Strange Stories UK

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This a shorter and quirkier podcast  than usual. I read a book which moved me and I wanted to make a podcast about it. It is essentially about the life of a sparrow. 
I suppose most of us had a time when we tried to rescue an infant or injured bird, usually with an unhappy outcome. In this story an interesting relationship develops between a special woman and a special sparrow. I know its doomed to a low download figure, but I enjoyed making it. 
As per usual please be advised that it is low-fi, recorded in one take and I am not a good narrator. I will upload this pod on Christmas day.

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The first haunting considered is that of Hinton Ampner, then the podcast moves onto the East Riding and West ridings of Yorkshire for further cases of supposed paranormal activity.
The Podcast is recorded in one take with animals in the room. I mispronounce words and stumble over words, so apologies for that.
I wish anyone reading this a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2024.

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This is the first episode of Season 7. I spent a couple of weeks at Winchester Crown Court watching a few cases. There was a murder trial in Court 1, a stabbing on the Isle of Wight, there were a few Organised Crime Gangs ranging from drug smuggling to human trafficking. I found it difficult to accept the description OCG, especially when applied to a 'dodgy' roofer who worked with some other cowboy builders cheating vulnerable house owners.
An Albanian gang  snatching items from elderly people in deserted car parks. There were of course the usual historic sex cases and County Lines cases. Court 4 had a home grown terrorist downloaded and sharing illegal content.  
The podcast ends rather abruptly and I did not thank the people at Winchester Crown court, or Damselfly for the background music, or those that downloaded and listened.
I have some rather quirky episodes planned, some shorter podcasts than normal that may not be to everyone's tastes. I aim to post the normal paranormal episode for Christmas.

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This podcast has a dog snoring throughout, some cats make an appearance  but dont seem to have any audio affects. The window is open so warning there may be some crow or frog noise.
Anyhow,  I remember the story being told during a Christmas with elderly relatives in the 1960s in the city where the murder was committed.  
The most cogent memory  in the 1960s is distant relatives giving my sisters and I stocking shaped presents with mars bars, milky ways and similar offerings which did not really connect with children, they were such boring presents, but they must have seemed such treats to elderly relatives who would have had to make do with an orange and a couple of Brazil nuts  at Christmas, or so we were told . 
What I remember most is sitting in uncomfortable chairs in yellow light lightbulbs having to talk with very old people who were my elderly relatives. This the atmosphere when I heard about the Messiter case. A case I was totally uninterested in at the time but now have made into a podcast and probably am better informed than my elderly relatives at the time.
It isn't really much of a murder either.

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Hello Anybody reading this. This podcast is regarding some stories as reported in the Society of Physical Research (SPR) records for 1923. The SPR tended not to report on ghost type stories at this time which were considered old fashioned. 
World War 1 had ended in 1918 and this resulted in many unexplained stories. Here are a few as recorded in Proceedings and the Journal of the SPR in 1923.
I would like to say that I am aware that there have been issues regarding sound quality of these podcasts and I am working on solutions for the start of Series 7 starting in early December 2023. Meanwhile, I intend to post one podcast on 15 November 2023 to end Series 6.
In Series 7, I will finish the series on the Kray crime gang. I will not focus on the twins but on those characters in their gang. I also want to focus on cryptozoology  and other strange stories and of course obscure true crime.

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Please don't get too excited by the title of this podcast. By definition, Burkitt was a serial killer whose killing area was Hull, but I think that the nickname 'The King of the Serial Killers' that was given to him by fellow prisoners was perhaps ironic as Burkitt was a rather pathetic human being.
I had never heard of this story before but I think it is of some interest as Burkitt managed to avoid the hangman on three occasions when most people would have thought that he had committed murder on three separate occasions.
Please be advised that this podcast is recorded in one take without editing.

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Episode 165: 
Reg Calvert was a family man who got involved in the pop music scene in the early 1960s and through chance became involved with Pirate radio. He was a person that made things happen and was on the look out for new projects. He was well liked although he was said to have a temper when he was let down.

 I think there was a miscarriage of justice regarding this case. An unarmed Reg Calvert was shot with a shotgun by Oliver Smedley who had tried to steal his radio Station from him. The police proved useless, it was their advice that sent Calvert to discuss matters with Smedley as they could not be bothered to get involved themselves. This advice caused Reg’s death when he shot Calvert with no good reason.

It seems clear that Smedley who was a decorated war hero and was probably a psychopath was protected by establishment figures. Although I am guessing here, I would imagine he was a freemason. Smedley was given virtually a free pass for murder.

Pirate radio was something of a ‘free for all’ Radio London broadcast from a ship about 6 kms off Frinton on Sea managed to steer clear of dubious activities. However most of the others did things that would be questioned if not illegal. The Government at the time were reluctant to act.

I was going to include some audio clips of Pirate radio and this speaking about what happened regarding Reg's death. I decided against this as it would be better to visit the Offshore Radio museum website and the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame websites that are great sites with so much information. There are other sites as Pirate radio was very popular for the early Boomer generation. There is so much information about Pirate radio online.
Just a word of warning, this podcast is made in one take by someone who does not enjoy being a narrator and makes little sense at times,  for example I find it difficult to say 'Fort', There is no editing. There may be some chicken interference.

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This is a podcast about Cornwall in 1959, a strange and sad double murder that seems to have been forgotten about. 
I am thinking that my microphone needs replacing which won't happen until November when I next visit an urban centre and take some advice. So, I my take a break after posting a few more short pods. I will post a Southampton murder and a Pirate radio murder and then the Halloween episode, so three more pods for Series 6, then I will take a break. I will start series 7 around Christmas 2023.
I wanted to do some more research before finishing my series on the Krays. I want to have an episode on the Kray gang members, who they really were based on primary sources, so that will be posted perhaps around Christmas.  I realise that I have not posted a crypto zoology episode for some time, so I hope to remedy that early in Series 7.

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Part 2 of the untold Kray stories. This tells of the corruption that resulted from the sexual interests of Ronnie Kray who was a predatory homosexual paedophile who corrupted others including well known politicians of the day at the sex parties he held.
The main criticism is on the Conservative and Labour governments of the day that could have stopped the corruption but allowed it to continue to avoid negative publicity.

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This is the second part of the podcast about a shoot out and affray at a club in Catford during March 1966.
This podcast is not really about the Krays but an incident that finished their main rivals in London, The Richardson gang. The podcast is recorded in one take without editing and are lo-fi.
I am not sure how much other kray podcasts can be trusted as many are based on biased books or biased accounts which often glorify the Kray gang.
The podcasts I am trying to produce are based on police records which are often doubtful, but probably the truest accounts that exist. I also use accounts or books that I think can be trusted such as Albert Donoghue's 'The Krays' lieutenant. Donoghue turned against the Krays after they tried to make him take a murder charge  on their account. 
I am hoping to make three or four Kray podcasts on specific incidents rather than an overall assessment on them.