking sign sways back and forth over the cobbled patio and the warm glow of light guides you inside from the never-ending darkness of the moor. There aren’t many pubs in Cornwall that have a history and reputation like the Jamaica Inn.  THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edit...

Season:  4 Episode: 5 Sometime during the night of 29—30 June 1860, Francis Saville Kent, who was three years old, disappeared from his father's residence, Rode Hill House, in the village of Rode, then in Wiltshire. Francis' body was later found in the vault of a privy-house on the property. Detective Inspector Jonathan (Jack) Whicher of Scotland Yard was brought in to investigate t...

Season:  4 Episode: 4 The Davenport Hill sisters lived in Hillstow on the site of Dorset House from 1897 until their deaths. They were both involved in prison reform, especially of the treatment of juvenile delinquents and the children of the poor, and Rosamond was also involved in educational reform and Florence in women's suffrage. They came from an illustrious three-generational family of...

Season:  4 Episode: 3 A scheming salesman faked his father-in-law’s suicide to get his hands on the old man’s money – but bungled the job and was sent to the gallows at Bristol for his murder.  THIS PODCAST This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.  If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to suppor...

Season:  4 Episode: 2 A subject suggested by Julian Humphrys from Surrey who's a huge history fan. It also happens to be the 380th anniversary of this significant event. If the the outcome had been different, history as we know it would be considerably changed.  Sir Ralph Hopton's Royalist forces came across Waller's commanding position on Lansdowne Hill on 4 July and were unpleasantly s...