Be warned – you may risk arrest if you listen to this podcast!

In this first episode of Biographicon, Professor Alastair Bonnett and I explore the mind of Thomas Spence – a thinker so dangerous he was made illegal. As Alastair argues Spence was “the poorest and most determined militant in English history” and Spenceanism is the only political ideology outlawed by the British parliament. We take you on a psychogeographic tour of Spence's birthplace, Newcastle upon Tyne, in which Alastair presents his role within the Northumbrian Enlightenment.

Alastair Bonnett is Professor of Social Geography in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne.