Loremen Podcast
Join the Loremen (James Shakeshaft and Alasdair Beckett-King) as they "investigate" local legends and forgotten folklore.
Episodes
August 6, 2025 • 42 mins
Join Alasdair and James in a not-at-all dank Oxford cellar, as part of the Oxford Comedy Festival. The boys meet a hornéd hunter and a two-faced Edward: legends who left the pages of literature and entered the realm of lore. Like a pair of old-school Slendermen.
Thanks to Matthew Chadourne and the Oxford Comedy Festival for having us!
Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/IMykate4t9s
Join the LoreFolk at pat...
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July 30, 2025 • 39 mins
James takes Alasdair back to the Croydon of the Cotswolds™ - Banbury! - for a deep-dive into the origins, variations and possible meanings of the town's "famous" nursery rhyme. You know, the one with the rude horse and the lady with peculiarly positioned bells? Plus, James shares the tragic tale of a horse whose sat-nav led to a vicar's downfall.
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Joi...
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July 23, 2025 • 45 mins
James is joined by Dave Warneke of the podcasts Do Go On and Book Cheat to hear about one of the UK's breaking (and bounciest) cryptids.
Check Dave's upcoming stand-up special here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIuGey7qQ50
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Join the LoreFolk at patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
Check the swe...
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July 16, 2025 • 44 mins
Looking for a tale to warm your knockles? If so, you've come to the wrong place! Alasdair's North Country legend will make your knockles chillier than ever. You're gonna wish you'd invested in 8 tiny beanies to keep 'em warm*.
This is the sanguinary story of Stephen Hollin's ghost from Manfield (near Darlington). Stephen is a spectral prankster who will either kill you with a plough coulter or steal all your cheese. Stroll throu...
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July 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Welcome to Sydenham, but be warned — this ain't your grandma's Sydenham. It's more likely to be your great-great grandma's Sydenham.
James takes Alasdair to a tumbledown cottage on a moonlit night, where an unwary rambler had a terrific fright. At least, according to the ghosthunter Elliot O'Donnell. From dreamland visions to the horrors of the London rental market, this episode should give you a shiver, even in the midst of a he...
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July 2, 2025 • 38 mins
James takes Alasdair on a whistle-stop tour of Britain's mobile stones, as catalogued in Janet and Colin Bord's The Secret Country. These standing stones were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. Except when they're spinning around on the spot. Or not moving at all.
Plus, we answer the questions no other podcast would dare ask:
Do stones grow? (No)
Should you go in a Piper's Hole? (No)
Do stones respect / ...
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June 26, 2025 • 35 mins
In the midst of a heatwave, James brings the temperature down with the chilling tale of a ghost named Bloody Bones. The loreboys visit the most notorious haunted house in London. It's the Victorian equivalent of the Cat Bin Lady (but with ghosts in a house rather than a cat in a... well, you know).
Prepare yourself for tales of hubris and horror, plus a typewritten message from the beyond!
Join... Us... at The Oxford Comedy Festi...
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June 18, 2025 • 36 mins
Do you struggle to tell the difference between Prince Edward Island, the Canadian province, and Prince Edward the Duke of Edinburgh (15th in line to the throne AT TIME OF RECORDING)? If nothing else, this episode will teach you which of the two produces 25% of Canada's potatoes.
Plus, you can expect a bunch of cryptids sprung from the pages of Chasing North American Monsters by Jason Offutt (and thanks to the publisher, Llewellyn...
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June 11, 2025 • 41 mins
The remote islands of Scotland are known to be home to folk with the second sight. Alasdair tells James the story of three gifted seers, each of whom came to a sticky end. (In one case, literally. Barrel of tar, innit?)
This is a bumper episode for new ways to exploit the Loremen brand. We're talking a new TV show, a dark reboot of the name Kenneth, and a brand new music genre combining Drum & Bass with the Irish playwright Georg...
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June 4, 2025 • 33 mins
James relates an unintentionally saucy tale about a man who took his pinnace to London. A pinnace is a kind of small boat and James didn't realise how rude was going to sound when spoken aloud. How would you pronounce it? Try it, say "pinnace" out loud. Say it on the bus, if you're on the bus.
Double-entendres aside, this is the 1607 story of a truly amazing journey made by air, land and - friend of the show - water.
This epis...
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May 28, 2025 • 52 mins
A walk in the park turns out to be no walk in the park. Alasdair introduces James to Lullingstone Castle, home to both an aristocratic orchid hunter and the spectre of Colonel Meates - surely one of the meatiest ghosts in Kent.
Straying from the path, we encounter Percy Pilcher (the unfortunate aeronaut), Thomas Becket (the spiteful saint), and a Roman beefcake by the name of Titus Manlius.
This episode was edited by Joseph ...
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May 21, 2025 • 56 mins
Forget everything you thought you knew about Spring-Heeled Jack!
Because this marauding menace not only affrighted the women of London, but also the Uncles of Warrington!
Edy Hurst joins the LoreBoys to blow that case wide open, with tales of that famous monster springing* up in the most unlikely of places**!
* pun
** Warrington
See Edy at the Edinburgh Fringe
And see Edy's tour here
See the Loremen LIVE in Oxford on th...
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May 14, 2025 • 38 mins
This episode features not only the titular Roman Robot and a (potentially) BAFTA-winning sitcom idea — but James ALSO chucks in a selection of ghostly tales from the Cirencester area. You know, like when you've ordered something online and you get tiny bag of free Haribo. Enjoy!
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Join the LoreFolk at patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
Check the sw...
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May 7, 2025 • 51 mins
Comedian Ed Night joins the Loreboys to share legends of Streatham in South London. These stories range from contemporary urban legends to tales from when all this were fields. Plus, a cameo from the Vincent Van Gogh of the art world: Vincent Van Gogh.
Check out Ed's tour here.
Content Warning: Self-harm, in reference to Van Gogh. We also discuss the case of the supposed "Croydon Cat Killer". And we're as tactful about it as we ...
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April 30, 2025 • 41 mins
The wind whistles. The rain pours incessantly. It is also night time. Alasdair shelters in the only place he can in this bleak moor - under a big stone. But who's that fella coming down the track? The figure with a lantern and a slouch hat (look it up, it's the one with the fancy brim, not a beanie). Yes, it's James of course, with a terrifying tale from Wales!
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Join t...
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April 23, 2025 • 50 mins
Did you ever wonder where those great big giants all over Britain came from? Well, wonder no more because it is prequel time! This is the origin story of Albion itself, starring princess Albina and Gogmagog the giant. This thrilling entry in the British Cinematic Universe is told to the Loreboys by Graeme Cooke of Tales of Britain and Ireland Podcast.
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Join the LoreFolk at p...
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April 16, 2025 • 44 mins
We visit The Queen's House* in Greenwich, where a spiral staircase is haunted by a blurry ghost. And a stroll in Greenwich Park is no walk in the cake either. The park is home to early medieval barrows, disrespectful deer and very nasty things that like to drop from trees.
*Don't worry, she was out.
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Join the LoreFolk at patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
Check the ...
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April 9, 2025 • 46 mins
Nat Doig of Weird in the Wade (BBC Sounds) joins the Loreboys to (stand and) deliver the tales of some Bedfordshire highwaymen with absolutely superb names. Hold your ghost horses! The names are not that rude. But if you wouldn't want to look them up on your work computer.
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor
Join the Lorefolk at patreon.com/loremenpod
ko-fi.com/loremen
Check the sweet, sweet merch here...
h...
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April 2, 2025 • 47 mins
The Loremen welcome comedy writer and connoisseur of the supernatural Joel Morris (Philomena Cunk, A Touch of Cloth). Joel's hit podcast Broken Veil has seen him and Will Maclean venturing into the spookiest parts of his native Essex. And in this episode, the boys join Joel on a proverbial witch hunt.
We find witches, wizards, a cat called Sathan and let's not forget... Old Picky.
This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Aud...
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March 26, 2025 • 35 mins
James spins another yarn from the moors of Devon. It's the tale of Reverend Dodge, a vicar so fearsome his name caused demons to turn and flee!
Let's be honest, this episode isn't the first time the boys have sung the Ghostbusters theme in West Country accents. And darn it, it won't be the last! We may also have got popular puppet Hacker T. Dog's name wrong several times, but we swear it was an accident. We're just innocent men.
...
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