Orkneyology Podcast Show Notes

Orkneyology Podcast - Ower wi' the moon, Orkneyology.com, Tom and Rhonda Muir, Orkney Islands, Scotland


Season 1 Ep. 1: 
"Ower wi' the moon,
with Tom and Rhonda Muir"
~ Mulled wine and introductions ~

Tom and Rhonda Muir of Scotland's Orkney Islands - the Orkneyology Podcast


In this first episode of the Orkneyology Podcast (with the encouragement of some steaming mulled wine for Rhonda's sake) we introduce ourselves:

Tom Muir - Orcadian traditional storyteller, historian, author and publisher; and Rhonda Muir - an American expat who moved to the Orkney Islands to marry the love of her life (yes, Tom), writer, roamer in the wilderness of Orkney and publisher.

We tell the story of our delighted surprise in finding each other from across the Atlantic later in life, and how we eventually came to build a life together in Scotland's Orkney Islands.

We talk a bit about our website, Orkneyology.com, which explores Orkney life, travel, history, stories and archaeology. And we reveal a little about our plans for the Orkneyology Podcast, where we will be chatting with some fascinating folk in Orkney and elsewhere.

Mentioned in the this episode:

Rhonda's Moving to Orkney ebook

You can also listen on Youtube, with a few photos for context.

Check the platform where you normally listen to podcasts if you like. We're on Spotify and a few others, and we're working on adding more.

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Season 1 Ep. 2: 
"The Magic of Stories, with Traditional Orkney Storyteller Tom Muir"
~ Orkney folklore and beyond ~

Full moon and storytelling on the Orkneyology Podcast


Well, it's a full moon again and time for another cozy moonlit blether coming to you from the Orkney Islands.

This month, we talk about:

  • the difficulties of childhood dyslexia (before there was a name for it)
  • beloved childhood storybooks that help overcome traumatic school years
  • stumbling into storytelling and overcoming fear (terror, really) of public speaking
  • how the Orkney Storytelling Festival first began
  • warm reminiscenses involving some of the amazing storytellers and other people that Tom met through international storytelling opportuities (Lawrence Tulloch from Shetland, Bob Pegg, Donald Smith, David Campbell, Hjörleifur Helgi Stefánsson, Joseph Naytowhow, Stanley Robertson, Duncan Williamson ... and many more beloved friends)
  • advice for newer storytellers
  • Tom tells a local Orkney story that took place in a mound site he once dug as an archaeologist!

Other places to listen:

You can also listen on Youtube, with a few photos for context.

Check the platform where you normally listen to podcasts if you like. We're on Spotify and a few others, and we're working on adding more.

Drop by on the next full moon ...

We'll be having a blether with award-winning Scottish bothy ballad singer, Scott Gardiner.

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Season 1 Ep. 3: 
"A Blether with Bothy Ballad Singer Scott Gardiner"
~ Scottish bothy ballads; traditional music; the Orkney Folk Festival and more! ~

Traditional bothy ballad singer Scott Gardiner talks with Tom and Rhonda Muir on the Orkneyology Podcast


Tonight we have a moonlit chat with our very dear friend, Scott Gardiner. Tom and Scott have a lovely, wandering blether across the bothy ballad and traditional Scottish song scene, touching on:

  • the history of this unique music and how it stands today
  • the culture and lifestyle that created the bothy ballads
  •  a bit about the bothy system in the Orkney Islands 
  • reminisce about "Bothy Nichts", an old Scottish bothy songs television show 
  • reminiscences aboyt the sad passing of many of the great old singers and songwriters they both admire, including recently Orkney's own Billy Jolly
  • Scott tells of some of the singers who inspired him and he even favors us with a few of his favorite bothy ballad songs, including one of his own!


In this episode, we're treated to these traditional songs:

  • Guise o' Tough (traditional), 1890s
  • Generations of Change, by Matt Armour, 1975
  • Princie and Jean, by George Corrigall, 1959
  • ... ending with a tongue-in-cheek song that Scott wrote for the Out of Doors Radio Scotland programme!


So pull up a chair, pour yourself a dram and settle in for a good, old-fashioned blether among friends.


Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

Tom will tell us a bit about unique aspects of Scottish coastal culture and the coastal stories of Scotland. And he'll tell a few tales from his upcoming book with History Press, Scottish Folk Tales of Coast and Sea, coming out in April 2024.

Other ways to listen:

You can also listen on Youtube, with a few photos for context.

Check the platform where you normally listen to podcasts if you like. We're on Spotify and a few others, and we're working on adding more.

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Season 1 Ep. 4: 
" Scottish Folk Tales of Coast and Sea, with author Tom Muir "
~ When we pose the burning question, "Are you a bookworm or a bookdragon?" ~

book-Toms-Coast-folktales-shortened


Tonight Tom and Rhonda Muir have a moonlit blether from their home in Scotland's Orkney Islands inspired by the publication of Tom's latest collection of folk tales: Scottish Folk Tales of Coast and Sea.

We wax lyrical about:

  • life lessons embedded in all good stories
  • Orkney and Shetland: Vikings at a cultural crossroads
  • tips for storytellers and other creatives on finding old folktales, and how to make them your own
  • respecting the tales, and keeping the meaning true
  • the devil as trickster
  • Travellers' stories and Tom's memories of "the tinklers"
  • of mermaids and selkies
  • stories of the perils of the sea
  • Rhonda's favorite movie, "I know Where I'm Going"
  • and Tom tells a really fun story from the book at the end! 


So pull up a chair, pour yourself a dram and settle in for a good, old-fashioned blether among friends.


Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

We'll be having a blether with Scottish storyteller, researcher, author of Angus Folk Tales and our dear friend, Dr Erin Farley of Dundee.

Other ways to listen:

You can also listen on Youtube, with a few photos for context.

Check the platform where you normally listen to podcasts if you like. We're on Spotify and a few others, and we're working on adding more.

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Season 1 Ep. 5: 
"Angus Folk Tales and Big Big Big Worms! with Dr Erin Farley"
~ Join us to find out why Erin loves giant worms of destruction ~

Dr Erin Farley of Dundee, Scotland, author of Angus Folktales speaks to Tom and Rhonda Muir on the Orkneyology Podcast


Tonight, Tom and Rhonda talk with a favorite moonlight visitor - our very dear friend, author, researcher and storyteller Dr Erin Farley of Dundee.

Those who love stories and Scotland will find much to chew on in tonight's visit, among these:

  • Erin's strange and abiding passion for worms: especially giant worms causing creation and destruction; the The Muckle Mester Stoorworm; Jörmungandr the world serpent, Ragnarök ... and a bonus - a charm against the worm in your tooth (toothache)!
  • Looking at the landscape from a seafaring position
  • Researching and preserving oral history in Scotland
  • Stories of the old lighthouse keepers, including our mutual friend, Lawrence Tulloch of Shetland
  • The Grey (bearded) Lady; and deep storytelling
  • Sir Walter Scott in Orkney
  • Acedemic writing as energy vampire vs. stories of the people
  • Dundee roots: slavery; sufferagettes; carving out a place through poetry; William McGonagall; and stories around the Tay Bridge disaster
  • Storytelling and the pressure to achieve; the rewards of taking things slowly
  • A telling of the story of Jockie Barefoot from Erin's book, Angus Folktales - a tragic Angus tale of an evil landlord
  • The Twins of Edzel as performed by Tania Allan - A BSL interpretation of a Scottish folklore tale, inspired by ‘Angus Folk Tales’ by Erin Farley. The Twins of Edzell is the story of a dedicated mother of deaf twin brothers and the hearing world that is unable to accept them. Filmed on location at Balvaird Castle, Perthshire.

So come thee wiz, pour yourself a dram and settle in for a good old-fashioned blether among friends.


Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

When, truthfully, we don't yet know who we'll be talking with, as Tom's been under the weather for a while. But that it will be someone interesting you can be sure!

Other ways to listen:

You can also listen on Youtube, with a few photos for context.

Check the platform where you normally listen to podcasts if you like. We're on Spotify and a few others, and we're working on adding more.

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Season 1 Ep. 6, part 1: 
"Hatch, match and dispatch"
~ Old Orkney customs around pregnancy, birth, courtship, marriage and death, with Tom Muir ~

|Tom and Rhonda Muir of Orkneyology.com and Orkneyology Press, Orkney Islands, Scotland


On this moonlit night, Tom and Rhonda discuss some of the main rituals and customs necessary to safeguard important life events, from pregnancy through birth and baptisms, and onward to concerns and superstitions around courtship.

Tom will tell us a few Orkney stories related to these customs and give a bit of history to help folk understand the very sensible reasons for these early Orkney folk practices.

Join us to find out ...

  •  Why you should avoid insulting a witch when you're about to go sailing (which has nothing to do with our topic, but is interesting and perhaps valuable information nonetheless)
  •  Nature signs of an upcoming birth; precautions taken to avoid trouble during the precarious time of pregnancy and the earlierst months of life; how to avoid attracting the evil eye; keeping the trows from kidnapping mother or child
  • All about the howdie wife - an important and respected woman who takes folk into the world and helps them out of it
  • The Orkney meaning of "wifie"
  • The story of the bairn of Langalour
  • Different strengths of home brew, their names and when to drink them
  • Christening stories
  • Why Orcadians never let the hearthfire die
  • Divining customs for discerning the identity of one's future spouse
  • Why one of the Stones of Stenness has holes in it
  • Tales from the Odin Stone, and the unbreakable Odin Oath (although with a handy escape clause)
  • The pathetic story of Pirate Gow and the Odin Oath

Mentioned in this episode:


So come thee wiz, pour yourself a dram and settle in for a good old-fashioned blether among friends.

Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

Tom speaks with one of our authors, Ian Scott - otherwise known as Ian o' Antabreck - lifelong resident of Orkney's most northerly island, North Ronaldsay.

We'll see you by the light of the next full moon.

Other ways to listen:

We regret that we are unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple. In spite of arduous efforts and several failed attempts to receive help, we are sent in endless circles. If anyone would like to contact Apple and request the podcast ... well, maybe that would work?

Meanwhile, the podcast IS available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

Please spread the word!

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Season 1 Ep. 7: 
"A Letter from North Ronaldsay, with Ian Scott"
~ A blether with Ian o' Antabreck - memories, the old days, life and art in Orkney ~

OrkneyologyPress-IanScott-sculptor

On this full moon night, Tom speaks with one of our authors, Ian Scott - otherwise known as Ian o' Antabreck  - lifelong resident of Orkney's most northerly island, North Ronaldsay.

Ian has recently gathered together for publication his first decade of A Letter from North Ronaldsay, which he's written for The Orcadian newspaper for over thirty years. Tom and Rhonda have very proudly produced this first volume of Ian's Letters through our Orkneyology Press, which is now available for purchase through our website.

We hope you enjoy this blether among friends.

Join us to find out ...

  • About North Ronaldsay toonships ... and what's a toonship anyway?
  • Hogmanay traditions; North Ron as compared to Sanday (and other Orkney) traditions, where half of Tom's folk come from; where was the whisky, and what finally stopped the auld Hogmanay traditions?
  • On home brewing
  • Old milling and brewing practices, which Ian observed in his miller-father's life and work
  • The old and new North Ronaldsay standing stone Hogmanay traditions, and what's it all got to do with the full moon?
  • The reluctant uptake of the Gregorian calendar in Orkney
  • Cold evenings in warm places: visiting and playing games with folk in the mill ... and other warm places
  • Schooldays: What was it like boarding in the hostel for  Kirkwall Grammar School (and a year in Holm) as a bairn the old days - when the bairns only came home on rare occasions? Powdered milk, snowball fights, freezing "digs" and oh, those unmarried teachers.
  • And what about those hair-raising postboat rides before ferries and planes were available?
  • Crops and old-style thrashing
  • What it was like studying at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen
  • Orkney's thriving arts community
  • Ian's paintings and sculptures, including his favorite sculpture: the Longhope Lifeboat Memorial
  • Ian's lobster fishing days
  • The North Ronaldsay praam, how it came about and why it's such a good boat design for Orkney sea conditions
  • Ian's artistic study trips in Shetland, Iceland and Faroes
  • About sculpting and Ian's well-known public works, including the Longhope Lifeboat Memorial, the statue of Arctic explorer John Rae in Stromness, the George Mackay Brown busts and the Stanley Cursitor portrait, all of which can be seen in Orkney.
  • Sylvia Wishart, Ola Gorie and other Orkney artists
  • The story of North Ronaldsay's Old Memorial Hall

Mentioned in this episode:

Other ways to listen:

We regret that we are as yet unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple, in spite of arduous efforts. If anyone would like to contact Apple and request the podcast ... well, maybe that would work?

Meanwhile, the podcast IS available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

Please spread the word!

Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

When Tom and Rhonda will be back with part 2 of "Hatch, Match, Dispatch". Tom will tell us more about the "match" customs - courtship and marriage - and also Orkney death customs.

We'll see you then.

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Season 1 Ep. 8: 
"Orkney Customs ~ Hatch, Match, Dispatch"
 part 2
~ Orkney marriage and death customs
with Tom Muir ~

Gomez and Morticia

Join Tom and Rhonda as we continue our discussion around old Orkney customs and traditions. This time you'll hear some quite surprising and amusing details of marriage and death customs in Orkney.

A few things you'll find out in this Ower wi' the Moon podcast:

  • Signs and dangers around the Orkney wedding celebration: good luck, bad luck and how to evade the trowies
  • The costs of speerin' night, when the prospective groom asks the bride's father for her hand; warning: don't show up empty handed!
  • The exact nuances of arranging the marriage banns in Orkney and its surrounding legalities
  • About the Westray "dons" of the Spanish Armada, and what allegedly happened if they married "outside" the dons
  • What did the moon, the tide and the "airt" of the wind have to do with the fortunes of an Orkney marriage?
  • Old-style wedding invitations ... and drams (naturally)
  • All about the Orkney foot-washing ritual, and the general hilarity that ensued
  • Withershins - "going against the sun"
  • The dangers of bodily bits as relating to curses; and what's this got to do with the king's poop?
  • A wedding story from Noltland Castle in the island of Westray
  • How to make your hogboon part of the wedding celebration, and why it's important to do so!
  • The wedding walk - much longer than a walk down the aisle; hijinks along the way; and the importance of wiping out your tracks
  • The origins of pre-wedding blackenings in Orkney
  •  The mesterhousel, the hansel wife, the bride's cog and other Orkney wedding celebration rituals
  • Orkney wedding games, bog cotton (Loki's oo) stockings and feminine divination mysteries
  • Baking. brewing, eating, drinking and dancing! Different kinds of Orkney cogs
  • Curses, ill omens and selkie abductions: dangers to watch out for during weddings
  • The tragic story of Henry Graham and his love
  • Orkney death customs, traditions and beliefs
  • Omens of death: rainbows, ravens and angels' music
  • Wailing vardens and ganfers in Orkney
  • The story of the Bokie Hound of the Balfours
  • Forebodings of death in dreams
  • The leekwak, touching the corpse and of ladies losing their senses
  • The danger of grieving too much
  • Supernatural Orkney death customs: good luck and bad, and getting the biggest blessing
  • What did you do with a drowned sailor?
  • The posh end of the cemetery
  • Unbaptized infant stories
  • ... and many more interesting Orkney traditions.


Also mentioned in this episode:

You can find audio of the three stories mentioned in this episode in Tom's archive of Tales for Troubled Times. Or just search in the searchbar on every page for: Lady Odivere; Scota Bess; and The Long Wedding.

And if you'd like to encourage us, you can buy us a coffee (or a dram) on our Ko-fi page.

We hope you enjoy the podcast.


Other ways to listen:

We regret that we are as yet unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple, in spite of arduous efforts. If anyone would like to contact Apple and request the podcast ... well, maybe that would work?

Meanwhile, the podcast IS available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

Please spread the word!

Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

When we'll have a good blether with our friend, Ailsa Dixon, a young and fabulous storyteller of Orcadian descent.

We'll see you on the next full moon!

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Season 1 Ep. 9: 
"Scottish Storytelling Past, Present & Future"
~ A blether with a young storyteller and great grandneice of George Mackay Brown, Ailsa Dixon ~

Orkneyology-podcast-Ailsa-Dixon

On this full-moonlit night we had a visit from a young Scottish-Dutch storytelling friend, who is also a great grandneice of Orkney's beloved poet, George Mackay Brown. We hope you enjoy this blether with stories.


In this episode you'll hear about:

  • Ailsa's experience of learning about her heritage from Tom
  • Orkney stories and their histories
  • letting folk stories continue to grow in our own time
  • encouraging new storytellers
  • the delights of spontaneity in storytelling
  • a wee tale from Aberdeenshire - Fittie's Portion
  • "young" storytellers, and how not to be defined by age or other labels
  • Ailsa's School of Storycraft for kids
  • telling stories about things you care about; defeating apathy and reconnecting emotionally
  • local history storytelling
  • stories about kindness; "heart stories"
  • Ailsa tells her heart story, Kate Crackernuts, which is not - as is commonly misunderstood - an English tale, but was collected in the Orkney Islands
  • finding earlier versions of folktales
  • Gaelic waulking songs
  • ... and a bonus story, which Ailsa first heard from her granddad, Fraser Dixon: The Story of Tam Bichan - from Dingieshowe, Orkney


Contact Ailsa Dixon


Other ways to listen:

We regret that we are as yet unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple, in spite of arduous efforts. If anyone would like to contact Apple and request the podcast ... well, maybe that would work?

Meanwhile, the podcast IS available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

Please spread the word!

Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

When we'll have a good blether with our friend, Hjörleifur Helgi Stefánsson, Icelandic storyteller, musician, innkeeper, farmer, builder/carpenter, cook, guide and singer of traditional Icelandic Rímur, who will tell us about the dreadful necro pants and raising the dead!

See you by the light of the moon.

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Season 1 Ep. 10: 
"A Halloween Visit with Hjörleifur Helgi Stefánsson"
~ A moonlit blether with traditional Icelandic storyteller and author of Icelandic Folk Tales ~

Hjörleifur Helgi Stefánsson, Rhonda Muir and Tom Muir at the Cape Clear Storytelling Festival, Ireland, courtesy of Liz WeirHjörleifur, Rhonda and Tom at Cape Clear Storytelling Festival, courtesy of Liz Weir, storyteller

No Picts were harmed during the making of this podcast.

This full moon October night, we're having a visit with Hjörleifur Helgi Stefánsson: Icelander, author of Icelandic Folk Tales, fabulous traditional storyteller ... and Tom Muir's pet Viking.

A peedie warning: Not surprisingly, some of the conversation is a bit dark for the very sensitive, or bairns. See topics below and proceed informed.

Join us for a blether between two storytelling northmen, mildly spooky at times as is suitable for the season, where you'll hear about:

  •  Storytelling traditions old and new in Iceland
  • "Destination Sagalands" (EU project) - friends made in the Nordic lands, and fun personal stories
  • Finding a unique voice for stories and storytelling
  • Hjörleifur 's book, Icelandic Folk Tales
  • Storytellers like being admired!
  • Hjörleifur's family stories tradition
  • Life in an Icelandic turf house
  • Hjörleifur tells the story, The Merman Laughs (and eating rotten shark!)
  • The dark details of making of a supernatural slave to steal neighbors' milk from the cow; the primal fear of the people living in turf houses
  • How to make necropants
  • Raising the dead
  • About Icelandic rímur, and samplings of rímur, "sung with gusto" by a man with a golden voice
  • Iceland and her trolls
  • A troll folktale
  • An Orkney ghost story from Tom
  • A comparison of Orkney and Icelandic tales
  • Announcing a new book-in-the-making with Hjörleifur and Orkneyology Press!
  • Hidden People tales

Also mentioned:

Cape Clear festival and my Cape Clear video

Icelandic Folk Tales

Heather Yule

Liz Weir

Hester Aspland

Other ways to listen:

The podcast is available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

We regret that we are as yet unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple, in spite of our best efforts. However, you can  search manually on Apple: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/65a28c429ba8e30016dff20e

Please subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast!


Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

When Tom and Rhonda will be visiting with our friends R. Carlos Nakai, the world's premier performer of the Native American flute, and Will Clipman, world percussionist, poet and performing artist.

We'll see you again by the light of the moon!


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Season 1 Ep. 11:
"A Musical Gathering of Elders ~ Ceremony, Culture and Old, Old Stories with R Carlos Nakai and Will Clipman "
~ Wisdom from ancestors around the world ~

Orkneyology Podcast with premier Navajo flute player R Carlos Nakai and world percussionist Will ClipmanR. Carlos, Rhonda, Tom and Will

We're bringing you a brilliant conversation on with this full moon night, with visiting friends R. Carlos Nakai, of Navajo and Ute heritage - and the world's premier performer with the Native American flute - and Will Clipman, passionate world percussionist, poet and performing artist.

(Please pardon the scratchy voices and coughing in this epsode. We'd been having a lovely time together roaming around Orkney together with RC and Will and their wives, Pam and Sherry, for several days before we recorded this. Unfortunately, along with the stories, music and breaking bread we also passed around a pretty bad cold.)

We're so pleased to bring you this far-reaching and musical conversation among friends. Join us to hear about these and many other things:

  • R. Carlos Nakai speaks of ancient tribal history from his early home in Arizona
  • About ceremony, culture, storytellers and gathering knowledge from the elders
  • Will's early beginnings with drumming; being born to a musical family in Philidelphia; What's in the "boom boom room"?
  • The musical marriage of RC's Native flute and Will's passionate percussion
  • The Native "culture of women" - life creators
  • RC: Learning how we belong - "Who are you?"; philosophies and stories of all of our clans all over the world
  • Will finds his Swedish Sámi roots; the Sami Pathfinder and the ceremonial drum
  • Singing the songs of humanity, and the ancestors' residing in the music
  • We all have one human story
  •  The magic of music, improvisation and what the listener brings to the music
  • Anthropologists as listeners
  • Shapeshifter and the wallaby dance
  • Working with children: mythic creation, mask-making and storytelling; the power of saying, "Yes!"
  • A musical treat, and a bit about how RC and Will approach performing together
  • Singing to the sea; praying to the water
  • Drumming inside the Dwarfie Stane
  • Will tells a Sami raven tale, and other stories from RC and Will's Indigenous cultures
  • The freedom of poetry and making music
  • Elders in many cultures; the knowledge within us

Website for R. Carlos Nakai
Website for Will Clipman

Other ways to listen:

The podcast is available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

We regret that we are as yet unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple, in spite of our best efforts. However, you can  search manually on Apple: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/65a28c429ba8e30016dff20e

Please subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast!


Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

When Tom and Rhonda will have a Christmasy visit with Gerald Dickens, great-great grandson of Charles Dickens. We'll be talking - among other things - about our favorite story ~ A Christmas Carol.

We'll see you again by the light of the moon!


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Season 1 Ep. 12:
"A Ghostly Little Book ~ with Gerald Charles Dickens "
~ Chatting about A Christmas Carol, with the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens ~

Orkneyology Podcast Gerald Charles Dickens

On this midwinter full moon we're joined from across the sea by actor Gerald Charles Dickens, who talks with us about our favorite story - his great-great grandfather's classic Christmas ghost story, A Christmas Carol. Join us to find out all about Gerald Dickens' childhood memories of A Christmas Carol, its origins and its "sly sleight of hand".

In this Ower wi' the Moon podcast, you'll hear about:

  • What is it about A Christmas Carol that it remains such a classic and a powerful story?
  • In defence of Scrooge the businessman - not a complete villain?
  • Charles Dickens' early childhood with a father in debtor's prison, child labor, humiliation, lonliness and parental abandonment
  • The importance of books and stories in Dickens childhood
  • The Man who Invented Christmas
  • Dickens' writings and his marvelous descriptions of food, celebration and togetherness
  • The tradition of ghost stories for Christmas, and Dickens' love of ghost stories
  • The haunting tale of The Signalman, and its real-life, deadly inspiration
  • Dickens' terrible PTSD related to rail travel
  • Gerald Dickens' favorite A Christmas Carol films
  • Gerald's American tour of his one-man show of A Christmas Carol and how he got started working as an actor with his grandfather's writings; the eucatastrophe of forgetting his notes!
  • How Charles Dickens' stories lend themselves to actors' interpretations
  • Favorite lines from A Christmas Carol
  • Was Marley Scrooge's only friend?
  • Noticing something new in A Christmas Carol every time we read it
  • Dickens' influence on our now-traditional celebrations of Christmas
  • Gerald Dickens talks about his own books, including his experiences over 30 years of touring with A Christmas Carol - Gerald Dickens: My Life on the Road with A Christmas Carol
  • What it's like to stand on the same stages as his great-great grandfather
  • Another book by Gerald Dickens, Dickens and Staplehurst: A Biography of a Rail Crash - the real life traumatic incident that led to the writing of The Signalman

Mentioned in the podcast:

Gerald Dickens' road trip blog

Gerald Dickens' website, videos and books

Charles Dickens' books read as audiobooks read by Gerald Dickens

Denholm Elliott in The Signalman - I couldn't find it on Youtube at the moment, but Tom and I were able to watch it here.

Tom's stories recorded during lockdown, Tales for Troubled Times


Other ways to listen:

The podcast is available on:

Orkneyology.com, Spotify, Youtube, Youtube Music, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Samsung, Podverse, Audible, Curiocaster, RSS Feed, Steno.fm and probably others we know nothing about.

We regret that we are as yet unable to offer the Orkneyology Podcast on Apple, in spite of our best efforts. However, you can  search manually on Apple: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/65a28c429ba8e30016dff20e

Please subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast!


Drop by on the NEXT full moon ...

We'll be having an absolutely wonderful blether - with traditional Welsh stories - with a fabulous storyteller from Wales, Ffion Phillips. You're in for a treat!

We'll see you again next month when once again, we'll be ower wi' the moon.

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