Explore every episode of the podcast Strange Stories UK
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Slavery moral panics and the first celebrity drug death in the UK | 29 Aug 2024 | 00:38:17 | |
This is the second podcast setting the scene to examine crime gangs active in the UK between the two world wars. | |||
| Strange Stories: Drugging the UK, how drugs were introduced to the UK. | 23 Aug 2024 | 00:37:12 | |
This is the first of a series of podcasts regarding some incidents in the UK (London) that took place 100 years ago and caused a 'moral panic'. This first podcast tells of how drugs, (class A drugs as we understand them today) were introduced into the UK, at first accepted but then rejected after misuse. The second podcast will be about what was known as 'White Slavery' 100 years ago but as we better understand as human trafficking. Then I will broadcast some podcasts based on these podcasts and police reports of the time. Incidents that are mainly forgotten today. I will post the next pod shortly. | |||
| Strange Stories: The monster of the mere and other huge UK freshwater fish, | 02 May 2024 | 00:43:56 | |
What is the largest fish caught in British freshwaters and are they dangerous? This episode is about a huge creature that lived in Martin Mere that was said to feed on swans! Some of the podcast is rather silly but all of it true. | |||
| Strange Stories UK Canning Town, London, Organised Crime and Corrupt police 1. | 03 Sep 2021 | 01:32:07 | |
Season 4 starts with contemporary Organised Crime in London, there will be four or five linked podcasts on this theme starting with a case that developed in Canning Town, the next few podcasts will flow on from this case including a podcast of the Rettendon aka Essex boys murders. I know this case has been very well covered but it does tie in with the other podcasts. For this case : We examine the Canning Town area which suffered from Organised Crime. I keep referring to OCGs which refers to Organised Crime gangs. There were several in the Canning Town area who seemed to work as a cartel and hence were known as the Canning Town Cartel OCG. This story will develop and was inspired by the book ‘Legacy’ by Michael Gillard. The actual recording was done as a thunderstorm took place without any warning, towards the end of the podcast this storm can be heard so apologies for that. This is my fourth year of producing podcasts within a month, I will be producing my one hundredth episode having produced a podcast every 2/3 weeks. Early podcasts were quite amateurish but I think they have improved over time. I have now got a website: www.strangestoriesUK which has a blog introducing each episode. I will be aiming to improve the Facebook and Instagram sites by keeping them up to date with some more information. I will continue to produce the podcasts in one take without editing as I like to produce the feel of a live radio station. Obviously it is not, but perhaps the closest I can get to it. As with most podcasts, I am trying to get an income stream to fund the hosting costs and the subscriptions I have to pay in order to research some episodes. This will not affect the podcasts being produced and of course there is no obligation to make a contribution although I am thinking of making some sort of reward for anyone that does want to contribute such as extra podcasts. I thought I would make a podcast related to a story being covered. The podcasts go off in so many tangents that I will develop one of these. https://ko-fi.com/strangestoriesuk I was looking at Patreon which most podcasters seem to use but having looked into Patreon it seems that it is losing popularity. It is explained that it has taken a lot of Venture Capital funding who are pushing for continuous growth and providing new services to generate increased income. Also Patreon is based on a regular monthly contribution which I think is too much of a commitment. I am going with Ko-Fi but may consider other options if this doesn’t work out as there are lots of alternatives and lots of conflicting advice. Regarding the podcast. There is a lot of information, primary sources, that has been taken from the internet. The Operation Tiberius Report was a very useful source and for this podcast the transcript of the Hunt v Times Newspaper from the Royal Courts of Justice case no. HQ10D02588. Also many newspaper reports from the Times archive have been useful. Sorry that I don’t give a list of all sources but in the course of producing the podcast I often don’t record which book or source I am using. I realise that this is an area that needs improving. I am going to broadcast at least four podcasts related to organised crime stemming from this area and one podcast for Ko-Fi subscribers. I was also thinking of re recording series 1 which some were so ropey that I have taken a couple off line. There are some good stories there that could be updated, this could be another Ko-Fi subscriber inducement. I am not expecting to make any money from these podcasts but if I can cover my costs I would be delighted. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: St.Boswells haunted road. | 18 Jul 2021 | 00:38:39 | |
This a short episode to end Series 3. Again a rambling story about a possible paranormal incident in a small village (St.Boswells) in the Borderlands between England and Scotland. The story comes from the Journals of the Society of Physical research. I give the links to these on www.strangestories.uk.com | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Hess Enigma , Part 2 | 11 Jul 2021 | 00:47:18 | |
This is part 2 of the Hess Enigma. What happened to Hess? Was he murdered? Was it Hess? We also examine the roles of other characters such as Tancred Borenius, the Polish leader Sikorski and others. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Hess Enigma part 1 | 10 Jul 2021 | 01:15:16 | |
May and June 1941 was the period that Nazi Germany came close to conquering Western Europe. But the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler then opened a second Front which was going to cost him the war. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, John Palmer, Brinks Mat, Time Shares scams and a lot of shootings. | 19 Jun 2021 | 01:05:42 | |
This is a rambling story based on John 'Goldfinger' Palmer. We find how the Brinks Mat gold bullion robbery was responsible for a lot of criminal enterprises as these were funded by the proceeds of Brinks Mat gold. John Palmer was an interesting character, a key figure in disposing of the Brinks Mat gold. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: some considerations on The death of Princess Diana | 02 Jun 2021 | 01:21:36 | |
There has been recent news items on the interview between the BBC Panorama programme and Princess Diana in November 1995 and that was the inspiration for this podcast. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: The Society of Psychical Research investigate a London ghost | 21 May 2021 | 01:16:33 | |
I thought it time for a paranormal type episode, this one taken from the journals of the Society for Psychical Research. I do my research in the British Library for these podcasts, this one comes from the 1949 journal. I like to do a paranormal podcast during the month of May, This story was published in the 1949 Journal of the Society of Psychical Research and was called 'The Woman in Brown'. Edward Osbourne was an investigator for the SPR and it was he that wrote up the story. I gave quite a long lead into the podcast explaining what London was like in 1948, for someone in their 80s, they must have seen so much change during the course of their lifetimes’, it would scarcely seems credible to someone much younger so I thought I would give some description to London life at that time. There may be something of a delay in my next podcast as I have to do some building works, I am going to try to lay a concrete floor using Youtube tutorials, so I think that will take up most of my time for the next month. I will try to put another podcast out within the month.
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| Strange Stories UK: Colin Wallace, Kincora and Clockwork Orange part 2. | 09 May 2021 | 01:18:50 | |
This is part 2 of the podcast, the details being the same as for part 1. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: Colin Wallace, Kincora and Clockwork Orange part 1 | 07 May 2021 | 01:09:28 | |
Northern Ireland 1970s, MI5, Clockwork Orange, Murder, SAS, paedophiles, IRA, UDA. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Hilda Murrell part 3 | 18 Apr 2021 | 00:51:31 | |
This is part three of the Hilda Murrell murder, please listen to parts one and two. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: Bournemouth drug dealing and murder 2023. | 25 Apr 2024 | 00:38:19 | |
This case was committed in Boscombe, part of Bournemouth during August 2023. The case has come to Winchester Crown Court this month, starting on April 11, it is expected to finish in late May, more likely early June 2024. | |||
| Strange Stories UK : Hilda Murrell part 2: Belgrano, Sizewell and other theories. | 16 Apr 2021 | 00:48:12 | |
This is part two of the Hilda Murrell podcast. | |||
| Strange Stories UK : The Hilda Murrell murder. 1984 | 16 Apr 2021 | 00:58:42 | |
This is part one of a three part podcast. 21 March 1984. Hilda Murrell was abducted from her home. She was an anti-nuclear campaigner who had just gained approval to present a paper on the problems of nuclear waste at the Sizewell planning inquiry. | |||
| Strange Stories UK. The Brighton University student Janet Muller murder in 2015 | 02 Apr 2021 | 01:01:04 | |
This is another case of a jury getting it wrong. Janet Muller was murdered by Christopher Jeffrey - Shaw in Sussex in 2015. We do not know the whole story, there are gaps in our understanding of it. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Porthole Murder of Gay Gibson. | 21 Mar 2021 | 00:55:03 | |
A promising 21 year old actress who lived as she wished, not to the conventions of the day, goes missing on a cruise ship. | |||
| Strange Stories UK : The Thug Life in Ipswich: County Lines. | 07 Mar 2021 | 00:54:24 | |
The 'Thug life' referred to in this podcast, refers to street gangs in Ipswich copying the behaviour of street gangs in America. The American rapper Tupac came up with a phrase that makes the acronym. The hate U Give, Little Infants Fucks Everything. Tupac was trying to argue that life on the streets is hard for those people who society oppresses (the poor and uneducated). The 'thug' on the street refers to the underdog who does what he has to do to survive and get by. This podcast takes Ipswich as an example of County Line drug dealing causing an increase in violence on the streets of that town; in particular the events leading to the death of a 17 year old fringe gang member in 2018.
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| Strange Stories UK, The Fairy Investigation Society 1927 - to present. | 16 Feb 2021 | 01:26:10 | |
The Fairy Investigation Society (aka FIS), founded in the UK in 1927, exists to report fairy sightings. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Brighton Murder, The tragic death of Suel Dagado | 09 Feb 2021 | 00:33:47 | |
A group of young men decide to spend a Saturday night in Brighton. There is an altercation as they leave a nightclub, a stupid drunken quarrel and macho posturing leads to a tragic and pointless death and life changing injuries for others. | |||
| Strange Stories UK The Rise and fall of the Messinas, vice in London 1930-60 | 31 Jan 2021 | 01:05:48 | |
Please be advised that I now have a website where I can be contacted. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Lord Janner sexual abuse cover-up. | 15 Jan 2021 | 01:28:15 | |
Well this is a bit of a ramble, but the main story is how a prominent Leicester MP Greville Janner had credible allegations of sexual abuse made against him over a long period of time but was never investigated. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Brides in the Bath, George Smith part 2. | 08 Jan 2021 | 00:40:22 | |
Part 2 of the Brides in the Bath Story. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: Constance Marten & Mark Gordon 5, Confrontations and closing speeches. | 19 Apr 2024 | 00:33:23 | |
Confrontations and Closing Speeches. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Brides in the Bath murders. Part 1. | 04 Jan 2021 | 00:46:22 | |
A murder trial at the Old Bailey in 1915 caused much comment. Thousands of soldiers were being killed on a daily basis while a long complicated trial was being staged to decide the life of one man. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Ghost Story for Christmas 2020 | 19 Dec 2020 | 00:58:44 | |
Two stories from the records of the Society of Physical Research (SPR) investigated by Fred Stratton. There are similarities between the two stories, both classic haunted house stories, both of which were being investigated by Fred during 1913. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The murder of Louise Smith at Leigh Park, Havant. | 09 Dec 2020 | 00:50:03 | |
Lockdown in the UK during May 2020. Not a good time for teenagers or the young. Imagine being a sixteen year old teenager having fallen out with her mother, suffering from anxiety and self harm, with a difficult background staying in a one bedroom flat with your auntie and uncle who do not approve of your life style. Add into this mix a 30 year old male (Uncle Shane) who acts inappropriately and claims he has forgotten what he has done from one day to the next. | |||
| Strange Stores UK, The extraordinary story of Brian Donald Hume. | 06 Dec 2020 | 00:53:47 | |
Brian Donald Hume, better known as Donald Hume was a smuggler, bank robber, murderer and successful businessman. His life story is quite extraordinary. It is a pity that he allowed his anger get the better of him because he had a lot of ability and could have followed a different path. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Florence Maybrick trial. | 22 Nov 2020 | 01:17:24 | |
The Florence Maybrick trial which took place in Liverpool during 1889 is a famous case in which a woman was charged with the murder of her addict husband as a result of a manipulating Free Mason pulling the strings to ensure a guilty verdict and a death sentence. Although this episode stands by itself, I will return to this trial in a future podcast to investigate ‘Jack the Ripper’ allegations. | |||
| Strange Stories UK. A Newhaven murder and an Albanian drug dealer's death. | 12 Nov 2020 | 00:33:17 | |
Newhaven, East Sussex, once a booming light manufacturing town on the coast is now in the doldrums. There is not many opportunities for the young some of whom are often forced to spend idle days looking for ways to fill their time. Trent Hutchinson was one such teenager who could be considered as having various issues and being out of control with an anger management problem. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Halloween 2020, The Ardachie case, the crawling woman. | 31 Oct 2020 | 00:32:39 | |
This is the third story I have uploaded for Halloween 2020. The other two being the Edgar Vandy case and Rougham mirage. This podcast is the Ardachie Case. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Dorset Brehmer/Parry killing. Did the jury get this one wrong? | 28 Oct 2020 | 00:59:57 | |
May 2020, Policeman Timothy Bremer killed his lover of 10 years Claire Parry , by accident in his car as she sent a message to his wife informing him of their affair. | |||
| Strange Stories UK : Paranormal Suffolk The Rougham mirage and Kersey time-slip | 23 Oct 2020 | 00:41:58 | |
The second of the Halloween podcasts for 2020, these are both set in the county of Suffolk. The Rougham mirage and the Kersey time-slip. Both phenomena could be retrocognition or hallucination. Carl Groves goes into much greater detail on the Rougham mirage, search for the Rougham mystery by Carl Groves online for further details. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Lewes, Sussex murder of Nicola Stevenson in 2019. | 19 Oct 2020 | 00:28:23 | |
Nicola Stevenson was a 39 year old mother who was registered as being disabled. She had moved to Lewes in East Sussex in 2018 and was given allocated a council flat by the Lewes Council at Landport Estate in the town. Nicola was prescribed pain relief medication and also used alcohol and class A drugs, Nicola was described as a feisty and positive character who soon made friends in the Lewes area. | |||
| Strange Stories: A Southampton murder 2023. | 15 Apr 2024 | 00:42:55 | |
Please be aware, this podcast is recorded in one take without editing. This is a case that was heard at Winchester Crown Court between January 2024 and March 2024. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The mysterious death of Edgar Vandy. | 16 Oct 2020 | 00:58:56 | |
A rather unusual case here which comes from the journals of the Society of Psychical Research. Edgar Vandy drowned while on a day out with friends on a Sussex Estate in the summer of 1933. The inquest recorded accidental death but Edgar's brothers were unhappy with the verdict and employed mediums to try to ascertain the truth of what happened that day which seemed to suggest something of a 'cover-up'. | |||
| Strange Stories UK Hammersmith murders ,London serial killer, Performance 5 | 13 Oct 2020 | 00:57:59 | |
Part 5 of the 'Performance' series. An examination of the Police investigation into a serial killer who targeted female sex workers in 1960s London. It is suggested that a well known celebrity of the time could have been responsible but was protected by freemasonry and corrupt police who were blackmailing him. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Performance 4, Rolling Stones, Police Corruption, Murder? | 07 Oct 2020 | 01:09:44 | |
This is the fourth podcast in the series about the background to the film 'Performance'. It is about the Rolling Stones contribution and their situation during the making of the film. How Jagger and Jones became part of the 'Chelsea set'. Police and media collusion and corruption, MI5 and FBI trying to convict the Rolling Stones to prevent them influencing young people. Bent Policeman D.S.Pilcher targeting Pop stars to convict them for drug offences. The death of Brian Jones in 1969, accident or murder or a combination of these? | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Performance 2, Litvinoff's Swinging London? | 22 Sep 2020 | 01:05:09 | |
London in the 1950s & 60s was changing, the media said it was becoming 'Swinging London'? In reality new elites were challenging the old establishment. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Performance 1, Jimmy Evans, Once upon a time in London | 15 Sep 2020 | 00:59:32 | |
This is part 1 of a series of podcasts that are based on the British Movie Performance. A film which the film historian David Thompson said that the film was not as good as the stories about it. Well the film has a Rotten tomatoes score of 85% and has had a number of books and articles written about it. It is about London in the late 1960s when the swinging fashionable crowd mixed with the aristocracy who mixed with the criminal underworld. This episode is about Jimmy Evans, a flash 'Jack the lad' gangster, scared of nothing who was the advisor for a similar character who played the lead role in the film Performance (Chas Devlin), a film when the criminal underworld of London decided to take part and show themselves on film. This first episode examines the life of Jimmy Evans who inspired the role of Chas Devlin. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, John Bindon, Princess Margaret, Murder and London. Performance 3. | 01 Sep 2020 | 00:54:10 | |
Performance was the film made in 1968 where it was said that the Underground met the Underworld. In this podcast we examine the life of an underworld enforcer who was also an actor, who virtually played himself in the film. John Bindon, a larger than life character who was a violent thug, an associate of the Krays and had the Queen's sister Princess Margaret as a lover. | |||
| Strange Stories UK Rattenbury Stoner murder in Bournemouth | 31 Aug 2020 | 00:54:44 | |
1935 True Crime, Bournemouth, a female muscian unhappily married has an affair with aToy boy, her husband is a famous architect and everything goes wrong. An unhappy story with an unhappy ending; in fact a desperately unhappy ending which was not fair. A murder at Bournemouth /Boscombe Manor road. | |||
| Strange Stories UK The Clapham Murder, Steinie Morrison and anarchism | 22 Jul 2020 | 01:06:42 | |
This is the last episode of Series 2, we are going back to 31st December 1910. A murder of a Jewish immigrant was thought to be associated with a Jewish secret society wanting a revolution in the UK. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, Ronnie Knight, the murder of Alfredo Zomparelli and consequences. | 12 Jul 2020 | 00:37:12 | |
Ronnie Knight is in his 80s now, born in poverty in the East End of London to a family that became a well known criminal family with close links to the Kray family, he denies that he was ever a gangster but he was involved in crime, almost as today youngster on estates today are forced into gangs. Ronnie and his brothers were the last of what could be called the 'old school gangsters' who put emphasis on dressing well and having good manners and good (to their interpretations)morals. | |||
| Strange Stories UK: Dieppe Raid & Queen Mary paranormal incidents? | 07 Jul 2020 | 00:49:47 | |
Two possible cases of retrocognition are considered in this podcast, the events both occurred in 1942. The Dieppe raid was possibly 'relived' in an audio hallucination by two woman in 1952. The Queen Mary / Curacao collision was another audio hallucination by marine engineer John Smith in 1971. The 'haunted' Queen Mary liner was investigated by parapsychologists Tony Cornell and Bill Roll in 1988.
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| Strange Stories: Fiona Beal, Nicholas Billingham, the background to the 2024 trial. | 04 Apr 2024 | 00:43:37 | |
I am posting this before the retrial of the Nicholas Billingham / Fiona Beal case which is due to be heard at the Old Bailey in the late Spring of 2024. This is a retrial of a case abandoned during June 2023 for no apparent reason. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, London Gangs and the murders of Jaden Moodie and Corey Davis Jnr. | 17 Jun 2020 | 01:22:18 | |
This podcast is about the changing nature of London's street gangs, country lines, increasing violence and how young people are recruited to the gangs. There is an examination of the gangs of Waltham Forest as an example of the problems faced in one London borough. Some gangs try to concentrate on making money from trading in drugs but with so much competition the gangs have to constantly adapt to changing circumstances. The podcast looks at the murders of two 14 year old young males as a result of gang warfare. | |||
| Strange Stories UK, The Murder of Jodie Chesney | 01 Jun 2020 | 01:14:57 | |
Jodie Chesney was a teenager in her last year at sixth form college doing her A levels. It was a Friday night in March 2019, hanging with friends in her local park, a geeky, Gothy group of friends playing rock music on their phones. | |||
| Strange Stories UK. The truth of Borley rectory and Harry Price part 2 | 15 May 2020 | 01:06:03 | |
Although Borley rectory is well known for its alleged paranormal activity, this podcast mainly examines the people who lived there and the people involved in reporting unexplained phenomena at the rectory and their possible motivations. | |||