Absolute Units
The Museum of English Rural Life podcast. We're exploring the fascinating, surprising, and moving backstories of our collections, to tell the story of the English countryside.
Podcasting since 2025 • 20 episodes
Absolute Units
Latest Episodes
Jane Austen: How to Spot a Wrong'un (with Paddy Bullard and Isabel Hughes)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every podcast about the history of the English countryside must do an episode on Jane Austen.In the first of two conversations, Joe and Ollie are joined by Professor Paddy Bullard (University o...
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46:50
Contested Countryside (with George Monbiot), pt. 2
How does the history of enclosure surface in England today and in Britain's former colonies? How can we de-enclose to create access for all?In this episode, Joe and Ollie continue last time's conversation with the legendary author and ac...
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25:43
Contested Countryside (with George Monbiot), pt. 1
Throughout history people have pitted life in the city against the countryside, comparing urban corruption with an innocent rural idyll.Where does this comparison come from? What is its relevance today? And how do we resist these ideas t...
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33:36
Death, Rebirth, and Scooby Doo (with Mark Norman)
Pumpkins, carved. Candles, lit. Units, absolute. Welcome to a special Halloween bonus podcast by The Museum of English Rural Afterlife.This time, ghosts Ollie and Joe welcome fiend-of-the-show Mark Norman (author, host of the Folklore Po...
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51:47
Queer Rural Lives: Love Letters and Farm Papers (with Tim Jerrome)
In our last episode, Tim Jerrome (now, University of Brighton; previously, The MERL) shared with Joe and Ollie how he's using The MERL archives to research queer lives and same-sex relationships in England's rural past.Today, Tim shares ...
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37:56
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