Everything you ever wanted to know about fasting and fish, in particular the herring! General fast days, Ember Days and, of course, Lent. How did Christian fasting develop? What is the whole fish thing all about? What manifestations of herring mockery have blessed Christendom over the centuries? Where does Shakespeare's Falstaff fit into all this? And what about the canons for Reims Cathedral. In a special guest appearance, Ian Duhig reads his poem Pascal Anthem. Alexandre Dumas gives us his great lost prequel to The Three Musketeers.

00:00 Introduction - including Ian Duhig's Paschal Anthem

07:50 Fasting: The Whens & Wherefores

15:50 Why Fish?

24:00 The Economics of Herring Fishing

26:40 Herring Mockery

37:40 Acknowledgements