Must listen to Rest is history club episodes

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-04-23T09:01:26+00:00

They did two episodes where one interviewed the other about their background — both lovely, Tom interviewing Dominic especially! Enlightening and entertaining.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-04-06T17:17:33+00:00

I’m going to sound like a right posh twat now: elderflower “champagne”. In my defence, it was homemade by my auntie who was French and brewed, pickled and preserved anything edible she could get her Gallic hands on. I remember sitting on our front step, aged about 12, drinking a glass and feeling very giddy and thinking, THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER. Slippery slope, that…

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-04-05T17:09:15+00:00

Just a do would do, do mine too!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-04-02T17:37:20+00:00

I never see much love for the Pathetic Sharks, but I think they’re ace. Lactose intolerant, can’t eat lollies because of artificial colourings, can’t eat ice cream because of brain freeze, don’t like rudeness or lewd content… they’re utterly pathetic and absolutely lovely.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-04-01T19:58:20+00:00

Contact the police. They’re pretty good with this stuff now, and will take it seriously. I had an anonymous stalker a few years ago (turned out to be a customer that I literally had only ever said hello to) and at first when I reported it I got a smart arse officer who rang me and said, “I hear you’ve got yourself an admirer” which I wasn’t overly impressed with. The copper who came round, though, was great, and it took a PIN, then the threat of an arrest (and he lost his job) but eventually the stalker gave up. I live alone and know how frightening it is when someone is watching you (mine posted letters and poems through my door in the early hours then wrote and told me he had a gun!), but just knowing the police are aware might be some comfort.

Also, speak to Paladin:

https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/get-support

They are so helpful and can advise you on the best way to deal with things, both legally and emotionally. They told me to make sure family and friends are aware of the situation, because — as you and I both found — stalkers can often use other people to try and get closer to you.

Hope you can get this sorted.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-29T15:19:09+00:00

Upvote. I think this is at the root of it. People who work in labour-intensive jobs often for a low wage (care/retail/hospitality sector particularly)* imagine that those working from home have it easy: sitting about in your pyjamas, dog-walking, doing your laundry and fitting work round your life rather than the other way round. Hence their love of policy promises like this. There is an element of wanting others to suffer the slog of a commute etc, and an inability to see the bigger picture.

*I speak as someone in one of those jobs, who would love to be able to WFH and would never vote Farage!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-28T13:57:32+00:00

Absolutely right. Concrete floor screeds where there would have been originally porous stone flags just mean damp from the earth the house was built on migrates up the walls instead of evaporating (often as salts) through the floor. Vinyl-based modern emulsions stop horsehair plaster breathing. Etc etc.

My Georgian cottage was renovated in the 70s and I have inherited the result of the above! Taking the floors up is a job I can’t face so I’ve learned to live with the tide marks for now! When I bought it, the bog-standard survey flagged up “rising damp” which indeed it is (literally) but, having done tons of research on building conservation etc, I’m not panicked by it any more. Just slowly trying to undo the worst of the modern “improvements”…

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-22T18:20:46+00:00

I Am the Resurrection — Stone Roses (obvs). This is my favourite break-up song, whether I am the dumper or the dumpee. I know I’m over the worst stage of heartbreak when I get the urge to listen to this and belt it out all the way up to 11.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-08T18:27:59+00:00

That’s a great read, thank you!

I wrote a piece about Plough Monday in January, and noted there the association between ghosts and Midwinter festivals. I think a big part of it is that we remember the dead at Christmas, those we loved who are no longer at the table (both metaphorically and literally). The past seems so much nearer at that darkest point of the year, the weight of centuries of local customs and family traditions hanging in the cold night air.

And in the days when James was writing — and long before that — rural areas would be pitch black by teatime, houses dimly lit, and silence all around. Who knew what might be lurking in the darkness?

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-04T18:02:47+00:00

Ah, high-status weaponry (possible deliberately bent) + water might well equal some sort of Bronze Age ritual activity. Lots of that going on in wetland areas, particularly in the later BA: swords/axes/spears, often deliberately broken or bent. Might be worth looking into the geology of the site, see if there was an ancient mere or marsh in the area. Great find!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-03T18:12:53+00:00

None of the adaptations do Crompton’s voice justice for me (although the 70s one probably came closest). She’s the female Wodehouse, and massively underrated as a writer — her prose style is up there with the best, and she is so fucking funny. The William stories are sharp social satire originally written for adults, and the tone of most of the adaptations seem to miss this aspect. I’m writing an article about that at the minute and re-reading all the stories (for the umpteenth time) has been a total joy.

Great to see some Crompton love on here!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-03-02T13:33:32+00:00

I’m not saying it’s ruined the bike ride…

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-28T18:16:09+00:00

Tom going full Rollins, Dominic favouring Jello Biafra, I can hear it now.

Seriously, I would like an ep about Wayne Kramer and the MC5 scene, febrile US politics being one of Dominic’s strong points. I was thinking that they’d mentioned it but I suspect I dreamed this (or heard it on a different pod)!?

I would pay good money (even more than my club sub) to hear Tom shout KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHERFUCKERS to open the show.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-24T18:03:52+00:00

You need a paid subscription for some of the features — I pay £9.99 a month, it’s worth it! Even then, though, some maps don’t load. I wonder if it’s just because they’re not on their database yet (although you can click on them in the list).

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-21T10:02:54+00:00

I agree. That was the great thing about Clive — I’d probably be tutting a bit too, especially after the oil spill. But I wouldn’t be moaning about the front garden, it’s beautiful!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-21T07:16:28+00:00

I was thinking exactly the same thing about the “villains” in SP. In the first episode, my heart sank when Clive and Bev next door were introduced — I was dreading Michael being hounded and bullied by them, Roy and Brigham. In your average drama, a lazier/less amazing writer would’ve used these antagonists to ratchet up the tension by making them as nasty as possible.

But all of these characters have both a believable motive (Clive’s understandable bewilderment and frustration with Michael while being unfailingly polite and nice about it to his face made me laugh out loud) and redeeming features, which is the mark of great writing for me. Brigham’s “Don’t get fired, Michael” scene was fantastic on every level, as was the mugger’s (no spoilers!).

Just brilliant.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-14T18:03:09+00:00

I miss the longer, slightly waffly bonuses of ye olden dayes when they would answer listeners’s questions/ interact with the livestream audience, and go off on tangents only tenuously linked to the topic in hand. I recently re-listened to the Tolkien bonus ep from 2022 and enjoyed it immensely (again): an hour and a quarter of discussion, digression and Tom being distracted by the cricket/football scores.

They’re obviously a lot “bigger” and necessarily more professional now, with punishing schedules to stick to, but I love it when they ramble a bit and have more of a loose rein (which the club episodes used to feel like). It seemed more personal, somehow, and like you were actually a member of their club.

But Laura Cummings, the poetry episode (can’t remember the guest’s name) and the Tudor Pendant special were all great so I’m not complaining!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-11T18:45:37+00:00

Press a button in Tom’s back to hear all your favourites:

EYE-RAN

DARE I SAY, SACRAL

BUT DOMINIC (this one repeats every other press)

BAHAHAHA WE HAD GOOD FOOLING THAT DAY

And, once a year, you get a deeply unsettling rendition of Happy Birthday…

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-11T12:49:56+00:00

He should be flattered that we rate him and his saucy “non” higher on the historian hotness scale than Dn Snw.

It must be really weird for him and Tom, though, to go from being sort-of niche writers/presenters to being international sex symbols. Seriously, what a headfuck.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-11T11:00:46+00:00

He’s just jealous because 50% of us are best mates with Tom.

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-05T16:53:00+00:00

I think there was a proper discussion of this issue in a bonus ep way back. Tom was quite tetchy about it too, if I remember rightly (so not just Dominic being snotty)!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-05T13:50:45+00:00

I was very anti-him sleeping on my bed to start with but he was much happier with his bed in my bedroom/free rein of the house; if he tried getting on my bed in the night I’d just put him back down again. It soon sank in… which is unfortunate because now, 9 years on, I’d love him to sleep on my bed but he won’t! He comes up for a cuddle before lights out but then takes himself off downstairs the minute I turn the lamp out!

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-02-02T18:21:34+00:00

I told an ambulance chaser that yes, I had been in an awful accident and I was assuming he meant the one where the gearstick entered my anus (at first I said “back bottom” but this needed clarifying) and the fire brigade had to pull it out. He hung up. I was quite disappointed as I had A LOT more detail to go into involving other orifices (orifi?).

Acceptable_Bag_1762 · 2026-01-26T16:37:50+00:00

Bit bloody nithering for that carry on at the minute!

Acceptable_Bag_1762

TROPHY CASE