On this full snow moon, Tom Muir has a fascinating fireside chat with Simon Heywood, Doctor of Philosophy and Senior Lecturer at University of Derby, who is also an authority on Arthurian stories and an elegant storyteller.

If you're inspired to do so, you can buy us a dram on Ko-fi, with our hearty thanks: https://ko-fi.com/orkneyology

Join the conversation to find out such things as ...

• Who was King Arthur? Was he a real person?
• The time when the English were unwelcome invaders who came into Britain by boat (ironically)
• What was the first written account of Arthur and his court?
• King Arthur, the national hero of Wales
• The French connection: where did Lancelot come from?
• Was Arthur an "English" king?
• What if such a magical thing as an honourable king really did happen?
• The tragedy when those trying to do right fail
• Cornwall and King Arthur
• The return of the king
• Glastonbury and Avalon
• The Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny
• The dark genius behind Arthur: Merlin and his terrible crimes
• Tennyson's act of evasion in his Arthurian vision, and how he was made a "freeman" of Kirkwall
• Vortigern's last stand; who keeps tearing down his tower? The story of the two drgons of Wales
• The sword in the stone - is it Excalibur?
• Morgan leFay
• Lot (Earl Lyot of Orkney?) and his wife, the powerful Morgause; Lot's sons, knights of the Round Table
• The moving circle of stones at Stonehenge
• Are any of the details based in historical fact?
• Camelot and Guinevere
• Mordred the "monster"
• Arthur's birth and the Questing Beast
• Who is in the boat, coming to fetch the wounded Arthur to take him to Avalon?

About Simon: https://shonaleigh.uk/about/simon-heywood/

Simon's books: https://www.waterstones.com/author/simon-heywood/1465389

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Tonight, Tom Muir and his wife Rhonda have a cozy winter storytelling session, with readings from Tom's books published with The History Press ... including his new Scottish Folk Tales of Love, gorgeously illustrated by artist Hester Aspland.

If you're inspired to do so, you can buy us a dram on Ko-fi, with our hearty thanks: https://ko-fi.com/orkneyology

Winter is for stories. As we round the bend of a new year, Tom will tell us some stories in their entirety, as well as sharing selected readings from his History Press books. So snuggle in and draw closer to the fire, even if it's an imaginary one. Happy New Year to you all, friends.

Along with readings from stories of sea witches, second sight, doomed lovers, the devil, lovers returned from the dead and runaway princesses ... full stories Tom will tell are:

• The Three Questions
• The Selkie's Revenge
• The Three Gifts

Mentioned in the episode:

Hjorliefur Helgi Steffanson: podcast episode 10; Ailsa Dixon: podcast episode 9 - https://www.orkneyology.com/orkneyology-podcast.html

The Green Man of Knowledge, told by Tom: https://www.orkneyology.com/tales-from-tom5.html

Tales for Troubled Times folktale storytelling archive: https://www.orkneyology.com/tales-from-tom.html

History Press books by Tom: https://thehistorypress.co.uk/contributor/tom-muir/

Anthologies: https://thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-anthology-of-scottish-folk-tales/

https://thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-anthology-of-scottish-folk-tales-volume-ii/

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On this December "cold"full moon we have a visit from a new friend, who recently visited us in Stromness: the creator of Morph, Creature Comforts, Wallace and Gromit and many more animation favorites. Please do forgive the less-than-perfect sound quality in the first half hour. We did our best, recording from a distance on a dreich night with interference from the rumbling ferry across the street. Such is life on a northerly island, but this chat was worth persisting with. We hope you agree!

If you're inspired to do so, you can buy us a dram on Ko-fi, with our hearty thanks: https://ko-fi.com/orkneyology

Tonight, Tom Muir and Peter Lord have a talk about these things and much more:

• Early days with good friend David Sproxton, and a fondness for plasticine - schoolboys on a kitchen table
• Ray Harryhausen inspirations
• Morph in Orkney and elsewhere: almost 50 years, and forever young
• A new career in advertising: fun and lucrative!
• Enter Nick Park, "brilliant and stubborn" genius
• The return of the evil penguin
• Academy Awards
• War Story
• Filming Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer video ... amongst decaying fish and chickens
• Chicken Run, plasticine on the big screen: The Great Escape ... with chickens
• Wallace and Gromit - when Gromit had a mouth!
• Curse of the Warerabbit
• Handmade, human animation in a world of AI
• And last but not least, Shaun the Sheep, who has "many more stories to tell".

Aardman's website: https://www.aardman.com/about/

Our deep thanks go to Fionn McArthur for permission to use the musical interludes between dropped calls to Peter. Fionn recorded these lovely peedie musical bits for us a few years ago to use in a story app set in the Orkney West Mainland landscape. You can find out more about the Orkney Foklore Trail app on Orkneyology.com: https://www.orkneyology.com/orkney-folklore-trail.html

Fionn has many more talents other than music. His professionalwebsite for his photography and film work is here:https://www.startpointmedia.co.uk/about-us

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