

Loremen Podcast
Loremen Podcast
Join the Loremen (James Shakeshaft and Alasdair Beckett-King) as they "investigate" local legends and forgotten folklore.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 25, 2021 • 34min
S3 Ep58: Loremen S3 Ep58 - Black Annis, Leicester
Leicester is home to many things: the grave of King Lear, the Leicester Comedy Festival and the blue-hued, metal-clawed, child-eating ogress Black Annis. All of these are covered in this special live episode from the festival, featuring an actual audience of socially-distanced lorefolk.
PLUS: Bonus Material! (i.e. things James forgot to say during the livestream.)
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
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Feb 18, 2021 • 8min
S3: Leicester Comedy Festival Announcement Minisode
Just a wee one to let you know we are appearing *online* as part of Leicester Comedy Festival on Saturday 20th Feb *2021*. James throws in a few bonus nuggets of folklore, featuring: pigs, beans, socks, Americans and Leicesterians.
£5 tix are here...
https://comedy-festival.co.uk/event/loremen-live-online/
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Feb 11, 2021 • 39min
S3 Ep57: Loremen S3 Ep57 - Jenny Collier - The Lady of the Lake
Award-winning comedian Jenny Collier makes her annual Valentine's pilgrimage to tell the Loreboys about another Welsh romance. As usual, the story in question proves... disturbing. This week it's The Lady in the Lake - but not the one you're thinking of. Prepare for Welsh words that sound rude in English, and English words that are distinctly rude about the Welsh.
Content Warning: This is a very light-hearted episode, but characters in the tale take an attitude towards domestic violence and infant mortality that listeners are unlikely to share. Also, one of the Welsh words sounds REALLY rude.
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
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Feb 4, 2021 • 33min
S3 Ep56: Loremen S3 Ep56 - Hang Me Low: The Mary Blandy Story
A time-hopping ghost story from Oxfordshire, this episode boasts not only a "magic" potion, but trials, castles, clumsy legs and Henley-on-Thames.
Essentially, James has just watched Christopher Nolan's Tenet and decided to tell a simple story as extravagantly and confusingly as possible. It's actually a really good yarn. But you'll need to watch a number of YouTube explainer videos to appreciate it. You know, like all the best films.
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
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Jan 28, 2021 • 28min
S3 Ep55: Loremen S3 Ep55 - Chris Cantrill - The Tale of Meg Merrilies
Chris Cantrill of The Delightful Sausage (BBC Radio 2) returns! And, having moved to Cumbria, he has a brand new story up his grubby little sleeve.
Meg Merrilies was a highwaywoman from "the pasten days" who was ruthless in her pursuit of riches, a hobby which some say has continued beyond the grave... However, Chris devotes most of the show to describing a nearby tea room's delicious tray bakes. If you've never heard the words "tray bake" before, you will be sick of them by the end of this episode.
To his credit, Chris's story includes First Hand Witness Testimony™, and you won't believe how badly a man from Bradford can mangle the word "lure".
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK | @ToplessCantrill
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Jan 21, 2021 • 37min
S3 Ep54: Loremen S3 Ep54 - The Madness of Crowds
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841) is a remarkable compendium of mass hysterias, written by the Scottish curmudgeon Charles Mackay.
Alasdair (half-Scottish curmudgeon) takes James on a tour of the stand-out fads, fancies and follies: from Dutch tulip-fanciers, via slow-poisoners, to some cracking haunted house scams. Brace yourself for chilling tales of faux-ghosts. (Fhosts.)
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 14, 2021 • 35min
S3 Ep53: Loremen S3 Ep53 - The Mystery of Lucy Lightfoot
If you've ever thought, "they couldn't make it up," then you are about to be proven so very wrong. They DID make this one up!
But don't let that put you off. This bit of hoax-lore from the Isle of Wight has medieval romance, time travel and a solar eclipse: all the excitement of a parish newsletter, plus cocktails and a cameo from Michael Legge.
By the way, do you know Tom Collins? He's been chatting some right stuff about you...
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 7, 2021 • 29min
S3 Ep52: Loremen S3 Ep52 - Return of the Gabriel Hounds
Ah, the Peak District: nestled snugly betwixt Lancashire and Yorkshire. Quiet, peaceful, serene... that is until the Loreboys rock up!
Long-time listeners will know that the Gabriel Hounds are invisible flying dogs that presage death. We track them down to the Hope Valley, and what must be THE rudest village in England.
Warning: we pour scorn on a so-called ghost farmer and dish more dirt on Jesus Christ: Serial Killer.
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 31, 2020 • 34min
S3 Ep51: Loremen S3 Ep51 - Joseph of Arimathea in Glastonbury
Did Jesus’s uncle Joseph (presumably on his mum’s side) retire to England’s West Country? Did he bring the Holy Grail with him? Common sense and recorded history say, ‘no’. James Shakeshaft says… ‘maybe?’
Join the Loremen in this festive dive into bizarre Christmas traditions, weird biblical outtakes and the dubious origins of the Holy Grail.
We livestreamed the recording of this episode on the Loremen Twitch channel on Dec 23rd (twenty-twenty). If you’d like to see it with extra shenanigans, a few swears and one greenscreen catastrophe, check it out:
http://www.loremenpodcast.com/episode-51-s3
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 17, 2020 • 37min
S3 Ep50: Loremen S3Ep50 - Stuart Goldsmith - Ghosts of Warwick Castle
Stuart Goldsmith of the Comedian’s Comedian Podcast joins the Lorebois for some spooky tales from Stu’s old stomping ground of Warwick Castle* where he used to be the jester**.
Plus! One tale from Royal Leamington Spa, in which the veteran podcaster delves into a particular… area he has never touched upon before.
*An actual castle, not a pub with an overly ambitious name.
**An actual jester, not a buffoon with an overly ambitious name.
Patreon subscribers can enjoy some supernatural bonus chat with Deputy Stu.
Loreboys nether say die!
Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):
patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
@loremenpod
www.twitch.tv/loremenpod
www.instagram.com/loremenpod
www.facebook.com/loremenpod
@JamesShakeshaft | @MisterABK
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices