Ep 7: Worms

We're really pushing the boat out with this episode, as we explore the life and times of a true Victorian megastar, Grace Darling. Oars in hand, we'll do our best to navigate the historical torrent that engulfs this tale. From bombastic biographers to malicious mountebanks, there are plenty of potential perils to steer through on our mission to 'find' Grace Darling.  Please do hop on board as we chart everything from Grace's upbringing, that fateful wreck of 1838, and the media frenzy that followed. If you can weather the storm, you're sure to learn a thing or two about one of our region's most famous figures!   * Includes music from Jessica Mitford's 'Grace Darling'. Used for informational and commentary purposes. All rights remain with the respective copyright holders. North by North-East does not claim ownership over this material.

This entry of North East Natters takes us all the way to Washington DC! We're chatting with Paul Gordon Emerson, cultural diplomat and co-founder of Company E, a DC-based contemporary dance company. Through his work in performance and cultural diplomacy, Paul has developed a longstanding connection with Sunderland and the wider North East of England. We explore the links between the two Washingtons (both DC and Tyne and Wear), the region's creativity and resilience, and how the arts can bring people and cultures together. To learn more about Company E and Paul's work, head on over to companye.org

How does a (allegedly) boozy Quaker from County Durham end up lending his name to one of North America’s most famous boundaries? Glen and Ben seek to map that out in this edition of the North by North-East Podcast. Join us on a journey of astronomical (not astrological) proportions toward the Mason-Dixon Line. Expect to encounter battles at sea, troublesome Yorkshiremen, and monarchs who need to stop drawing imaginary lines on pieces of paper. Amongst all this, we’ll uncover how Jeremiah Dixon, alongside his colleague Charles Mason, charted a line that would gain a significance well beyond what either man could have ever imagined.  From a pit cabin on Cockfield Fell to the forests of the Iroquois, we’re going global with this episode. Let’s reach for the stars!

From academic institutions to water suppliers, the name 'Northumbria' is something that Northeasterners often encounter in their day-to-day lives. Indeed, the name of that old kingdom has echoed across the millennia, but what do we actually know of it? Admittedly, we're left in the dark (or in the early medieval?) about much of its history. However, thanks to the propensity for holy people to scribble on calfskin, there is plenty of light we can shed on a regional power whose expansionist and cultural exploits would remain unmatched, at least until the advent of 'Greggs' approximately 1,500 years later.  In this episode, Glen and Ben seek to chart the history and significance of the Kingdom of Northumbria, navigating a few suspect head shavings and family fallouts along the way. Bernician or Deiran, Pagan or Christian, Angle or Briton, all are welcome on our journey. Just try not to think of all the baby cows that were sacrificed to bring us this episode...

For this edition of North East Natters, we're chatting with Nikki Bell, founder of the North East Folklore Society and host of the Whisht! Lads podcast. Through the society, Nikki works to make folklore accessible to wider audiences, bringing people together to explore the traditions, tales, and landscapes that shape the region's identity. To learn more about the society, head on over to northeastfolklore.co.uk and be sure to give Whisht! Lads a listen.

How did a relatively unassuming Newcastle-based building society find itself at the centre of a major international news story? To answer that very question, Ben and Glen seek to crack the code to the once the gilded vault of Northern Rock, a bank of Premier League status that would somehow find itself relegated to the ignominious annals of financial history.  From subprime mortgages to subprime executives, join us as we negotiate an economic quagmire to uncover what exactly went wrong in 2007, and how it provided a vital lesson for the global financial community. So please, lend us your ears, and we'll be sure to pay you back with interest.   * Includes audio courtesy of the BBC and Channel 4, used for informational and commentary purposes. North by North-East does not claim copyright over this material.

If many an old tale is to be believed, the north-east of England is a favourite haunt of one of Albion’s most infamous monstrosities: the worm. No, we do not speak of the humble, soil-dwelling invertebrate, but rather its lamb-eating, knight-constricting, milk-guzzling (distant) cousin. Take a trip downstream with Ben and Glen, but be sure to keep a safe distance from insatiable serpents, invading longships, and pointy (but not particularly sharp) nobles. From the Lambton Worm to princesses that squirm, the North by North-East Podcast is getting wonderfully wriggly! 

We hope you have your swashes buckled (or buckles swashed?) in preparation for this terrifically Tudor instalment of North by North-East. Indeed, Ben and Glen are riding full pelt into the 1569 Rising of the North, an event that reshaped both our region and the Kingdom. This Northern Rebellion, as it is also known, formed one of the most serious challenges to Elizabeth I's rule, a challenge she was determined to put down both swiftly and brutally. Lend us your ears, as we recount how the northern pot was fiercely stirred by religious dissidents and unready nobles. Earls shall scheme, castles shall fall, and harmonicas shall be blown!

After a slight hiatus (partly due to Ben feeling like he was full of boiler smoke over winter), the North by North-East podcast is finally back on track.  Our latest stop on the North by North-East mainline is the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR), the railway that 'got the world on track'.  We’re ready to propel ourselves full steam ahead into the story of this 200-year-old North East institution. So, hop on board, grab yourself a comfy seat (or a free spot on the coal wagon), and enjoy this express service through history.

In this edition of North by North-East, Ben and Glen uncover the remarkable tale of how two Tyneside sisters-in-law, Ellen and Anna Richardson, helped one of the most famous Americans of their age secure his freedom. We trace a story that spans both sides of the Atlantic, uncovering more about the life of Frederick Douglass, the fight for the abolition of slavery, and the role of Quakerism in shaping the Richardsons’ lives. Join us on a journey that reveals the very worst and the very best of humanity, all connecting to Newcastle and its place in this extraordinary history.