Led by James Naughtie, a group of readers talk to acclaimed authors about their best-known novels
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Nicholas Fowler Podcasts
Hi, my name is Nicholas! I love to learn about history, but not the boring facts and lessons you learn in school. I like the fun and crazy things that have happened in our past, and I want to share those historical moments with you! Like how a bear became a soldier in the Polish military, or when the CIA made a cyborg cat in the 60's! If you like history, or just want to hear some of the wacky stuff from our past, then this is the podcast for you! @HistHijinks www.historicalhijinks.com
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BBC Countryfile Magazine brings you The Plodcast - a weekly escape to the British countryside with fascinating guests and the wonders of the great outdoors. Enjoy a new escape into the countryside every Tuesday and wind down with our Sound Escapes on a Friday. Find out more about us at www.countryfile.com/podcast Subscribe to the print version of BBC Countryfile Magazine at https://www.buysubscriptions.com/print/bbc-countryfile-magazine-subscription
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Sound Escape 236. Perch by a still Somerset lake
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Soothed by the gentle lapping of water, you pause by a quiet lake. It's a hot day, but you find refuge sheltered under the rustling willow trees. Moorhen families drift by as the lively fish swim beneath. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful…
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313. A quest to find storks and turtle doves at Knepp Wildlands - with Isabella Tree
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An extremely special edition of the Plodcast this week as we head to Knepp Wildlands in Sussex to look for storks and listen for turtle doves in the company of Isabella Tree. Isabella and her husband Charlie Burrell have transformed their former dairy farm into one of the best examples of rewilding in Europe – and it's a magical place to explore. P…
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Sound Escape 235. Listen to the distinct chorus of London's parakeets
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We're on hampsted heath. A light shower has covered the trees in raindrops, and parakeets. As they gossip to pass the time before they're free to fly once more. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded and in…
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312. Join the Plodcast team for a Mighty Hike around the Gower Peninsula
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The Plodcast team of Fergus, Hannah, Jack and Lewis embark on a 15-mile hike around the Gower Peninsular in South Wales as part of a Mighty Hike organised by the cancer care charity Macmillan. The team explore the coast path, chat to fellow hikers and enjoy some rare wildlife encounters along the way. Have a listen to their charming adventure, and …
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Sound Escape 234. Relax to the joyful gossip of ducks and hens
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21:42
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Take time out to sit by a chicken pen and listen to the gentle gossip of the hens – plus a pair of ducks - as they go about their daily business. Meanwhile, wood pigeons, wrens, goldfinches and others pass comment from the surrounding trees. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax …
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311. Explore the mysteries of the peat bog with Alys Fowler
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This week we're heading out into the boglands of North Wales with writer and gardener Alys Fowler. Alys has a passion for these wild wetlands so host Fergus followed her into one of the strangest and most beautiful landscapes the Plodcast has ever visited. Join them for a journey into another world. Alys's book, Peatlands: A Journey Between Land an…
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Sound Escape 233. Embrace the surging sea on the North Cornwall coast
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Following the South West Coast Path through North Cornwall, you chance upon the ruins of Wheal Coates tin mine at the cliff's edge. Below, the sea seethes and surges, a wall of salty sounds rising up and through the mine's towering engine house. Any stray cobwebs you may have had hanging around are blown clean away. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound…
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310. Meet the monsters lurking in the corners of our landscape and imagination - with Nicholas Jubber
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Monsters haunt the myths and legends of almost every culture in the world. Take a walk along the Dorset coast with Nicholas Jubber looking for the footprints of ancient monsters, to explore why humans have felt the need to invent frightening beasts and beings to scare us from the shadows. Kevin Parr is your Plodcast host this week. Nicholas's book,…
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Presented by James Naughtie, BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the award-winning writer Kit de Waal about her heart-rending debut novel, My Name Is Leon. Published in 2016 by Penguin it's the story of two brothers separated after one is adopted. The book, now taught on the curriculum in English schools, takes us back to 1980s Birmingham, and while …
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Sound Escape 232. Be lulled to sleep by the buzz of grasshoppers in a summer meadow
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It is late morning, the sun is high and the heat brings out butterflies, bees and, as your ear becomes attuned, grasshoppers fizzing and buzzing in the meadows. You lie down letting the sounds wash over you as you realise you can hear no human sounds at all. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside t…
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309. Connection to nature helps can help us tackle life's challenges says author Nic Wilson
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Discover how nature helped author Nic Wilson navigate chronic illness and childhood trauma as well as enabling her to develop a crucial sense of belonging. Plodcast host Fergus met with Nic on a walk through a wild park in North London where they discuss the life challenges that we can all relate to and learn how Nic coped with them. Nic's book is …
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Sound Escape 231. Rest by a cooling river on a hot midsummer day
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It's one of the hottest days of the year and you are glad to find respite in a woodland beside a fast flowing river. You rest on the shady bank, watching trout pluck flies from the water's surface. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, where…
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308. Embark on a Big Butterfly Count on the Dorset coast with Butterfly Conservation
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Be inspired to join the Big Butterfly Count with a walk on the Dorset coast with Richard Fox, Head of Science at the charity Butterfly Conservation. Britain's butterflies are in trouble but you can help. Richard leads this week's Plodcast host, Kevin Parr, on a magical butterfly walk at Bindon Hill on the Dorset coast – and shows how you can embark…
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Sound Escape 230. The soothing gentle patter of rain in a Welsh oakwood
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After many dry weeks, heavy rain falls and the oak woodland thirstily drink in the live-giving water. You pause at the base of a particularly magnificent tree and listen to the gentle fall of raindrops. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, …
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307. Take a wander along Britain's most famous waterway: The River Test in Hampshire
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Take a springtime wander along the River Test, near the pretty Hampshire town of Stockbridge. Plodcast host Fergus Collins joins regular Plodcast listener and children's author Andrew Hussey to explore the wildlife along this most famous of trout fishing rivers. Listen on for some rare wildlife encounters – and some curious and disturbing tales fro…
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Sound Escape 229. Revel in the pure music of curlews at sunset
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The sun is sinking low in the sky, its golden light glowing through the meadow grasses. As young swallows twitter in their maiden flights and a blackbird sings a lullaby, the eerie bubbling calls of curlews rise to meet the dusk. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transpor…
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306. Walk a Viking battlefield and discover a forgotten turning point in English history - with Rupert Gavin
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About 1150 years ago, on a ridge on the edge of Salisbury Plain, the Saxons defeated the Vikings in a battle that had a profound impact on the history of the English people and their language. And yet, the battle is surprisingly little known. Discover what happened and why with writer and cultural historian Rupert Gavin. Rupert joins Plodcast host …
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Presented by James Naughtie, Bookclub speaks to the award-winning writer, historian, and podcaster, Tom Holland, about his book Rubicon, which looks at the triumph and tragedy of the Roman Republic. Originally published in 2003, the book won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize for non-fiction, and it unravels the myths and realities of ancient Rome as it…
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Sound Escape 228. The sheer delight of a nightingale singing at dawn
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This week's Sound Escape was recorded in Kent by Plodcast listener Jeanette Sharples. Jeanette was up early, walking along the edge of a field when she heard this wonderful male nightingale in full voice. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful…
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305. Discover the strangest relationships in the animal world - with Sophie Pavelle
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Enjoy a walk in Devon with Sophie Pavelle and discover the most unexpected relationships in the animal kingdom. In her new book, To Have or to Hold, Sophie explores why some species work together, while others exploit host animals as parasites. It's a fascinating world full of surprises – and even horrors. Plodcast host Fergus joins Sophie for a me…
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Sound Escape 227. Enjoy the conversations from a colony of sparrows
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As you wander through an old farmyard, the incessant happy chatter of sparrows greets you. Nesting in the crumbling eaves, the colony has had a good year and the walls, shrubs and gutters teem with noisy fledglings and harassed parents. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and t…
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304. Meet some of the UK's most elusive animals - at the British Wildlife Centre
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Britain's wildlife is often extremely elusive and many species are rarely seen. Unless, of course, you head to the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey. Here, David Mills has an unrivalled collection of mammals, reptiles and other creatures that you can watch and photograph in semi-natural surroundings. Join Annabel Ross who visited David and enjoyed …
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Sound Escape 226. Be seduced by the song of the blackbird
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A male blackbird sings so seductively, you have to stop to listen. Perched deep in an elder tree, and with his mate snug on a second brood of eggs this year, he has time to croon, his notes sweet and lazy as the scent of the elderflower around him. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you…
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303. Learn how to photograph gardens with award-winning photographer Jason Ingram
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Jason Ingram has photographed some of the world's finest gardens and is regarded as one of the very best in the business. His images of famous gardens, from the National Trust to those belonging to royalty have graced hundreds of magazines and books – and won numerous awards. This week, he shares tips for taking better photos and for getting into t…
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Sound Escape 225. Skylarks and corn buntings on a Wiltshire downland
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You're walking in the ancient kingdom of Wessex, across a stretch of wild downland that might have looked no different when Saxon warbands passed through 1200 years ago. The intense serenades of skylarks and the spring-loaded whirrs of corn buntings have replaced the clink of mail and swords. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly au…
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302. Roaming a magnificent unspoilt downland - and recording a very surprising bird
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Come with us to explore the magic of Martin Down, a glorious stretch of largely unspoilt chalk downland on the borders of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset. It's Plodcast host Fergus's favourite place to escape to – and he's joined by Plod regular, naturalist Kevin Parr. Join the pair for a gentle afternoon's adventure – some incredible birdsong and …
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