It's the height of summer in 1858 and something rotten is lurking in the river Thames.    

Historian James Grasby unravels the smelliest side of our recent history as we step back into Victorian London to discover the Great Stink.

Hear how politicians scrambled to keep the stench out of parliament and find out what the smell meant for the working classes.

 

Start creating your story at www.cewe.co.uk

Presenter: James Grasby

Producer: Jack Glover

Sound Design: Jesus Gomez

Contributors

Laura French (Crossness Engines Trust)

This story has been made possible with our friends from the Crossness Engines Trust, for information on visiting and for more of London's murky history please visit: http://crossness.org.uk/

Join us and other environmental charities to help to look after our waterways by visiting https://marchforcleanwater.org/ and https://theriverstrust.org/key-issues/sewage-in-rivers

Britain’s space race efforts were bold but short-lived.    

Join historian Helen Antrobus for the tale of Britain’s space race.

It’s the mid 1950’s and the height of the Cold War era.

British engineers are working in secret at The Needles on the Isle of Wight, testing a nuclear deterrent, the Black Knight Rocket.

But by the end of the 1960s the British rocket programme is under threat. Engineers have one last chance to get into space with the ambitious Black Arrow Rocket.

Can Britain reach the stars or will it fail to launch?

 

Start creating your story at www.cewe.co.uk 

 

Presenter: Helen Antrobus

Producer and sound designer: Nikki Ruck

Contributors 

Paul Carey

Steve Berden

Doug Millard

Jesse Edbrooke – voice of Ray Wheeler

In memory of Ray Wheeler 1927-2019 

With thanks to NASA

Discover more

Discover more about the secrets behind Highdown test site visit  The New Battery at The Needles

Find out more about the history of Black Knight, Black Arrow and Prospero rockets

Wight Aviation Museum

See the Black Arrow Rocket itself https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visit

Discover more podcasts

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/virtual-visit/podcasts#stories-about-nature-and-history

If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at [email protected]

Introducing Back When, a new history podcast taking you inside the stories of the people, places and moments that made us. Launching 2 April.

Join historians Helen Antrobus and James Grasby for a fly on the wall view of our past. Discover the forgotten story of Britain's space race. Uncover the unsettling history of witches' familiars. And hear the origin story of sci-fi author HG Wells.

Our history is all around us. And we'll be transporting you behind the scenes at landmarks from castles to dance halls and WWII bunkers to workhouses. You’ll meet people from all walks of life whose fascinating stories help us make sense of who we are now. 

Lean in for a tale from time. Back When.

New episodes of Back When are released every fortnight. Follow Back When on your favourite podcast app to make sure you get every story.  

Join singer and songwriter Caryl Parry Jones, as she visits the Castle and choir that inspired Blur frontman Damon Albarn’s latest album. Caryl learns how staff at Penrhyn Castle are forging links with local residents, who still see the site as a brutal reminder of the poor working conditions endured by their relatives more than 100 years ago.

The Cornish mining industry was once the envy of the world. Seabirds have now taken over the crumbling remains of mine shafts, engine houses and chimneys that still define the Tin Coast. This episode explores the geological events that threaded this stretch of coastline with tin and copper and the technological advancements that led to an army of workers excavating the metals from a warren of tunnels. 

In this episode Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories books, visits an ex-mining coal mining community which once held a deep mistrust of the National Trust when they came to help clear up their beach.

 

You can find more podcasts from the National Trust at nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts 

In the year 991 AD an advancing Viking army made its way up the Black Water estuary and moored on the banks of Northey Island. According to an Anglo-Saxon poem, the raiders used this small and marshy island as a base from which to attack the town of Maldon in Essex. But their passage to the mainland was blocked by an Anglo-Saxon army determined to defend their land. The poem goes on to vividly describe the epic and bloody battle that ensued.

 

In this episode of the People’s Landscapes podcast, Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough follows in the footsteps of these Vikings, and sheds some light on just what happened on Northey Island more than 1,000 years ago. 

You can find more podcasts from the National Trust at nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts

In this four part documentary series, we explore how geology and landscapes have influenced the communities and cultures of the British Isles. We’ll discover what connects ice-age floods and the dialects we speak. And how pre-historic geological events can form the bedrock of community, or become the driving force behind neighbourhood feuds.

 

People’s Landscapes is hosted and presented by radio journalist, broadcaster and star of Strictly Come Dancing, John Sergeant; Horrible Histories writer Terry Deary; historian and broadcaster Eleanor Barraclough and Welsh broadcaster and actress Caryl Parry Jones.