The Three Ravens Podcast

For today's episode we have something very special for you - a collaboration between Three Ravens and The History of England Podcast about 15 English Objects.Since St George's Day 2026 A Very English Chat has been encouraging respectful conversations to overcome growing hatred and division around our national identity.The brief is simple: what five objects - anecdotes, artefacts, emotional connections, films, food, landmarks, language, literature, music, nature, places, or people would you include within your own ‘Story of England’?Guests including Billy Bragg and Caroline Lucas have offered their selections of five English objects, and, from a Three Ravens perspective, when our friend and own of our major inspirations David Crowther of the History of England suggested we collaborate to offer our own two pence, we leapt at the opportunity!A Very English Chat is working to tackle England’s fraying social fabric and growing polarisation by offering simple responses to potentially difficult and divisive questions about ‘What it means to be English in 2026.’The campaign asks people to identify five objects that signify what Englishness means to them today, using this idea as a starting point to make it easier to have respectful conversations around the subject.As such, we - Eleanor, David and Martin - each came ready to discuss, in less than 45 minutes, our own five favourite examples of 'English Things' - all without comparing notes.Before long, as you will hear, common themes start to emerge about sweetness, curiosity, enterprise, rebellion, and endurance.But of the 15 objects we've chosen, which is the best?And, are we as a trio all destined to get diabetes?!?We really hope you enjoy the episode, and will speak to you again on Monday with a new episode of the Three Ravens Bestiary all about the history and folklore of Imps!Learn more about and listen to The History of England.Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This new episode of Magic and Medicines has perhaps been a long time coming - we're finally talking all about Wicca!We trace earlier ideas which informed the path scholars call a 'magico-religion' back to the early 19th century, when historians first hypothesised about the existing of an ancient, secret witch cult.Through texts like Charles Leland's Aradia, via Frazer's The Golden Bough, to the highly influential (if historically dubious) work of Margaret Murray, we arrive in the melting pot of secret societies and orders which emerged from Western esotericism in the first part of the 20th century.Although such theories left most members of the Folklore Society cold, they thoroughly inspired Gerald Gardner, and the development of what would become Wicca began.It's a twisty, turny journey, with witch traditions of dubious ancient origin, Cones of Power, and many, many breakaway branches, all the way through to sparkling Geocities sites, teen witches, and the rich, eclectic patchwork that is international Wicca today. We really hope you enjoy the episode, and we will speak to you again on Thursday with another double bill of Lang Tales!Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Lang Fairy Tale Project is BACK - although we're mixing things up with a new format for The Red Fairy Book.Rather than just reading the stories then saving our thoughts about them all for a big chat at the end we're now reading the stories to one another and discussing them episode by episode.We begin by setting some context - especially around Andrew Lang only contributing one tale to this entire collection, with the rest of the work undertaken by his wife, Nora, and a small army of female translators.Eleanor then reads "The Princess Mayblossom" which is a story translated from a French original by Madame d'Aulnoy from 1697.In her classic style, it's an example of an Animal Bride tale.Yet said bride never turns into an animal.Which makes no sense.To untangle things a bit, we then have a conversation about the story and the things which stood out to us about it, including the high points, the low points, and explore what we think this story might be trying to tell us about human nature...If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We may have missed releasing the episode on St Patrick's Day, but it's always happy hour somewhere!On this month's episode of Forgotten Melodies we're priming the pubs and pouring out several rounds of refreshing chat about Drinking Songs - while also discussing the history of alehouses in Britain!The new arrangements of classic Drinking Songs in this episode include Bring Us In Good Ale, All For Me Grog and The Barley Mow, with Ben finally cutting loose with the spoons he received as a gift for Christmas!From the first recorded taverns in these islands, built and frequented by the Romans, through to stage coaches and the era of Inns, the 18th century Gin Craze through to the pubs we know and love today, it might get a bit woozy, but don't worry - we'll make sure you get home safe.Plus, Ben has included a quiz this time, all about pub terminology!We really hope you enjoy it and will speak to you again on Wednesday for our April Update episode!The Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second of three very special interviews with some of the biggest names in Welsh folklore and ghostlore, in this episode it's author, folklorist and collector of antique Welsh texts, Dr Delyth Badder!As we discuss at the outset, we learned of Delyth's work through her book The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts, which came out the year Three Ravens launched. Her co-author, Mark Norman of The Folklore Podcast, spoke of it way back in Series 5 when he was our Local Legends guest for the English county of Devon. Finally, Martin had a good excuse to invite Delyth for a chat, and in this interview she shares her own story - including that of the haunted home she grew up in - along with her journey from medicine and pathology into folklore studies.She shares her favourite examples of Welsh folklore, unpacks what she thinks separate and unite the English and the Welsh, and unpacks the Afanc for us finally, making sense of that bizarre crocodile/beaver hybrid who, it turns out, is not at all a crocodile or a beaver...Also including Delyth's top recommendations for books and podcasts covering Welsh folklore, places to visit and ideas to bear in mind, we then finish with an extra little bit at the end where Eleanor and Martin discuss the challenges of understanding Welsh maps pre-Henry VIII. We really hope you enjoy the episode, and speak to you again on Saturday for the concluding part of the trilogy - a chat with multi-award winning author, storyteller and illustrator Peter Stevenson!Visit Delyth's website: https://folklorewales.com/The Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.