Ever wondered why we do certain things only during the festive season? Well, wonder no more as we look into a few of the Christmas traditions that have been around for decades. Some for much, much longer.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

SOURCES

A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jacqueline Simpson; Steve Roud, (2000).

Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. Walter Scott (1808).

Daily Mail

Muskogee Times 28th Dec 1909

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2021

In this episode, we continue to find out the history behind some well known Christmas traditions. Have you ever wondered about who the hell came up with the idea of explosives at your festive meal? Yes, I'm talking about the Christmas cracker. What about the origins of the Yule Log? All this and more in a special little festive gift episode.

Merry Christmas Everyone and thanks so much for your support.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

The BIG Bristol to London Stroll

If you wish to donate and sponsor our endeavours to raise money for the Suicide Prevention Bristol charity, then go to our dedicated Justgiving page. This walk and the money raised is dedicated to Sara, who sadly passed away in March this year. Remember, if you feel low, there's always someone you can talk to and you are more important than you probably know.

Thanks in advance for your support.

-

SOURCES

Ancestry

BBC History

Findmypast

Observations on Popular Antiquities. Bourne, Henry. (1777)

The Times Newspaper

Daily Mirror

Tom Smith's Christmas crackers: an illustrated history. Peter Kimpton (2005)

A Dictionary of English Folklore. Simpson, Jacqueline and Steve Roud (2003).

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2021

It wouldn't feel like Christmas without the traditional Christmas Carol, so we take a look into the history of this heart warming custom as well as the origins of some of the nation's most loved songs.

PLUS it's the final instalment of The Big Bristol to London Stroll where we end up in what has been called, the birthplace of The Church of England.

This is the last show of the year. The first one of 2022 will be released on 17th January 2022.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

The BIG Bristol to London Stroll

If you wish to donate and sponsor our endeavours to raise money for the Suicide Prevention Bristol charity, then go to our dedicated Justgiving page. This walk and the money raised is dedicated to Sara, who sadly passed away in March this year. Remember, if you feel low, there's always someone you can talk to and you are more important than you probably know.

Thanks in advance for your support.

-

SOURCES

BBC Culture

A Christmas Cornucopia by Mark Forsyth © 2016

Bristol Mercury - Thursday 29 December 1898

BBC

Silent Night Museum

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2021

The Vickers VC.1 Viking is developed and manufactured by Vickers-Armstrong Limited and introduced in 1946. It is a twin-engine short-range airliner primarily used by British European Airways. The aircraft was developed from the Vickers Wellington long-range medium bomber and was produced from 1945 to 1954 with a total number of 163 aircraft built. It featured the Bristol Hercules, a 14-cylinder two-row radial aircraft engine designed by Sir Roy Fedden and produced by the Bristol Engine Co, based in Filton, Bristol, starting in 1939.

On 2nd September 1958, the Britannia Vickers VC1 Viking aircraft, registration G-AIJE, had just taken off from London Airport bound for Tel Aviv in Israel via Nice, Brindisi and Athens. Meanwhile, it was nearly breakfast time so Jim Williamson at No 8 Kelvin Gardens in Southall, Middlesexx, put the kettle on for his morning cuppa. 38 year old Jim then went to have a shave before getting ready for his job as a fitter when he heard the roar of a plane. He thought to himself "If it keeps on flying so low, it will come through the windows next"

What happened next shocked a community and brought to light many faults in the way airlines operated...

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

SOURCES

Sussex History Forum

Daily Mirror - Tuesday 17 March 1959

Coventry Evening Telegraph - Tuesday 02 September 1958

Daily Mirror - Monday 07 September 1959

Torbay Express and South Devon Echo - Friday 17 October 1958

Belfast Telegraph - Wednesday 26 November 1958

Birmingham Daily Post - Friday 28 November 1958

Daily Mirror - Friday 28 November 1958

Liverpool Echo - Tuesday 16 December 1958

Daily Mirror - Wednesday 17 December 1958

Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 16 December 1958

Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 27 January 1959

Birmingham Daily Post - Friday 30 January 1959

Western Mail - Friday 30 January 1959

Daily Mirror - Friday 20 March 1959

Liverpool Echo - Monday 06 July 1959

Daily Mirror - Thursday 16 July 1959

G. Munro Smith’s A History of the Bristol Royal Infirmary

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2022

The golden age of Highwaymen was 1650 to 1830, with the peak in the second half of the 18th century, At that time trade and commerce were increasing and there were many well-to-do travellers., and it turns out Gloucestershire was a popular spot for them.

In this episode, you'll hear all about several of these notorious villains that haunted the roads looking for an easy target.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

SOURCES

(1) Cheltenham Journal and Gloucestershire Fashionable Weekly Gazette. - Monday 13 April 1829

(2) Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette - Thursday 23 April 1829

(3) Stroud Journal - Saturday 23 October 1880

(4) English Chronicle and Whitehall Evening Post - Tuesday 21 April 1829

(5) Cheltenham Journal and Gloucestershire Fashionable Weekly Gazette. - Monday 20 April 1829

(6) Western Gazette - Friday 03 May 1929

(7) Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette - Saturday 17 June 1899

(8) Witney Gazette and West Oxfordshire Advertiser - Saturday 30 August 1913

Stroud News and Gloucestershire Advertiser - Friday 02 July 1909

The Rotary Club of Gloucester Severn - John Putley

British Executions

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2022

Among the artists Uncle Art Satherley discovered, signed or recorded during his career as a recording director for Columbia Records were Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, the Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Gene Autry, the Sons of the Pioneers, Bill Monroe, Lefty Frizzell and Marty Robbins. Satherley was credited with naming Wills’ signature tune “San Antonio Rose.”

He also pushed blues music into the limelight with the likes of such major talents as Ma Rainey because he was one of the few in that era who just loved the music, regardless of who made it.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

SOURCES

(1) Miami Herald 11th Feb 1986

(2) Ancestry

(3) The Tennessean 2nd March 1958

(4) Nashwille Banner 3rd Feb 1958

(5) Country Music Hall of Fame Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press

Bristol Plaques - Maurice Fells

Biography.com

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2022

Joel Fisher was a hard working man who had fought for his country at Waterloo but was unlucky in love. His first wife passed away leaving him with two young boys but his second wife would be the end of him. Find out the events that led up to that eventful night in 1844.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

-

CONTACT ME…

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

SOURCES

(1)Morning Chronicle - Thursday 05 September 1844

(2) Sherborne Mercury - Saturday 21 September 1844

(3) Sherborne Mercury - Saturday 07 September 1844

Ancestry

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2022

Season Number: 3 Episode : 5

Shipwrecks were tragically common in the 1860s – the official figure being 10 every week , with a loss of at least 34 lives. The real figure could be so much more, given that they only reflect the shipwrecks which took place off the coast of Britain.

The Steamship London was considered extremely safe. Just two years old when she embarked upon her final journey, the SS London, was considered both modern and luxurious. Beautifully decorated inside, she was capable of travelling at up to 11 knots.

She was on her way to Melbourne when she ran into a severe storm in The Bay of Biscay off the coast of Spain. What happened next was just as significant as the sinking of the Titanic 40 years later.

THIS PODCAST

This podcast has been specially edited from a Bradley Stoke Radio show in Bristol, England.

If you liked it please leave a rating and maybe a comment and if you’d like to support the show with a donation, however small, you can go to Ko-Fi.com

Some more great news for you, if you were interested in buying merchandise featuring the show’s logo, then pop over to Teepublic.com, you’ll find lots of things to choose from.

So, thankyou for listening and until next time guys, take care and look after each other.

CONTACT ME

Email: info@backtracker.co.uk

Facebook: @BackTrackerUK

Instagram: @backtrackeruk

Twitter: @BackTrackerUK

-

SOURCES

(1) Victorian Popular Ballad By J.S Bratton

(2) Eastbourne Gazette - Wednesday 24 January 1866

The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, Volume 220

"Shipwrecks on the Australia - UK Run". Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks and Other Maritime Incidents. Oceans Enterprises. 2006.

(3) McGonagall, William. "The Wreck of the Steamer 'London' while on her way to Australia".

"Two outstanding books". Bookworm on the net. Blogspot.com.

wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?158473

Salisbury Cathedral

The Wreck of the SS London by Simon Wills

Dundee Courier - Monday 12 March 1866

Belfast Morning News - Monday 22 January 1866

-

Sound Effects by zapsplat.com

Intro music by The Model Folk

© THE BACKTRACKER HISTORY SHOW 2022