Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!

The Anglotopia Podcast is your deep dive into the rich and diverse world of British culture, hosted by Jonathan and Jacqueline Thomas, publishers of Anglotopia.net and Londontopia.net. Each episode takes you on a journey through iconic British television, captivating historical events, and essential travel tips, ensuring you experience the very best of the British Isles. Our engaging discussions feature important British guests and authors, covering everything from the latest trends and timeless traditions to hidden gems and popular landmarks. Whether you're a passionate Anglophile or simply curious about the UK, our podcast offers a delightful mix of insights and entertainment. Join us as we celebrate the charm, heritage, and unique allure of Britain, making every episode a must-listen for anyone who loves all things British.

Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More! is a society podcast hosted by Jonathan and Jacqueline Thomas, with 120 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jonathan and Jacqueline Thomas hosts Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!, a society show with 120 episodes published.

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  Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!

  The Impossible Journey: The Man Who Visited Every Country on Earth Without Ever Setting Foot on a Plane

  Sep 18, 20261h 11m

  In October 2013, a young Dane named Thor Pedersen set off from his home with a single, slightly mad rule: he wanted to visit every country on earth — all of them — in one continuous journey, and to do it without ever once setting foot on an airplane. Container ships, trains, buses, and a great deal of waiting around. He thought it might take three or four years. It took almost ten. He crossed closed borders and war zones, ran out of money more than once, was stranded for two years by the global pandemic, and served the whole time as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Red Cross. In 2023 he became the first person in history to do it. In this episode, Jonathan Thomas talks to Thor about the whole extraordinary decade — and, this being the Anglotopia Podcast, spends a good while on Britain, which came remarkably early in the itinerary. Thor recounts crossing from Calais to Dover after meeting Syrian refugees at the port, being awestruck by Bristol's maritime heritage, a memorable host in Wales whose front garden contained a toilet lying on its side, a Red Cross officer in Belfast who felt like the James Bond of the Red Cross, falling for the Scottish countryside, buying dodgy Les Misérables tickets in London, a desperate dash for seasickness pills in Immingham, and Hogmanay in Inverness courtesy of a kind bartender. But the deeper story is the one Thor tells in an unusual way: he doesn't sell it as a triumph. He's honest about the loneliness, the setbacks, the cerebral malaria, the migraines, the moments at gunpoint, the two years stuck in Hong Kong — and about the thing that actually got him around the world, which turned out not to be toughness at all, but the kindness of strangers. Links The Book The Impossible Journey — Amazon US The Impossible Journey — Amazon UK The Impossible Journey — Waterstones The Impossible Journey — Barnes & Noble The Impossible Journey — Hachette Australia ⠀ Published by Robinson. ISBN 9781472149763 (hardback) / 9781472149770 (paperback). Thor Pedersen Thor Pedersen — Official Website The Impossible Journey — Thor's Site Once Upon A Saga — The Original Project Blog Thor Pedersen on Instagram Thor Pedersen on Facebook Speaking Engagements & Talks ⠀ Mentioned in the Episode The Danish Red Cross International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) British Red Cross The Adventurers' Club of Denmark The Explorers Club, New York Hong Kong Tourism Board The Danish Seamen's Church, Hong Kong The California Zephyr — Amtrak ⠀ Anglotopia Friends of Anglotopia Club ⠀ Takeaways 1 The idea arrived by email. Thor's father sent him a link about the world's most-travelled people, and Thor — then 34, twelve years into a career in shipping and logistics, and having visited around 50 countries — discovered that roughly 200 people had reached every country, but nobody had done it entirely without flying. He describes it striking him "like lightning." 2 His definition of "every country" was deliberately generous. The UN recognizes 193 sovereign states plus two observer states (the Vatican and Palestine). Thor built on that, splitting the Danish kingdom into Denmark, the Faroes and Greenland, and splitting the UK into England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — arriving at 203 — precisely so nobody could come back afterward and say "but what about Kosovo?" 3 Britain came very early — country numbers seven through ten, in late 2013, just weeks after leaving Denmark. He crossed Calais to Dover after meeting Syrian refugees camped by the rail tracks, was refused as a foot passenger, and got across by knocking on car windows until a driver calling himself Rambling Rat let him ride along. 4 Travelling only overland and by sea teaches you something you cannot learn from an airplane: how enormous the world actually is, and how gradually it changes. Thor points out that at borders, people wear the same clothes, eat the same food, often share a language — and the plants and animals don't care which side they're on. The real changes happen further inland. 5 He became a Red Cross Goodwill Ambassador early on, which transformed the project. Within weeks he realized it wasn't a country project but a people project. Meeting national Red Cross societies gave him rapid, genuine insight into each country — its economy, its government, whether it was a strong or weak society — and gave balance to a social media feed that otherwise risked being relentlessly, artificially upbeat. 6 Two years in, in Central Africa, everything collapsed at once: he lost financial backing, his long-distance relationship was falling apart, he was recovering from cerebral malaria, he was suffering debilitating migraines for the first time in his life, and his life was at risk more than once. It was the point at which he genuinely broke — and the point at which he first wanted to go home. He still had eight years left. 7 The pandemic stranded him in Hong Kong for two years. He'd arrived expecting a four-day transit stop. Immigration eventually told him he couldn't stay indefinitely as a visitor and offered three options: marry someone, study, or work. He ended up employed by the Danish Seamen's Church as "junior assistant to a reverend who wasn't there," shopping for seafarers trapped aboard their ships and unable to come ashore. 8 Hong Kong was both the worst and best chapter. CNN picked up his story, which went viral and transformed his profile. The Hong Kong Tourism Board nicknamed him "Hong Kong's only tourist." By the end he had two apartments, two cars, a driver's licence, a temporary ID card and a dentist. It remains the place in the world he misses most. 9 He felt no joy at all on reaching the final countries. Sri Lanka, then the Maldives on 23 May 2023 — everything had become "automated and mechanic," and he was working through interviews while everyone else scuba dived and drank martinis. The project was successful in the Maldives, but it was completed when he got home to Aarhus, 31 days later by container ship — 40 container ships in total across the decade. 10 Thor's strongest observation about travel is that most of the world is deeply ordinary. People go to work, go to school, spend time with family, follow their sports teams. He travelled through the Game of Thrones years and found everyone everywhere talking about it. He saw a boy in Libya spinning a Captain America shield fidget spinner. We are, he argues, far more connected than we think. ⠀ Soundbites 1 "I found out no one had accomplished it completely without flying. For most people that would be an uh-huh kind of moment, and then people would move on. But it struck me like lightning." — Thor on the email from his father that started everything. 2 "There's a common phrase where people say it's a small world. It really isn't. If it was a small world, I think I would have been back home a lot sooner." — Thor on what a decade overland teaches you. 3 "Around most border areas, people wear the same clothes. You get the same food on either side. The plants and the animals in the area do not care which side of the border they're on." — Thor on seeing where countries actually meet. 4 "Within weeks I realized that this wasn't a country project, that this was a people project." — Thor on the shift that changed everything. 5 "I was in Central Africa and I was deep in over my head. I lost financial backing. My long-distance relationship was falling apart. I was recovering from cerebral malaria. My life was at risk several times. And I just lost the motivation to continue." — Thor on the moment it broke him, two years in. 6 "If there was a competition within hospitality globally, like the Olympics, we would be on the bench watching the other countries. We are kind and helpful and friendly — but we have no idea how friendly we could be." — Thor comparing Northern European and global hospitality. 7 "I made an excuse that I was going to the bathroom, but really what I wanted to do was go and pay for all of us. And on my way there, they already knew what I was up to and shouted to the cashier — don't let him pay, we will take care of it." — Thor on his host Dafala in Sudan. 8 "So I was hired to be the junior assistant to a reverend who wasn't there." — Thor on how he solved his Hong Kong immigration problem. 9 "I arrived with my hat and my backpack, and when I was at my highest I had two apartments, I had two cars, I had access to the port, I had my driver's licence, I had a dentist. I had a life in Hong Kong." — Thor on two years stranded. 10 "The real story here is that most of the world is such an ordinary place. It is just people getting by in life, making the best of the situations that they have. Going to work, going to school, spending time with family, falling in love, following their sports teams." — Thor on what a decade on the road actually revealed. ⠀ Chapters 00:21 Introduction — One continuous journey, every country on earth, and no airplanes 01:48 Where Does an Idea Like That Come From? — Twelve years in shipping, and an email from his father 03:46 The Lightning Bolt — Discovering nobody had done it without flying 04:30 Did He Know What He Was Signing Up For? — Four years becomes ten 04:54 Two Years In, Central Africa — Where it all fell apart the first time 06:30 THE NO FLYING RULE — What travelling overland and by sea actually gives you 07:20 How Big the World Really Is — Denmark, Texas, Greenland and the skewed world map 08:47 Where Countries Meet — Same clothes, same food, and animals that don't care about borders 09:36 Watching the Landscape Change — Desert to bushes to forest to mountains 10:17 Which Definition of a Country? — 193 UN states, and why Thor's list runs to 203 12:24 THE RED CROSS — How being a Goodwill Ambassador changed the journey 12:50 A People Project, Not a Country Project 13:22 What the Red Cross Gave Him — Rapid, genuine insight into every country he entered 15:08 Balance — Why it mattered to post things that weren't relentlessly positive 16:05 BRITAIN — Country numbers seven through ten, in late 2013 16:44 Calais — Meeting Syrian refugees by the rail tracks before crossing 17:28 Rambling Rat — Refused as a foot passenger, and getting across by knocking on windows 17:58 Bristol — An open-air museum of seafaring history 18:38 Wales — A kind host, a house with grass to the windows, and a toilet in the front yard 19:11 Minimum 24 Hours Per Country — And how fast the early legs moved 19:24 Northern Ireland — The James Bond of the Red Cross, and a city of walls 20:00 "It's Raining a Wee Bit" — Thor's accent problem 20:32 Scotland — Awestruck by the west coast, and on to Glasgow and Edinburgh 21:08 Edinburgh — His girlfriend, now wife, visits two weeks after he left home 21:34 London — Les Misérables, dodgy tickets, and an unexpectedly happy ending 22:48 Back to the UK — A missed ship to Iceland, and an unplanned return via Immingham 23:42 The Pharmacy Dash — Crawling under the shutters for seasickness pills 24:26 Scrabster — And a devastating email about a ship that isn't coming 25:04 Edinburgh Again, Then Inverness — Hogmanay with a bartender who takes in strangers 26:15 CULTURAL DIFFERENCE — Reading what people really think of you 26:50 The Hospitality Olympics — Why Northern Europe would be on the bench 27:40 Dafala in Sudan — Not being allowed to pay for anything 29:07 Poland and Hong Kong — Strangers who cook for you at midnight, and four days that became five months 29:54 "The Guest Is God" — Hospitality in India and Pakistan 31:02 The Arab World — Why you may never know what someone truly thinks of you 31:41 Denmark, Britain and America — Three different ways of masking contempt 33:12 THE UNITED STATES — How he got there and what happened 33:26 Iceland to Greenland to Canada — Crossing the Atlantic by ship 34:21 Immigration at Buffalo — Colin Farrell, a German form, and a very unimpressed officer 35:37 New York at 4 AM — Sleeping under a tree in Central Park 36:39 A Bird, a Beard and Free Wi-Fi — Central Park as a budget traveller's dream 37:04 Washington DC — Free museums, and more homelessness than the movies show 37:56 THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR — The train that changed the trip 38:09 Meeting Art — A chance conversation in the queue 38:45 Four Hours in Chicago — A grandfather's grave and a different ticket 40:06 The First Class Surprise — Art's private cabin, bunk beds and meals included 41:00 Communal Dining — Strangers, awkward seating, and solving global politics three times a day 42:18 San Francisco and Onward — To Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean 43:19 WHEN IT GOT HARD — The end of the good energy days 43:32 Naive Expectations — CNN, BBC and Nike were not, in fact, calling 44:49 Central Africa — "That is just a different level of hardship" 45:40 An Astonishing Part of the World — Beautiful, lush, friendly, and extremely hard to travel 46:34 Losing the Thread — Forgetting why any of it mattered 47:24 Migraines and Malaria — What his body did in response 48:40 At Gunpoint — And the moment he grabbed a steering wheel at speed 49:18 Where an Ambulance Might Not Come — The reality of a medical emergency in that region 50:03 MOST OF THE WORLD IS ORDINARY — Game of Thrones, fidget spinners and a Captain America shield in Libya 51:52 THE PANDEMIC — Two weeks' delay in the Solomon Islands, then the Marshall Islands 52:45 Four Days in Hong Kong Becomes Two Years 53:31 Down to the Last Nine Countries — And desperate to go home 54:24 Five Months With One Family — And the need for personal space 55:03 CNN Finds Him — The article that went viral and changed everything 55:38 Hong Kong's Only Tourist — Working with the Hong Kong Tourism Board 56:28 Immigration Runs Out of Patience — Marry, study, or work 57:35 THE DANISH SEAMEN'S CHURCH — Junior assistant to an absent reverend 58:27 Seafarers Trapped Aboard — Suicide rates, shipboard dentistry, and captains who died at sea 59:32 Shopping for the Ships — What Thor actually did for a year 01:00:17 Forty Container Ships — And the satisfaction of giving something back 01:00:27 The Luck of the Delay — Why being stuck in Hong Kong was better than the alternatives 01:01:20 A Life in Hong Kong — Two apartments, two cars, a dentist, and the place he misses most 01:02:04 THE END OF THE JOURNEY — Sri Lanka, then the Maldives 01:02:47 Bureaucratic Obstacles to the Finish Line — Not allowed to leave the ship 01:03:33 Flags, Friends and a Resort Island — And Gunnar Garfors breaking the story 01:04:14 No Joy At All — Working through interviews while everyone else celebrated 01:05:20 Successful in the Maldives, Completed at Home — And why he refused to fly back 01:06:06 The Milan Maersk — 31 days from Malaysia to Aarhus 01:06:46 Windmills in the English Channel — The slow return home 01:07:20 Homecoming — Rain, a crowd at the portside, and his wife 01:07:59 WHAT NOW? — The Adventurers' Club and a secret expedition 01:08:48 Africa, Camels, Volcano — Three clue words and nothing more 01:09:09 Life Today — Speaking engagements, film festivals and book events 01:09:34 Emirates Business Class vs Ryanair — A memorable downgrade 01:10:06 Wrap-Up — The Impossible Journey , out now, and Friends of Anglotopia Video Version

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  Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!

  Strictly Jane Austen Episode 1: The Regency Explained — Robert Morrison on the Most Consequential Nine Years in British History

  Sep 14, 20261h 5m

  This is Episode 1 of a special six-part Jane Austen series, sponsored throughout by Strictly Jane Austen — Bath's most Austentatious travel company. We talk a lot on this show about the Regency. It's the backdrop to Jane Austen, to Bridgerton, and to a thousand romance novels and costume dramas. But what actually was the Regency? Strictly speaking it was a brief window from 1811 to 1820, when George III's descent into apparent madness meant his eldest son ruled in his place as Prince Regent. And yet for such a short period, it cast an extraordinarily long shadow. To open the series, Jonathan Thomas is joined by Robert Morrison — literary historian, Queen's National Scholar at Queen's University in Ontario, British Academy Global Professor at Bath Spa University from 2019 to 2024, and author of The Regency Years , named a book of the year by The Economist and shortlisted for the HWA Crown Award. Robert walks us through what the Regency literally was, the constitutional crisis that created it, the extraordinary contradictions of the Prince Regent himself, and his bold central claim: that these nine years laid the foundations of the modern world. Along the way — why 1813 saw both Pride and Prejudice published and Charles Babbage begin dreaming of a thinking machine; why Mrs. Bennet's hysteria is really about the Napoleonic Wars; why Persuasion is Austen's greatest novel; and why Bath remains the beating heart of the Regency imagination. OUR SPONSOR: STRICTLY JANE AUSTEN This entire six-part series is brought to you by Strictly Jane Austen — Bath's most Austentatious travel company. If this episode has put you in the mood to experience the Regency for yourself, there is no better way than stepping directly into Jane Austen's Bath with an expert guide. Strictly Jane Austen's award-winning tours bring Regency England to life through expertly guided walks, immersive storytelling, and carefully curated itineraries in Bath and beyond. Their guides are avid Janeites steeped in Regency knowledge — and, as Austen herself would have it, genuinely "clever, well-informed people." What they offer: Expert Guided Tours of Jane Austen's Bath — Private walking tours through the streets Jane walked, led by expert Janeite guides Period Dress Hire & Afternoon Tea in Bath — Exquisite Regency costume delivered to your hotel, then promenade through Bath and take a sumptuous afternoon tea in a historic tearoom Bridgerton in Bath — A private tour of the city's Bridgerton filming locations and Regency high society Jane Austen & Bath's Gothic History Twilight Tour — Northanger Abbey, Frankenstein, and the darker side of Regency Bath Discovering Jane — A Three-Night Travel Experience in Bath & Hampshire — The full immersive short break, including Jane's Hampshire home and burial place Escape to Bath by Rail from London — Travel from Paddington to Austen's Bath in style Bespoke Group Tours of Bath & Hampshire — Built for individuals, couples, book clubs, and groups of any size Annual Jane Austen Celebrations — Dance, discussion and Regency merriment at the Gainsborough Bath Spa Gift Vouchers — The perfect present for the Janeite in your life Book or learn more at strictlyjaneausten.com · Call +44 1225 333747 (Mon–Fri, 09:00–17:00 GMT) Follow them: Instagram · Facebook Winner, Bristol Bath & Somerset International Tourism Award 2025 (Bronze). Part of ECT Travel, a Bath-based tour operator running successful travel programmes since 1993. Links Robert Morrison's Books The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern Persuasion by Jane Austen — Annotated Edition, edited by Robert Morrison (Harvard University Press) The English Opium-Eater: A Biography of Thomas De Quincey Robert Morrison at Queen's University Jane Austen's Bath The Jane Austen Centre, Bath Visit Bath — Jane Austen's Bath Guide The Pump Room, Bath Bath Abbey The Holburne Museum, Bath Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Hampshire Mentioned in the Episode Emma by Jane Austen — dedicated to the Prince Regent Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The Royal Pavilion, Brighton — The Prince Regent's Fantasy Palace Anglotopia Friends of Anglotopia Club Anglotopia's Guide to the World of Bridgerton Takeaways The Regency was not just a vibe or an aesthetic — it was a constitutional and political reality. It began on February 5, 1811, when Parliament reluctantly made George III's eldest son Prince Regent, and ended January 29, 1820, when the King died and the Regent became George IV. That gives it a weight, Robert argues, that "the Roaring Twenties" or "the Swinging Sixties" simply don't have. George III's illness was long thought to be porphyria, a metabolic disorder. It is now more commonly believed to have been a severe form of bipolar disorder — with hysteria, hallucinations, insomnia, bouts of violence, and, in his final years, some form of dementia. He spent many days in a straitjacket at Windsor Castle and became a genuinely tragic figure. Parliament had no choice in the matter. Under primogeniture you take the eldest son — you cannot skip to a more suitable brother. Robert's point is pointed: this is precisely why the world eventually decided it wanted democracy and leaders who can be removed. The Prince Regent is a study in extremes: a drinking, gambling, womanizing wastrel hopelessly in debt, and simultaneously one of the great patrons of British taste. He kept a copy of every Jane Austen novel in all of his residences long before the world recognized her, and let it be known she could dedicate her next book to him — which is why Emma opens with a dedication to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent. Robert's central claim is that the Regency is where modern Britain begins — because this is the moment when people across the social hierarchy start to dream of equality and a fairer, more just society, and gather in enormous numbers to demand it. The clearest example is Peterloo, when 60,000 people assembled in Manchester to demand parliamentary reform. The Regency also gave us consumerism, celebrity culture, fashion and gossip in recognizably modern forms. Byron was arguably the first modern celebrity — when he moved to Geneva, people bought telescopes and camped across the lake to spy on him. 1813 is the hinge year: Pride and Prejudice is published, Charles Babbage begins thinking about a thinking machine that becomes the modern computer, and Thomas De Quincey sinks into the opium addiction he would later write about — creating our modern cultural conversation about substance dependence. Robert wrote the book partly to bring those collisions into view. Austen's apparent silence on the Napoleonic Wars is not silence at all. Britain had around one million men involved in the Napoleonic struggle out of a population of just eleven million. Among them were hundreds of thousands who might have made good husbands — and they simply weren't there. That absence, Robert argues, shapes all six of Austen's novels and explains exactly why Mrs. Bennet is so frantic. Robert makes the case that Persuasion — not Pride and Prejudice — is Austen's greatest novel. It begins after the romance has already happened and failed, it's sadder and more impassioned, and it shows men helping women and women helping men, with Admiral and Sophia Croft as perhaps the most successful couple in all of Austen. The one myth Robert would most like to correct: there were an enormous number of very poor people in Regency Britain, and if you were at the bottom of the social hierarchy you lived in appalling circumstances. No modern medicine, no ventilation, no social safety net — it was possible to starve in the streets. But that grittiness, he argues, makes Austen's and Turner's achievements greater, not lesser. Their knowledge was hard won. Soundbites "The Regency is a constitutional political reality as well. It means the structure of the state was changed. And I think that gives it a greater weight than just coining a name for the period." — Robert on why the Regency is different from the Roaring Twenties. "He is in a straitjacket in Windsor Castle many, many days and becomes quite a tragic figure. And if he could have seen what his son was up to, he would have been even more distressed." — Robert on George III. "Jonathan, they didn't have any choice. Parliament couldn't say, well, we're not giving it to William, we're giving it to Harry. It's the system of primogeniture. And that's why the world said, you know what, we need democracy. We need leaders we can get rid of." — Robert on why Parliament handed power to a man they didn't trust. "He's on one hand excess personified, and on the other he's going, 'I saw JMW Turner's painting this morning and I really think he's on to something.' That range is characteristic of the Regency." — Robert on the Prince Regent. "He's betting on horses and he's gambling and he's whoring — and he's also sitting at home reading Jane Austen, Walter Scott and Lord Byron. Byron meets him at a party in 1812 and can't believe how much he knew about Greek poets." — Robert on the Regent's contradictions. "So Babbage dreaming of the modern computer and Austen writing love stories happened in the same year. I really wanted to bring things like that into collision." — Robert on 1813. "To a considerable extent, when we say 'I have fallen in love,' we mean we've fallen in love like Jane Austen describes it. She has defined for more than 200 years what that means." — Robert on Austen's enduring influence. "Why is Mrs. Bennet semi-hysterical? Britain is a country of eleven million and one million men are involved in the Napoleonic Wars. Among those million there are hundreds of thousands who might have made a good husband, but they aren't there. That lack of men shapes all six of Austen's novels." — Robert on the war hiding in plain sight. "Anne says, yeah, well, that's because it's all written by men. The pen has been in your hand. The pen has been in the hands of men. And Austen is writing a history for women." — Robert on the conversation at the end of Persuasion. "If you were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, you didn't want to be in Regency Britain. And I guess the one thing that redeems the Regency for me is this amazing cultural flowering and this amazing ability to protest and to demand something better." — Robert on the myth he'd most like to correct. Chapters 00:21 Introduction & Sponsor — Strictly Jane Austen, and what's coming in this six-part series 01:17 Today's Subject — What actually was the Regency? 02:01 Meet Robert Morrison — The Regency Years, Bath Spa, and Austen's Persuasion 02:55 What the Regency Literally Was — February 5, 1811 to January 29, 1820 03:21 What Is a Regency? — Ill health, incapacity, foreign wars, and a modern hypothetical 04:56 More Than a Nickname — Why the Regency is a constitutional reality, not just a vibe 05:33 Drawing the Lines — Romanticism, publishers, and why a decade is the right frame 07:41 The Book He'd Write Next — The 1960s in Britain, and a nod to Dominic Sandbrook 08:19 How the Regency Happened — George III, sixty years on the throne, and the first bout in 1788 09:24 What Was Actually Wrong with George III? — Porphyria, bipolar disorder, and Princess Amelia's death 10:49 The Politics Behind It — Why Parliament held its breath and enacted the Regency anyway 12:26 Who Was the Prince Regent? — Born 1762, and a lifetime of annoying his father 13:35 Talented and Dissolute — Beau Brummell, impressions, and a marriage that lasted a year 14:20 The Sympathetic Case — Barred from the battlefield, so he decided to have fun instead 15:11 What Was Remarkable About Him — Connoisseurship, Turner, and Austen's dedication in Emma 16:30 The Range Is the Regency — Gambling and whoring and Greek poets 17:02 Why Parliament Handed Him Everything — Primogeniture, and why the world wanted democracy 18:13 Waterloo and the Whigs — The government he kept, and the shockwave he sent 19:02 THE CENTRAL CLAIM: BRITAIN BECOMES MODERN 19:20 Where the Book Began — Waterloo, Turner, Constable, Robert Owen, Mary Shelley 19:55 Dreaming of Equality — Peterloo, 60,000 people, and demanding a juster society 20:28 Consumerism and Celebrity Culture — And the technologies that let it spread 22:16 Jane Austen Defines How We Fall in Love 22:56 Charles Babbage and the Thinking Machine — 1813, the year everything collides 23:35 Beau Brummell, Byron and the First Modern Celebrity — Telescopes across Lake Geneva 24:08 Coleridge, De Quincey and the Origins of Modern Addiction 24:57 Thomas Lawrence, Mary Shelley, Polidori and Turner — Frankenstein and The Vampyre from one circle 26:04 CROSS CURRENTS — Elegance on the surface, turbulence underneath 26:25 Science, Industry and the Luddite Riots — Technology stripping livelihoods, then and now 27:34 The Class Society — Darcy proposes, and Elizabeth says no 29:08 The Reform Bill of 1832 — And what popular protest actually achieved 29:39 British vs. American Democracy — Revolution versus evolution 30:11 Victoria's Discovery — How the monarchy gave up power and kept its grip 31:53 THE DARK UNDERCURRENT — Poverty, colonial conquest, slavery 32:42 Austen's Courage — No university, no marriage, and the cleverest person in the room 33:41 The Gritty Side — Wilberforce and opium, Byron's club foot, the challenges they overcame 34:36 AUSTEN, NAPOLEON AND BYRON — Why put these three side by side? 35:13 The Collisions — Wellington and Napoleon across the same battlefield 36:23 NAPOLEON AND THE WIDER WORLD 36:52 A Million Men — The war on the front page, every day, for years 38:15 The War of 1812 — When Robert's country and Jonathan's country go to war 39:00 The Other Side of It — How people carry on when the bombs are far away 40:17 JANE AUSTEN IN CONTEXT 40:33 Austen Wasn't Popular in Her Lifetime — Walter Scott was the great novelist of the age 41:53 Our Recognition Has Overtaken Historical Fact — Austen's England wasn't Bridgerton 42:34 She Wasn't Ignoring Events — Three daughters, no sons; five daughters, no sons 43:35 Why Mrs. Bennet Is Semi-Hysterical — One million men, and the ones who never came home 44:47 PERSUASION — Why Robert calls it Austen's greatest novel 44:59 The Phone Call from Harvard — And a moment of bravado 45:51 What Makes It Great — Sadder, more impassioned, and it starts after the romance failed 46:58 Admiral and Sophia Croft — Men doing domestic work, women doing business, and the reins 48:11 The Conversation with Captain Harville — "The pen has been in the hands of men" 49:37 Wentworth's Letter — And why Robert can't get through it without cracking 50:04 BATH — Why it looms so large in the Regency imagination 50:44 Walking Austen's Bath — Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and the gravel walk at twilight 51:30 Four Addresses and Six Novels — All of which mention Bath 51:39 Austen Didn't Like Bath — And why that's exactly why she wrote about it 52:16 Bath's Heyday — The 18th century spa town, and what it had become by the Regency 52:36 Robert's Bath Walking Tours — Thirty-five people, three times, and every plaque 53:08 Who You'll Find in Bath — Lawrence, Beckford, Piozzi, Parry, Siddons, Burney, Shelley, De Quincey and Austen 54:50 WHY THE REGENCY STILL GRIPS US 55:08 Reaching for Something That Didn't Exist — Paul McCartney and sunny days in the sixties 56:20 Bridgerton — A class well above Austen, and what you have to ignore to enjoy it 56:55 Poverty Then and Now — And why Austen wrote what she knew 57:22 The Grittiness Makes It Greater — Hard-won knowledge and stories about hope 58:48 THE REGENCY AND AMERICA — Emigration, Keats's brother in Kentucky, and the American dream 01:00:13 The Sticking Point — Slavery, and why it troubled British emigrants 01:01:17 THE MYTH ROBERT WOULD MOST LIKE TO CORRECT 01:01:29 There Were Lots of Poor People — And their lives were appalling 01:02:08 Regency Britain as Preface to the Modern World — The good and the bad 01:02:48 What Redeems It — Cultural flowering, and the ability to demand something better 01:03:06 Wrap-Up & Sponsor — Strictly Jane Austen, gift vouchers, and Friends of Anglotopia Video Version

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  Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!

  Double Agents, Dead Drops & Declassified Files: Inside the MI5 Archive of Official Secrets

  Sep 11, 20261h 3m

  For over a century, in a building most of us could not name, an organization known only by its post office box number — PO Box 500, London — has been quietly reading other people's letters, following other people's footsteps, and keeping the realm's most closely guarded secrets. MI5, the British Security Service, was founded in 1909 in the nervous run-up to the First World War under the motto Regnum Defende — Defend the Realm. James Bond and George Smiley are the fictions. This is the real thing. In this episode, Jonathan Thomas is joined by Mark Dunton, Principal Records Specialist at the National Archives and lead curator of their hit MI5: Official Secrets exhibition, and Dr. Stephen Twigge, former Head of Modern Collections at the National Archives and a historian of the Cold War and code breaking. Together they've written The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets , a remarkable visual record drawn from the 6,000 files MI5 has released since 1997. They explain what it actually feels like to hold these documents, how MI5 differs from MI6 and GCHQ, how a secret becomes an archive, and how historians work with a record that is deliberately incomplete. Then come the stories: the German spy hanged by a lemon, the last man executed at the Tower of London, the astonishing Double Cross system that invented 27 fictional agents to deceive Hitler about D-Day, the surveillance transcript that records atomic spy Klaus Fuchs stoking his own fire, the truth about MI5's limited role in the Profumo affair, and the handwritten note authorizing a tap on the King's telephone during the abdication crisis. Links The Book The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets — Thames & Hudson The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets — The National Archives Shop The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets — Thames & Hudson USA The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets — Waterstones The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets — Amazon UK The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets — Amazon USA Published by Thames & Hudson in association with The National Archives. 368 pages. Foreword by Nick Harkaway. ISBN 9780500030455. Our Guests Mark Dunton at The National Archives The National Archives, Kew Related Reading Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré Places Mentioned The Tower of London — Historic Royal Palaces MI5 — Official Website GCHQ — Official Website Bletchley Park Anglotopia Friends of Anglotopia Club Related episode: Dr. Chris Smith on the Cambridge Five and The Last Cambridge Spy Takeaways MI5 has transferred over 6,000 files to the National Archives since 1997, and while most government departments operate under a twenty-year rule, MI5 works to an unofficial fifty-year rule. Strictly speaking they are not obliged to transfer anything at all — they choose to. MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are, as Stephen puts it, "brothers from the same mother." All emerged from the Secret Service Bureau created in 1909, which had a domestic side and a foreign side. The two heads shared an office for about a month before going their separate ways. MI5 catches other people's spies at home; MI6 runs Britain's spies abroad; GCHQ, which began as the Government Code and Cypher School under MI6, provides signals intelligence to both. Unlike the famously fractious CIA/FBI relationship in the US, the British agencies get on reasonably well — largely because they're staffed by lifetime civil servants rather than political appointees, and because people move between them (Dick White ran MI5 and then MI6). Less turf war, less budget anxiety. The exhibition MI5: Official Secrets — which ran April to November 2025 and drew over 55,000 visitors — was the first time MI5 has ever collaborated with another institution to tell its own history. The book contains a great deal that wouldn't fit in the exhibition space. Karl Muller, a First World War German agent, was caught because his invisible ink was lemon juice. Two lemons were found — one in his dressing table drawer wrapped in cotton wool, one in his overcoat pocket. He claimed they were for dental treatment. He was executed at the Tower of London. MI5 then kept writing letters in his name, asked the Germans for more money, received a handsome sum, and bought a staff car with it — which they nicknamed "the Muller." The Treasury told them off for unauthorized expenditure. The car was later stolen from outside MI5 headquarters. Josef Jakobs, parachuted into Huntingdonshire in January 1941, broke his ankle on landing and fired his revolver into the air to summon help. He was found with a German torch containing a German battery, a road map of Great Britain, a forged ID card, and a torn-up cipher wheel. Uncooperative under interrogation at Camp 020, he could not be turned — and became the last man ever executed at the Tower of London. The Double Cross System — officially the Twenty Committee, because XX in Roman numerals is twenty — turned virtually every German agent sent to Britain. MI5 then had to invent entire fictional networks of sub-agents to feed the Germans plausible material. Agent Garbo, a Spanish former chicken farmer who hated both chickens and Nazis, worked with his handler Thomas Harris to create around 27 wholly fictional sub-agents, all reporting on a non-existent army group massing in southeast England. Agent Tate convinced the Germans there was a large minefield south of Ireland. On 1 January 1945 British intelligence intercepted a message to all U-boat commanders warning them to avoid the area. That deception kept the Atlantic convoy route safe and saved countless lives. Tate also misled the Germans about where V1 and V2 rockets were landing, causing them to adjust trajectories so the missiles fell in open countryside rather than urban areas. On the Profumo affair, the files actually deflate the conspiracy theories. Contrary to the widespread impression that Stephen Ward was working for MI5 and was then abandoned by them, the files show MI5's involvement was genuinely limited — Ward met an MI5 officer two or three times, and was warned to be wary of Ivanov, not recruited. Director General Roger Hollis wrote that MI5 didn't get involved in that sort of "call girl racket." Stephen's most striking find is a handwritten note from the Prime Minister's office to the head of the GPO during the abdication crisis, authorizing the monitoring of King Edward VIII's communications at Fort Belvedere — alongside Special Branch maps tracking Wallis Simpson's daily movements. Nobody, it turns out, is above surveillance. Soundbites "You're never sure what's going to come next when you turn the page. You get a letter, and it can be quite mundane at times — how are the kids doing from so and so. And it takes you to places you don't necessarily go to in normal life." — Stephen on reading the files. "You get a very real sense that these were records which were not meant for public consumption. It's a bit like the title of the James Bond film — For Your Eyes Only." — Mark on handling MI5 documents. "MI5 and MI6 are, I suppose, brothers from the same mother. The two heads of those organizations shared an office for about a month and then went their own ways." — Stephen on the origins of British intelligence. "It's the first time that MI5 have ever collaborated with another institution to tell its history in this way." — Mark on the exhibition and the book. "There's this riveting transcript derived from a listening device placed in the home of Klaus Fuchs. And it records him moving about, with little details like 21:07, Fuchs stoked the fire. It gives you an almost voyeuristic feeling that you're looking in on this person's life and listening in with the MI5 listeners." — Mark on the atomic spy surveillance logs. "They asked him, what's this lemon for? And he claimed it was for dental treatment for his teeth. Which didn't necessarily go down well." — Stephen on Karl Muller's defence. "MI5 kept sending letters in his name, and in one of them asked for some money. They received quite a handsome amount, and then they bought a staff car with it, which was then called the Muller. Which, even more embarrassing, was stolen outside MI5 headquarters in the 1920s." — Stephen on the most delightful footnote in MI5's history. "He'd been a chicken farmer before the war, but apparently hated chickens. And he also hated the Nazis. And he had such a fertile imagination — together with his MI5 handler they cooked up about 27 fictional sub-agents." — Mark on Agent Garbo. "You get this bizarre wilderness of mirrors, where the German intelligence authorities think they're doing wonderfully well. They've got all these agents around the country feeding them information — but little do they know it's all bogus." — Stephen on the Double Cross system. "There's a letter that authorizes the tapping of the King's phone, which you wouldn't necessarily imagine to be released. It's a handwritten note from the Prime Minister's office. It's a fascinating idea that no one is above the law — everybody is capable of being monitored." — Stephen on the file that stayed with him. Chapters 00:21 Introduction — PO Box 500, Regnum Defende, and the real thing behind the fiction 01:17 Meet the Guests — Mark Dunton and Dr. Stephen Twigge of the National Archives 01:44 What Does It Feel Like to Hold These Files? 02:56 For Your Eyes Only — Mark on a window into a hidden world 04:13 How the Book and the Exhibition Came About — Approaching MI5, and their surprising response 06:11 The Exhibition — April to November, 55,000 visitors, and why the book holds more 07:04 Where MI5 Fits — MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the Joint Intelligence Committee explained 09:51 Do They Actually Get Along? — Comparing British and American intelligence culture 11:19 PO Box 500 — The anonymous address, and how a secret becomes an archive 12:16 What MI5 Has Been Called — Secret Service Bureau, MO5, Security Service, and Military Intelligence Section 5 13:12 Opening Up in the 1990s — Regular transfers and 6,000 files 14:14 Working with a Deliberately Incomplete Archive — Redactions, gaps, PF numbers and the jigsaw 16:11 The 50-Year Rule — Why MI5 files are often less redacted than other departments' 17:49 Outside the Normal Framework — They're not obliged to transfer anything at all 18:37 Do They Only Release What They Want Us to See? — Mark on the Cambridge Spies 19:04 What Makes a Good Exhibit? — Turning a dry surveillance report into something you can feel 20:06 Klaus Fuchs Stokes the Fire — The listening device transcript that lingers 21:33 THE FATAL LEMON — Karl Muller and the First World War 22:11 An Ill-Trained Agent — Latvia, Antwerp, and a very short course in secret inks 23:37 A.E. Free — Lemon juice, a compromised post box, and a German baker in Deptford 25:12 Caught in Russell Square — Lemons, German clothing, and a story about dental treatment 25:58 Execution at the Tower — And what MI5 did next 26:26 The Muller — Asking the Germans for money, buying a staff car, and getting told off by the Treasury 27:07 Two Lemons — Black, shrivelled, and in the collection 27:33 THE SIEGE OF SIDNEY STREET, 1911 27:55 Refugees, Radicals and the East End — The context for a gunfight 28:53 The Gun Battle — Scots Guards, machine guns, and a building burnt to the ground 30:57 Why It Matters — MI5's shift from military counter-espionage to civilian subversion 32:01 Enter Winston Churchill — The Home Secretary who turned up for the cameras 32:47 JOSEF JAKOBS — THE LAST MAN EXECUTED AT THE TOWER 33:03 A Broken Ankle in Huntingdonshire — And a revolver fired into the air 33:42 Camp 020 at Ham Common — Where the parachuted spies were interrogated 34:06 Who Was He? — A dentist, and an exploitative role in Jewish emigration 34:43 Uncooperative Under Interrogation — Why he couldn't be turned 35:38 Shot by Firing Squad — The last execution at the Tower of London 35:59 The Objects — A German torch with a German battery, a road map, a forged ID and a torn-up cipher wheel 36:40 THE DOUBLE CROSS SYSTEM 36:58 How It Worked — An offer they couldn't refuse, and inventing entire fictional networks 38:38 Chicken Feed and Burning Aerodromes — Making the deception plausible 39:15 A Wilderness of Mirrors — And Operation Fortitude 39:47 Why "Twenty Committee"? — XX in Roman numerals 40:28 Operation Fortitude in Detail — Distracting the Germans from Normandy toward the Pas de Calais 41:44 AGENT GARBO — A Spanish chicken farmer who hated chickens and hated Nazis 42:15 27 Fictional Sub-Agents — And a non-existent US Army group in southeast England 42:51 Agent Treasure and Agent Tate 43:26 The Minefield South of Ireland — The U-boat warning of 1 January 1945 44:32 Saving the Convoy Route — And countless lives 44:36 The V1 and V2 Deception — Redirecting missiles into open countryside 45:04 What Happened to Them Afterwards? — Garbo's shop in South America, an MBE, and Ben Macintyre's research 46:18 THE COLD WAR — How MI5's job changed after 1945 46:38 Atomic Spies at Harwell — And higher stakes after 1949 47:20 From War Footing to Peacetime — Reduced budgets and a new focus on subversion 48:18 The Communist Party of Great Britain — An inordinate amount of attention 48:30 A Shadow War — Intelligence as back channel, and why sex scandals made the front pages 50:05 THE PROFUMO AFFAIR, 1963 50:25 The Cast — John Profumo, Christine Keeler, Stephen Ward and Eugene Ivanov 51:40 What the Files Actually Show — MI5's involvement was limited 52:36 Stephen Ward and the Man Called Woods — Warned about Ivanov, not recruited 53:15 Ward Reported Back Conscientiously — And was not working for MI5 53:52 Roger Hollis on the "Call Girl Racket" — And what the files do to the conspiracy theories 54:54 FICTION AND REALITY — Nick Harkaway's foreword, le Carré and Fleming 55:18 What le Carré Got Right — Moles, lamplighters, honey traps, and a vocabulary that entered common usage 55:53 It's Not James Bond — It's people sitting there watching people and writing down what they did 57:09 The Doris Lessing File — Why she was on MI5's radar, and how rounded these portraits are 57:46 Fleming and Naval Intelligence — Special Operations Executive and the daring-do end of the business 58:29 THE FILE THAT STAYED WITH THEM 58:42 Stephen's Choice: The Abdication Crisis — Tapping the King's phone at Fort Belvedere 59:28 Special Branch and Wallis Simpson — Maps of her daily routine 59:56 Mark's Choice: The Lemon — And a "license to peel" 01:01:04 All the Little Twists and Turns — Why the Karl Muller story is the perfect MI5 story 01:01:34 Wrap-Up — The book, publication details, and Friends of Anglotopia Video Version

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  Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!

  What’s On in London in September 2026 — Open House London, the Bayeux Tapestry & the Last Night of the Proms

  Sep 2, 202626 min

  Recorded on location in Hammersmith at Emery Walker's House — the best-preserved Arts and Crafts interior in Britain, packed with original William Morris wallpaper and once home to William Morris's great friend and collaborator, the printer Emery Walker — this is the September edition of What's On in London. Jonathan makes the case that September might be the single best month of the year to visit London: the summer crush lifts as families return to school, everything is still open on summer hours, the weather turns crisp and golden, hotel prices drop, and the cultural calendar goes into overdrive. He covers Open House Festival (September 12–20, free, 621 listings including 10 Downing Street), Heritage Open Days across England, Totally Thames across twenty riverside boroughs, the London Design Festival in its 24th year, and the Last Night of the Proms — including the trick to getting in for eight pounds on the day. He then runs through the autumn's blockbuster exhibition openings, led by the Bayeux Tapestry's arrival at the British Museum (and the British Museum membership workaround for anyone who missed the sold-out ticket release), Nature and Us at the Natural History Museum in a gallery closed since 1943, the Burberry Trench at the V&A, and How We Lost America at Hogarth's House — curated by the very person who let him record this episode. Plus what's closing and when, live music and theater, family activities, the September weather outlook, and Jonathan's own remaining London itinerary. Not for members and listeners: Due to the timely nature of this episode, I'm releasing it to members and general listeners on the same day, so there won't be a new episode Friday. This is this week's episode. Links Where This Episode Was Recorded Emery Walker's House, Hammersmith — Book a Tour Londontopia's Hammersmith Neighborhood Guide The Londontopia Events Calendar ️ Londontopia London Events Guide — The Full Calendar What's On in London Today What's On in London This Weekend Free Things To Do in London Today Cheap Things To Do in London London Exhibitions Listings London Festivals Listings Free London Events Listings The Full September Guide on Londontopia What's On in London in September 2026 — The Secret Best Month to Visit London What's the Best Month to Visit London? A Season-by-Season Breakdown The Big September Events Open House London 2026: The Weekend London Unlocks Its Front Doors (and How to Do It) — September 12–20, free, 621 listings including 10 Downing Street Open House Festival — Official Site & Ballot Sign-Up Heritage Open Days — England-Wide Totally Thames Festival London Design Festival BBC Proms & the Last Night of the Proms — £8 day tickets released online at 9:30am Doggett's Coat and Badge Race 2026 — Londontopia Listing The Great River Race 2026 — Londontopia Listing ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026 — Londontopia Listing New Exhibition Openings The Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum — Sold out through the autumn; next ticket release expected October. Join as a member for two tickets The Natural History Museum Is Reopening a Gallery Closed Since 1943 — Nature and Us, opens September 16, free The V&A Is Putting the Burberry Trench Coat on Show — And It's Free — Opens September 21, free A British View of American Independence Comes to Hogarth's House — How We Lost America, September 22 – November 1, free The Imperial War Museum Marks 25 Years Since 9/11 — From September 4, free Secret Treasures from Kyiv at the V&A — Opens September 14, free, running a full year Es Devlin Retrospective at the Design Museum John Constable: Views of Nature at the British Museum — Londontopia Listing Early Netherlandish Drawings at the British Museum — Londontopia Listing Amar Kanwar at Serpentine North — Londontopia Listing Exhibitions Already Running Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern — Until January 3 Winston Churchill the Painter at the Wallace Collection — Until November 29 Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A — Until November 8 Jurassic Oceans at the Natural History Museum — Until January 3 — the best family exhibition in London Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam at the Royal Academy — Until October 25 Henry Moore's Bronzes Among the Trees at Kew Gardens — Until January 31 Ana Mendieta at Tate Modern — Until January British Museum Marks America's 250th with 'Declaring Independence: USA 250' — Free, until November 29 Closing in September — Last Chance Monet and Renoir at the National Gallery — closes September 15 Marilyn Monroe at the National Portrait Gallery — closes September 6 Hepworth in Colour at the Courtauld — closes September 6 Banqueting House Summer Opening — closes September 20 Buckingham Palace State Rooms — closes September 27 James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain — closes September 27 Star Trek at 60 Trail, Science Museum — closes September 30, free Project a Black Planet at the Barbican — closes September 6 Buckingham Palace Unveils a Once-in-a-Generation Re-hang of Its Picture Gallery Theater & Live Music Michelle Dockery Returns to the Stage in Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at Stratford East — From September 3 Man to Man with Tilda Swinton at the Royal Court — September 5 – October 24, day tickets released The Last Ship at Drury Lane — From September 22 Hay Fever at Wyndham's / Into the Woods at the Noël Coward — From September 22 Golden Boy at the Almeida / Children at the Lyric Hammersmith Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House Book West End Tickets via Londontopia West End Discounts Family & Free London Transport Museum Depot Open Days, Acton — September 25 & 27 Go Behind the Scenes at London Transport Museum's Depot Open Days London Museum Docklands Mudlarking Weekend — September 26–27 Black on the Square, Trafalgar Square — September 5, free Horniman Plant Fair, Forest Hill — September 5 Anglotopia Friends of Anglotopia Club Londontopia Free Weekly Newsletter Takeaways September is London's secret sweet spot. The overwhelming summer crush lifts as families return to school, yet everything is still open and running on summer hours. You get peak London without peak London visitors — and the weather turns crisp, clear and golden rather than oppressively hot and humid. Hotel prices drop noticeably after the August peak, and the British government's VAT cut on tourist attraction admissions is still running — meaning roughly 20% off admission prices at major attractions on top of the seasonal savings. Open House Festival is the month's headline event: September 12–20, completely free, in its 35th edition and the biggest yet with 621 listings across all 33 London boroughs. Private offices, livery halls, Georgian houses, Brutalist towers, working studios and hidden roof gardens all open their doors at no charge. The single most important Open House tip: sign up for the Open House email list. The most sought-after buildings — including 10 Downing Street — are ballot-only, and you have to apply weeks in advance. Popular non-ballot venues queue from early morning, so pick two or three in one area rather than crisscrossing the city. Three more citywide festivals run alongside it: Heritage Open Days (England's much larger national cousin to Open House, with 25,000+ participating organizations), Totally Thames (a month-long river festival across the twenty riverside boroughs from Richmond to Barking, over 100 events, much of it free), and the London Design Festival in its 24th year, hubbed at the V&A in South Kensington. The Last Night of the Proms is on September 12 this year and sells out annually — partly because Royal Albert Hall seats are literally owned as private property, sold off as real estate to fund the hall's construction, passed down through families and now worth several hundred thousand pounds each. Those owners get first refusal. But there is a way in: 1,000 standing tickets in the arena in front of the stage are held back for every single Proms concert, including the Last Night, and sold on the day for £8. They go online at 9:30am on the day of the concert, with a further allocation sold in person at the box office at Door 12. The Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum is the biggest cultural event in London this year — the first time it has left Normandy in its 900-year existence. But if you haven't booked, you won't see it this autumn: 2.5 million tickets sold in hours-long virtual queues when they were released in July. The next tranche, covering January onward, is expected in late October or November. There is a workaround: a British Museum membership includes two tickets to the Bayeux Tapestry. If you're in London this autumn and desperate to see it, buy a membership immediately and reserve those tickets. September is also when the summer season clears out, often in the first week. Marilyn Monroe at the NPG, Hepworth in Colour at the Courtauld and Project a Black Planet at the Barbican all close September 6; Monet and Renoir at the National Gallery closes September 15; Banqueting House closes September 20; Buckingham Palace State Rooms and Whistler at Tate Britain close September 27. Genuinely now-or-never. Soundbites "I'm recording this sitting in one of the rooms at Emery Walker's House in Hammersmith, which is right on the Thames — and it's the best preserved Arts and Crafts interior in Britain. A genuine time capsule packed with original William Morris wallpaper." — Jonathan on the location. "September is the month that locals quietly know is perfect and visitors often overlook, purely because the calendar says summer's over." — Jonathan on the central idea of the episode. "The crowds have evaporated. The kids go back to school, family holidays end, the overwhelming summer crush simply lifts — and yet everything is still open and running on its summer hours. You get peak London without peak London visitors." — Jonathan on why September works. "If you plan a trip around one thing while you're in London in September, plan it around Open House London." — Jonathan on the month's headline event. "They will open up 10 Downing Street — the home and office of the Prime Minister — but you have to apply for the ballot a few weeks in advance. You're not going to get in there if you don't even apply." — Jonathan's most actionable Open House tip. "When they built the Royal Albert Hall, the seats were sold as pieces of real estate to fund its construction. Those seats get passed down through families or sold, and they're worth several hundred thousand pounds now." — Jonathan on why the Last Night of the Proms is so hard to get into. "If you're canny and you're quick, you can get into the Last Night of the Proms for just eight pounds and experience the glory of it." — Jonathan on the £8 day tickets. "It's the first time the tapestry has ever left Normandy in its 900 years of existence. But before you try and book a ticket — if you haven't already booked, you're not going to see it this September. You're not going to see it this autumn at all." — Jonathan on the Bayeux Tapestry. "If you join the British Museum as a member, each membership gets two tickets. So there's a hack there." — Jonathan's workaround for the sold-out Bayeux Tapestry. "Here's your case for September: the secret best month in London. Fewer crowds, kinder prices, glorious light, and a cultural calendar that rivals any month of the year. Book a little ahead, because word about September is getting out. Don't tell too many people." — Jonathan's closing pitch. Chapters 00:21 Introduction — The September edition, recorded on location in Hammersmith 00:36 Where We Are — Emery Walker's House, the best preserved Arts and Crafts interior in Britain 01:10 A Full Tour Episode Is Coming — Look out for the dedicated Emery Walker's House episode 01:42 Why September Might Be London's Best Month 02:01 Everything Here Comes from the Londontopia Events Calendar 02:25 The Secret Sweet Spot — The big idea running through the whole episode 02:43 The Crowds Evaporate — Peak London without peak London visitors 03:09 The Weather Turns — Warm days, crisp air, cooler nights 03:32 Prices Drop — Plus the ongoing VAT cut on tourist attraction admissions 03:57 Peak Culture Month — You lose the crowds and gain the culture 04:16 OPEN HOUSE LONDON — September 12–20, free, 35th edition, biggest yet 05:00 What You Can See — Livery halls, Georgian houses, Brutalist towers, hidden roof gardens 05:12 The Tips — Ballots, early queues, and picking two or three in one area 05:37 10 Downing Street — Why you must join the mailing list and apply for the ballot 06:05 The Open House Directory — How to plan your days 06:29 HERITAGE OPEN DAYS — England's bigger national cousin, 25,000+ organizations 06:56 TOTALLY THAMES — A month-long river festival across 20 riverside boroughs 07:17 LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL — 24th year, hubbed at the V&A 07:39 Other September Highlights — Made X at the Barbican, Black on the Square, Luke Jerram's Pollinarium, Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court 08:21 Greenwich + Docklands and Summer by the River — End dates 08:28 THE LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS — The end of the traditional cultural season 09:36 September 12 This Year — And why it's worth planning a trip around 09:43 Why the Proms Sell Out — Royal Albert Hall seats are privately owned real estate 10:17 The £8 Ticket Hack — 1,000 arena standing tickets released at 9:30am on the day 11:10 BLOCKBUSTER EXHIBITION OPENINGS 11:33 The Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum — The biggest cultural event in London this year 12:31 Why You Won't See It This Autumn — Hours-long queues, 2.5 million tickets, October's next release 13:30 The Membership Workaround — Two tickets with every British Museum membership 13:54 Nature and Us at the Natural History Museum — A Waterhouse gallery closed since 1943 reopens 14:19 Secret Treasures from Kyiv at the V&A — Opens September 14, free, running a year 14:38 9/11 at 25 at the Imperial War Museum — Bill Biggart's last photographs, free, from September 4 15:07 The Burberry Trench at the V&A — Opens September 21 15:17 Es Devlin at the Design Museum and How We Lost America at Hogarth's House 15:36 Curated by Today's Host — Lucinda's own exhibition, free, from September 22 15:40 Emma Reece at White Cube and Jenkin van Zyl at Somerset House 16:10 EXHIBITIONS ALREADY RUNNING 16:16 Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern — Jonathan is going later today 16:32 Schiaparelli at the V&A, Jurassic Oceans, Richard Dadd at the Royal Academy 17:02 Henry Moore at Kew, Ana Mendieta, Declaring Independence at the British Museum 17:29 Churchill the Painter at the Wallace Collection — And Jonathan's correction about the ticket price 17:45 WHAT'S CLOSING IN SEPTEMBER — LAST CHANCE 17:56 Monet and Renoir at the National Gallery — Closes September 15 18:09 Marilyn Monroe and Hepworth in Colour — Both close September 6 18:14 Banqueting House — Closes September 20, and Jonathan is booked in tomorrow 18:30 Buckingham Palace State Rooms — Closes September 27, booked back in February 18:52 The Queen's Fashion Exhibition — Sold out, but extended another six months 19:06 Whistler at Tate Britain, Star Trek at 60, Project a Black Planet 19:28 LIVE MUSIC — The Proms, Víkingur Ólafsson at Wigmore Hall, San Francisco Ballet at Sadler's Wells, Good Kid at the Roundhouse 19:59 THEATER & OPERA — The autumn season starts in earnest 20:08 Tilda Swinton in Man to Man at the Royal Court — Sold out, but day tickets released 20:27 Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at Stratford East — Michelle Dockery and Laura Aikman 20:48 The Last Ship at Drury Lane, Hay Fever, Into the Woods, Golden Boy, Don Giovanni 21:12 FAMILY EVENTS 21:17 London Transport Museum Depot Open Days at Acton — September 25 & 27 21:39 Mudlarking Weekend at London Museum Docklands — September 26–27 21:51 Free Saturday Poetry, Astronomy Photographer of the Year, Horniman Plant Fair 22:05 A Curated Slice — Where to find the full guide 22:20 THE WEATHER — Recorded from London, and what to actually expect 22:52 Everything Is Brown and Dead — London desperately needs the rain 23:12 A Typical September — Pleasant, cool, and it might rain, but rarely all day 23:36 What to Pack — Layers, walking shoes, light rain jacket, umbrella, sunscreen 23:59 IS SEPTEMBER A GOOD TIME TO VISIT? — Jonathan's verdict 24:22 The Case for September — Fewer crowds, kinder prices, glorious light 24:42 The Bayeux Tapestry as a Reason to Plan a 2027 Return Trip 24:52 Thanks to the Emery Walker Trust — And a reminder to book a tour 25:11 Where to Find Everything — The Londontopia events calendar 25:29 Wrap-Up — Friends of Anglotopia and signing off from London Video Version

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  Anglotopia Podcast | Discussing UK British Travel, History, Culture, London, British Slang, and More!

  Open Gates and Victoria Sponge – Inside Britain’s National Garden Scheme with Richard Claxton

  Aug 29, 202654 min

  In this episode of the Anglotopia Podcast, Jonathan Thomas is joined by Dr. Richard Claxton, Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme, for a conversation about one of the most quietly magical institutions in Britain. On weekends across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, ordinary people — and some rather extraordinary ones — throw open their garden gates and invite strangers in. You pay around six pounds, wander through someone's private paradise, and then sit down to homemade Victoria sponge and a cup of tea. Every penny goes to charity, most of it to nurses. Richard came to the role by an unusual route: a GP for 23 years in Tonbridge, he became a leading advocate of "green prescribing" — the idea that time in a garden can be genuine medicine — founded the charity Gardening4health, launched an NHS therapy garden, retrained as a garden designer specializing in healthcare spaces, and volunteered as a guide at Sissinghurst. He explains the real clinical evidence behind therapeutic horticulture, tells the story of Elsie Wagg and the 600 gardens that opened in 1927 to fund the Queen's Nurses, walks through how the scheme works today and how visitors can find and book gardens, describes the intensive care roof garden and the spinal unit gardens the charity funds, unpacks what makes an English garden English, tells the love story behind Sissinghurst, reveals his own favorite garden in the scheme, and — live on air — writes Jonathan a green prescription. Note: Cover image is Wordsworth Garden in Cumbria, which I don't think is actually in the scheme, but it is the prettiest picture of a garden I had! Links The National Garden Scheme National Garden Scheme — Official Website Find a Garden to Visit Who We Are & What We Do The National Garden Scheme App — iOS & Android NGS on Instagram Dr. Richard Claxton on Instagram — @richardclaxtongardens Beneficiary Charities Mentioned The Queen's Nursing Institute Macmillan Cancer Support Parkinson's UK Marie Curie Carers Trust Horatio's Garden — Gardens for Spinal Injury Centres Greenfingers Charity — Gardens for Children's Hospices Gardens Mentioned Sissinghurst Castle Garden — National Trust, Kent Knole, Sevenoaks — National Trust Also Mentioned Friends of Anglotopia Club Takeaways The National Garden Scheme is a charity, not a membership body — a network of around 3,500 private gardens across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands that open to the public on set days each year. Scotland has its own equivalent scheme. Entry is typically around six pounds, and there is almost always cake. The scheme was founded in 1927 by Elsie Wagg, the daughter of a wealthy stockbroking family, who sat on the committee funding the Queen's Nurses — a fledgling service of community district nurses struggling for money in the era before the NHS. Her idea was simple: get as many people as possible to open their gardens and charge the public a shilling. In the first year, 600 gardens opened and raised £8,000. Ninety-nine years later, the scheme has given away roughly £80 million, and currently distributes about £4 million every year. It is now the single biggest funder of many of Britain's major nursing and healthcare charities — including Macmillan Cancer Support, Parkinson's UK, Marie Curie, Carers Trust, hospices, and still, most enduringly, the Queen's Nurses. The charity is tiny in staff and vast in reach: only 13 paid employees, supported by around 600 volunteers who coordinate garden openings county by county across the country. Green social prescribing is not, as Richard is careful to stress, "mumbo jumbo." The evidence shows that ten sessions of therapeutic horticulture delivers benefit for moderate depression and anxiety roughly equivalent to ten sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy — at significantly lower cost — and roughly equivalent to a much longer course of SSRI antidepressants. Gardeners who grow their own produce also show lower rates of obesity, dementia, and several cancers. About half a million pounds a year goes specifically to the charity's Gardens and Health program. Projects include a roof garden on an intensive care unit in London — designed so that ventilated, sedated patients can be brought outside to feel sun and breeze, with all life-support equipment plugged into cupboards concealed within the flower beds — and Horatio's Garden, which builds and staffs gardens at all eleven UK spinal injury centres. Gardens are not selected by contest. Most owners approach the scheme themselves; occasionally the scheme approaches an exceptional garden. A county team member then visits to assess quality, access, parking, and catering arrangements, and to work out when in the year the garden looks its best. Beyond the scheduled open days, many gardens offer "by arrangement" visits — meaning if you see a garden you like the sound of but there's no date listed, you can simply contact the owner directly, explain you'll be in the area, and more often than not they'll say yes and bake you a cake. The classic English cottage garden — densely planted, lush, mixing vegetables and fruit with ornamental flowers timed to bloom in relay across the season — is changing under pressure from drought and hosepipe bans. Richard is seeing a marked shift toward Mediterranean-style planting, grasses, and drought-tolerant species. The National Garden Scheme's centenary falls in 2027. Only about 75 of the original 1927 gardens still open today, but the charity is aiming for 150 to 200 of them next year, alongside gala events, concerts and dinners in gardens, a traveling exhibition, show gardens at county shows, and a full impact report covering the charity's first hundred years. Soundbites "It was the dream ticket for me, because it combined both gardening and health and visiting gardens and garden design and people — and cake. I really am the cat that got the cream." — Richard on landing the job. "I would emphasize I'm not a complete hippie as a doctor. I'm not remotely new age. I was very conventional as a GP. Green social prescribing is simply a way of pointing out, in a holistic sense, a prescription that isn't necessarily in a packet of pills." — Richard on what green prescribing actually is. "Ten sessions will be equivalent in benefit to a course of cognitive behavioral therapy for the same amount of time, and it will cost a lot less. It's not mumbo jumbo. There is real evidence behind it." — Richard on the clinical case for therapeutic horticulture. "She said to her committee: why don't we get as many people as possible to open their gardens for charity and let the public in? And so in 1927, 600 gardens opened for the very first time and they charged a shilling a head." — Richard on Elsie Wagg's original idea. "If I went and saw a movie at a cinema, that would be between fifteen and twenty-five pounds. Or if I went to a large public garden, twenty, twenty-five. These are six pounds a head. And there's almost always cake." — Richard on the value proposition. "I'd literally not even got my feet under the desk and I was being asked to write checks for half a million pounds to these charities. It really brought home to me the value and the impact of what we do." — Richard on his first weeks in the job. "Patients who are effectively on life support machines, ventilated and sedated, can come up and feel the sun on their face and the breeze. They can look into the tree canopy. It's been designed so you can plug in all the equipment that keeps them alive into cupboards buried in the flower beds." — Richard on the intensive care roof garden the scheme part-funded. "All the best gardens are ones where there's a love story behind them. And Sissinghurst is the ultimate example of a love story garden for me." — Richard on why Sissinghurst is his favorite garden in the world. "They lived in squares, they painted in circles, and they loved in triangles." — Richard quoting the saying about the Bloomsbury set. "They set out the garden at the beginning of their married life with a wedding present ask for everyone who came to their wedding: a cutting, a small little plant of yew or box. And from those wedding presents they have grown the most extraordinarily beautiful topiary garden I've ever been in — with twelve-foot-high peacocks and dogs and chess pieces." — Richard on Balmoral Cottage, his favorite garden in the scheme. Chapters 00:21 Introduction — Open garden gates, Victoria sponge, and one of Britain's most charming institutions 01:47 Welcome, Richard — Recording on a bank holiday Monday 01:59 From GP to Garden Scheme — Sweet peas with grandad, gardening through junior doctor years, and a roundabout route 03:26 Twenty-Five Years as a Community Physician — Recognizing that lifestyle problems could respond to time in nature 04:25 Building the Path — A therapy garden for the NHS, founding a charity, and a garden design diploma for hospital spaces 05:00 The Dream Ticket — Gardening, health, gardens, design, people, and cake 05:27 What Is Green Prescribing? — And a firm assurance that Richard is not a hippie 06:19 How It Actually Works — Ten sessions of therapeutic horticulture, and how it compares to CBT and SSRIs 08:12 Preventative Healthcare — Why gardeners are thinner, eat better, and have lower rates of cancer and dementia 08:46 The Bigger Picture — Food security, climate, biodiversity, loneliness, and what gardens can connect 09:13 Volunteering at Sissinghurst — And why they wouldn't even give him a pair of clippers 10:14 What Is the National Garden Scheme? — 3,200 gardens, four nations, and a charity not a membership body 10:44 The Origins — Elsie Wagg, the Queen's Nurses, and 600 gardens in 1927 12:12 Ninety-Nine Years Later — How the formula works today 13:29 Six Pounds and a Slice of Cake — Lemon drizzle, Victoria sponge, and why it's such good value 13:45 Why People Come Back — Inspiration, holidays, meeting family halfway, and buying plants propagated on site 14:59 Not Just Stately Homes — Ordinary back gardens, group openings, and allotments 15:47 What Is an Allotment? — Richard explains a very British institution to an American audience 17:17 How a Garden Joins the Scheme — Not a contest; the county team visit; access, parking, catering and timing 17:38 Thirteen Staff, Six Hundred Volunteers — How a tiny charity achieves such enormous reach 18:36 Finding a Garden to Visit — The website, the app, booking online or paying at the gate 19:08 Is It Only One Weekend a Year? — No: set days across the season, planned around what's in bloom 20:17 "By Arrangement" Openings — How to get a bespoke private visit, and why they'll probably bake you a cake 21:20 Where the Money Goes — £80 million lifetime, £4 million a year, and the charities it funds 22:03 Why These Charities Exist — The NHS, community care, and the charitable infrastructure alongside it 23:43 The Biggest Funder — Hospices, Parkinson's nurses, Macmillan, spinal units, veterans, and the Queen's Nurses 24:39 Every Slice of Cake — The duality of generosity that runs through the whole scheme 25:38 Writing the Checks — Half a million pounds in the first two months on the job 26:03 A Casino in Indiana — Jonathan's tangent about local charitable giving 26:56 Who the Real Beneficiaries Are — Not the charities, but the British public 28:11 Leaving Patients After 23 Years — And why the impact of this job is greater than one-to-one care 29:07 The Gardens and Health Program — Half a million a year, and what it funds 30:18 The Intensive Care Roof Garden — Life support in a garden, and equipment hidden in the flower beds 31:35 Horatio's Garden — Gardens at all eleven UK spinal injury centres 32:06 Smaller Projects — A garden for teenagers with mental health problems in a deprived northwestern area 32:43 What Makes an English Garden English? — The cottage garden style and where it came from 33:53 A Changing Climate — Drought, hosepipe bans, crispy brown lawns, and the shift to Mediterranean planting 35:33 Why Sissinghurst? — All the best gardens have a love story 36:21 Vita and Harold — Knole, inheritance law, a ramshackle ruin, and the tower like Rapunzel's 37:36 A Brilliant Pair — Harold laid the bones, Vita did the planting 38:11 The Bloomsbury Set — Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Keynes, Eliot, and living in squares 39:52 What You'll Actually See — The White Garden, the moat, the herb garden, the lime walk, and the view from the tower 41:14 Lucky Not to Inherit — Why losing Knole gave the world Sissinghurst 41:39 The Centenary in 2027 — Gala events, concerts, dinners, exhibitions, and 200 original gardens reopening 43:40 Richard's Favorite Garden in the Scheme — Balmoral Cottage in Kent 44:41 A Wedding Present Garden — Cuttings of yew and box, and twelve-foot topiary peacocks 46:08 Jonathan Asks for a Green Prescription — Live on air, and slightly off script 46:37 Shinrin-yoku — What a two-hour walk in green space does to your heart rate and cortisol 48:03 Grow Your Own — Nutrition, plot to plate, and why supermarket sweetcorn disappoints 49:03 Gardening as Exercise — Why an hour or two of gardening equals half an hour in the gym 49:51 The Real Advice — Start with a walk; if you like it, get an allotment 50:14 Hadrian's Wall — Jonathan's training walks and what they've done for his health 50:48 Making It Stick — Why the hardest part is building it into your life, and why gardens are just outside your back door 52:09 Wrap-Up — Where to find the National Garden Scheme, the app, and Richard's own Instagram Video Version

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