Extraordinary Stories of Britain

For 700 years Newgate Jail was the darkest, dirtiest and most miserable dungeon in London. We uncover some of its terrible and terrifying prison stories: from cannibals to the fearsome ghost of a black dog; from a boy chimney sweep sent to hang at Tyburn, to a world-famous novelist imprisoned for his ideas. Hear about London’s Georgian Mafia boss, and the man who inspired Dickens’ Fagin. Songs, stories and strange tales in this prison podcast.

The first in our walks podcasts features the River Lea in East London. Marc Z and Mr Londoner walk the lower section of the Lea to uncover the origins of India Pale Ale; a tale of stranded Vikings; how four Eton schoolboys ran an East End sporting empire; the terrifying story of the St Paul’s bomb exploded on Hackney Marshes; and the day when Lionel Messi played at the marshes. Hear about WW2 bunkers on the Olympic Park, the largest bell in the world, the oldest tidal mill in history, and how East End gas once lit up West End theatres. Find out if there are any poplars left in Poplar, and hear about a 1960s American diner and floating lighthouse turned recording studio.

Six true crime stories featuring notorious women criminals. From a celebrity pickpocket who performed on the London stage, to an aristocrat turned highwaywoman. From a cross-dressing pirate to the first documented girl gang, and the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Hear about these bad girls in this podcast.

The second part of our history of British fashion. Find out how you could get sent to prison for wearing the wrong trousers, why Piccadilly was known for ruff trade, how the bowler got its name, and who were the original mad hatters. We uncover the secrets of the oldest shoe in Britain, hear about the top hat riots of 1797 and reveal how a famous prime minister invented the onesie. Hear how The Mods and hippies of swinging 1960s London and Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's 1970's punk stylings changed fashion for ever.

Seven women who changed English literature. An anchorite who spent 30 years in one room, and became the “mother of English prose”. A passionate pilgrim known as the first female autobiographer, two women who can both claim to have written the first-ever science fiction novel, an enslaved woman who was sold four times, and the only female journalist on the WW1 trenches.