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

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

• 03.27.2024

  Episode 98 – The Nature of the Evidence by May Sinclair

  M.R. James said that sex had no place in a ghost story. But was he right? This episode we attempt to answer this question and more, as we cover The Nature of the Evidence by May Sinclair, a tale from...

  
• 01.15.2024

  Episode 97 – Mark Gatiss’s Lot 249

  Hold on to your mummy! This episode Mike and Will discuss Mark Gatiss’s recent Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptation Lot 249, as well as the Arthur Conan Doyle short story it is based on. Show notes: Watch it online!...

  
• 12.21.2023

  Episode 96 – The Real and the Counterfeit by Louisa Baldwin

  This episode, Mike and Will grab their literary toboggans and gallop joyously out into the snow, only to be hit in the face by a terrifying fictional snowball in the form of Louisa Baldwin’s The Real and the Counterfeit! Big...

  
• 07.02.2023

  Episode 95 – The Weird of the Walfords by Louisa Baldwin

  Who would win in a fight between a man and a bed? Find the answer to this question and more in our new episode on The Weird of the Walfords by Louisa Baldwin! Also, if you like emotionally-repressed Victorian husbands, you...

  
• 05.21.2023

  Episode 94 – Exploring Eleanor Scott with Vicky Margree and Dan Orrells

  This episode we speak with two experts to better understand Eleanor Scott and her story Randall’s Round, Dr Vicky Margree and Prof Dan Orrells. We discuss what’s known about Eleanor Scott, her time at Oxford University in the early 1900s...

  
• 01.08.2023

  Episode 93 – Count Magnus Awakens

  A BBC Ghost Story for Christmas is thankfully as traditional as quaffing eggnog and leaving out a carrot for Rudolph. And what a treat, as this year Count Magnus made the Black Pilgrimage onto our screens.  But has Mark Gatiss...

  
• 12.12.2022

  Episode 92 – Randalls Round by Eleanor Scott

  This episode Mike and Will explore freaky folk-dance, village-based villainy and Cotswold chicanery in Eleanor Scott’s awesome Jamesian folk-horror tale Randalls Round! Big thanks to Kirsty Woodfield for providing the readings for this episode. Show notes: Eleanor Scott (The Haunted...

  
• 11.05.2022

  Episode 91 – Let Loose by Mary Cholmondeley

  In the first episode of Season 4 tm, Mike and Will are delighted by Let Loose by Mary Cholmondeley, a tale of crypts, clergymen and crikey, what is that in the dog’s mouth? Big thanks to Jim Moon for allowing...

  
• 09.17.2022

  Episode 90 – Right Through My Hair by Noel Boston

  Join Will and Mike for haunted cathedrals, lecherous minor canons and hair-based horrors in Noel Boston’s ‘Right Through My Hair’! Big thanks to Debbie Wedge for providing the readings for this episode. Show notes Noel Boston (The Haunted Library) Biographical...

  
• 06.18.2022

  Episode 89 – Cushi

  Open your hymn books to episode 89, as we’re back in church for Christopher Woodforde’s “Cushi”: a tale of capering cats, sabotaged surplices and vengeful vergers. Don’t lose your head! Show notes: Christopher Woodforde studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge before becoming...

  
• 03.22.2022

  Episode 88 – Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book Revisited

  Join Mike and Will for a special 10th anniversary (give or take a few months) special in which your now-aged hosts look back over a decade of M.R. James podcasting and return to the story that started it all, Canon...

  
• 01.02.2022

  Episode 87 – Mark Gatiss’s The Mezzotint

  In this episode, Mike and Will share their thoughts on Mark Gatiss’s recent TV adaptation of M.R. James’s The Mezzotint. Join us for some monocle-popping, mustache-bristling, spine-chilling fun! Show notes A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Mezzotint (BBC iPlayer) Mark...

  
• 12.21.2021

  Episode 86 – Lucky’s Grove by H.R. Wakefield

  Ho ho, and indeed ho! In this special festive episode, Mike and Will pull on their wellies and wander straight into Lucky’s Grove by H.R. Wakefield. But who’s that hiding behind the Christmas tree? Big thanks to Julia Morgan for...

  
• 08.02.2021

  Episode 85 – The Tudor Chimney by A.N.L. Munby

  This episode Mike and Will grab their torches and disappear up ‘The Tudor Chimney’ by A.N.L. Munby. But what is that shape moving up above? Meh, it’s probably nothing. Thanks to Debbie Wedge for providing the readings for this episode!...

  
• 05.29.2021

  Episode 84 – Bosworth Summit Pound

  Ahoy there listeners!  Be grabbin’ yer nautical gear for a  cruise on the high seas of Leicestershire, with LTC Rolt and his story Bosworth Summit Pound.  (Enough.  It’s set on a canal – ed) What terrors might await us on...

  
• 03.06.2021

  Episode 83 – A Room in a Rectory

  This episode Will and Mike hitch up their cassocks, pack their prayer books and head to ‘Southshire’ to open ‘A Room in a Rectory’ by Sir Andrew Caldecott! Big thanks to Kirsty who provided the readings for this episode, and to...

  
• 12.24.2020

  Episode 82 – Echoes from the Abbey

  This week Will and Mike don their warmest Christmas jumpers for dinner with Dr James and the troubled incumbents of Medborough Abbey, in the company of Sheila Hodgson. What could be more seasonal than a cracker, eh?  Oh the fun...

  
• 12.03.2020

  Episode 81 – The Demoniac Goat by M.P. Dare

  This episode Mike and Will brace themselves for the ‘appalling stench of goat, cordite, sulphur, and burning human flesh’ in M.P. Dare’s The Demoniac Goat. Lovely! Also in this episode we speak to actor Robert Lloyd Parry and publisher Brian...

  
• 10.30.2020

  Episode 80 – The Sundial by R.H. Malden

  This Halloween Mike and Will stroll out into the garden to take a look at The Sundial by R.H. Malden. But who is that lurking in the bushes? Thanks to Kirsty for providing excellent readings for this episode! Show notes: Nine...

  
• 10.06.2020

  Episode 79 – The Seventeenth Hole at Duncaster

  Today we head to East Anglia for a round of golf in the company of enthusiastic James fan H.R. Wakefield. No whistling ‘ere though – you might just wake up something nasty… Wakefield published seven volumes of ghost stories between...

  
• 07.02.2020

  Episode 78 – Brother John’s Bequest by Arthur Gray

  This episode Mike and Will travel back to 16th century Cambridge to get acquainted with a rather unsavory guest at Jesus College in ‘Brother John’s Bequest‘ by Arthur Gray. Booze, burials and bell-book-and-candle are the order of the day here,...

  
• 05.07.2020

  Episode 77 – The Man with the Roller by E.G. Swain

  This episode Mike and Will put on their dancing shoes and head out to the lawn, only to encounter The Man with the Roller by E.G. Swain! Massive thanks to podcaster Jim Moon of hypnogoria.com for letting us use extracts...

  
• 03.29.2020

  Episode 76 – How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery

  We liven up our social distancing by finishing off the Benson boys, with Fred’s How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery.  Dirty Dick gets his comeuppance for a murderous deed, but can the ghosts of his victims be laid to...

  
• 02.09.2020

  Episode 75 – The Traveller by R.H. Benson

  This episode explores some ecclesiastical terrors in R.H. Benson’s ‘The Traveller’. It was ‘too ecclesiastical’ for M.R. James, but will Mike and Will find something to enjoy in this tale of perturbed priests, creepy confessionals and historical haunting? Thanks to our...

  
• 01.06.2020

  Ep74 – Review of Martin’s Close on BBC4

  Excitement abounds in the podcast house as Big Santy C leaves us a new BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, courtesy of BBC4 and Mr Mark Gatiss!  Will and Mike offer their humble thoughts on this festive treat. Show notes: A...

  
• 12.12.2019

  Episode 73 – Out of the sea by A.C. Benson

  This episode Mike and Will indulge in murder, moralising and supernatural goat-based mayhem in A.C. Benson’s ‘Out of the Sea’. Big thanks to our reader for this episode Debbie Wedge, and don’t forget to check out her M.R. James-themed t-shirt...

  
• 11.17.2019

  Episode 72- By One, By Two and By Three by Adrian Ross

  Like a prodigal and slightly deranged friend, Will and Mike return to explore another author inspired by MR James.  This week we look at the story By One, By Two and By Three, by Adrian Ross. Show notes By One,...

  
• 08.21.2019

  Episode 71 – An Antiquary’s Ghost Story by Augustus Jessopp

  This episode Mike & Will kick off Season 3 with ‘An Antiquary’s Ghost Story’ by Augustus Jessopp! Scroll down for a full list of the ‘James Gang’ authors we will be covering over the next 15 episodes. Big thanks to...

  
• 03.07.2019

  Episode 70 – Negotium Perambulans by E.F. Benson

  This episode Mike and Will grab their guidebook, pack their bucket and spade and head off for a terrifying trip to sunny Cornwall in E.F. Benson’s ‘Negotium Perambulans’. Big thanks to Richard Crowest of the ‘Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson’...

  
• 12.20.2018

  Episode 69 – Smee by A.M. Burrage

  Seasons greetings listeners! For this special festive episode Mike and Will turn off the lights and dive into the wardrobe for a game of hide-and-shriek, courtesy of A.M. Burrage’s Christmas classic ‘Smee’! Big thanks go to our reader this week...

  
• 11.19.2018

  Episode 68: The Death Mask by Mrs H.D. Everett

  Textaphobes beware!  This month Will and Mike tackle Henrietta Dorothy Everett’s “The Death Mask”, a supernatural farce about termagant wives, gold diggin’ husbands and menacing fabrics. Story notes: Monty writes,“Going back a few years I light on Mrs Everett’s The...

  
• 10.10.2018

  Episode 67 – Through a Glass Darkly conference report

  This episode it’s conference report time! We’ve just returned from Through a Glass Darkly, an M.R. James conference which brought together authors, academics and fans in ghost-haunted York for a 2-day Jamesfest of epic proportions! The episode features interviews with:...

  
• 09.09.2018

  Episode 66 – The Monkey’s Paw

  This month Mike and Will throw caution to the wind and make an ill-fated wish on “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs.  Best known in his own time for gentle tales of the sea and other comic stories, Jacobs is...

  
• 05.15.2018

  Episode 65 – The Story of the Moor Road

  This episode Mike and Will return to the realms of the ‘psychic detective’ in this tale from mother-son writing team Kate and Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard. Expect terror on the moors with malevolent earth spirits, coughing ghosts, ominous otters and even a...

  
• 03.11.2018

  Episode 64 – Featherston’s Story by Mrs Henry Wood

  Have you ever had a hankering for upping sticks and moving overseas, where one’s limited means might stretch a little further and the wine flow more freely? This week Will and Mike head for the north coast of France in...

  
• 12.21.2017

  Episode 63 – Christmas Re-union by Sir Andrew Caldecott

  Ho ho ho! We have a festive cracker of an episode for you this month (literally), as Mike and Will explore Sir Andrew Caldecott’s M.R. James-inspired tale, ‘Christmas Re-union‘. A big thank you to Tony Mears, who provided the readings...

  
• 11.26.2017

  Episode 62 – The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford

  Mike and Will take a cruise across the pond in the good ship Kamchatka – but who’s hiding in The Upper Berth?  Joining us to narrate F. Marion Crawford’s classic tale is reader Rupert Simons, who tells us that he’s...

  
• 10.15.2017

  Episode 61 – The Open Door by Margaret Oliphant

  This episode join Mike and Will as they don their kilts and sporrans and head north of Hadrian’s wall for some Scottish horror (no, not the midges) as we explore ‘The Open Door’ by Margaret Oliphant! Big thanks to Kirsty...

  
• 07.06.2017

  Episode 60 – The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens

  We’re back! This week Mike and Will descend gingerly into a gloomy railway cutting to investigate Charles Dickens’ The Signal-Man.  Dickens dissects the harsh realities of life in industrial Britain, but can he also deliver a pleasing terror and a...

  
• 04.26.2017

  Episode 59 – The Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  This episode Mike and Will cover ‘The Haunted and the Haunters‘ by Charles Dickens’s BFF, Edward Bulwer-Lytton. M.R. James considered this story essential reading, saying “Nobody is permitted to write about ghost stories without mentioning ‘The Haunted and the Haunters’.”...

  
• 02.27.2017

  Episode 58 – The Familiar by J Sheridan Le Fanu

  In this bumper episode we examine M.R. James’s favourite story by his favourite author, ‘The Familiar’ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu! Praise doesn’t get much higher than that, but is it all it is cracked up to be? If you are...

  
• 12.21.2016

  Episode 57 – The White and the Black by Erckmann-Chatrian

  This episode Mike and Will pop across the channel for some booze-heavy French/German shinanigans in ‘The White and the Black’ by Erckmann-Chartrian. M.R. James says this writing partnership “produced some quite first-class romances”, but this tale of murder and mayhem...

  
• 10.31.2016

  Episode 56 – A Relation of the Apparition of Mrs Veal by Daniel Defoe

  Happy Halloween listeners! In this bumper-bonus episode we talk about our first non-M.R. James ghost story, ‘A Relation of the Apparition of Mrs Veal‘, a fascinating early ghost story attributed to Daniel Defoe. We also interview Leah Moore and John...

  
• 09.12.2016

  Episode 55 – A Vignette

  Nearly five years to the day that we released Episode 1, we are pleased to bring you ‘A Vignette’, M.R. James’s very last story! The episode also features readings from Robert Lloyd Parry and an exciting announcement about the future...

  
• 08.14.2016

  Episode 54 – Eton and Kings, part two

  In this epic feature-length James-fest, Mike and Will conclude their coverage of ‘Eton and King’s’, M.R. James’s memoir of a life spent in two of the UK’s most celebrated educational institutions. This part covers M.R. James’s time as an undergraduate,...

  
• 06.26.2016

  Episode 53 – Jacqueline Simpson interview

  This episode Mike and Will interview folklorist Jacqueline Simpson about the influence of Scandinavian and English folklore on M.R. James’s ghost stories, as well as Jacqueline’s collaboration with Terry Pratchett on ‘Folklore of the Discworld’. Many thanks to Jacqueline for...

  
• 05.22.2016

  Episode 52 – Eton and King’s, part one

  It’s back to school this week as Mike and Will pack their tuckboxes and top hats and join Monty for the first part of his memoir “Eton and King’s: recollections, mostly trivial”.  How will James deal with the traditions and...

  
• 03.31.2016

  Episode 51 – M.R. James Conference 2016

  This episode Mike and Will report on the the M.R. James conference, aka ‘Haunted Studies: The Ghost Stories of M.R. James’ and bring you interviews with a range of Jamesian luminaries present at the event. For more information on the...

  
• 02.06.2016

  Episode 50 – A Night in King’s College Chapel

  This episode Mike and Will pack their sleeping bags and bed down for ‘A Night in King’s College Chapel’ by M.R. James. The episode also features an exclusive interview with James Drewett and Richard Svensson, creators of ‘Monsters and Miscreants’...

  
• 12.22.2015

  Episode 49 – Twelve Medieval Ghost Stories

  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...