A man who attempted to sniff a piece of string up his nose and pull it out of his mouth, with no practice, in a packed pub, on a Sunday lunchtime, and got thrown out covered in his own sick. And a dad whose signature party piece involved a recorder, an empty sleeve, and a finger poking out of his flies.

The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation.

🪢 Gary and the string trick – he'd seen someone do it once, never practised, gathered everyone round the bar to watch… and it ended in vomit and a barring

🎼 The one-armed flute player – one listener's dad had a party routine so cringeworthy his own sons would leave the room when they saw him reaching for the jacket

🏥 Johnny's grandad, the tube-insertion champion – a pioneer of modern anaesthesia who has a engraved tankard from his grateful students for winning a competition doing basically the same trick as Gary

🍺 Man Size Issues – Johnny and Gav accidentally start a men's health podcast about moobs, Spanx, and why nobody can trust anything they're told about butter

If you love funny true stories, listener tales, terrible party tricks, pub disasters and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.

Got a story that can top this week's madness?

📩 Send it to: [email protected]

📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Ben Fairclough

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

He lost an eye at Normandy and refused to go home. He broke his back and carried on. He captured 93 German soldiers on his own. And then, in April 1945, he liberated an entire Dutch city single-handedly by running around it all night with a machine gun and a bag of grenades, convincing the Germans they were surrounded.

In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Leo Major, the French-Canadian scout and sniper who treated his own safety as an optional extra, and became one of only a handful of Canadians ever awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal twice.

👁️ He lost an eye and stayed anyway – hit in the face by a phosphorus grenade days after landing on Juno Beach, doctors wanted to send him home. He pointed out he only needed one eye to fire a rifle

🪖 93 prisoners, one man – how a single Canadian scout captured two German soldiers, marched them to their own commanding officer, and ended up with an entire company surrendering to him

🎖️ The medal he allegedly refused – the story goes he turned down a decoration because he didn't think Montgomery deserved the respect of a salute

🦴 A broken back, then back to work – a landmine killed the chaplain and driver beside him and threw him through the air. Thirty miles to a field hospital, morphine every fifteen minutes

🔥 The liberation of Zwolle – after his friend Willie Arsenault was killed, Major spent an entire night alone faking a full-scale invasion, organised the Dutch Resistance, burned down the Gestapo HQ, and by dawn the Germans had gone. The city named a street after him

🇰🇷 Korea in running shoes – he goes back for another war, slips 18 men through the Chinese lines in plimsolls, takes a hill, and then refuses an order to retreat for three days

If you love World War 2 stories, war heroes, military legends and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.

Got a legend you want us to cover?

📩 Send it to: [email protected]

📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Ben Fairclough

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

Johnny picks a war criminal over David Walliams as a dinner companion. That's where this one starts.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

🍽️ Dinner Party Guests From Hell – Listener Kevin assembles a 10-person table including John Fury, Slobodan Milošević, Katie Price, James Corden and David Walliams. Johnny would rather sit next to the war criminal. Any day of the week.

🧖 Celebrity Steam Room – Johnny recalls the time the steam cleared and he found himself naked with Ross Kemp, Ainsley Harriott, Lee Chapman and Dr. Fox. Ross pitched a show. It was terrible.

💣 History's Biggest What If – The boys debate the single decision that may have saved Britain in WWII — and why one bomber over Berlin changed the course of modern history.

🏅 George Broadley: A Real Blooming Legend – Listener Lee shares the story of a man who dug through Blitz rubble with his bare hands, rescued children, and was awarded the George Medal by King George himself.

Got a story that can top this week's madness? 📩 Send it to [email protected] and we'll decide if it's Bloomin' Legendary or just brilliantly bonkers.

📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download from your app store or visit www.globalplayer.com

New episodes every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss one!

This is a Global Original Podcast, produced by Ben Fairclough.

She was 17, had never held a sword, and travelled 300 miles across France to find a king who was hiding among his own courtiers. She walked straight past the decoy, found him immediately, then told him something privately that apparently only he could have known. Within moments, the sceptical future king was visibly shaken, and Joan was given an army.

In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Joan of Arc, the teenage peasant girl who claimed she was on a mission from God, lifted the Siege of Orléans, crowned a king, outsmarted France's most educated theologians and became one of history's most extraordinary saints.

👑 The secret meeting – how Joan spotted the real Charles among a crowd of courtiers and told him something that apparently turned him from sceptic into believer. But what did she actually say?

🐎 300 miles on horseback – how a 17-year-old girl travelled across France to find the future King after claiming she'd been ordered to drive the English out.

📚 Joan vs the professors – how an uneducated teenager went head-to-head with France's top theologians and left them struggling for answers.

⚔️ The teenage general – how Joan helped lift the Siege of Orléans, led French armies into battle, took a cannonball to the helmet and carried only a banner rather than a weapon.

👑 Crowning a king – how Joan marched Charles to Reims and helped turn the supposedly illegitimate Dauphin into the crowned King of France.

🔥 The trial – how Joan was interrogated, accused of heresy and condemned at just 19, with wearing men's clothes becoming part of the case against her.

👻 The fake Joan – how, five years after her death, another woman appeared claiming to be Joan of Arc — and somehow even Joan's own brothers went along with it.

If you love history, saints, medieval warfare, unbelievable true stories and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.

Got a legend you want us to cover?

📩 Send it to: [email protected]

📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube.

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Ben Fairclough

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

Johnny has gone full barking mad this week, realising that all three of the world's top guard dogs are German, you can imagine every one of them in a helmet, and that Alsatians are only called Alsatians because nobody in Britain would buy a German dog after World War I.

The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation.

🐕 Johnny's German dog theory – Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds: all guards, all German, all looking like they should be wearing a helmet. Plus the true story of why Alsatians are called Alsatians (only in Britain) 🐟 The Doberman who saved a koi carp – one listener's dog bangs on the back door "like the Gestapo demanding entry" while gently holding a 14-inch fish in her mouth 🏛️ The pharaoh's curse update – Tertius returns to Egypt with a fedora and a stolen pyramid shard, hoping to undo a curse, and ends up bribing his way into sealed tombs 🦈 The naked shark swim – four drunk Australian teenagers strip off to swim across Sydney Harbor in the dark, nearly get hit by a speedboat, and later discover bull sharks had moved in

If you love funny true stories, listener tales, dog nonsense, Australian chaos and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.

Got a story that can top this week's madness?

📩 Send it to: [email protected]

📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Ben Fairclough

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

She spoke four languages, owned more land than the King of Hungary, and may have tortured and murdered up to 650 young women over 25 years. When they finally caught her, she was so powerful they couldn't even put her on trial - so they bricked her up inside her own castle and left her there until she died.

In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods tackle Elizabeth Báthory - the 16th century Hungarian countess considered the most prolific female serial killer in recorded history, and the first true villain Bloomin' Legends has ever covered.

🏰 The Blood Countess – how one of Europe's most powerful noblewomen allegedly used her wealth, land, and total impunity to torture and kill for over two decades

🐴 The most horrific execution ever? – as a child, Báthory witnessed a man sewn alive into a dying horse with his head left poking out, and it may have shaped everything that followed

🩸 The blood-bathing myth – did she really bathe in the blood of virgins? Almost certainly not — that detail was invented by a Jesuit writer over 100 years later

🤴 Too powerful to punish – why the King of Hungary wanted her gone, how her downfall was probably motivated by debt, and why she never stood trial

🧱 Bricked up alive – her final punishment: walled into a room in her own castle with no doors, no windows, and no sunlight for three and a half years until she died

If you love true crime, dark history, serial killers, medieval horror and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.

Got a legend you want us to cover?

📩 Send it to: [email protected]

📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Ben Fairclough

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

A night out turns into a beachside evacuation. Thirty Royal Marines charge into the dark wearing boots, body armour and ballistic helmets, armed with whatever they could find in the galley, including a two-handled boiling pot.

The Extra Legendary Bit is the bonus episode where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods leave the history books behind and dive into the unhinged, moving and brilliant stories sent in by you, the listeners.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The Royal Navy Run Ashore That Got Out of Hand – Gareth remembers his late dad Sean: a teenage Navy recruit, a police-car-light heist in Pensacola, and the Caribbean night a beach bar bust-up required a full Marine rescue mission.
• Can a Dickhead Still Be a Legend? – Mary asks the big question: can one heroic act outweigh years of being difficult? Johnny answers with a surprisingly profound passage from Tolstoy about why human beings are like rivers.
• Uncle Dave, the Christmas Plumber – Jason nominates the man who has spent 40 years keeping elderly customers warm, fixing boilers for free and quietly being a bloomin legend.

🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!

Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Cassie Merritt

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

He was 4 foot 11, weighed eight stone, came from a mountain village with no electricity, no roads, and no running water… and then held off 200 Japanese soldiers in a Burmese jungle trench after a grenade blew his hand off.

In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods take on take on Lachhiman Gurung, the Gurkha rifleman who became one of the most decorated soldiers of the Second World War. Four days after VE Day, while Britain was celebrating in the streets, Gurung was still fighting in the Burmese jungle. Half blind, badly wounded, and down to one usable hand, he spent four hours holding off wave after wave of Japanese attackers with a bolt-action rifle, a kukri, and pure bloody-minded courage.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The trench stand - the astonishing night Gurung threw back grenades, lost his right hand, and still refused to give an inch
• “Come and fight a Gurkha” – the battle cry he reportedly shouted into the dark as 200 enemy troops closed in
• The quiet hero – how one of the bravest men of the war went home, farmed in silence, and barely spoke about what he’d done...bloomin legend.

🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!

Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Cassie Merritt

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

His grandfather was told to move a train up the line. The driver had wandered off, so he thought, how hard can it be? Twenty miles later, he found out.

The Extra Legendary Bit is the bonus episode where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods leave the history books behind and dive into the gloriously unhinged stories sent in by you, the listeners.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

The Man Who Accidentally Stole a Train – A 1960s signal technician gets an empty locomotive rolling with zero training and absolutely no idea how to stop it. Land Rovers give chase. His response when they finally catch up is magnificent.

The Tightest Man Who Ever Bought a House – Uncle Ray never spent a penny in his life. Same flat for 40 years. Fiver in every birthday card. Then the solicitor's letter arrived.

The Ford Focus of Justice – Someone parks across Dave's driveway. Dave parks directly behind them and puts the football on. Three hours later, he delivers one line that ends the whole situation.

🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!

Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Cassie Merritt

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!

He was a lawyer by 17, a priest who once fainted in the pulpit from a hangover, a professional violinist, a government spy, a prison escape artist, a con man, a duellist, and the man whose name became shorthand for the world’s greatest seducer.

He blagged his way through 18th-century Europe, convinced a Venetian senator he had mystical powers, escaped from an “inescapable” prison through the roof, invented the French state lottery, and somehow still found time to get exiled from half the continent.

In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods take on Giacomo Casanova, the Venetian adventurer whose real life was far wilder than his reputation.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The man behind the name - how Casanova became synonymous with seduction, even though his real life was much madder than just his love affairs
• The prison break – Casanova’s legendary escape from Venice’s supposedly inescapable Leads prison by climbing out through the roof and strolling out dressed as a nobleman
• The great European blag – how he convinced a senator he had magical powers, worked as a spy, and charmed his way into courts and palaces across the continent
• Casanova’s seduction formula – Johnny breaks down the four-act game plan that made him history’s most famous romantic operator

🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!

Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends

Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.com

Bloomin' Legends is a Global production

Produced by Cassie Merritt

New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!