Longtime Ago People

Season 3 Epilogue - Longtime Ago People

As I reach the end of Season Three, I look back on ten conversations, ten lives, and countless memories that might otherwise have slipped away. We’ve travelled from punk-rock school days and village childhoods to grief, migration, family businesses, Harlem streets, Australian road trips, and quiet suburban lives. The stories are wonderfully different, yet they all point towards the same truth: lives only seem ordinary until we take the time to listen.

Along the way, I revisited a friendship that began in 1976 with Rhys, explored Devon village life and family legacy with John, and followed Simon’s remarkable 52‑year martial arts journey. Howard took us behind the scenes of Wimpy and the complexities of family, work and ambition, while Mari traced her grandfather’s story through war, migration and unanswered family questions.

I travelled to Harlem with Mumu, listening to a life lived at the intersection of being Black, Muslim and gay. Miguel shared an extraordinary story of love, loss and writing through grief. Jim showed how one chance visit to a magic shop changed his life, while George reflected on Sussex roots, rowing, faith, and building a future in Australia. Finally, Wendy took us back to 1960s Britain through music, friendship, changing neighbourhoods and the memories of a husband she still misses.

More than anything, these conversations have reinforced why I started Longtime Ago People in the first place. Every family, every street, every friendship and every life holds stories worth preserving. Sometimes all it takes is someone willing to ask the questions.

If someone came to mind while listening this season, why not share an episode with them?

And if you have a story of your own, or know someone whose life deserves to be remembered, I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening to Season Three.
With thanks for being part of the story.
Miles 🎙️

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Wendy: 

What fascinates me about recording Longtime Ago People is how an ordinary street can hold an extraordinary amount of history. In this episode, I sit down with my next-door neighbour, Wendy, who has lived on our street since 1968. Listening to her stories, I was struck by how quickly everyday life can fade from memory. Yet it can return in seconds when you start thinking about it. Houses cost £3,650, mortgage payments were just £29.80 a month, and the roads were quiet enough for children to play out safely.

Wendy takes me back to the 1960s, a time she remembers as full of freedom, music and opportunity. We talk about local socials where she and her friend met their future husbands, and about the soundtrack of her youth, from Elvis and Marty Wilde to Rod Stewart. She also shares her memories of seeing The Rolling Stones in a small hall before they became world-famous, along with a brilliant story involving Hank Marvin that became a long-running joke.

Our conversation also touches on life's harder moments. Wendy speaks openly about losing her husband, Paul, in 2006, the speed with which illness can change everything, and the way humour can exist alongside grief. We discuss the huge changes she's witnessed over the decades, from black-and-white televisions and phone boxes to smartphones and Alexa, and her memories of the Great Storm of 1987.

If you enjoy oral history, local history, memories of 1960s Britain, and honest conversations about community, family and change, I think you'll really enjoy this one. Please subscribe, share it with someone who loves a trip down memory lane, and leave a review. I'd also love to know: what's the biggest change you've seen in your lifetime?

Bits & Bobs

Music & Artists

• Dean Martin (referenced in the introduction)
  • https://www.deanmartin.com
• Marty Wilde
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Wilde
• Joe Brown
  • https://www.joebrown.co.uk
• Rod Stewart
  • https://www.rodstewart.com
• Small Faces
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Faces
• The Rolling Stones
  • https://rollingstones.com
• Hank Marvin (The Shadows)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Marvin
• Roxy Music
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxy_Music
• Eddie Cochran
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Cochran
• Billy Joel ("It's Still Rock and Roll to Me")
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Still_Rock_and_Roll_to_Me

Historical & Cultural References

• Flower Power Movement (1960s counterculture)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_power
• Jiving / Jive Dancing
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jive_(dance)

Television & Technology

• Alexa
  • https://www.amazon.co.uk/alexa
• BBC
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk
• ITV
  • https://www.itv.com
• Channel 4
  • https://www.channel4.com
• Liberace
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberace
• Lassie
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassie
• Black Beauty
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Beauty

Local & Historical References

• Arundel, West Sussex
  • https://www.visitarundel.co.uk
• Arundel Castle
  • https://www.arundelcastle.org
• Rustington, West Sussex
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustington

Major Historical Event Mentioned

• The Great Storm of 1987 - 39 years ago this very day 15 October 1987 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Jim, Gran, Brothers, Cath, Children, Mentors & Faith - George 1954
 
family & mentors/grandson, husband, father & mentor

When I sit outdoors with George, my second cousin visiting from Australia, a simple summer pint turns into a time machine. Within minutes we are back in 1950/60s Sussex, talking about front‑yard games, a steam train ride to see our grandparents, wartime stories from Grandad Jim, and all the tiny details that only surface when a family really listens.

From there, George’s life gathers pace through sport. We talk about gymnastics displays at Butlin’s, school athletics, and the brotherly rivalry that never quite disappears. Then the conversation shifts into rowing. He describes what it feels like to race while facing backwards, the thrill of winning, and the sudden loss of a crew‑mate that changes the shed forever. It becomes an honest look at grief inside a sporting community and the strange way life asks you to keep going.

George also shares what it took to move to Australia in 1990 without knowing where he would end up, and why a camper‑van road trip helped him choose a new home. The stories are wild and vivid, from cane toads in Queensland to the moment he realises you do not casually swim at Cape Tribulation. We finish with the chapters that surprised him most: faith, IVF, family spread across continents, music that soundtracks love, and how road cycling in retirement keeps him moving at seventy‑two.

If you enjoy storytelling podcasts about family history, British expats in Australia, resilience, sport and finding meaning across a lifetime, press play. Subscribe, share the episode with someone who loves a good life story, and leave a review with the memory you never want to lose.

This episode could easily have been called What Do We Inherit Beyond Our Names, Part Two. I sit down with George, who is Ian’s brother from S02E04, and together we pick up the threads of a story that runs across their family. You might find it helpful to listen to that earlier episode first, although you certainly don’t need to. Each conversation stands on its own, and this one opens up a whole new set of memories.

Bits & Bobs

Family:

• Grandparents: Granddad Jim and Gran, who provided stories and quality time during his childhood.
• Wife: Cathy, his partner in life and business, who moved to Australia with him.
• Brothers: Noel, Ian, and Jeff, with whom he shared his upbringing and competitive spirit.
• Parents: Mum and Peter, who raised him in Shoreham.
• Children: Jessie, Zoe, and Oliver, whom he admires for their dedication to family.

Places:

• The Black Rabbit
• Arundel
• Shoreham-by-Sea
• Tamworth, New South Wales
• Gold Coast, Queensland
• Cape Tribulation
• Southampton Water

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

So many magicians, from Ali Bongo to Paul Daniels - Jim 1959 

magicians & mentorships/student.   

When I sit down with Jim, I hear how a random walk into a London magic shop becomes the start of a whole new life. Jim, based in Potters Bar near Barnet in North London, tells me how he goes from "I don't want to entertain the kids" to performing magic for families, care homes, strangers on public transport, and even his own financial services clients. We talk about identity too: Indian roots, childhood in Kenya, a rumoured thread of another heritage, and what it feels like when people decide where you are from just by looking at you.

We get into the craft of learning magic in a way that works whether you are curious about close‑up magic or you have only ever watched Paul Daniels on telly. Jim explains how classes, mentorship and joining the Merlin Magical Society help him find his own performance style, why copying is sometimes necessary early on, and how a trick can still be a win even when it goes wrong. He also unpacks the difference between old‑school visual magic and modern, ultra‑slick routines, plus the awkward truth of today's internet: AI and editing have made people suspicious, so live performance matters more than ever.

Then the story opens out into COVID time and weekly WhatsApp magic videos to many residents for a year. Zoom shows and adventurous travel in India and Jordan. Jim shares a sharp lesson about cultural context and why the wrong phrase can change a room in seconds, before finishing with a vivid favourite moment involving sealed cans of fizzy drink and a very messy surprise. 

If you enjoy stories about creativity, community and building confidence later in life, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review. What would you try if you started today?

Bits & Bobs

• Ali Bongo 
• Paul Daniels

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Nadia - Miguel 1968
 
wife/husband   

When I sit down with Miguel, I hear a love story that begins in Abu Dhabi, where he meets Nadia, marries her within six months, and builds two decades of the kind of partnership that makes ordinary days feel electric. Then metastatic breast cancer arrives, and being “the strong one” stops sounding like a compliment and starts feeling like a job with no days off. We talk about what caregiving really looks like when treatment, parenting and fear collide, and why he began writing at night simply to stay upright.

Miguel explains how those pages became The Boxer’s Corner, written almost like a message to his sons so they could one day understand what happened to their mum and what he was carrying. We talk about the moment Nadia dies in his arms, the brutal gap between that night and the next morning when he has to tell two children aged thirteen and nine, and the strange way grief turns you towards simplicity, routine and the small details you never want to forget.

We also explore what families need from cancer‑care communication, especially when optimism starts to blur reality, and the caregiver ends up holding the truth alone. And we hear how a five‑month, round‑the‑world trip with a tutor becomes a form of healing through awe, movement and shared memories, with music that keeps Nadia present. 

If you’ve lived through loss, supported someone through cancer, or wondered how people rebuild after tragedy, this conversation stays with you. 

Subscribe, share it with someone who might need it, and leave a review so more listeners can find these stories.

Bits & Bobs

• The Boxer's Corner: A Cancer Caregiver's Story of Love, Loss, and Isolation
  by Miguel Barron 
• The Global Madridista - The ONLY English language content by a REAL Socio Abonado of Real Madrid covering all Real Madrid news and analysis straight from Madrid. 171k followers! https://www.youtube.com/@TheGlobalMadridista

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

All Mumu's People - Mustafa 1983 
 
father, mother, grandmother/son & grandson 

When I sit down with Mumu, I realise Harlem isn’t just where he is from. It is the place that raised him with rules you only learn by living them, from knowing which streets truly count as Harlem to understanding why being outside in the 90s felt like the whole world. We talk block parties, rap battles, water fights, and the way the crack epidemic of the 1980s lingered into childhood memories that still sit close to the surface. He tells a story every New Yorker feels in their bones: getting lost on the bus as a kid, ending up far from home at night, and relying on a stranger to help you find your way back.

From there, our conversation turns inward to family, faith, and the push and pull of identity. Mumu describes a father shaped by Islam and activism, determined to hold a huge blended family together, and a mum who is deeply loved but seriously unwell. He talks about what it feels like to be Black, raised Muslim, and know you are gay from early on while believing you must hide it to stay safe, even from the person you trust most. We explore the real friction between Islam and church, and what happens when religion becomes control rather than comfort.

We move into adulthood through music, work, and survival. Mumu shares the sounds that shaped Harlem culture, his job supervising security in New York City subway stations, and what the trains felt like during COVID when the city went quiet but danger did not. You will also hear the surprising turning point that comes from juggling, plus his plan to save, invest, travel, retire within a decade, and maybe leave New York for land where he can grow his own food. 

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Ottelo Mola Benedetti - Mari 1968
 
grandfather/granddaughter  

When I sit down with Mari, I begin with the bronze “Indian” head that lived in her family home. It was always described as Native American, and for years she and her cousins believed the story that came with it: their grandfather had once been an Indian, a fighter, a man whose adventures were too vivid to question. That single object becomes our doorway into a much wider family history, stretching from Catalonia and Barcelona back to Italy, and into the places where the record falls silent. As we talk, I find myself drawn to the tension of loving someone who could make you laugh and still leave you with questions you will never fully answer.

We trace her grandfather’s path through the Second World War, when he was a young Italian army driver, and then on to a tiny Sardinian town where a chance encounter turned into a romance that reshaped the entire family. There is post‑war survival in a bombed‑out house, improvised heating made from rolled newspaper, and the long, determined grind of migration as work pulled them from Turin to Murcia and eventually to Barcelona. Alongside all of this, we sit with the contradictions: the charm, the dreaming, the smuggled tobacco, and the way a man who could be a difficult husband still fought for his four daughters to study and build careers in a world that did not expect women to.

Threaded through the stories is an aching gap, an estranged family line that no one ever reconnects with, and a sense that identity is stitched together from many places at once. We finish with a plan to search for roots in Rome’s Trastevere, and a promise to keep the Native American “Indian” alive as a shared memory. 

If you enjoy family storytelling, oral history, migration tales and wonderfully messy real‑life character portraits, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review with the one family myth you still carry with you.

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Bill Sharman - Howard 1955 

father/son  

When I sat down with Howard, I quickly realised that a burger can be a time machine. What starts as a chat about Wimpy on one of the hottest days of the year becomes a walk straight back into post‑war Britain, when “hamburgers” were still a novelty and Wimpy was quietly inventing what we now think of as British fast food. Howard’s dad, Bill Sharman, isn’t just working in restaurants — he’s learning the product from the ground up, shaping standards, and helping to build a franchise model that felt genuinely new on the high street.

We get into the details that make business history feel human: where the name Wimpy came from, why quality control mattered more than any secret recipe, and how table service changed the whole feel of eating a burger in town. There are brilliant snapshots of the era, too, celebrity openings, the Savalas brothers drifting through the story, and the strange glamour of international travel when flying felt risky enough that you’d buy life insurance at the airport before boarding.

But the conversation soon shifts from brand building to the cost of it. Howard talks about a father who was kind, reserved, and often absent, shaped by wartime service and a generation that rarely showed affection out loud. We talk about retirement, regret, and the danger of life feeling hollow when the work stops. It’s a reminder that behind every iconic brand sits a family living with the consequences of ambition.

If you care about UK food culture, franchising, leadership, or simply the human side of building something that lasts, there’s a lot here to take away.

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who remembers Wimpy, and tell me what Wimpy brings back for you — a taste, a person, or a moment in time.

Bits & Bobs

There's a slight bit of mic static (I don't know if it's on my mic or Howard’s mic), but it's okay, it's only for a few minutes. 

1. Joe Lyons & Wimpy
2. Wimpy 
3. 1966 FIFA World Cup final
4. Savalas brothers

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Po, Kan, Lambert, Dai-Sensei & Zhong Ming Fashi - Simon 1960  

mentors/student 

When I sat down with Simon, he told me that everything began with one evening in childhood, three TV channels, and a single kung fu programme. That moment set him on a 52‑year martial arts journey that carried him from the Isle of Wight to Asia, and now to a quieter life in the Philippines, where he still trains every day and runs his school from afar.

In our conversation, we explore what he learned under his first sensei, why travel became part of his curriculum, and how training with so many teachers and traditions shaped his ideas about destiny, discipline, and self‑direction. We wander through monastery life in Thailand, Okinawan roots, research trips to China, and the belief that martial arts are ultimately less about winning fights and more about learning how not to fight.

A big part of our chat centres on San Shan Gong, Simon’s moving meditation built around the three battles of mind, body, and spirit. We also get wonderfully practical — posture, breath, and why something as simple as “standing” can teach you lessons that stay with you for years, even on a packed tube train. And yes, we talk about martial arts in films and TV: what Hollywood gets wrong, and what still rings true if you look past the myth.

If you’re drawn to kung fu philosophy, karate history, meditation, self‑defence mindset, or simply the idea of living with a bit more calm strength, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share it with someone who trains (or wants to), and tell me the biggest takeaway you’re carrying into your week.

Bits & Bobs

• A caulkhead is a colloquial nickname for a native-born resident of the Isle of Wight
• Master Po and Master Kan from the 1970s Kung Fu TV series, whose philosophy, depth of skill, and spirituality deeply impacted him.
• Mike Lambert, his first sensei, was instrumental in his journey and whom he modelled himself after.
• Higaonna Morio Dai-Sensei, a grandmaster from Okinawa, was his inspiration for five years in America and helped him take karate back to its roots.
• Zhong Ming Fashi was his Chan Zen meditation master and spiritual leader in China.
• TV Show Kung Fu
• The Champions is a British sci-fi, espionage, and adventure TV series
• The Isle of Wight man who devoted his life to KungFu: Simon Lailey’s decades of martial arts mastery

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

John 1958 

father/son 

“The Longtime-Ago-Person is Probably Me”

When I sit down with John, I’m taken straight into a childhood that feels almost impossible now. He grew up in a vicarage on the edge of Dartmoor, the kind of place where a boy could walk out after breakfast, vanish for the entire day, and nobody thought to worry — partly because there wasn’t a phone to reach for. As we talk through his own mind map of longtime ago people, the memories return with astonishing clarity: the huge lawn and orchard, ponies on the moor, bikes as transport, and the absolute normality of knocking on a stranger’s door for water and maybe an apple.

Being a vicar’s son in a small Devon village gives the story a unique texture. Sundays meant church, whether he liked it or not, sitting among older parishioners while his dad — the most recognisable man in the community — did the work of keeping people connected. John reflects on faith, on the tension between everyday humanity and spiritual authority, and on how those early years shaped his sense of community, care and responsibility.

Then come the stories that make rural 1960s Britain feel wonderfully alive: open fires that smoked out the room, ice on the inside of the windows, hot water bottles, the post office that doubled as a sweet shop, returnable bottles swapped for treats, and the pub hatch where children bought sweets — or sometimes just knocked and ran. John talks about camping with his younger siblings in a farmer’s field, a whole day spent wandering in search of an osprey that never appeared, and a perfect culture clash when teenage him played Black Sabbath’s Paranoid to his vicar father just to see the reaction.

If you love British nostalgia, Dartmoor history, village life, or the bigger question of what childhood freedom does to a person, this episode will speak to you. Hit play, share it with someone who grew up pre‑mobile, and leave a review telling us what you miss most about the analogue days.

Send us Fan Mail

“Follow Longtime Ago People wherever you get your podcasts.”

Everyone has a story; what's yours?

Copy this RSS feed and paste it into your podcast app. 

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2503597.rss

Instagram: Please follow @longtimeagopeople 

Blog: longtimeagopeople.com

Have a story echoing through time? I’m listening—300 words or fewer. 

Memory is Fragile 

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."