The Town That Knew Too Much: The Black Abbot

08/25/21 • 32 min

Where do the dead go when they die? Do we file them away in obituaries? Or celebrate them at a memorial service and slowly forget their day-to-day existence?
This is a story of death. It is a story of spirits lingering on. It is a story of how lives become stories and how stories define places. From the ghosts of Prestbury to the dead GCHQ mathematician Gareth Williams – via, of course, the singing mice of the Tailor of Gloucester – The Black Abbot is about the imprints we make on the world and how they outlive us.
Contributors to this episode: Ian Jelf, Philip Ingram, Catherine Curzon, Colin Towns, Iggy Ostanin.
This is the sixth episode of The Town That Knew Too Much, written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton. The music is by George Jennings, based on The Planets by Gustav Holst. The entire score for the series is available to stream on Spotify. This is the sixth part of a 7-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please go to your podcast provider and leave a rating and review. The Town That Knew Too Much is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com.

Previous Episode

The Town That Knew Too Much: Time of Trial

Geoffrey Prime, Soviet spy at GCHQ, has been arrested on sexual offences against children. But that was just the start of his world unravelling. And as the Prime affair came to a boil, the grubby compromises of espionage would also be aired.
This is the story of the Prime trial and the trials that all people must bear as their world disintegrates. From the calm of Cleeve Hill to the Mafia drama of the death of Roberto Calvi, this is a story of how things come to their end.
Listener note: This is the second episode of the series dedicated to the story of Geoffrey Prime. The first episode looking at Prime – 'Through The Looking Glass' – is the third episode in the series, and should ideally be listened to before 'Time of Trial' as it provides contextual details that may not be repeated in this episode.
Contributors to this episode: Rupert Aker, Dominic Carman, Richard Norton-Taylor, Nick Davies, Peter Picken, Gerald Posner, Jeff Stein, and Ben Meier.
This is the fifth episode of The Town That Knew Too Much, written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton. The music is by George Jennings, based on The Planets by Gustav Holst. The entire score for the series is available to stream on Spotify. This is the fifth part of a 7-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please go to your podcast provider and leave a rating and review. The Town That Knew Too Much is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com.

Next Episode

The Town That Knew Too Much: The Doughnut

The Doughnut. A giant circular low-rise office block in west Cheltenham; it is, jokingly I'm sure, said to look from above like a giant bullseye.
Here, the men and women of GCHQ go to work every day. Here they listen to the world. Here they keep tabs. And here, in 2013, their secrets spilled out to the world. This is the story of Edward Snowden and the GCHQ/NSA leaks, and how the secret world of surveillance was blown wide open almost a decade ago. What happened? And have things really changed?
Contributors to this episode: Geoff Dyer, Alan Rusbridger, Ewen MacAskill, James Ball, Michael S. Kinch, Sam Kean.
You also heard GCHQ by Markee Ledge, reproduced with permission, and voice acting by Scott Westwood.
This is the seventh, and final, episode of The Town That Knew Too Much, written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton. The music is by George Jennings, based on The Planets by Gustav Holst. The entire score for the series is available to stream on Spotify. This is the seventh part of a 7-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please go to your podcast provider and leave a rating and review. The Town That Knew Too Much is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com.