Marc’s Almanac

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Philip Larkin, To The Sea. "Everything crowds under the low horizon: Steep beach, blue water, towels, red bathing caps..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 4th June, 1940, Britain completes the miracle of Dunkirk, rescuing 338,226 stranded troops from France with an improvised flotilla of 800 boats. On this day: 4th June, 1910, Christopher Cockerell, the inventor of the hovercraft, is born in Cambridge. Music to wake you up – I Still Believe by Frank Turner Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Mark Jarman, Reminder. "You're here and God's in heaven..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 28th May, 1936, Alan Turing submits his paper On Computable Numbers, setting out the theoretical basis for modern computers On this day: 28th May, 1908, Ian Lancaster Fleming, the creator of James Bond, is born in London Music to wake you up – Good Day Sunshine by The Beatles Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Thom Gunn, The Hug. "I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 14th May, 1796, Edward Jenner inaugurates the science of vaccination by infecting his gardener's son with cowpox, protecting him from smallpox. And while the Covid-19 vaccines have understandably dominated this year's news, the successful trials of the first highly effective malaria vaccine by researchers from the University of Oxford has been another piece of enormously good news. Malaria currently kills 400,000 people every year. On this day: 14th May, 1771, Robert Owen is born in Newport, an important early voice for workers rights but also the father of English socialism, who refused to accept the failure of his more radical experiments Music to wake you up – It's All Coming Back To Me Now by Celine Dion Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Laurence Binyon, For The Fallen. "At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 7th May 1945, General Jodl signs Germany's unconditional surrender, ending the Second World War in Europe On this day: 7th May 1952, Geoffrey Dummer gives the first public talk laying out the idea of the integrated circuit, better known today as the microchip, and the basis for all modern computers Music to wake you up – We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Billy Collins, Today. "If ever there were a spring day so perfect, so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze that it made you want to throw open all the windows in the house..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 30th April 1506, the signing of the so-called Intercursus Malus, a notoriously uneven trade treaty between England and the Duchy of Burgundy On this day: 30th April 1602, the English Merlin, William Lilly, is born in Diseworth, Leicestershire Music to wake you up – Iko Iko by Justin Wellington Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Lord Macaulay, an extract from Horatius. "And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his Gods..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 16th April, 1953, the Queen launches the Royal Yacht, Britannia On this day: 16th April, 1889, Charles Chaplin is born in Walworth, London Music to wake you up – No I in Beer by Brad Paisley Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Ezra Pound, The Ballad of the Goodly Fere. "No capon priest was the Goodly Fere But a man o' men was he..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 2nd April, 2020, the world's recorded cases of Covid-19 passed one million. As of yesterday, thanks to an unprecedented effort, more than 31 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a vaccine. On this day: 2nd April, 1827, William Holman Hunt was born in Cheapside. A major pre-Raphaelite painter, his religious canvases such as The Scapegoat still resonate today Music to wake you up – Wade in the Water by Eva Cassidy Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by AE Housman. "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 26th March, 1953, Jonas Salk announces he has successfully tested an experimental polio vaccine on himself and his family. In less than a decade, thanks to mass vaccination, polio cases in the US alone fell from more than 57,000 a year to fewer than 200. Also on this day: 26th March, 1859, AE Housman was born in Bromsgrove. He became a superb classical scholar, but is best-known today for his poetry, especially the volume A Shropshire Lad Music to wake you up – Rock Island Line by Lonnie Donegan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a sonnet by William Shakespeare. "From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in everything..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 19th March, 1982, Argentines, claiming to be scrap metal dealers, land on South Georgia Island, the first manoeuvre in the Falklands War On this day: 19th March, 1813, David Livingstone is born in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire. After a childhood working 12 hour days in a mill, he became a medic, explorer, missionary and anti-slavery campaigner Music to wake you up – You're The One That I Want from the musical Grease Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Jorge Luis Borges, in a translation by Alastair Reid, The Just. "A man who cultivates his garden, as Voltaire wished. He who is grateful for the existence of music..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 12th March, 1710, Thomas Augustine Arne is born in Covent Garden. Arne made his name as a theatrical composer, and is chiefly remembered today for Rule, Britannia! and A-Hunting We Will Go. On this day: 12th March, 1881, Andrew Watson makes his international debut as the captain of Scotland. The first black person to play association football at the international level, Watson led his team to a seismic, 6-1 victory over England. Music to wake you up – The Best Day by Taylor Swift Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by John Clare, The Skylark. "Up from their hurry, see, the skylark flies, And o'er her half-formed nest, with happy wings Winnows the air..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 5th March 1756, Thomas Linley the Younger, the "English Mozart", was born in Abbey Green, Bath. Most of his music is lost, thanks to fires and his early death at 22. But not all: here's his Oh Guardian of that Sacred Land. On this day: 5th March, 1946, Winston Churchill gives his "Iron Curtain" speech in Missouri, also known as "The Sinews of Peace". Music to wake you up – You've Got a Friend in Me, performed by Randy Newman Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. "Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 26th February 1564, Christopher Marlowe, poet and dramatist, was born in Canterbury On this day: 26th February, 1797, the Bank of England introduced the first pound notes in lieu of gold sovereigns Music to wake you up – Jericho Blues by The Hillbilly Thomists Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Mary Oliver, The Summer Day. "Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear?..." From the show: Opening/closing music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 19th February, 1717, David Garrick is born in Hereford, in the Angel Inn. On this day: 19th February, 1910, Mary Mallon, known as "Typhoid Mary", is released from her first quarantine Music to wake you up – Do It by Maggie Rose Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Thomas Campion, Now Winter Nights Enlarge. "Now winter nights enlarge The number of their hours..." From the show: On this day: 12th February, 1554, Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen, is executed for treason. On this day: 12th February, 1567, Thomas Campion, poet, physician and composer, is born in London Music to wake you up – Where Did Our Love Go? by The Supremes Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, Evening, in a translation by Stephen Mitchell. "The sky puts on the darkening blue coat held for it by a row of ancient trees..." From the show: Opening music courtesy of Chillhop: Philanthrope, Leavv - What Was Before https://chll.to/d6b0ec27 On this day: 5th February, 1723, the great exponent of common sense John Witherspoon is born in Gifford, Scotland. Emigrating to America, he became President of the nascent Princeton University, and also a founding father of the United States. On this day: 5th February, 1811, George Prince of Wales becomes regent, due to the mental decline of his father King George III Music to wake you up – Be Yourself by Morcheeba Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day. "And so the Shortest Day came and the year died And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away..." From the show: Luke, 2:1;4-5 The winter solstice William's Truthful Christmas by Richmal Crompton On this day: 21st December, 1117, the birth of Thomas Becket, in Cheapside, London Music to wake you up – This Year by The Mountain Goats Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Thomas Hardy, The Darkling Thrush. "I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey..." From the show: Ecclesiastes 9:7 Ice in the Bedroom by PG Wodehouse On this day: 14th December, 1901, the first major ping pong tournament, for men and women, takes place in London's Royal Aquarium On this day: 14th December, 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team become the first to reach the South Pole, beating the doomed expedition of Captain Scott Music to wake you up – Santa Baby by Kylie Minogue Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Sara Teesdale, A Winter Blue Jay. "Crisply the bright snow whispered, Crunching beneath our feet..." From the show: 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 On this day: 7th December, 521, St Columba is born in Gartan, Ireland On this day: 7th December, 1732, the Theatre Royal holds its first performance. Today we know the venue as the Royal Opera House. Get a ticket for its online Christmas concert on 18th December by clicking here. Music to wake you up – Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas by Dolly Parton Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Rowan Williams, Advent Calendar. "He will come like last leaf’s fall. One night when the November wind..." From the show: Psalm 100: 4-5 Jeeves and the Yuletide Spirit by PG Wodehouse On this day: 30th November, 1016, Canute the Great claims the English throne On this day: 30th November, 1667, the great satirist Jonathan Swift is born in Dublin Music to wake you up – Be A Light by Thomas Rhett Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Wislawa Symborska, Children of Our Age. "All day long, all through the night, all affairs – yours, ours, theirs – are political affairs..." From the show: Ecclesiastes 11:4 On this day: 23rd November, 1644, Areopagitica, John Milton's great defence of the liberty of the press, is published On this day: 23rd November, 1963, the first episode of Doctor Who – An Unearthly Child – is broadcast, starring William Hartnell as The Doctor On this day: 23rd November, 1887, William Henry Pratt is born in Camberwell, better known as the actor Boris Karloff,  in his iconic role as Imhotep in The Mummy and as Frankenstein's monster for the English director James Whale Music to wake you up – Styrofoam by Ashley McBryde Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Mary Oliver, Wild Geese. "You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting...." From the show: Isaiah 45:8 The letters of Emily Eden On this day: 16th November, 2002, the first recorded case of SARS, in Guangdong, China. On this day: 16th November, 1961, Frank "Know what I mean, 'Arry?" Bruno, heavyweight WBC world boxing champion, is born in Wandsworth, London. A professional boxing career with five losses and 40 wins, 38 by knockout from his powerhouse punches Music to wake you up – Beers and Sunshine by Darius Rucker Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by John McCrae, In Flanders Fields. "In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row..." Donate to this year’s Poppy Appeal here. From the show: John 15:13 Operation Torch sees Allied forces successfully invade Vichy French territories in North Africa, 8th November, 1942 On this day: 9th November, 1985, Gary Kasparov becomes world chess champion aged just 22 On this day: 9th November, 1898, Owen Barfield, the philosopher and Inkling, friend and influence to CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, is born in London Music to wake you up – Starting Over by Chris Stapleton Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by WB Yeats, The Wild Swans at Coole. "The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry..." From the show: Psalm 69:33 Hot Water by PG Wodehouse On this day: 2nd November, 1996, the blues singer Eva Cassidy dies aged 33 2nd November was established as All Soul's Day a thousand years ago by Odilo of Cluny. A day to remember all those taken from us, and the talent of Nobby Stiles, Bobby Ball and Sir Sean Connery Music to wake you up – Together We'll be OK by Cannon and Ball Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by John Donne, one of his Holy Sonnets. "Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock..." From the show: Song of Solomon 2:14 The charge of the Light Brigade – here's a rare wax cylinder recording from 1890 of Tennyson reading his poem On this day: 26th October, 899, King Alfred the Great, educator, reformer and warrior, goes to glory On this day: 26th October, 1977, wild smallpox infects its final victim in Somalia – a hospital cook, Ali Maow Maalin Music to wake you up – Gimme Some Lovin' by the Spencer Davis Group Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Rudyard Kipling, The Way Through The Woods. "They shut the road through the woods Seventy years ago..." From the show: Proverbs 17:17 Boswell's Life of Johnson On this day: 19th October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrenders to George Washington at Yorktown, ending the American Revolutionary War On this day: 19th October, 1889, Arthur Satherley, country music pioneer, was born in Bedminster Music to wake you up – Living in a Ghost Town by The Rolling Stones Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Christian Wiman, All My Friends Are Finding New Beliefs. "All my friends are finding new beliefs. This one converts to Catholicism and this one to trees..." From the show: Psalm 59:16 On this day: 12th October, 1492, Christopher Columbus lands in the New World On this day: 12th October, 1915, the nurse and Anglican martyr Edith Cavell is executed by firing squad On this day: 12th October, 1845, the "angel of prisons" Elizabeth Fry passes away after a lifetime of philanthropy inspired by her Quaker faith Music to wake you up – Carry You Home by Ward Thomas Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by RS Thomas, A Day in Autumn. "Having looked up From the day’s chores, pause a minute..." From the show: Proverbs 2:8 Samuel Pepys sneaks a look backstage at Drury Lane in 1667 On this day: 5th October, 1919, the character actor Donald Pleasence is born in Worksop, the son of a stationmaster On this day: 5th October, 1930, the airship R101 crashes in France, killing the Air Minister and 47 others, ending the British dream of an airship fleet to connect the British Empire Music to wake you up – Christmas in Prison by John Prine Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Thomas Hardy, The Ruined Maid. "O 'Melia, my dear, this does everything crown! Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?..." From the show: Colossians 3:23 Just William's Luck by Richmal Crompton On this day: 28th September, 1066, the invasion force of William the Conqueror lands at Pevensey Bay On this day: 28th September, 1836, Thomas Crapper, sanitary engineer and promoter of indoor lavatories, is born in Yorkshire Music to wake you up – Why Don't We Just Dance? by Josh Turner Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Seamus Heaney, At The Wellhead. "Your songs, when you sing them with your two eyes closed As you always do, are like a local road We’ve known every turn of in the past..." From the show: Joel 2:23 On this day: 21st September, 1819, John Keats writes a letter from Winchester, mentioning that he has composed a new poem on the beauties of Autumn On this day: 21st September, 1538, the agents of King Henry VIII smash the shrine of St Swithin in Winchester. It will not be restored until 1962 On this day: 21st September, 1937, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien is published to immediate acclaim. Its sequel, The Lord of The Rings, would not follow until nearly 20 years later Music to wake you up – Coming Home, sung by Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie Country Strong Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Ted Hughes, September. "We sit late, watching the dark slowly unfold: No clock counts this..." From the show: Psalm 27:9 The Code of the Woosters, by PG Wodehouse – first serialised in Britain in the Daily Mail in 1938, beginning on this day On this day: 14th September, 1752, Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, leaping to September 14th from September 2nd. Years later, some were still campaigning for the return of their lost "eleven days". On this day: 14th September, 1804, the ornithologist John Gould was born in Lyme Regis. He would identify "Darwin's finches" and was also a celebrated illustrator of ornithological books, particularly famous for his work on the birds of Australia. Music to wake you up – Letter to You by Bruce Springsteen Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in East London, as the capital starts to wake up. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Louis MacNeice, an extract from Autumn Journal. "September has come, it is hers Whose vitality leaps in the autumn..." From the show: Lamentations 3:22-23 On this day: 7th September, 1895, the first games of what would become rugby league are played across the north of England On this day: 7th September, 1533, Elizabeth I is born, daughter of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII On this day: 7th September, 1940, the Blitz of London begins. It will continue until 2nd November Music to wake you up – If Ever I Stray by Frank Turner Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Rudyard Kipling, Dane-geld. "Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you cash to go away..." From the show: Matthew 24:27 The Gardener's Year, Karel Capek On this day: 10th August, 991 AD, the Anglo-Saxons failed to turn back a Viking invasion at the Battle of Maldon. The defeat leads King Ethelred to pay the first "Dane-geld" – 3,300kg of silver in this case – in an attempt to buy off the victors On this day, 10th August, 1856, William Willett was born in Farnham, the builder whose pamphlet proposing Daylight Saving Time would bring the idea to British attention Music to wake you up – Too Darn Hot, sung by Ella Fitzgerald Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Edward Thomas, How At Once. "How at once should I know, When stretched in the harvest blue..." From the show: 1 John 2:17 The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton On this day: 3rd August, 1914, Edward Grey says "the lamps are going out all over Europe" On this day: 3rd August, 1803, Joseph Paxton, designer of the Crystal Palace is born in Bedfordshire Music to wake you up – Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by RS Thomas, The Other. "There are nights that are so still that I can hear the small owl calling..." From the show: Ezra 10:4 Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo On this day: 27th July, 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh introduces tobacco (and potatoes) to the English court On this day: 27th July, 1857, Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge is born in Bodmin. He would rise from poor beginnings to the heights of the British Museum Music to wake you up – The Detectorists Theme by Johnny Flynn Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With an extract from Virgil's Georgics. "So all things are fated to slide towards the worst, and revert by slipping back..." From the show: Song of Solomon 5:2 A letter from John Keats to his brother Tom, written on a walking tour of Scotland On this day: 20th July, 1304, Edward I takes Stirling castle On this day: 20th July, 1804, Richard Owen, who gave dinosaurs their name, is born in Lancaster Music to wake you up – Biscuits by Kacey Musgraves Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Adam Zagajewski, Try to Praise the Mutilated World. "Remember the moments when we were together in a white room and the curtain fluttered..." From the show: Deuteronomy 31:8 The amazing (and perhaps even lucky) hummingbird hawk-moth The Mating Season by PG Wodehouse On this day: 13th July, 1568, Alexander Nowell, Dean of St Paul's, accidentally invents bottled beer on a fishing trip On this day: 13th July, 1793, John Clare, England's greatest nature poet, is born in Peterborough Music to wake you up – Going Nowhere by Frank Turner Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by AE Housman, an extract from Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff. "And malt does more than Milton can To justify God’s ways to man..." From the show: Proverbs, 15:29 The Gardener's Year, by Karel Capek and the Growing Stone of Blaxhall, Suffolk On this day: 6th July, 1348 – Pope Clement VI issues the first of two papal bulls stating that Jews were falsely accused of spreading the Black Death, then devastating Europe, and that they should be protected, not persecuted On this day: 6th July, 1934 – Fred Perry won the men's Wimbledon title from Jack Crawford in straight sets. It would be the first of three straight title victories at Wimbledon for Perry Music to wake you up – No I in Beer by Brad Paisley Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Vagabond. "Wealth I seek not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I seek, the heaven above And the road below me..." From the show: The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald Isaiah, 3:4-5 On this day: 29th June, 1613 – The Globe theatre, where some of William Shakespeare's greatest plays were first performed, burns down during a production of Henry VIII, or All is True On this day: 29th June, 1903 – Alan Blumlein is born in Hampstead, London. A brilliant electrical engineer, he invented stereo sound and pioneered TV and radio Music to wake you up – I've Got the Sexiest Accent in the World by Dominic Frisby Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by RS Thomas, Raptor. "You have made God small, setting him astride a pipette or a retort studying the bubbles..." From the show: Jeremiah 20:9 Sam the Sudden by PG Wodehouse On this day: 22nd June, 1633 – Galileo Galilei is forced to deny in public that the earth goes around the sun. By tradition, immediately afterwards he stamped his foot on the ground and said "eppur si muove": "nevertheless, it moves". On this day: 22nd June, 1675 – King Charles II establishes the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, along with the post of Astronomer Royal. Music to wake you up – Even Though I'm Leaving by Luke Combs Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by CP Cavafy, Waiting for the Barbarians. "What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today...." From the show: On this day: 15th June, 1215, King John sets his seal to Magna Carta, explicitly establishing the rule of law, governing the ruler and the ruled alike On this day: 15th June, 1911, Wilbert Vere Awdrey was born in Ampfield, Hampshire. An Anglican vicar and railway enthusiast, he would create Thomas the Tank Engine in 1943 to amuse his son Christopher who was ill with the measles. Music to wake you up – Revolution by The Beatles Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Dale Wimbrow, The Guy in the Glass. "When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf, And the world makes you King for a day..." From the show: Proverbs 18:21 Weekend Wodehouse: Ice in the Bedroom On this day: 12th June, 1381 – John Ball preaches to a crowd at Blackheath during the Peasants Revolt. He asks, "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" On this day: 12th June, 1802 – Harriet Martineau is born in Norwich. Her Illustrations of Political Economy dramatised the case for a free market in everyday terms Friday film: Band of Brothers Music to wake you up – In Heaven There Is No Beer by Flaco Jimenez Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Robert Frost, Mowing. "There was never a sound beside the wood but one, And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground..." From the show: Colossians 3:13 On this day: 11th June, celebrating Barnabas the apostle On this day: 11th June 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert receives letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I, giving him authority to colonise north America and begin the British empire The Love that Lays the Swale in Rows – an essay on technology based on Frost's poem Mowing Music to wake you up – Kokomo by The Beach Boys Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Bright is the Ring of Words. "Bright is the ring of words When the right man rings them..." From the show: Daniel 3:16-18 'William the Reformer' from William – Again, by Richmal Crompton On this day: 10th June 1540, Thomas Cromwell is arrested and stripped of property and titles at the orders of King Henry VIII On this day, 10th June 1921, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh is born in Corfu Music to wake you up – Sunshine by Bonnie Tyler Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Hilaire Belloc, Tarantella. "Do you remember an inn, Miranda? Do you remember an inn?..." From the show: Matthew 6:14 St Ignatius of Loyola, author of the Spiritual Exercises and the evening Examen ritual On this day: 9th June, 597 – St Columba dies, warrior saint, Scottish evangelist and founder of the abbey of Iona On this day: 9th June, 1549 – the Church of England adopts the Book of Common Prayer Music to wake you up – Homemade by Jake Owen Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Stephen Spender, The Pylons. "The secret of these hills was stone, and cottages Of that stone made..." From the show: Isaiah, 1:7 On this day: 8th June, 1949 – George Orwell publishes his novel of technological totalitarianism, 1984 On this day: 8th June, 1955 – Sir Tim Berners-Lee OM, inventor of the worldwide web, is born in London Music to wake you up – Poor Wayfaring Stranger by The Hillbilly Thomists Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Ben Jonson. "It is not growing like a tree In bulk doth make Man better be..." From the show: Exodus 4: 10-12 Weekend Wodehouse: Something Fresh, a Blandings novel On this day: 5th June, 1833 – Ada Lovelace meets Charles Babbage for the first time On this day: 5th June, 1723 – Adam Smith is baptised in Kirkcaldy, Fife Friday film: Groundhog Day Music to wake you up – Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, an extract from Maud. "Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand, Like some of the simple great ones gone..." From the show: Proverbs 15:1 On this day: 4th June, 1927 – play begins in the first Ryder Cup On this day: 4th June, 1940 – Winston Churchill gives perhaps his famous speech, "We shall fight on the beaches" Music to wake you up – The Next Storm by Frank Turner Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Felix Dennis, An English Light. "9:45 on a fine June night, I watch from the window and write and write..." From the show: 2 Corinthians, 3:2-3 William – The Dictator, by Richmal Crompton On this day: 3 June, 1989 – the Tiananmen Square massacre begins. It will see up to four thousand pro-democracy activists shot, bayoneted and deliberately crushed to death beneath the treads of tanks On this day: 3 June, 1162 – Thomas a Becket is consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury. His murder eight years later, by men who believed they were following the will of the king, would make Thomas a saint whose veneration would last for centuries. Music to wake you up – Big Rock Candy Mountain, sung by Harry McClintock Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Thomas Hardy, Drummer Hodge. "They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest Uncoffined – just as found..." From the show: A Month in the Country by JL Carr On this day: 2 June, 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, remarkably similar in its ceremonial to that of King Edgar, which took place on 3 June, 973, almost a thousand years earlier. On this day: 2 June, 1840, Thomas Hardy, poet and novelist was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset Music to wake you up – Dancing Queen by Abba Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree. "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made..." From the show: On this day: 1st June, 1785, King George extends a grudging hand of friendship to John Adams, first US ambassador to the Court of St James. On this day: 1st June, 61, the defeat of the Boudiccan revolt by Suetonius Paullinus (more on Rendham's head of Claudius) On this day: 1st June, 1907, Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine was born in Earlsdon, Coventry Music to wake you up – Bring a Little Water, Sylvie by Lonnie Donegan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Philip Larkin, an extract from The Whitsun Weddings. "All afternoon, through the tall heat that slept For miles inland, A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: "Honeysuckle Cottage" from Meet Mr Mulliner On this day: 29th May, 1940 – the evacuation of Dunkirk continued On this day: 29th May, 1953 – Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Everest Friday film: Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone Music to wake you up – The House is Rockin' by Stevie Ray Vaughan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by TS Eliot, and extract from East Coker. "I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing..." From the show: Silas Marner by George Eliot On this day: 28th May, 1883 – the architect of Portmeirion, Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis is born in Gayton, Northamptonshire On this day: 28th May, 1936 – Alan Turing submits his groundbreaking paper On Computable Numbers, aged just 24 Music to wake you up – Hand in my Pocket by Alanis Morissette Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Christian Wiman, Prague. "When I was learning words                         and you were in the bath there was a flurry of small birds and in the aftermath..." From the show: Poetry by the remarkable Christian Wiman Marilynne Robinson's prize-winning novel Gilead On this day: 27th May, 1679 – the Habeas Corpus act guarantees English citizens against arbitrary arrest On this day: 27th May, 1897 – John Cockcroft is born in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. He would split the atom and pioneer nuclear power Music to wake you up – Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by ee cummings, i thank You, God. "i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees..." From the show: Backpacking with the Saints by Belden Lane On this day: 26th May, 604 – the death of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury On this day: 26th May, 1868 – the last public hanging in England sees the execution of Michael Barrett for his part in the Clerkenwell explosion, despite questions over the strength of the evidence against him Music to wake you up – 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by GK Chesterton, The Rolling English Road. "Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode, The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: Thank You, Jeeves – in which Bertie and Jeeves struggle over the master's banjolele habit On this day: 22nd May, 1945, the RAF drops the first issue of The Flying Hollander, a propaganda newspaper delivered by air to the occupied Dutch, keeping them informed of the progress of the war. Friday film: Local Hero, starring Burt Lancaster Music to raise a glass to – It's Five O'Clock Somewhere by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, A Walk. "My eyes already touch the sunny hill. going far beyond the road I have begun..." From the show: Warlight by Michael Ondaatje On this day: 21st May, 1894, Queen Victoria opens the world's longest river navigation canal, the Manchester Ship Canal On this day: 21st May, 1602, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold of Otley Hall, Suffolk, sights an unexplored coastline covered in wild grapes and names it Martha's Vineyard in memory of his daughter who had passed away Music to wake you up – Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with extra historical tidbits and links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a poem by Alcuin, The School of York. "To some he made the grammar understood, And poured on others rhetoric's copious flood..." From the show: Just William by Richmal Crompton Remembering Alcuin of York, who died May 19th, in the year 804. Listen to the BBC's In Our Time episode on Alcuin. On this day: 20 May, 1772 – William Congreve, second Baronet, was born, inventor of the Congreve rocket Music to wake you up – Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With an extract from Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats. "I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs..." From the show: Dunstan by Conn Iggulden On this day: 19th May, 988 – The death of Dunstan, politician, priest, silversmith and scholar, who pulled the devil by the nose with red-hot tongs On this day: 19th May, 1649 – England is declared a Commonwealth and will remain a republic for 11 years Music to wake you up – Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. Sign up at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com With a sonnet by William Shakespeare. "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state..." From the show: Wilding: The return of nature to a British farm by Isabella Tree On this day: 18 May 1742, Lionel Lukin, inventor of the "unsinkable" lifeboat born in Great Dunmow, Essex On this day: 18 May 1830, Edwin Beard Budding, inventor of the lawnmower, goes into business with John Ferrabee in Stroud, Gloucestershire to produce lawnmowers commercially Music to wake you up – When it Rains it Pours by Luke Combs Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Sit back and enjoy five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by Edgar Guest, The Things That Haven't Been Done Before. "The things that haven’t been done before, Those are the things to try..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: a visit to Blandings castle with Summer Lightning On this day: May 15, 1718, James Puckle registers the first patent for a machine gun On this weekend: May 16-17, 1943, Operation Chastise, better-known as the Dam Busters raid Friday film: The Dam Busters Music to wake you up – Happy Does by Kenny Chesney Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Sit back and enjoy five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Pied Beauty. "Glory be to God for dappled things – For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow..." From the show: The Middle Years, Henry James Gonio castle, resting place of St Matthias the apostle On this day: May 14, 1796, Edward Jenner tests the world's first vaccine (Bonus: the always-excellent In Our Time on Jenner and immunisation) Music to wake you up – On the Sunny Side of the Street sung by Frank Sinatra Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Sit back and enjoy five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by Rudyard Kipling, If. "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you..." From the show: Winston Churchill takes over as Prime Minister in 1940 On this day in 1842, Arthur Sullivan, composer of The Pirates of Penzance and Onward Christian Soldiers is born  On this day in 1914, RE "Tip" Foster, the only man to captain England at cricket and football, dies aged 36 Music to wake you up – The Major-General's Song by Gilbert and Sullivan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Sit back and enjoy five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by George Meredith, Invitation to the Country. "Cast off the yoke of toil and smoke As Spring is casting winter's grey..." From the show: William Wilberforce begins his 18-year campaign to end the slave trade in Parliament King John takes a fateful step down the road to Magna Carta Music to wake you up – One Mint Julep by Louis Prima (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Sit back and enjoy five minutes of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by Lord Byron, The Waltz. "Waltz—Waltz alone—both legs and arms demands, Liberal of feet, and lavish of her hands..." From the show: The Great Exhibition, 1851 The arrival of the waltz in England The assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval Byron on the public scandal of the waltz Music to wake you up – I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair by George Jones (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and please keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Take five minutes for a dose of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by Charles Larcom Graves, Railway Rhymes. "When books are pow'rless to beguile And papers only stir my bile, For solace and relief I flee To Bradshaw or the A. B. C., And find the best of recreations In studying the names of stations..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: The Code of the Woosters Mother Julian of Norwich, author of The Revelation of Divine Love, the earliest surviving book in English written by a woman Victory in Europe, 1945 Railway Rhymes, from Punch, 1916 Friday night movies: Coco from Pixar and The Straight Story Music to wake you up – When This Lousy War is Over sung by The Fitzrovia Chorus (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Take five minutes for a dose of civilised calm, recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With the opening of Robert Browning's poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin. "Rats! They fought the dogs, and killed the cats..." From the show: Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household HMS Victory, launched today in 1765 Robert Browning The Pied Piper of Hamelin Music to wake you up – Bluebird by Miranda Lambert (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm recorded in the peace of the English countryside. With a poem by RS Thomas, Ninetieth Birthday. "You go up the long track That will take a car, but is best walked..." From the show: Anne Boleyn's last days The battle of Edington, 878 The world's first postage stamp, the penny black Collected poems of RS Thomas Music to wake you up – I Still Believe by Frank Turner (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm. With a poem by William Wordsworth, Nuns Fret Not. "Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room; And hermits are contented with their cells..." From the show: The Peregrine by JA Baker Robert "Black Bob" Crauford Relive Amy Johnson's record-making solo flight to Australia with a daily podcast Music to wake you up – Lovely Day by Bill Withers (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm. With a poem, The Quiet Life by Alexander Pope. "Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound..." From the show: All Among The Barley by Melissa Harrison Melissa's podcast, The Stubborn Light of Things The Carthusian martyrs of London Rhode Island is the first American colony to declare independence Music to wake you up – In The Jailhouse Now by The Soggy Bottom Boys (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at https://marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With an extract from Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. "The tangled hedgerows, where the cows push out Impatient horns and tolerant churning mouths..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse – Uncle Fred in the Springtime The tomb of Saints Philip and James the Less The Act of Union, 1707 Friday film: Seabiscuit Music to wake you up – Over The Rainbow sung by Eva Cassidy (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Theo Dorgan, The Promised Garden. "There is a garden where our hearts converse, At ease beside clear water, dreaming..." From the show: Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village by Ronald Blythe – also a wonderful film John Wilkes and Liberty Jerry Lordan, who wrote Wonderful Land for The Shadows, was born today in 1934 Celebrate Walpurgisnight with Cunning Folk Music to wake up to – Summer Is Icumen In sung by the Oxford Girls' Choir (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, Everyone Sang. "Everyone suddenly burst out singing; And I was filled with such delight..." From the show: Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham Catherine of Siena The 2011 Royal Wedding Music to wake up to – One Love by Bob Marley (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Percy Shelley, Ozymandias. "I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert..." From the show: The Mutiny on the Bounty Captain Cook's landing place at Botany Bay The Sanctuary of Peter Chanel, Futuna Island Wild Earth virtual safaris Music to wake up to – Living in a Ghost Town by The Rolling Stones (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem translated by Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. "Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repentance fling..." From the show: Fitzgerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Why Paradise Lost matters, and In Our Time on John Milton A Vindication of the Rights of Women The Alde Valley Spring Festival Music to wake up to – Just a Closer Walk With Thee by The Hillbilly Thomists (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by T.S. Eliot, Portrait of a Lady. "Now that lilacs are in bloom She has a bowl of lilacs in her room..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: Joy in the Morning Halley's comet, which menaced the skies in 1066, taken as a portent of the Norman Yoke. John Graunt, father of epidemiology Pro Corda's Piano Sanctuary, live from Leiston Abbey, every Friday at 7pm, on Soundcloud Music to wake up to – Wash Your Hands by Roaring Lion (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Happy St George's Day. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Rudyard Kipling, The Glory of the Garden. "Our England is a garden that is full of stately views, Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues..." From the show: The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett The tomb of St George, in Lod and Winston Churchill's wartime aeroplane, Ascalon Why is Shakespeare so great? Music to wake up to – Making of a Man by Steeleye Span (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Norman MacCaig, Summer Farm. "Straws like tame lightnings lie about the grass And hang zigzag on hedges..." From the show: Figurehead of the Sirius in Hull Maritime Museum, and Around the World in 80 Days Phil May's groundbreaking cartoons Heaven in Ordinary, Malcolm Doney's Something Understood Music to wake up to – Spring, from the Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite, by Paul Reade (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by William Shakespeare, John of Gaunt's speech from Richard II. "This royal throne of kings, this sceptr'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars..." From the show: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, just one of the remarkable novels from her richly-talented family The Single Petal of a Rose, from Duke Ellington's Queen's Suite Nub.news – hyperlocal news sites around the UK, sharing Marc's Almanac on its Suffolk sites for Felixstowe and the Shotley Peninsula A song to wake up to – We'll Meet Again, sung by Johnny Cash (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm, and keep sending in your messages and requests. You can leave a voice message at https://anchor.fm/marc-sidwell/message. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by a 9th-century Irish monk, Pangur Ban. "I and Pangur Ban my cat, 'Tis a like task we are at..." From the show: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett John Halifax, Gentleman by Dinah Craik Leslie Phillips: "Ding Dong!" The White Cat and the Monk Art History at Bedtime, read by Dr Bendor Grosvenor A song to wake up to – The Bones, by Maren Morris (Listen to the full playlist on YouTube) Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, the opening of his prologue to The Canterbury Tales. "When April's gentle rains have pierced the drought Of March right to the root..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: The Aunt and the Sluggard The Canterbury Tales Henry Vaughan and Philip K Dick A Canterbury Tale, Powell and Pressburger's meditation on what it means to be English in wartime The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Songs to wake up to – The Doobie Brothers' Listen to the Music Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Rudyard Kipling, Norman and Saxon. "My son," said the Norman Baron, "I am dying, and you will be heir To all the broad acres in England that William gave me for share... From the show: The Pilgrim's Progress An interview with Sir Isaac Newton Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum and hot chocolate salesman The history of Rudyard Kipling's history poem, Norman and Saxon Roots, by Show of Hands Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by William Wordsworth, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. "I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills.." From the show: Dorothy Wordsworth and her Journal Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language Amelia Edwards and the Egypt Exploration Society Carry You Home, by Ward Thomas Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Robert Frost, The Tuft of Flowers. "I went to turn the grass once after one Who mowed it in the dew before the sun..." From the show: Recreations of a Country Parson Virtual tour of the Pitt Rivers museum, Oxford University Dan Dare and The Eagle – here's the first-ever cover Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight?, sung by Lonnie Donegan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Alfred Joyce Kilmer, Trees. "I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree..." From the show: The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis, which contains the sequence where Aslan sings Narnia to life Beowulf, in a new translation by Seamus Heaney Tim Brooke-Taylor, singing one song to the tune of another Sir Stirling Moss The Book of Numbers, by John Conway The Best Is Yet To Come, by Bob Dylan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by George Herbert, Love, iii. "Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back Guilty of dust and sin..." From the show: Weekend Wodehouse: Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey Save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry The half-forgotten genius of William Hazlitt Friday night films: The Secret of Roan Inish and I Know Where I'm Going July Skies, See Britain by the Train (Pevsner version) Music to wake up to: If You're Going Through Hell (Just Keep Going), Rodney Atkins Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely Easter weekend.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Edward Thomas, Adlestrop. "Yes. I remember Adlestrop..." From the show: The Cottage Garden The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer George Peacock, mathematical reformer Easter services at St Bartholomew the Great: available from Thursday at 7pm, Good Friday 2.30pm, Saturday 7pm and Easter Sunday at 11am. Lord, I hope this day is good, Lee Ann Womack Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by William Blake, The Tyger. "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night..." From the show: Blake's illustrated poem, The Tyger The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White 12th-century sword from the Battle of Fornham Winchester cathedral When I Get to Heaven, by John Prine Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Christina Rossetti, The Lambs of Grasmere. "Day after day, night after night, From lamb to lamb the shepherds went..." From the show: Sutton Hoo on Twitter, @NT_SuttonHoo The Best Seat in the House, from the Not Forgotten Association Tori Amos, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, from the Good Omens TV series Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Emily Dickinson, 'Hope'  is the thing with feathers. "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul..." From the show: Three Men in a Boat Lost in the Middle by Catherine McGrath Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Robert Browning, Home Thoughts, From Abroad. "Oh, to be in England Now that April's there..." From the show: Uncle Dynamite Discipline, by George Herbert Return of the Pink Panther A Canterbury Tale It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Philip Larkin, The Trees. "The trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said..." From the show: Radar history at Orford Ness and Bawdsey. Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets Melody Gardot, Morning Sun Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by William Wordsworth, Upon Westminster Bridge. "Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty..." From the show: William Harvey's demonstration rod The Habit of Art available to stream Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by John Donne, The Sun Rising. "Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us..." From the show: The Detectorists Frank Turner, Going Nowhere Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here’s five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a moment from Wind in the Willows and Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins. "Nothing is so beautiful as Spring – When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush..." From the show: Stream The Wind in the Willows at willowsmusical.com Play games like Sushi Go with friends far and near at boardgamearena.com Donate to feed hard-pressed doctors and nurses at mealsforthenhs.com Workin' Man's PhD Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here’s five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With some weekend Wodehouse and John Clare's On a Lane in Spring. "A Little Lane, the brook runs close beside And spangles in the sunshine while the fish glide swiftly by..." From the show: The Custody of the Pumpkin Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth It is Well With My Soul, performed by a virtual cellphone choir in Nashville Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here’s five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With John Milton's On His Blindness. "They also serve who only stand and wait." From the show: "Learning in Wartime" by CS Lewis The Gilgamesh Flood Tablet, first translated by George Smith @crcuthbert @seaskycraster (SeaWindowCraster) Rock Island Line, sung by Lonnie Donegan Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Happy new year from Suffolk, England. It’s Lady Day and here’s five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With an extract from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. "Both the ground and the groves put on green garments; Birds begin to build, and brightly sing" From the show: In Our Time on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight NHS Volunteer Responders How Can I keep From Singing, sung by Eva Cassidy Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by John Betjeman, Seaside Golf. "How straight it flew, how long it flew, It clear'd the rutty track..." From the show: Live at the Abbey from Pro Corda Machineries of Joy by British Sea Power Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by Brother Richard Hendrick, OFM, Lockdown. "The sky is clearing, Spring is coming, And we are always encompassed by Love..." From the show: Brother Richard on Facebook The Royal Opera House on YouTube Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm to start your day right. With a poem by RS Thomas, The Bright Field. "I have seen the sun break through to illuminate a small field..." From the show: St Bartholomew the Great's services on YouTube The Ash Tree read by Robert Lloyd Parry Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

Hello from Suffolk, England. Here's five minutes of civilised calm from the English countryside to start your day right. With a poem about Alcuin of York by Siegfried Sassoon.  "At peace in my tall-windowed Wiltshire room, (Birds overheard from chill March twilight's close) I read, translated, Alcuin's verse..." From the show: The St Cuthbert Gospel Tom Holland on St Cuthbert from St Bartholomew the Great In Our Time on Alcuin of York Made in England by The Shires Sign up to receive email alerts and show notes with links when a new episode goes live at marcsalmanac.substack.com Please share this with anyone who might need a touch of calm. If you like Marc's Almanac please do leave a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps new listeners to find me. Have a lovely day.

However you start your day, add a bite-sized serving of civilised calm from Suffolk, England. With a poem by John Masefield: “Epilogue”.