Tales of Ordinary Times

Hi everyone, we know you were expecting us back in late August, but there's going to be a bit of a delay. There are lots of exciting things going on for both of us work-wise and personally, and unfortunately that means we aren’t able to deliver the second series of the podcast as planned.

We’re still looking to come back, so we’ll update you when we have another announcement to make. While you're waiting, do let us know what you would like to hear about in series 2, and catch up with us @ourstorieshrtg on Twitter and @OurStoriesHeritage on Instagram.

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Happy Independence Day! But wait, why would we be celebrating Independence Day over here in the UK?

The village of Warton in North Lancashire has a very special connection to the most famous of American revolutionaries, General George Washington. Today, we're chatting to Dr Sam Edwards, Reader in Transatlantic History at Manchester Metropolitan University, about the Warton-Washington connection and how these grassroots connections influence the 'special relationship'.

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The Cold War was a time of international political tension, conflict and the ever-present threat of nuclear Armageddon. So why does a small community on Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland Islands, look back on the Cold War as the Good Old Days?

In this final episode of the series, we're joined by Dr Steven Leech to explore the fascinating story of Unst's Cold War past.

In a change to our planned episode (now coming next week) we're heading deep into the archives of The Guardian newspaper to uncover three extraordinary women.

We're joined this week by Dr Janette Martin, Modern History Archivist at John Rylands Research Institute and Library. The John Rylands cares for the Guardian archives from when the paper was based in Manchester.

2021 marks the bicentenary of The Guardian, and the John Rylands are about to launch an exhibition exploring stories from the newspaper's 200 year history.

In a year where we could all do with a nice summer, what better topic than the year Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death?

The summer of 1816 was bleak across Europe and much of north-eastern America. There were frosts in June, months of solid rain and devastating impacts on harvests and food supply. The cause? The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora...

2021 is a census year, and to mark the occasion we've gone back through censuses past to explore how this data collection exercise came to be.

And to show how important the census is to historians, we've gone on an historical adventure to pick a name a random and explore their story through their census records. Meet Sarah Sinclair...

Hello lovely listeners. We're very sorry but we're not able to bring you a podcast episode this week due to some unexpected personal circumstances. We'll see you next Thursday, same time, same place. Thank you x

Back in the day travel was a slow business. In this episode we explore the story of the coaching inn, the ideal resting place for some food and to stretch your legs... every 10 miles of your journey.

We discuss highwaymen, women's safety on the road and the features to look out for if you think your local pub might be an old coaching inn.

It's pretty normal to us to be able to buy exotic fruit, but that hasn't always been the case. In this episode we explore the surprising history of the pineapple.

Find out how they came to Europe, why King Charles II wanted his portrait with one, and when you might want to hit the dancefloor with a pineapple on your arm.

You might not know her name, but Gertrude Powicke was a truly remarkable woman. One of the first female university graduates, she went on to campaign for women's suffrage. In World War I, she strove to play her part and dedicated herself to helping refugees whose lives had been turned upside down by conflict.

In this episode, we're joined by Kate Turner, co-founder and co-director of Our Stories Heritage.