February 20, 2024 • 32 mins
The Oscar winning film editor Thelma shoe Maker once said: "Editing is really like plumbing. A good deal of the time, you put two things together and the current runs through it." It's a lovely quote that captures the magic and the craft of editing... Compare that to my producer Chris who once said editing's are pain in the ass. You can tell he hasn't won any Oscars (yet) but this collection of some our of favourite Bad Manors mini stories might change all that! Enjoy...
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
The Oscar winning film editor Thelma shoe Maker once said,
editing is really like plumbing. A good deal of the time.
You put two things together and the current runs through it.
It's a lovely quote that captures the magic and the
craft of editing. Compare that to my producer Chris who
once said editing's are pain in the ass. You can
(00:27):
tell he hasn't won any Oscars. Potty mouth. Thelma Shoemaker
also said, it's part of your job always as an editor,
you always have to drop stuff. And that's the subject
of today's episode, the drop stuff. Naturally, when putting an
episode together, there's a lot of content we don't need
to include in the final episode. I mean, no one
(00:50):
needs to hear me talk about why I had the breakfast,
for example, porrange with blueberries and banana healthy. I'm trying
to be healthy. I'm I'm an interchange between porridge and
that or an omelet with no bread out bread. At
the moment about that age in life, I can feel
this fleshy neck hammock just popping out under my chin
(01:12):
and it's not good.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Oh dear, the omelet. That's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Quite a lot of work we're not really.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Well, what do you have in it?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
A mixture of diced vegetables?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And then cheese, Yeah, cheese, that will help me lose
the pounds. Well done, Tom, Fortunately, this is the type
of thing that gets cut from the episodes. No one
needs to hear about my fleshy neck hammock. However, all
too often we do end up having to cut some
fun and interesting stuff due to time restraints. So for
this episode, we thought we'd sweep up the dusty tape
(01:46):
from the cutting room floor and shove it in your ears.
It's a bad manners. Mini stories special ghost stories are
always a hit on this podcast. We're going to start
with one. I should probably play something from one of
our contributors, but I've been practicing self love recently, so
(02:07):
I'm gonna put myself first. Here's a story I told
Jake during our Oakley Court episode that would be a
really good boyfriend trick. If you wanted to like treat
your other half to a nice weekend but didn't have
the money, then just book out, look up the haunted
rooms in a manor house, go and then just complain
and say, well, we were having a lovely time, but
(02:27):
then this pale Edwardian boy showed up at three point
thirty in the morning and I demand a full refund.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Well, look, I guess it happens.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Have you ever seen a ghost, Tom? Is it something
that's happened to you?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Ooh, well, I did have an experience when living in
the tower. So in my bedroom, my bedroom was a
cell back in the day, and it was there was
a woman called Arabella Stewart who was like a great
niece of Henry eighth or someone, and they've been trying
to marry her off, but she'd been playing hard to
(02:59):
get and not not going for any of the boys
that Henry wanted. Then she fell in love with I
can't remember his bloody name. I think it was French.
As you know, there are sexy race, an't they. And
but so they had this affair behind the King's back.
So when he found out about it, he locked them
in the Tower of London. Then they tried to escape
(03:21):
by they both cross jest like, so she was male
and he was female. But as they were escaping they
got to the channel, the English Channel. He made it
over the side and she got found out. So she
got taken back to the tower of London and then
basically refused to eat or drink, became very ill, and
then died of a broken heart and starvation in the
(03:42):
room in my bedroom. And there is a picture of
her on the wall in my bedroom, no way. And yeah.
And so in the first days of me sleeping in
the room, it was one of those painters where the
eyes followed you around the room. So, I mean, talk
about it. You didn't want to read great now. I
was a single man at the time as well. It
was a very buch a buzzkill. And so I took
(04:05):
the painting down and put it behind the fireplace. But
when I took the painting down, I instantly became very
ill and couldn't eat or drink. Yeah, And I think
I got the same illness that she had. And it
was only when I put the painting back on the.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
Wall that I got better.
Speaker 8 (04:21):
Wow, that's something that's something that's a diet plan.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It's a very that's it if you ever want to
lose a few kg. Yeah, exactly, take down. Yeah, I mean,
I don't know. I felt like it was a room
that had an energy to it, and it was her room.
It was definitely, and that's the thing that happened, So
make of that what you will, but that is what's
(04:45):
that was my ghost experience.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Thanks, Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
That's a good story.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's episode free done.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Seal of approval from the crew there, and that's what
we like to hear. They're a good bunch. Despite beating
me whenever I fluff my lines, they do actually look
after me, you know.
Speaker 6 (05:07):
Sec Yeah, do you want does anyone want to cane?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (05:11):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah, same in coffee again, yes please yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
One thing you should know about bad manners is it's
fuel by coffee. This sort of thing happens every ten
to fifteen minutes. As stipulated in my contract. We're gonna
stick with ghosts for our next clip because in our
Scottish Castle's episode, comedian Eleanor Morden told us all about
Edinburgh's spooky side, including the ghosts of dead children that
have been sent underground with instruments to see how far
(05:39):
the tunnels went. It seems to be a recurring theme
for out history if in doubt shove a kidnet it. Anyway,
Eleanor was such a great guest with so many fun
stories that we couldn't fit them all into one episode.
So just in case you were wondering what time pirates
go to bed, here's.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Eleanor Edinbarghastle is a weird one because when you compare
it to The Tower London, which is Chuckle with ghosts.
I don't really know how you moved around in there
actually without umping into the walk through. Oh yeah, obviously
forgot how ghosts work. Edward Castle's weirdly considering how many
horrible things about them there. It's weirdly sparks on ghost stories. Specifically,
(06:17):
it's meant to be haunted by the prisoners who were
kept there at various times, so a whole bunch of
different prisoners.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Pirates were kept there.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Just kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Tell me about some pirates.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, Captain Bart his men were kept there. So Black
Bart was a pirate during the sort of golden age
of piracy, i e. The Pirates of the Caribbean pirate
times and yeah, or Somali pirates. It's a bit more,
a bit more historic than that. And he had a
(06:48):
fun flag as well. He had several flags. He had
one that was like a man toasting a skeleton, and
then he had one that was him holding a sort
of flaming sword and standing on two skulls, which.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Is puts out a message, doesn't it.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know what you're getting, And then the and then
he had one he obviously liked redesigning these. And then
he had one that was a skeleton and a heart
with an arrow piercing it, which I guess means his
heart broke. He split up with someone, I'm not sure, and.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
Do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The idea was just sailing around whatever sort of mood
he was in. He'd tick a flag up, kind of
like a Facebook status. He just put up a certain flag.
Oh god, yolo, it's just me and my crew now,
I don't need all these snakes and liars. It's just
best yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Right, change his relationship status with his flag.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, that's it exactly. It's complicated. Two flaving skulls.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
But I think he died in battle. And then his
pirates were captured by the Brush Army and for whatever is,
and they ended up in Edinburgh Castle, which is fun.
And there have been reports of noises, very non specific
noises and things. You can you can still go into
where the barracks were and the prison bit and it's
quite atmospheric because they also kept and Napoleolic prisoners of
(08:03):
war there, so from you know, the French French wars POW. Yeah,
there's a lot of them, Yeah, from all sorts of
different places, so you know, it's a bit cultured, it's
a bit fun.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I imagine their relationship status would have been single by
that time. Actually, there must have been quite a homosexuality between.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Oh yeah, definitely, yeah people.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I mean, what else do no.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
One hundred. In fact, they even had they even had
rules about it because you know, they had to make
sure everyone was sort.
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Of pirate rules.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
They had pirate rules. Yeah, pirates rules. Pirates used to
go to bed at like eight pm. What that's true. Yeah,
because they didn't, Yeah, because it would they didn't want
to waste a waste oil lamp. So you could stay up,
you were allowed to stay up, but all the lights
wol be put out and you could you'd have to
sort of sit in the dark. So they went to
bed super early. They were very refreshed pirates.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
They definitely weren't going to bed so they could get
a rigorous skin care routine before. They wasn't like no,
I need my keel exfaliation moisture.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
No, it was I need to go and sit in
my hamm. I can think about the fact that I'm
coming in lice. So yeah. So it was full of pirates,
it was full of soldiers. It was full of different
kings and queens and invaders.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I wonder if, like you know how like in all
those sort of jail prison movies where you go it's
the canteen and they all their little table on that table,
that's the pirate table.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's the Napoleonic soldier's table. We don't mix. Yeah, no,
that would have.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Been fun over here if you want. Who are you with?
Speaker 7 (09:35):
A dead kid orchestra?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Just a lot of sad children. But there are a
lot of ghostories surrounding at the castle because it's sort
of this it's at the top of the mile. So
you've got a Wizard of the West bow is quite
a fun one.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
That is just good.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, Wizards of the West.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
The West.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
So it's now Victoria Street, which is you kind of
see lots of Instagram posts. It's very picturesque, lots of
like colorful shops and it's sort.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Is that the curvy one.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, that's what I Yeah, yeah, so it used to
be called the West Bow and it used to be
slightly different. But one of the houses that was there
in the sort of sixteenth century was owned by a
guy called Major Weir, who was I guess a major,
but he was also renowned to be a dark wizard
and a necromancer and a ne'er do well. And his
(10:21):
sister who was called something like Griselda, something very weird
and sort of very talish. They were meant to have
performed these black arts things, and the people of Edinburgh, Yeah,
it was a bit. It was a bit dubious. The
people of Edinburgh got sick of them and they put
them both to death. I think they burnt them at
(10:41):
the stake. And apparently Major Weir's staff is magical staff
that he carried around, leapt out with the fire and
wriggled around and stuff. It's all very exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
They burnt him with his stick.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
They burned with his stick, yeah, yeah, because it was
a magic stick, I guess, and they didn't want to
get rid of it. And now you're meant to sort
of meant to see on a quiet moonlight night, you're
meant to hear his carriage going down Victoria Street just
under the castle and disappearing into the night.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Do you have a specific thing, like a story about
what he did.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I think it's all pretty vague, but it was sort
of potential incest and black magic, so, you know, not
a great combination. No one likes that.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Incest seems over the years to have been something that
if you did that, you are definitely getting burnt.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, And I think sometimes the legend says his carriage
is chased by the devil and he's trying to escape
Hell or something very dramatic like that. It's exciting.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I see the carriage right, rather than just he's forgotten
to pick him up. Yeah, yeah, on the way to somewhere,
and the deve was like you it's really inconvenient.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Uber Yeah no, no, he's escaping the devil's cultures.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So they burned his sister as well.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I'm assuming they did. Yes, they did.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
They separate piles.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Oh, I don't know. I think maybe separately.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Trying to get those two apart was difficult enough.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
They burned quite a few people in Edinburgh Castle. Janet
Douglas was a quite famous sort of noble woman who
was burnt as a witch, which was pretty unprecedented, really, like,
you know, you didn't normally burn members of the aristocracy.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Wow, why was she what was she doing?
Speaker 7 (12:18):
Well?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
People said she was doing witchcraft, but actually it was
probably trying to get her out of the way because
she was opposed the current king or the sort of
political setup.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
So yeah, it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
All seems like a bit of an excuse, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
She's a witch, yeah basically. And then yeah, so that
bit of the castle where they have the tattoo now
would have been where they used to set ladies on fire.
Edinburgh was very bloodthirsty and we loved a good hanging
or a good burning.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
It was the original Edinburgh fringe, it really was. Yeah,
it was good, but she didn't scream enough. Three stars.
It reads like a four eleanor Morton there, with stories
of pirates, wizards and incest.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
Incest.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
It's another occurring theme I've noticed while making Bad Manners.
It seems to have been all the rage in ye
olden times. I guess that's what happens when you're horny,
but there's no Internet. It's also why they don't put
siblings in the Big brother House. Too dangerous. Now we've
(13:27):
all disappointed our parents at some stage, haven't we. I mean,
I'm a comedian for crying out loud. When I told
my dad I wanted to do stand up, his response was, ironically,
I hope you're joking. But that's nothing compared to this
story from Ripley Castle, which takes place during the largest
battle of.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
The Civil War.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
The Inglebys at Ripley were Royalist cavaliers, i e. Not
fans of Oliver Cromwell and his roundheads. While the Battle
of Marsden Moore was raging nearby, one man was given
a task by his father in one of the best
had one job stories you'll ever hear. Who is this man?
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Well, this is so willy are masters and Law's son? Who?
Because he is undousted with the ugliest of the twenty
some generations to day, we call William the Ugly to
distinguish him from all the others.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
He wouldn't have known about that nickname back in the day.
Speaker 7 (14:24):
He No, he won making and he was a misfit
really because he was a great supporter of Oliver Cromwell.
And he's dressed in black and white. Very formal purity
of attar. Reading the Bible opened as page in Genesis
(14:45):
and hideously ugly. It has to be said, he's not good.
And he'd already fallen foul of his father, who, appreciating
his rebel leanings as he described him, had instructed him
stay at Ripley while this battle was fought at master Moore,
and he was to look after the castle, look after
the family, and look after the family fortune, and if
(15:09):
danger threatened too close, he was to set off with
the family fortune, which they had already packed up, ready
to go to the King's garrison at York, which was
still holding out. And for whatever reason, William and the
Ugly left it far too late to do anything, and
he set off for York and got the fortune captured
(15:31):
by the rebels halfway down Narsborough High Street. And his father,
by that time was in Durham with the King, and
wrote his son the most blistering letter that much he'd
lost something like three quarters of a million by today's standard,
so he had every right to be fairly irate.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
He's not got much going from this guy, has he?
Speaker 7 (15:53):
No? He said, if I ever get home, I strongly
intend to disinherit you, because I suspect you done this
on purpose.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, he quite apply does have quite a round head.
Speaker 7 (16:10):
Very close. And anyway, this this lesser goes on in future,
you will obey your God, your king and your father
are not necessarily in that order. And you're unworthy to
be called my son. And the letter is signed your
loving father, William Ingleby.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Talk about mixed messages. You've lost the entire family fortune.
You complete moron. If I ever see you again, I'll
disown you. You're unworthy to be called my son. A
lot of love, Dad kis kiss poor William. That's got
to be tough to hear, especially from your dad. I
don't care how ugly you are. No one deserves that mind.
(16:52):
You have seen the painting he was ugly. Speaking of paintings,
here's something from our Hocum Hall episode. The man who
built Hokum, Thomas Cook, first Earl of Leicester, had paintings
commissioned into which he had himself inserted, sort of like
the original Where's Wally?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
So?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I couldn't help but ask Catherine, Hocum's collection coordinator, this question,
if you could put yourself in any painting, what painting
would you put yourself in?
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Any painty painting? I'm thinking like you know you could
just like super impose yourself behind the Mona Leser, just
holding your nose, so it does look like she's just
broken wind and that's why she's smiling.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
So in the louver there is a portrait of it's
called the Death of Mara, who was a French revolutionary,
and he's sort of he was killed in his bath
and so he's lying very dramatically.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Half out of his bath.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
I think it'd be quite fun to be on the
other side, just you know, with your rubber duck in your.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Back amazing, with your toe in the fosset, just kicking around.
And if any listeners with photoshop skills want to superimpose
me into a bath with Marrah, the Bad Manners dms
are open. Sticking with hocumbe the story of Lady Jane
Digby was inspirational. She started riding horses at Hocumb and
(18:13):
ended up riding camels in the desert. Lucy Purvis summed
up her life for us in our second Hocum episode.
So just to set up this woman's life, I'm Saint
Peter at the Pearly Gates. She's a ride in heaven, right,
So we're gonna go for all the stats. Lady Jane Digby,
we're gonna have a look for your life. Just list
me off. How many kings, how many princes, Let's go
through the whole list.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
We've got two kings, We've got a princes, We've got
a baron, we've got account we've got two barons. In fact,
we've got a lord. We've got a number of other people.
I'd rather not go into what And we've got what?
Speaker 7 (18:47):
What?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Why were they were they? Do they not have a title?
Is that what's embarrassing?
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I think there's more that she's probably slept with that
we just don't know about. There was just flings here
and there, just you know, short affairs, including a librarian
at Holcombe.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So what a librarian?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Librarian?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, tell us this one? Who's the librarian?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
The librarian is Frederick Madam, who was one of her
first earliest affairs. Actually, in eighteen twenty seven, he'd been
brought to Holcombe to catalog the amazing collection of manuscripts
that have been collected by Thomas Cook, the bond that
built the house, and he described Jane as the most
(19:30):
beautiful woman in the world. And then he writes in
his diary one night Lady Ellenborough, which was her first
married name, lingered behind the rest of the party, and
at midnight I escorted her to a room. Fool that
I was. I will not add what passed. Gracious God,
was there ever such fortune.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, they're getting down, they doing, they're doing stuff. They
keep it on the down low. She starts moaning, and
he classic a librarian, keep the noise down. Let me
introduce you to my Dewey decimal system. This is the
pop up section. Sorry, it's all innuendo. So she banged
(20:11):
a librarian. Library's king amazing lady Jane in the library
with the She stayed behind as well. That's what I
quite like about it. She really like she knows what
she wants and she gets it. She's gone, Oh, I
like you right, just go back and chill. Because he
clearly when he said just listening to that that diary entry,
(20:32):
he clearly was led.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Yes, he was led. And then he wrote later on
I sort of eighteen fifties. I wonder whatever happened to her.
So although there was this scandal, it didn't get into
the librarian world.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Not sure what Lucy is referring to when she says
the librarian world I can only assume it's some sort
of geeky theme park like Alton Towers, but with more books. Incidentally,
I'm sure she'd get through the pearly gates. She sounds
like a legend. And speaking of legends, Producers Bex and
(21:12):
Chris join me for our Halloween spectacular back in October
where we heard your real life ghost stories. We received
so many terrifying tales from you guys that we had
to lose some for the final episode. But here they are,
as if back from the dead. Over to you, Producer Bex,
I think it's time for another voice note.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Should we have this one from Rachel?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (21:33):
Yeah, Hi.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So this happened about seven years ago when I was
teaching creative writing to adults for Birmingham City Council and
one of the buildings that I needed to teach at
was an old school that was no longer used for
a school for children, and it was like a really
weird layout. I think it's been closed down and demolished now,
(21:56):
but it was kind of like a horseshoe building, only
one floor. It didn't have stairs or anything like that,
but it was just a very strange building. So one
day I was in there after class, getting all the
stuff ready, and the caretaker opened the door and went, oh,
you're okay, You're right, Rachel. I said yeah, yeah, I'm fine.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
He was like yeah, and I was like, okay, cool,
well'll see you later then I'll wrap up in a minute.
And he was like okay. That was it.
Speaker 7 (22:22):
Fine.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
The next week, when I arrived, the receptionist said, Rachel,
do you have a moment? And she said, can I
ask you? Do you ever ask for help? And obviously
my first instinct was she's offering to help me with
my printing and everything. And I said, you know what,
I'm actually I am quite busy, so if you had
any capacity to help, that'd be amazing. And she said no,
(22:44):
I mean spiritually and I said I'm not really sure
what you mean. And she said, well, I won't upset you.
But last week the caretaker opened the door when you're
in the computer room and there was a man stunning
behind you, and when he opened the door, the man
turned to look at him and he was like really scared.
(23:07):
And then the caretaker came in and he was like
really pale. And I was saying, you know, I don't
I don't believe in this kind of thing. This has
really shaking me up. I'm really upset by it, and
I was like, well, how do you think I feel? Anyway,
I had to go then into the computer room to
do my work before the class, and I've got to
(23:29):
say I was so freaked out. And then thankfully the
whole school closed down anyway, so we were moved. But yeah,
I wasn't able to teach there properly again and feeling
comfortable because he said there was a man behind me
watching what I was doing.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I got actual shivers with that one did.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, what with the man turning to look at him?
Just she's completely unaware that there's just a presence behind her.
Speaker 8 (23:54):
The eye contact again, and eye contact, I don't want
eye contact.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Like how they shut the entire school down because quite
drastic ghost he was, yea one man's looked at someone.
Shut it all down. It's too much.
Speaker 8 (24:14):
I don't want to rain on everyone's parade. Could he
have seen his own reflection in a window? Like could
he have walked in and gone.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oh, yeah, I mean almost definitely. But also no.
Speaker 8 (24:28):
Actually they could explain it, could they?
Speaker 7 (24:31):
No?
Speaker 8 (24:31):
No, it's a ghost.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
The ghost and our survey says ghost. Hey, it's as
good an excuse as any. You might be wondering why
we've had so much ghost content on the show. Well,
just about every property we visit has claimed to be haunted.
What are you going to do? Not ask about it?
I'd be burnt at the stake. But it's not just
(24:54):
old properties and bad manners. Paranormal sightings have been on
the rise since the pandemic. Why is that? To answer,
here's the UK's go to ghost guy and host of
BBC's Uncanny podcast, Danny Robbins, with an explanation.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
I think it's it's interesting. I think it's probably a
sort of different factors coming together. I think that you know,
we've lived for an unprecedented period in human history where
we've spent all of our time in our houses for
a really massive period. You know, during lockdown, we' were
just in our houses all the time. And you could
argue that, you know, being in your house gives you
more chance to kind of imagine being haunted by it,
(25:31):
and you could also argue that it gives you more
chance to actually be haunted by it. You know, if
there's ghosts in your house, you're you're you're surrounded by
them for far longer than you normally would be if
you're just coming home after work. I think you know that,
you know, we've felt haunted during that period, didn't we,
or all all of us sort of felt haunted and
oppressed by our houses? You know, we were cooped up
in places that previously felt cozy and now felt claustrophobic.
(25:52):
So I think that's a big factor. I mean, I
think very clearly as well, we've been forced, as you say,
into proximity with death in a way that we hadn't
had to be that, you know, since the Second World War,
you could say, you know, and I think you know,
we've had COVID, we've had climate change, we've had war,
We've had all these things reminding us that life is finite.
And I think that's frightening. And I think, you know,
(26:12):
we go looking for answers. And I think if you
look back through history at the post Second World War,
post First World War, you know, the sixties, you know,
the era of kind of Vietnam and kind of so
much sort of social change, you know, going right back
to like Jacobean times, the time of which trials and
demons and plague and all these sort of things. You know,
these are periods in history where we go looking for
(26:33):
answers in within the supernatural. And I think when our
world is most disordered, we go looking for another world
outside of it.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I think that makes sense. It feels like it's more
disordered than ever these days, no wonder we're seeing ghosts
all over the place. I told Danny about my haunted
lockdown experience in the Tower of London, but I've forgotten
to mention before the recording that I'd lived there for
six years. So unsurprisingly he was a little shot when
I casually dropped it into our conversation, speaking of lockdown
(27:05):
pandemic living. I actually having just broken up with my girlfriend.
I lived in the Tower of London for six years,
and I attempted. I attempted to do lockdown on my
own inside the Tower of London, and I think my
haunting levels went up. I was I was surrounded by
(27:25):
the ghost of Amberleyn and Lady Jane Gray and my
previous relationship all at the same time.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
There's a lot to unpack it. So you lived in
the tower for six years, did you say?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I did?
Speaker 7 (27:36):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, my father is the ex head of the British
Military and then became the Constable of the Tower of London.
And so I was moving up to London from Brighton.
And I had a choice of either paying several thousand
pounds to rent a shoe box in his own six
or I could live in the historical palace for six years.
So I lived in Queen's House. I lived in a
(27:58):
right next to the Belltower. Yeah, it was. It was
a crazy time of my life.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
This is utterly incredible. So I did a project for
the Tower of London recently, a kind of year or
so ago, where I did an immersive theater show about
the Gunpowder Plot that is still still running there. It's
called the Gunpowder Plot Immersive.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Oh I.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I was meant to go on a date with the
girl there, but I overslept and missed it. Oh no,
but apparently it's very good.
Speaker 7 (28:22):
It is.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
It's fun. It's fun. But working at the Tower was amazing.
I mean, I absolutely loved and relished that kind of
behind the scenes that the Tower is. It's a building
that totally fascinates me. I found myself watching some Channel
five documentary about it recently as well, you know, watching
like the Raven Master and things like that.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
What a place to live?
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Is that what fuels your interest in this, you know,
kind of exploring these buildings to this podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It's certainly what the producers got me in with the producers. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
I mean I think historical buildings are just so fascinating,
aren't they, And they're just the houses that we live in.
Just you know that hole for if these walls could
it's always that sort of it's that sort of vibe. Yeah,
(29:04):
if the walls on this podcast could talk, they'd be saying,
get a wiggle on, Tom. We're running out of time,
fair enough time for me to shoot off, but before
we go, we always like to get recommendations from you
guys for where we should visit in future episodes, and
Danny and Kenny Robbins gave us a good one. Do
you have a favorite sort of building or old mansion
(29:26):
or palace or castle? I mean, obviously you're staying at
the Premiere in now, so that's your favorite hotel.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
Chain a truly haunting place. I well, you know, I
love an old building. I mean, I've got all sorts
of funnesses. I mean, I'm a huge fan of Tower Bridge.
I think that's the next quisite building I loved as
a church at the top of Regent Street called All
Souls Church, which is just next to the BBC, next
(29:52):
to Broadcasting House, and it's got this very tall, pointy
roof that looks like a space rocket about to take off.
And I love that building. It's designed by the guy
who built a lot of bath I think he was
called John Nash. And but you know, I went once
went to Woodchester Mansion, which some people will know, which
is meant to be one of the most haunted buildings
(30:14):
in the country, and it's a kind of amazing unfinished mansion.
It was a kind of Gothic mansion designed by this
guy and he had these various workers work in it,
and they were all scared off. They never ever finished
building this mansion because every worker, who every builder who
would come along would be terrified away and would leave.
So this mansion is unfinished and is now basically just
(30:36):
the preserve of ghost hunters. Really, you know, ghost hunters
go and spend the night there, and I've spent the
night there and you know, bats fly around the attic.
It's in place with loads of stories attached to it.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, I don't know why. I've got an image of
a bunch of like burly blokes in hard hats running
through the hills from a from a tiny Elizabethan boy
staring at them a sleepover in an unfinished haunted I think,
manchin well, that sounds like a no brainer if we
get a second series. Time now for me to run
for the hills. Thanks for listening, and until next time,
(31:08):
remember you will obey your God, your king, and your father,
and you're unworthy to be called my son. Lots of love,
Tom ps, Mind your Manners. Thanks for listening to Bad Manners.
If you like the pod, please share it with your friends.
Rate it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a review and make
(31:30):
sure you spill the tea on any of your favorite
bad manners that we could feature in future episodes. This
podcast was produced by Atamei Studios for iHeartRadio. It was
hosted by me Tom Horton. It was produced by WILLIELM. Lensky,
Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway. It was executive produced by
Face Steur and Zad Rogers. Our production manager is Caitlin Paramore.
(31:52):
And our production coordinator is Bella Selini f
The Oscar winning film editor Thelma shoe Maker once said,
editing is really like plumbing. A good deal of the time.
You put two things together and the current runs through it.
It's a lovely quote that captures the magic and the
craft of editing. Compare that to my producer Chris who
once said editing's are pain in the ass. You can
(00:27):
tell he hasn't won any Oscars. Potty mouth. Thelma Shoemaker
also said, it's part of your job always as an editor,
you always have to drop stuff. And that's the subject
of today's episode, the drop stuff. Naturally, when putting an
episode together, there's a lot of content we don't need
to include in the final episode. I mean, no one
(00:50):
needs to hear me talk about why I had the breakfast,
for example, porrange with blueberries and banana healthy. I'm trying
to be healthy. I'm I'm an interchange between porridge and
that or an omelet with no bread out bread. At
the moment about that age in life, I can feel
this fleshy neck hammock just popping out under my chin
(01:12):
and it's not good.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Oh dear, the omelet. That's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Quite a lot of work we're not really.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Well, what do you have in it?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
A mixture of diced vegetables?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And then cheese, Yeah, cheese, that will help me lose
the pounds. Well done, Tom, Fortunately, this is the type
of thing that gets cut from the episodes. No one
needs to hear about my fleshy neck hammock. However, all
too often we do end up having to cut some
fun and interesting stuff due to time restraints. So for
this episode, we thought we'd sweep up the dusty tape
(01:46):
from the cutting room floor and shove it in your ears.
It's a bad manners. Mini stories special ghost stories are
always a hit on this podcast. We're going to start
with one. I should probably play something from one of
our contributors, but I've been practicing self love recently, so
(02:07):
I'm gonna put myself first. Here's a story I told
Jake during our Oakley Court episode that would be a
really good boyfriend trick. If you wanted to like treat
your other half to a nice weekend but didn't have
the money, then just book out, look up the haunted
rooms in a manor house, go and then just complain
and say, well, we were having a lovely time, but
(02:27):
then this pale Edwardian boy showed up at three point
thirty in the morning and I demand a full refund.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Well, look, I guess it happens.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Have you ever seen a ghost, Tom? Is it something
that's happened to you?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Ooh, well, I did have an experience when living in
the tower. So in my bedroom, my bedroom was a
cell back in the day, and it was there was
a woman called Arabella Stewart who was like a great
niece of Henry eighth or someone, and they've been trying
to marry her off, but she'd been playing hard to
(02:59):
get and not not going for any of the boys
that Henry wanted. Then she fell in love with I
can't remember his bloody name. I think it was French.
As you know, there are sexy race, an't they. And
but so they had this affair behind the King's back.
So when he found out about it, he locked them
in the Tower of London. Then they tried to escape
(03:21):
by they both cross jest like, so she was male
and he was female. But as they were escaping they
got to the channel, the English Channel. He made it
over the side and she got found out. So she
got taken back to the tower of London and then
basically refused to eat or drink, became very ill, and
then died of a broken heart and starvation in the
(03:42):
room in my bedroom. And there is a picture of
her on the wall in my bedroom, no way. And yeah.
And so in the first days of me sleeping in
the room, it was one of those painters where the
eyes followed you around the room. So, I mean, talk
about it. You didn't want to read great now. I
was a single man at the time as well. It
was a very buch a buzzkill. And so I took
(04:05):
the painting down and put it behind the fireplace. But
when I took the painting down, I instantly became very
ill and couldn't eat or drink. Yeah, And I think
I got the same illness that she had. And it
was only when I put the painting back on the.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
Wall that I got better.
Speaker 8 (04:21):
Wow, that's something that's something that's a diet plan.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It's a very that's it if you ever want to
lose a few kg. Yeah, exactly, take down. Yeah, I mean,
I don't know. I felt like it was a room
that had an energy to it, and it was her room.
It was definitely, and that's the thing that happened, So
make of that what you will, but that is what's
(04:45):
that was my ghost experience.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Thanks, Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
That's a good story.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's episode free done.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Seal of approval from the crew there, and that's what
we like to hear. They're a good bunch. Despite beating
me whenever I fluff my lines, they do actually look
after me, you know.
Speaker 6 (05:07):
Sec Yeah, do you want does anyone want to cane?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (05:11):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah, same in coffee again, yes please yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
One thing you should know about bad manners is it's
fuel by coffee. This sort of thing happens every ten
to fifteen minutes. As stipulated in my contract. We're gonna
stick with ghosts for our next clip because in our
Scottish Castle's episode, comedian Eleanor Morden told us all about
Edinburgh's spooky side, including the ghosts of dead children that
have been sent underground with instruments to see how far
(05:39):
the tunnels went. It seems to be a recurring theme
for out history if in doubt shove a kidnet it. Anyway,
Eleanor was such a great guest with so many fun
stories that we couldn't fit them all into one episode.
So just in case you were wondering what time pirates
go to bed, here's.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Eleanor Edinbarghastle is a weird one because when you compare
it to The Tower London, which is Chuckle with ghosts.
I don't really know how you moved around in there
actually without umping into the walk through. Oh yeah, obviously
forgot how ghosts work. Edward Castle's weirdly considering how many
horrible things about them there. It's weirdly sparks on ghost stories. Specifically,
(06:17):
it's meant to be haunted by the prisoners who were
kept there at various times, so a whole bunch of
different prisoners.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Pirates were kept there.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Just kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Tell me about some pirates.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, Captain Bart his men were kept there. So Black
Bart was a pirate during the sort of golden age
of piracy, i e. The Pirates of the Caribbean pirate
times and yeah, or Somali pirates. It's a bit more,
a bit more historic than that. And he had a
(06:48):
fun flag as well. He had several flags. He had
one that was like a man toasting a skeleton, and
then he had one that was him holding a sort
of flaming sword and standing on two skulls, which.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Is puts out a message, doesn't it.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know what you're getting, And then the and then
he had one he obviously liked redesigning these. And then
he had one that was a skeleton and a heart
with an arrow piercing it, which I guess means his
heart broke. He split up with someone, I'm not sure, and.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
Do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The idea was just sailing around whatever sort of mood
he was in. He'd tick a flag up, kind of
like a Facebook status. He just put up a certain flag.
Oh god, yolo, it's just me and my crew now,
I don't need all these snakes and liars. It's just
best yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Right, change his relationship status with his flag.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, that's it exactly. It's complicated. Two flaving skulls.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
But I think he died in battle. And then his
pirates were captured by the Brush Army and for whatever is,
and they ended up in Edinburgh Castle, which is fun.
And there have been reports of noises, very non specific
noises and things. You can you can still go into
where the barracks were and the prison bit and it's
quite atmospheric because they also kept and Napoleolic prisoners of
(08:03):
war there, so from you know, the French French wars POW. Yeah,
there's a lot of them, Yeah, from all sorts of
different places, so you know, it's a bit cultured, it's
a bit fun.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I imagine their relationship status would have been single by
that time. Actually, there must have been quite a homosexuality between.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Oh yeah, definitely, yeah people.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I mean, what else do no.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
One hundred. In fact, they even had they even had
rules about it because you know, they had to make
sure everyone was sort.
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Of pirate rules.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
They had pirate rules. Yeah, pirates rules. Pirates used to
go to bed at like eight pm. What that's true. Yeah,
because they didn't, Yeah, because it would they didn't want
to waste a waste oil lamp. So you could stay up,
you were allowed to stay up, but all the lights
wol be put out and you could you'd have to
sort of sit in the dark. So they went to
bed super early. They were very refreshed pirates.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
They definitely weren't going to bed so they could get
a rigorous skin care routine before. They wasn't like no,
I need my keel exfaliation moisture.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
No, it was I need to go and sit in
my hamm. I can think about the fact that I'm
coming in lice. So yeah. So it was full of pirates,
it was full of soldiers. It was full of different
kings and queens and invaders.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I wonder if, like you know how like in all
those sort of jail prison movies where you go it's
the canteen and they all their little table on that table,
that's the pirate table.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's the Napoleonic soldier's table. We don't mix. Yeah, no,
that would have.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Been fun over here if you want. Who are you with?
Speaker 7 (09:35):
A dead kid orchestra?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Just a lot of sad children. But there are a
lot of ghostories surrounding at the castle because it's sort
of this it's at the top of the mile. So
you've got a Wizard of the West bow is quite
a fun one.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
That is just good.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, Wizards of the West.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
The West.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
So it's now Victoria Street, which is you kind of
see lots of Instagram posts. It's very picturesque, lots of
like colorful shops and it's sort.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Is that the curvy one.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, that's what I Yeah, yeah, so it used to
be called the West Bow and it used to be
slightly different. But one of the houses that was there
in the sort of sixteenth century was owned by a
guy called Major Weir, who was I guess a major,
but he was also renowned to be a dark wizard
and a necromancer and a ne'er do well. And his
(10:21):
sister who was called something like Griselda, something very weird
and sort of very talish. They were meant to have
performed these black arts things, and the people of Edinburgh, Yeah,
it was a bit. It was a bit dubious. The
people of Edinburgh got sick of them and they put
them both to death. I think they burnt them at
(10:41):
the stake. And apparently Major Weir's staff is magical staff
that he carried around, leapt out with the fire and
wriggled around and stuff. It's all very exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
They burnt him with his stick.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
They burned with his stick, yeah, yeah, because it was
a magic stick, I guess, and they didn't want to
get rid of it. And now you're meant to sort
of meant to see on a quiet moonlight night, you're
meant to hear his carriage going down Victoria Street just
under the castle and disappearing into the night.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Do you have a specific thing, like a story about
what he did.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I think it's all pretty vague, but it was sort
of potential incest and black magic, so, you know, not
a great combination. No one likes that.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Incest seems over the years to have been something that
if you did that, you are definitely getting burnt.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, And I think sometimes the legend says his carriage
is chased by the devil and he's trying to escape
Hell or something very dramatic like that. It's exciting.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I see the carriage right, rather than just he's forgotten
to pick him up. Yeah, yeah, on the way to somewhere,
and the deve was like you it's really inconvenient.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Uber Yeah no, no, he's escaping the devil's cultures.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So they burned his sister as well.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I'm assuming they did. Yes, they did.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
They separate piles.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Oh, I don't know. I think maybe separately.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Trying to get those two apart was difficult enough.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
They burned quite a few people in Edinburgh Castle. Janet
Douglas was a quite famous sort of noble woman who
was burnt as a witch, which was pretty unprecedented, really, like,
you know, you didn't normally burn members of the aristocracy.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Wow, why was she what was she doing?
Speaker 7 (12:18):
Well?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
People said she was doing witchcraft, but actually it was
probably trying to get her out of the way because
she was opposed the current king or the sort of
political setup.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
So yeah, it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
All seems like a bit of an excuse, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
She's a witch, yeah basically. And then yeah, so that
bit of the castle where they have the tattoo now
would have been where they used to set ladies on fire.
Edinburgh was very bloodthirsty and we loved a good hanging
or a good burning.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
It was the original Edinburgh fringe, it really was. Yeah,
it was good, but she didn't scream enough. Three stars.
It reads like a four eleanor Morton there, with stories
of pirates, wizards and incest.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
Incest.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
It's another occurring theme I've noticed while making Bad Manners.
It seems to have been all the rage in ye
olden times. I guess that's what happens when you're horny,
but there's no Internet. It's also why they don't put
siblings in the Big brother House. Too dangerous. Now we've
(13:27):
all disappointed our parents at some stage, haven't we. I mean,
I'm a comedian for crying out loud. When I told
my dad I wanted to do stand up, his response was, ironically,
I hope you're joking. But that's nothing compared to this
story from Ripley Castle, which takes place during the largest
battle of.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
The Civil War.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
The Inglebys at Ripley were Royalist cavaliers, i e. Not
fans of Oliver Cromwell and his roundheads. While the Battle
of Marsden Moore was raging nearby, one man was given
a task by his father in one of the best
had one job stories you'll ever hear. Who is this man?
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Well, this is so willy are masters and Law's son? Who?
Because he is undousted with the ugliest of the twenty
some generations to day, we call William the Ugly to
distinguish him from all the others.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
He wouldn't have known about that nickname back in the day.
Speaker 7 (14:24):
He No, he won making and he was a misfit
really because he was a great supporter of Oliver Cromwell.
And he's dressed in black and white. Very formal purity
of attar. Reading the Bible opened as page in Genesis
(14:45):
and hideously ugly. It has to be said, he's not good.
And he'd already fallen foul of his father, who, appreciating
his rebel leanings as he described him, had instructed him
stay at Ripley while this battle was fought at master Moore,
and he was to look after the castle, look after
the family, and look after the family fortune, and if
(15:09):
danger threatened too close, he was to set off with
the family fortune, which they had already packed up, ready
to go to the King's garrison at York, which was
still holding out. And for whatever reason, William and the
Ugly left it far too late to do anything, and
he set off for York and got the fortune captured
(15:31):
by the rebels halfway down Narsborough High Street. And his father,
by that time was in Durham with the King, and
wrote his son the most blistering letter that much he'd
lost something like three quarters of a million by today's standard,
so he had every right to be fairly irate.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
He's not got much going from this guy, has he?
Speaker 7 (15:53):
No? He said, if I ever get home, I strongly
intend to disinherit you, because I suspect you done this
on purpose.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, he quite apply does have quite a round head.
Speaker 7 (16:10):
Very close. And anyway, this this lesser goes on in future,
you will obey your God, your king and your father
are not necessarily in that order. And you're unworthy to
be called my son. And the letter is signed your
loving father, William Ingleby.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Talk about mixed messages. You've lost the entire family fortune.
You complete moron. If I ever see you again, I'll
disown you. You're unworthy to be called my son. A
lot of love, Dad kis kiss poor William. That's got
to be tough to hear, especially from your dad. I
don't care how ugly you are. No one deserves that mind.
(16:52):
You have seen the painting he was ugly. Speaking of paintings,
here's something from our Hocum Hall episode. The man who
built Hokum, Thomas Cook, first Earl of Leicester, had paintings
commissioned into which he had himself inserted, sort of like
the original Where's Wally?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
So?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I couldn't help but ask Catherine, Hocum's collection coordinator, this question,
if you could put yourself in any painting, what painting
would you put yourself in?
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Any painty painting? I'm thinking like you know you could
just like super impose yourself behind the Mona Leser, just
holding your nose, so it does look like she's just
broken wind and that's why she's smiling.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
So in the louver there is a portrait of it's
called the Death of Mara, who was a French revolutionary,
and he's sort of he was killed in his bath
and so he's lying very dramatically.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Half out of his bath.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
I think it'd be quite fun to be on the
other side, just you know, with your rubber duck in your.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Back amazing, with your toe in the fosset, just kicking around.
And if any listeners with photoshop skills want to superimpose
me into a bath with Marrah, the Bad Manners dms
are open. Sticking with hocumbe the story of Lady Jane
Digby was inspirational. She started riding horses at Hocumb and
(18:13):
ended up riding camels in the desert. Lucy Purvis summed
up her life for us in our second Hocum episode.
So just to set up this woman's life, I'm Saint
Peter at the Pearly Gates. She's a ride in heaven, right,
So we're gonna go for all the stats. Lady Jane Digby,
we're gonna have a look for your life. Just list
me off. How many kings, how many princes, Let's go
through the whole list.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
We've got two kings, We've got a princes, We've got
a baron, we've got account we've got two barons. In fact,
we've got a lord. We've got a number of other people.
I'd rather not go into what And we've got what?
Speaker 7 (18:47):
What?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Why were they were they? Do they not have a title?
Is that what's embarrassing?
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I think there's more that she's probably slept with that
we just don't know about. There was just flings here
and there, just you know, short affairs, including a librarian
at Holcombe.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So what a librarian?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Librarian?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, tell us this one? Who's the librarian?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
The librarian is Frederick Madam, who was one of her
first earliest affairs. Actually, in eighteen twenty seven, he'd been
brought to Holcombe to catalog the amazing collection of manuscripts
that have been collected by Thomas Cook, the bond that
built the house, and he described Jane as the most
(19:30):
beautiful woman in the world. And then he writes in
his diary one night Lady Ellenborough, which was her first
married name, lingered behind the rest of the party, and
at midnight I escorted her to a room. Fool that
I was. I will not add what passed. Gracious God,
was there ever such fortune.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, they're getting down, they doing, they're doing stuff. They
keep it on the down low. She starts moaning, and
he classic a librarian, keep the noise down. Let me
introduce you to my Dewey decimal system. This is the
pop up section. Sorry, it's all innuendo. So she banged
(20:11):
a librarian. Library's king amazing lady Jane in the library
with the She stayed behind as well. That's what I
quite like about it. She really like she knows what
she wants and she gets it. She's gone, Oh, I
like you right, just go back and chill. Because he
clearly when he said just listening to that that diary entry,
(20:32):
he clearly was led.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Yes, he was led. And then he wrote later on
I sort of eighteen fifties. I wonder whatever happened to her.
So although there was this scandal, it didn't get into
the librarian world.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Not sure what Lucy is referring to when she says
the librarian world I can only assume it's some sort
of geeky theme park like Alton Towers, but with more books. Incidentally,
I'm sure she'd get through the pearly gates. She sounds
like a legend. And speaking of legends, Producers Bex and
(21:12):
Chris join me for our Halloween spectacular back in October
where we heard your real life ghost stories. We received
so many terrifying tales from you guys that we had
to lose some for the final episode. But here they are,
as if back from the dead. Over to you, Producer Bex,
I think it's time for another voice note.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Should we have this one from Rachel?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (21:33):
Yeah, Hi.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So this happened about seven years ago when I was
teaching creative writing to adults for Birmingham City Council and
one of the buildings that I needed to teach at
was an old school that was no longer used for
a school for children, and it was like a really
weird layout. I think it's been closed down and demolished now,
(21:56):
but it was kind of like a horseshoe building, only
one floor. It didn't have stairs or anything like that,
but it was just a very strange building. So one
day I was in there after class, getting all the
stuff ready, and the caretaker opened the door and went, oh,
you're okay, You're right, Rachel. I said yeah, yeah, I'm fine.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
He was like yeah, and I was like, okay, cool,
well'll see you later then I'll wrap up in a minute.
And he was like okay. That was it.
Speaker 7 (22:22):
Fine.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
The next week, when I arrived, the receptionist said, Rachel,
do you have a moment? And she said, can I
ask you? Do you ever ask for help? And obviously
my first instinct was she's offering to help me with
my printing and everything. And I said, you know what,
I'm actually I am quite busy, so if you had
any capacity to help, that'd be amazing. And she said no,
(22:44):
I mean spiritually and I said I'm not really sure
what you mean. And she said, well, I won't upset you.
But last week the caretaker opened the door when you're
in the computer room and there was a man stunning
behind you, and when he opened the door, the man
turned to look at him and he was like really scared.
(23:07):
And then the caretaker came in and he was like
really pale. And I was saying, you know, I don't
I don't believe in this kind of thing. This has
really shaking me up. I'm really upset by it, and
I was like, well, how do you think I feel? Anyway,
I had to go then into the computer room to
do my work before the class, and I've got to
(23:29):
say I was so freaked out. And then thankfully the
whole school closed down anyway, so we were moved. But yeah,
I wasn't able to teach there properly again and feeling
comfortable because he said there was a man behind me
watching what I was doing.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I got actual shivers with that one did.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, what with the man turning to look at him?
Just she's completely unaware that there's just a presence behind her.
Speaker 8 (23:54):
The eye contact again, and eye contact, I don't want
eye contact.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Like how they shut the entire school down because quite
drastic ghost he was, yea one man's looked at someone.
Shut it all down. It's too much.
Speaker 8 (24:14):
I don't want to rain on everyone's parade. Could he
have seen his own reflection in a window? Like could
he have walked in and gone.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oh, yeah, I mean almost definitely. But also no.
Speaker 8 (24:28):
Actually they could explain it, could they?
Speaker 7 (24:31):
No?
Speaker 8 (24:31):
No, it's a ghost.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
The ghost and our survey says ghost. Hey, it's as
good an excuse as any. You might be wondering why
we've had so much ghost content on the show. Well,
just about every property we visit has claimed to be haunted.
What are you going to do? Not ask about it?
I'd be burnt at the stake. But it's not just
(24:54):
old properties and bad manners. Paranormal sightings have been on
the rise since the pandemic. Why is that? To answer,
here's the UK's go to ghost guy and host of
BBC's Uncanny podcast, Danny Robbins, with an explanation.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
I think it's it's interesting. I think it's probably a
sort of different factors coming together. I think that you know,
we've lived for an unprecedented period in human history where
we've spent all of our time in our houses for
a really massive period. You know, during lockdown, we' were
just in our houses all the time. And you could
argue that, you know, being in your house gives you
more chance to kind of imagine being haunted by it,
(25:31):
and you could also argue that it gives you more
chance to actually be haunted by it. You know, if
there's ghosts in your house, you're you're you're surrounded by
them for far longer than you normally would be if
you're just coming home after work. I think you know that,
you know, we've felt haunted during that period, didn't we,
or all all of us sort of felt haunted and
oppressed by our houses? You know, we were cooped up
in places that previously felt cozy and now felt claustrophobic.
(25:52):
So I think that's a big factor. I mean, I
think very clearly as well, we've been forced, as you say,
into proximity with death in a way that we hadn't
had to be that, you know, since the Second World War,
you could say, you know, and I think you know,
we've had COVID, we've had climate change, we've had war,
We've had all these things reminding us that life is finite.
And I think that's frightening. And I think, you know,
(26:12):
we go looking for answers. And I think if you
look back through history at the post Second World War,
post First World War, you know, the sixties, you know,
the era of kind of Vietnam and kind of so
much sort of social change, you know, going right back
to like Jacobean times, the time of which trials and
demons and plague and all these sort of things. You know,
these are periods in history where we go looking for
(26:33):
answers in within the supernatural. And I think when our
world is most disordered, we go looking for another world
outside of it.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I think that makes sense. It feels like it's more
disordered than ever these days, no wonder we're seeing ghosts
all over the place. I told Danny about my haunted
lockdown experience in the Tower of London, but I've forgotten
to mention before the recording that I'd lived there for
six years. So unsurprisingly he was a little shot when
I casually dropped it into our conversation, speaking of lockdown
(27:05):
pandemic living. I actually having just broken up with my girlfriend.
I lived in the Tower of London for six years,
and I attempted. I attempted to do lockdown on my
own inside the Tower of London, and I think my
haunting levels went up. I was I was surrounded by
(27:25):
the ghost of Amberleyn and Lady Jane Gray and my
previous relationship all at the same time.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
There's a lot to unpack it. So you lived in
the tower for six years, did you say?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I did?
Speaker 7 (27:36):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, my father is the ex head of the British
Military and then became the Constable of the Tower of London.
And so I was moving up to London from Brighton.
And I had a choice of either paying several thousand
pounds to rent a shoe box in his own six
or I could live in the historical palace for six years.
So I lived in Queen's House. I lived in a
(27:58):
right next to the Belltower. Yeah, it was. It was
a crazy time of my life.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
This is utterly incredible. So I did a project for
the Tower of London recently, a kind of year or
so ago, where I did an immersive theater show about
the Gunpowder Plot that is still still running there. It's
called the Gunpowder Plot Immersive.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Oh I.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I was meant to go on a date with the
girl there, but I overslept and missed it. Oh no,
but apparently it's very good.
Speaker 7 (28:22):
It is.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
It's fun. It's fun. But working at the Tower was amazing.
I mean, I absolutely loved and relished that kind of
behind the scenes that the Tower is. It's a building
that totally fascinates me. I found myself watching some Channel
five documentary about it recently as well, you know, watching
like the Raven Master and things like that.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
What a place to live?
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Is that what fuels your interest in this, you know,
kind of exploring these buildings to this podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It's certainly what the producers got me in with the producers. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
I mean I think historical buildings are just so fascinating,
aren't they, And they're just the houses that we live in.
Just you know that hole for if these walls could
it's always that sort of it's that sort of vibe. Yeah,
(29:04):
if the walls on this podcast could talk, they'd be saying,
get a wiggle on, Tom. We're running out of time,
fair enough time for me to shoot off, but before
we go, we always like to get recommendations from you
guys for where we should visit in future episodes, and
Danny and Kenny Robbins gave us a good one. Do
you have a favorite sort of building or old mansion
(29:26):
or palace or castle? I mean, obviously you're staying at
the Premiere in now, so that's your favorite hotel.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
Chain a truly haunting place. I well, you know, I
love an old building. I mean, I've got all sorts
of funnesses. I mean, I'm a huge fan of Tower Bridge.
I think that's the next quisite building I loved as
a church at the top of Regent Street called All
Souls Church, which is just next to the BBC, next
(29:52):
to Broadcasting House, and it's got this very tall, pointy
roof that looks like a space rocket about to take off.
And I love that building. It's designed by the guy
who built a lot of bath I think he was
called John Nash. And but you know, I went once
went to Woodchester Mansion, which some people will know, which
is meant to be one of the most haunted buildings
(30:14):
in the country, and it's a kind of amazing unfinished mansion.
It was a kind of Gothic mansion designed by this
guy and he had these various workers work in it,
and they were all scared off. They never ever finished
building this mansion because every worker, who every builder who
would come along would be terrified away and would leave.
So this mansion is unfinished and is now basically just
(30:36):
the preserve of ghost hunters. Really, you know, ghost hunters
go and spend the night there, and I've spent the
night there and you know, bats fly around the attic.
It's in place with loads of stories attached to it.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, I don't know why. I've got an image of
a bunch of like burly blokes in hard hats running
through the hills from a from a tiny Elizabethan boy
staring at them a sleepover in an unfinished haunted I think,
manchin well, that sounds like a no brainer if we
get a second series. Time now for me to run
for the hills. Thanks for listening, and until next time,
(31:08):
remember you will obey your God, your king, and your father,
and you're unworthy to be called my son. Lots of love,
Tom ps, Mind your Manners. Thanks for listening to Bad Manners.
If you like the pod, please share it with your friends.
Rate it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a review and make
(31:30):
sure you spill the tea on any of your favorite
bad manners that we could feature in future episodes. This
podcast was produced by Atamei Studios for iHeartRadio. It was
hosted by me Tom Horton. It was produced by WILLIELM. Lensky,
Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway. It was executive produced by
Face Steur and Zad Rogers. Our production manager is Caitlin Paramore.
(31:52):
And our production coordinator is Bella Selini f
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.