Best Lloyd Shepherd Podcasts (2024)

1
John Buchan’s THE 39 STEPS Part 2: hit the beach at North Foreland, Kent, in search of dastardly German spies 51:14

12M ago51:14

51:14

In Part Two of our Buchan-based adventure we switch from Scotland to the Kent coast. We’re in search of the eponymous 39 steps. But first we need to locate Trafalgar House where German secret agents are hiding out. We end up at North Foreland, between the homes of a German-hating lord and a German-loving marquess. And, yes, we did find some steps! …

1
John Buchan’s THE 39 STEPS Part 1: experience the thrill of a chase through Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland 51:27

12M ago51:27

51:27

It’s an iconic moment in British literature – John Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay running across a moor with police, secret agents and an airplane all trying to hunt him down. But is it based on any kind of reality? We head for the Scottish Lowlands to find out, taking in abandoned train lines, the site of a car crash and a very remote farmhouse. Get…

1
Margot Bennett’s THE WIDOW OF BATH Part Two: a North Foreland discovery 58:53

12M ago58:53

58:53

We return to Ramsgate in Kent with Margot Bennett’s brilliant thriller THE WIDOW OF BATH as our only guide. The book was published in 1952, the same year as rock and roll had its birthday. We’re looking for a hat shop and a suspicous employment agency and we’re pretty confident we’ve found both. We date the book’s action to 1951 with some of our us…

1
Margot Bennett’s THE WIDOW OF BATH Part One: Shady goings-on in Ramsgate 48:59

1y ago48:59

48:59

A young man with a questionable background is sitting in a small hotel by an unnamed harbour in England. He is ostensibly writing a review. Behind him he hears a party of unseen people come into the hotel restaurant. He knows their voices. They are people from his past. One of them, he had a love affair with. She is now married to a judge. The judg…

1
Geoffrey Household’s ROGUE MALE Part 2: pursuit across Dorset – tracking down a secret holloway-hideaway 51:09

1y ago51:09

51:09

In Part Two we get out of town and attempt to bury ourselves in the Dorset countryside. We start at Dorchester, track down the narrator’s fake hideaway in the Sydling valley and then search for the famous ‘holloway’ where our hero tries to evade his pursuers. Is it a real place? Listen now to find out. Get early access to new episodes and bonus con…

1
Geoffrey Household’s ROGUE MALE Part 1: pursuit across London – Hurlingham steps to the Aldwych tube 49:38

1y ago49:38

49:38

We take the classic 1939 thriller out for ride, starting precisely where the book’s hard-boiled narrator makes land in London at Hurlingham. We track down his hotel off the Cromwell Road and then re-enact a tense chase around Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Holborn, ending in a (fictional) death at a defunct London Underground station. Get early access to…

1
AA Milne’s WHEN WE WE VERY YOUNG Part 2: the ghost of a golf course, and a swan called Pooh 49:15

1y ago49:15

49:15

It’s the second part of our adventure with AA Milne’s astonishingly popular book of verse for children, WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG. And, like Milne himself often was, we’re back on a golf course – or at least, we’re in where an Addington golf course used to be, and we’re wondering if Milne played there. We also visit somewhere rather special – Decoy C…

1
AA Milne’s WHEN WE VERY YOUNG Part 1: down to Buckingham Palace with Alice 52:54

1y ago52:54

52:54

AA Milne’s book of poetry for children, WHEN WE VERY YOUNG, was stupefyingly successful – it may be the most successful volume of poetry ever published. In the first part of our adventure, we discover bears everywhere: waiting for us to step on cracks in the pavement outside the Chelsea home where AA Milne lived with his wife Daphne and, of course,…

1
Alice Oswald’s DART Part 2: from Buckfast Abbey to the Mew Stone via a derelict dairy and a boatyard 52:00

1y ago52:00

52:00

In Part Two of our adventures along the River Dart, we wonder whether the poet Alice Oswald genuinely walked the whole of the river from source to sea, thus producing her magnificent 2002 work ‘Dart’. We definitely believe she sat by the Totnes weir and probably saw seals on the Mew Stone. But did she really note down the names of all those boats i…

1
Alice Oswald’s DART Part 1: Dartmoor to Buckfastleigh on foot, in a car – and on a steam train! 45:57

1y ago45:57

45:57

Alice Oswald’s long poem ‘Dart’ provides a journey in verse from the source of the River Dart all the way to the sea. We take the same journey using the poem as our guide. We hope to unlock our inner poets and verify all the locations mentioned in ‘Dart’. We certainly had a lovely day out - on the moor and on a steam train! Get early access to new …

1
Edward Thomas’s IN PURSUIT OF SPRING Part Two: From Rudge to the Quantocks 54:53

1y ago54:53

54:53

We’re back with the second part of our journey with Edward Thomas’s IN PURSUIT OF SPRING, the book which turned this frustrated critic and essayist into a major poet, with the advice and assistance of his great friend Robert Frost. In this episode we continue our journey into Somerset, following the exact route that Thomas took. On the way we visit…

1
Edward Thomas’s IN PURSUIT OF SPRING Part One: From Clapham to Salisbury 53:44

1y ago53:44

53:44

In 1913, Edward Thomas had not yet written a line of poetry, but on Good Friday he set off on a bicycle journey from his parents’ home in south London to the Quantock Hills of Somerset. He intended to write a book, the kind of ‘country notes’ affair he had turned his hand to before, but what resulted was something extraordinary – a book-length piec…

1
Nell Dunn’s UP THE JUNCTION Part 2: drill rap, sweets and trains on the Winstanley Estate, Battersea 46:59

1y ago46:59

46:59

We’re using Nell Dunn’s ‘Up The Junction’ to guide us through the notorious York & Winstanley estate in Battersea. We’re hoping to locate an old sweet factory and Nell Dunn’s house – and then make it safely out to the train station. Get early access to new episodes and bonus content Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

1
Nell Dunn’s UP THE JUNCTION Part 1: from glamorous Chelsea to industrial Battersea 50:54

1y ago50:54

50:54

In 1959, Nell Dunn gave up her privileged lifestyle to live in smelly, poverty-stricken North Battersea. We use her book ‘Up The Junction’ to navigate our way into her world and through the Battersea of today. Get early access to new episodes and bonus content Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

1
Hanif Kureishi’s THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA Part Two: Go West, Young Man 49:53

1y ago49:53

49:53

For part two of our adventure with Hanif Kureishi’s 1990 masterpiece THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA we leave South London behind us and head for more exotic climes – viz, West Kensington and Hammersmith in the west of the city. We find the flat where Karim, his father the Buddha, and Eva move into a flat above Thin Lizzy’s tour manager, just round the corn…

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Hanif Kureishi’s THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA Part One: From Bromley to Penge 53:14

1y ago53:14

53:14

For the second of our trilogy of episodes featuring books that came up from the depths of South London, we’re taking a walk with Hanif Kureishi’s 1990 masterpiece THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA. We begin in Bromley, birthplace and home of the book’s hero Karim (aka Creamy) and his father, the eponymous Buddha – and also the childhood home of none other tha…

1
Angela Carter’s WISE CHILDREN Part 2: drinking, dancing & writing in Clapham, London 45:45

1+ y ago45:45

45:45

In Part Two, we continue to map out the South London world of ‘Wise Children’’s fictional characters. We find a haberdashers on Clapham High Street, above which Dora and Nora might have learned to dance. We stop in at the Coach and Horses pub on Acre Lane - Dora’s local. And we visit Angela Carter’s house in Clapham where this magnificent tale of 2…

1
Angela Carter’s WISE CHILDREN Part 1: the lost theatres, music halls & cinemas of South London 49:31

1+ y ago49:31

49:31

This magical novel about two ageing ‘hoofers’ of London SW2 is a great excuse to get out into Lambeth, South London and hunt down the location of amazing old theatres like the massive Kennington Theatre and the Brixton Empress. We start at one of the great homes of Shakespeare performance in South London – The Old Vic. And end up in a terraced stre…

1
Ruth Rendell’s FROM DOON WITH DEATH Part Two: The body in the woods 46:42

1+ y ago46:42

46:42

In part two, we persist in our search for Midhurst locations that match the events in Ruth Rendell’s first novel, FROM DOON WITH DEATH. We become increasingly bogged down, unable to make the book match the real world. So we try another approach. Could Kingsmarkham actually be somewhere else? Is Rendell playing games with us? Could she actually be t…

1
Ruth Rendell’s FROM DOON WITH DEATH Part One: Searching for Kingsmarkham 51:39

1+ y ago51:39

51:39

We’re off on our next adventure, and this time our guide is Ruth Rendell, the grandest of literary detective dames and inventor of the town of Kingsmarkham, and its watchful Chief Inspector Wexford. We start where Rendell started – with her very first book, FROM DOON WITH DEATH, published in 1964. We’re introduced to Wexford and a cast of local cha…

1
Dorothy L Sayers’s THE NINE TAILORS Part 2: inspecting drains and viewing sluices in the soggy Fens 48:59

1+ y ago48:59

48:59

In Part Two of our adventure in the Fens, we’re using a classic Lord Peter Wimsey novel to navigate our way around the fiendishly complex network of drains and sluices that prevent this part of the UK from being permanently underwater. We visit the town of Ramsey – once an island – and take in the ancient Forty Foot Drain. We admire the great wonde…

1
Dorothy L Sayers’s THE NINE TAILORS Part 1: motoring across the Fens in search of bellringers 43:20

1+ y ago43:20

43:20

We’re taking a classic Lord Peter Wimsey murder mystery novel for a drive out onto the Great Level. We’re looking for the fictional village of Fenchurch St Paul, with its enormous church tower and gang of dedicated bell-ringers. You’ll find us at Bluntisham, Upwell and Christchurch in Cambridgeshire, seeking out a suitable church, preferably with a…

1
Agatha Christie’s THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD Part Two – a young writer’s imagination 46:19

1+ y ago46:19

46:19

For part two of our adventure with Agatha Christie’s sixth novel THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD we hunt out her sister’s home in Cheadle, the rather grand Abney Hall. Was it the model for Roger Ackroyd’s Fernly Park? Is there a pond and can you hear people talking from the path above it? And where might a doctor hide a murder suspect? We’ve got answer…

1
Agatha Christie’s THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD Part One – Poirot’s house and Poirot’s marrows 50:38

1+ y ago50:38

50:38

We’re taking the bestselling novelist in the world EVER out for a walk. In Agatha Christie’s sixth novel THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD her Belgian hero has retired (what?) to the town of King’s Abbot, near the fictional town of Cranchester. What can Christie have had in mind as the model for Poirot’s bolthole? We think we know, and we make the case t…

1
Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON Part 2: from Mister Punch at Covent Garden to Old Mother Thames at Wapping 49:12

1+ y ago49:12

49:12

In Part Two of our riverine excursion guided by the first book in Ben Aaronovitch’s cult series, we start away from the river at Covent Garden, where the hero of the novel – Peter Grant – meets his first ghost and performs a necromantic ritual. We hang out at the ‘Actor’s Church’ then go in search of a gastropub. We’re also on a quest to find the h…

1
Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON Part 1: following the Thames from source to outer London 49:23

1+ y ago49:23

49:23

We’re using the first novel in this cult series to navigate a route along the Thames tracking down various locations where detective Peter Grant encounters river nymphs, trolls and Old Father Thames. We start at the alleged source of the Thames, take in an ancient and important site at Runnymede, fail to swim in the Oxley River and end up at the Ha…

1
Peter Ackroyd’s HAWKSMOOR Part Two 56:10

1+ y ago56:10

56:10

In part two of our adventure with Peter Ackroyd’s HAWKSMOOR, we finish our circuit of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s churches, completing a sigil on the face of London which, according to Tim’s design, will force Lloyd to reveal his real Satanic nature. We also discover the likely location for the fictional church of St Hugh’s, which now holds the dark evils…

1
Peter Ackroyd’s HAWKSMOOR Part One 48:25

1+ y ago48:25

48:25

After NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman, we’re back with another book that manifests London in mysterious and unsettling ways. Peter Ackroyd’s HAWKSMOOR tells the tale of Nicholas Dyer, a fictional architect of the early 18th century who has been charged with building seven new churches but has his own sinister, not to say Satanic purposes. In Part One we …

1
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere Part Two: discovering an ancient wall in the Barbican, plus many other London underground secrets 47:57

1+ y ago47:57

47:57

In Neil Gaiman’s ‘Neverwhere’, a key character – the Marquis de Carabas – lies dead atop London Wall. But where is London Wall? We not only find it, but we find a second bit of it, unknown to most people, in an underground car park. We have a grim talk about suicide and masonic murder at Blackfriars tube station, and then head back to Soho in searc…

1
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere Part One: wandering across London – from Albert Bridge to Soho – in search of portals to the underworld 49:43

1+ y ago49:43

49:43

Neil Gaiman’s famous London fantasy novel provides us with an unusual route across London. We start at Albert Bridge, the supposed entrance to the mythical ‘Knight’s Bridge’. We grab a coffee at Harrods, home of a Neverwhere market. Tim surprises Lloyd with the Down Street underground station – and Tim surprises himself by discovering that his 1990…

1
Now That's Curiously Specific Part Two: Lloyd's Festive Five 45:11

1+ y ago45:11

45:11

It's Lloyd's turn to pick his five best moments from Series 1 and 2 of the Curiously Specific Book Club podcast. His picks take us deep into Mick Herron's commute to work in SLOW HORSES; the disappearing landscapes of Barry Hines's A KESTREL FOR A KNAVE; Nazis parachuting onto a Norfolk beach (and possibly drowning in the high tide!) in THE EAGLE H…

1
Now That’s Curiously Specific Part One: Tim’s Festive Five 48:50

1+ y ago48:50

48:50

A very merry and curiously specific Christmas to one and all! May it happen as it should, on the 25th December and with everyone gathered in exactly the right place. Talking of which, here is Tim’s festive selection of excerpts from Series 1 and 2 – key moments when we managed to be curiously specific about a location or a date or both. Here you ca…

1
Mayor of Casterbridge Part Two: A skimmity ride beyond the city walls 53:44

1+ y ago53:44

53:44

In part two of our adventure with The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy we walk out of Dorchester over two bridges and down to a weir, where Michael Henchard can be found considering ending it all and seeing what appears to be a body floating down the Frome. Behind him and up on a hill we can imagine his creator looking down on to the marshy fi…

1
Mayor of Casterbridge Part One: Is it Casterbridge? Or is it Dorchester? 52:56

1+ y ago52:56

52:56

We’ve reached the 15th book of our second series of The Curiously Specific Book Club, and it’s one of the most famous books in English publishing history: Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge. Set in the fictional town of Casterbridge in the just-as-fictional county of Wessex, it’s a finely-wrought depiction of real people in real places; count…

1
Rebecca Part Two: completing a sunny circular walk around Manderley/Menabilly 49:06

1+ y ago49:06

49:06

We’re halfway through a walk around the edge of the Menabilly estate in Cornwall, where Daphne Du Maurier lived for many years. We’re trying to work out how closely Menabilly aligns with the fictional house of Manderley, as featured in ‘Rebecca’ We find a gatehouse and driveway on the west side, then repair to the local pub to consider how reliable…

1
Rebecca Part One: we’re off to Fowey in Cornwall in search of Manderley 48:35

1+ y ago48:35

48:35

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…” We’re off to Cornwall to see if the dream-house of Manderley, as featured in Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’, could ever be a real place. We start off in Lostwithiel, a town where we think Rebecca’s inquest could’ve taken place. We move to Fowey, the nearest village to the grand house of Menabilly, Dap…

1
The Remains of the Day Part Two: what the hell are we doing on Dartmoor? 51:01

1+ y ago51:01

51:01

In part two of our adventure with Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, we have some questions, and make an apology. Our questions include: what the hell are we doing on Dartmoor? And what happened to Day Five? Our apology follows a discovery made thanks to Ship's Dog. We end on the remains of a pier at the remains of the day, pondering on the b…

1
The Remains of the Day Part One: a repressed butler drives to the West 45:22

1+ y ago45:22

45:22

We’re taking our first Nobel prize winner out for a walk! Actually, it’s more of a drive, as Kazuo Ishiguro’s unforgettable creation, the butler Stevens, drives his boss’s Ford down the backroads from Oxfordshire to Cornwall. In part one we ask where exactly Oxfordshire ends and Berkshire begins (clue: it isn’t where Ishiguro thinks it is); discove…

1
Life After Life Part Two: swanky Kensington pads and WW2 Soho drinking dens 48:21

2y ago48:21

48:21

We start Part Two in one of the ritziest parts of London – Holland Park – where both Ursula and her charismatic aunt Izzie from Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life After Life’ are meant to live (alongside Michael Powell and Michael Winner it seems). We scurry off quickly to Soho in search of pubs and clubs featured in the novel, trying to avoid getting drunk or …

1
Life After Life Part One: exploring the Buckinghamshire stockbroker belt 47:47

2y ago47:47

47:47

We’re off in search of Fox Corner, the family home of the Todds, as featured heavily in Kate Atkinson’s time-twisting bestseller ‘Life After Life’. Is Fox Corner a real place or just made up? Or could it be a bit of both? If you want get hear all episodes as soon as they're available, and without ads, check us out on Patreon. Get early access to ne…

1
The Night Watch Part Two: a walk through a City of London air raid 57:45

2y ago57:45

57:45

We’re back with part two of our adventure with The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters, an extraordinary novel of romantic accident and passionate love against the backdrop of the Blitz and Baby Blitz in Second World War London. In this episode we follow the extraordinary walk taken by two of the book’s protagonists, Julia and Helen, as they walk across t…

1
The Night Watch Part One: ‘conchies’, air raids and hidden love 47:31

2y ago47:31

47:31

We’re back, with our second novel set in the Second World War. This time, it’s The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, a passionate and intricate story of doomed love affairs among the falling bombs of the Blitz and the Baby Blitz. In part one we visit Lavender Hill, Wormwood Scrubs and the tall Georgian manor houses of Marylebone, as we make our way to a…

1
Crooked Heart Part Two: a wartime wander in North London 46:36

2y ago46:36

46:36

We’ve come down the Thameslink trainline from St Albans, got off at Kentish Town and made our way to Hampstead Heath. We’re attempting to track down all the key places mentioned in Lissa Evans’s popular WW2 novel. But she is proving to be tricky. Yes, the Vale of Health is a real place and, thanks to Lloyd’s excellent sleuthing, we find where a bom…

1
Crooked Heart Part One: join us on an evacuation to St Albans 48:53

2y ago48:53

48:53

Pack up your suitcase, write your name on a label and tie it to your coat – we’re all being evacuated to St Albans to take Lissa Evans’s popular WW2 novel for a walk. We’re looking for the house where the main characters live, said to be near a local scrapyard. Quite why we end up sitting in an pre-Tudor nunnery and talking about a nudist colony is…

1
Get Carter Part Two: The quarry and the Humber 55:39

2y ago55:39

55:39

In part two of our Get Carter adventure, we discover another Scunthorpe – green, pleasant, well-heeled – as try and locate Kinnear’s Casino and the quarry where Jack’s brother died. Then we head 10 miles north to the abandoned brickyards of the Humber estuary, where Jack finally runs his quarry to ground. In the shadow of the bridge we wonder: wher…

1
Get Carter Part One: Welcome to Scunthorpe 43:09

2y ago43:09

43:09

We’re taking a book out into the wild which you might know better by its film version: Get Carter, by Ted Lewis. Originally published as Jack’s Return Home, this tight, dirty, hard and mean book is as sharp as a switchblade and as cold as the dirty winter streets of Lincolnshire. We travel to Scunthorpe, the book’s location, and find a town on its …

1
A Kestrel for a Knave Part Two: getting lost 49:08

2y ago49:08

49:08

In Part Two of our attempt to use ‘A Kestrel for a Knave’ as our guide through the real world, we track down the school where a lot of the book’s action takes place. We talk warmly about Brian Glover, the man who steals the famous football scene in the movie ‘Kes’. We also find a fish and chip shop and the abandoned cinema Billy breaks into near th…

1
A Kestrel for a Knave Part One: to Barnsley and Hoyland Common 48:58

2y ago48:58

48:58

Forget the film ‘Kes’ (hard to do we know). Let’s take the book that inspired the movie out for a walk. We’re off to Hoyland Common, near Barnsley in Yorkshire, in search of locations from the novel ‘A Kestrel for a Knave’. In Part One, we enquire about books on falconry at Barnsley Library. We seek out Monastery Farm where Billy Casper finds (aka …

1
Cold Water Part Two: a walk in search of Manchester (and Salford) bars 49:10

2y ago49:10

49:10

Taking Gwendoline Riley’s exquisitely concise novel for a walk around Manchester, we’re drawn across Piccadilly Gardens, through the Arndale Centre, across to a Salford pub and then back and round to the Central Library and the canal. We marvel at how rapidly Manchester keeps changing – old buildings demolished, new ones thrown up in their place. W…

1
Cold Water Part One: a drive from Macclesfield to central Manchester 48:58

2y ago48:58

48:58

This small gem of novel is a great way to introduce yourself to the world of early-noughties Manchester. In Part One we journey from Ian Curtis’s Macclesfield memorial stone to a basement bar somewhere between Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly. For Lloyd this is a bit of a homecoming. For Tim it’s a chance to practise his John Copper Clark and …

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