[Deep Dive Interview] 

The Oklahoma City bombing of 1995… The 2011 Norway attacks… The 2016 Nice truck attack… The 2019 Christcurch, New Zealand shootings… 

What do all these attacks have in common? They were all formulated, planned and executed by a single individual. 

The popular fear of lone actor attacks is that they are completely unpredictable and so almost impossible to prevent. We speak to Dr. Francis O’Connor, an expert on lone actor radicalisation. Dr. O’connor and his colleagues have been funded by the EU Commission to research lone actor attacks. 

They have collected what they think is the largest dataset of lone actor attacks and attackers in the western world dating from 1990 until the present. 

Full Episode transcript available here:

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Dr. O'Connor's book is available here:

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Produced and edited by John Roche 

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Comments and feedback very welcome!

[Documentary]

We visit the Mezhyhirya estate in the Ukraine.

The vast estate covers over 340 acres. That’s just shy of the area of Monaco. The glamorous and opulent principality has a lot in common with Mezhyirya. Except Monaco is home to 38,000 people. Mezhyhirya was most recently home to just one family.

This is the story of the former president of Ukraine - Victor Yanukovych.

His mafia style cartel, nick named ‘the family’, his extravagant lifestyle and the construction of his monument to greed - The Mezhyhirya palace and estate. Now known as the world’s only 'Museum of Corruption'.

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Produced and edited by John Roche

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Comments and feedback very welcome!

Email: yarnstorypodcast (at) gmail.com.

Twitter: @YarnStoryPod

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Full transcript available here:

https://mrjohnroche-42475.medium.com/yarn-21-the-secret-palace-fb2440c68a01

[3-part documentary]

Episode 3 of 3 - Darkest before the dawn.   

1900s - 2000s   

In this new Yarn Miniseries I’m going to give you a rough history of Disability.   

In episode three things start with one of modern history's darkest ideas, Eugenics. We explore its prevalence, especially in America and some of its most famous proponents. Then we jump over to Post WW2 Britain and we uncover how wars not only created Disabled people but how post war periods also led to infrastructure and programmes that helped people with disabilities.   

We will confront the horrific conditions Disabled residents of institutions were forced to live in and see how the era of the big institution eventually came to an end. We'll intersect with the Civil Rights movement and see how it inspired the Parent's movement, which led to the Independent Living movement and the fight for Human Rights for people with Disabilities.   

Written and narrated by John Roche.   

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Full episode transcript available here:  https://medium.com/@mrjohnroche_42475 

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Sources 

Short  history of disability By Dr Robert Jackson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2qgVhmH88  MN Department of Administration - Council on Development Disabilities https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/index.html  World Bank https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disability  Historic England https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/  History Channel https://www.history.com/topics/germany/eugenics  PBS https://www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/deaflife/bell_nad.html  United Nations Human Rights Office of High Commissioner https://www.ohchr.org/  Dr. William Bronston, Willowbrook Memorial Lecture https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/five/5f/willowbrook-bronston-memorial.html  Welcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/works  IWM Archive https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-shell-shock  RTE Archive https://www.rte.ie/archives/  The Times Archive https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ancient-walking-aids-5232vx5n9j0  Special Olympics https://www.specialolympics.org  JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/3288457?seq=1  IPC https://www.paralympic.org/  Greek Gods info https://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/hephaestus/  YouTube

[3-part documentary]

Episode 2 of 3

Two Steps Forward. One Step Back.  

1500s - 1800s 

In this new Yarn Miniseries I’m going to give you a rough history of Disability. 

In episode two we will see how the aftermath of the Reformation effected people with disabilities.

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Full episode transcript available here: 

https://medium.com/@mrjohnroche_42475/disability-a-parallel-history-ad51c7673cdb  

Sources  

Short history of disability By Dr Robert Jackson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2qgVhmH88  MN Department of Administration - Council on Development Disabilities https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/index.html  World Bank https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disability  Historic England https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/  History Channel https://www.history.com/topics/germany/eugenics  PBS https://www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/deaflife/bell_nad.html  United Nations Human Rights Office of High Commissioner https://www.ohchr.org/  Dr. William Bronston, Willowbrook Memorial Lecture https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/five/5f/willowbrook-bronston-memorial.html  Welcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/works  IWM Archive https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-shell-shock  RTE Archive https://www.rte.ie/archives/  The Times Archive https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ancient-walking-aids-5232vx5n9j0  Special Olympics https://www.specialolympics.org  JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/3288457?seq=1  IPC https://www.paralympic.org/  Greek Gods info https://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/hephaestus/  YouTube

[3-part documentary]

Episode 1 of 3 - Parallel Worlds. 

Prehistory - 1400s 

In this new Yarn Miniseries I’m going to give you a rough history of Disability. 

The story of Disability runs in parallel with the story of humanity itself and like the story of humanity, some of it isn’t pretty. It involves murder, neglect, segregation and sterilisation but it’s also a story of innovation, determination and love. 

In episode one I define what a disability is before diving into the past. I start with the Neanderthals, checking in with the Egyptians, the Celts, the Ancient Romans and I also highlight the effect organised Religion has on the perception of people with a disability. 

Written and narrated by John Roche. 

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Full episode transcript available here:

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Sources 

Short history of disability By Dr Robert Jackson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js2qgVhmH88 MN Department of Administration - Council on Development Disabilities https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/index.html World Bank https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disability Historic England https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/ History Channel https://www.history.com/topics/germany/eugenics PBS https://www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/deaflife/bell_nad.html United Nations Human Rights Office of High Commissioner https://www.ohchr.org/ Dr. William Bronston, Willowbrook Memorial Lecture https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/five/5f/willowbrook-bronston-memorial.html Welcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/works IWM Archive https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-shell-shock RTE Archive https://www.rte.ie/archives/ The Times Archive https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ancient-walking-aids-5232vx5n9j0 Special Olympics https://www.specialolympics.org JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/3288457?seq=1 IPC https://www.paralympic.org/ Greek Gods info https://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/hephaestus/ YouTube

In this new Yarn Miniseries I’m going to give you a rough history of Disability. 

The story of Disability runs in parallel with the story of humanity itself and like the story of humanity, some of it isn’t pretty. It involves murder, neglect, segregation and sterilisation but it’s also a story of innovation, determination and love. 

Attitudes to disability today are very much products of its history. If we want to understand current practices, stereotypes and infrastructure around disability we have to revisit its past. It’s also very much a personal history to me. I’ve got Cerebral Palsy, so in telling this story I might drop in a couple of my own first hand experiences too.  

This 3-part Yarn Miniseries: Disability, A Parallel History will release every Monday for the next 3 weeks. Subscribe to this feed for episode notifications.

[Two part Docu-drama] 

Episode 2 of 2

Start with episode 1 here: https://anchor.fm/yarnstorypod/episodes/Yarn-19--How-Not-to-be-a-Spy---Episode-1-eg3jgg/a-a2j9gkpProduced and edited by John Roche 

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Transcript here: https://medium.com/@mrjohnroche_42475/yarn-19-how-not-to-be-a-spy-part-ii-9f4d39f14c0a 

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Comments and feedback very welcome! 

Email: yarnstorypodcast (at) gmail.com.

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[Two part Docu-drama] 

Episode 1 of 2 This is the true story of Hermann Goertz. The Nazi spy who landed in neutral Ireland during the Second World War, on a mission to meet the IRA and organise a German-led invasion of Northern Ireland. Goertz’s time in Ireland has become something of a legend. This story is based on his own written accounts and recently declassified British and Irish secret service files. The story is full of ridiculous plans, double crosses and colourful characters. Through Goertz’s eyes we learn about the attitudes of normal people towards the new Irish Free State, the uncomfortable truths people dealt with after a vicious civil war and how Dublin during the ‘Emergency’ became a centre of covert espionage. 

Continue to episode two here: https://anchor.fm/yarnstorypod/episodes/Yarn-19--How-Not-to-be-a-Spy---Episode-2-eg3jgb/a-a2j9gko

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Transcript here: https://medium.com/@mrjohnroche_42475/yarn-19-how-not-to-be-a-spy-a3b4fd48b17e 

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Comments and feedback very welcome! 

Email: yarnstorypodcast (at) gmail.com. 

Twitter: @YarnStoryPod

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Written and narrated by John Roche

Special thanks to Dermot Tobin, Lucy Nuzum and Ciaran Dunphy

Yarn is branching out - we’re trying something new. We’ve been working with Artist Stephen Morton on creating a new comic book and motion comic book series. Stephen has adapted our story, lefty into a comic. 

He’s written new dialogue, added some new situations and he’s beautifully illustrated the whole thing in his unique style. 

Our collaboration doesn’t stop there, we’ve also animated it into a motion comic with an audio soundscape and music which you can now view on YouTube. 

You’ll also get a digital PDF version of the comic - if you prefer your comics the traditional way. We’ll be releasing Part two soon. 

We’ll also continue releasing regular Yarn story Podcasts, right here in this feed. 

Thanks for everyone for listening and now watching… 

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Written and illustrated by Stephen Morton. Sound design and editing by John Roche. Music by Drembot. 

Produced by Yarn | A Story Podcast 

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Lefty - The Motion Comic 

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Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm09g8y2AX4&feature=youtu.be

Download the comic as a PDF: https://tinyurl.com/y364ba8e

 Listen to the original Yarn podcast story:

Listen to other Yarn Podcasts and productions: www.yarnpodcast.com 

Sign up to Stephen Morton’s Patreon and get more of his work: https://www.patreon.com/stephenmorton 

Listen to Dremot's music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Pjdf...

[Introduction] 

Whether we're spinning yarns or unraveling them, Yarn is what you could call- a storytelling playground. We’re in our 3rd year of bringing you original stories. In that time we’ve released over 20 episodes, we’ve been featured in the guardian, won a best podcast award, appeared on WPEZ radio in Chicago And been selected for the UK audio drama festival. Each of episodes is in a different style and genre . Documentaries… Short stories… Interviews… and dramas…. Our stories feature atmosheric sound design, great voice acting talent and original music scores. Dive in and see what you get.