This week, on a much waylaid episode of Tales we return to the Tichbornes,’ as Tom Castro makes his play for the land, money and titles. Does it turn out he was, in fact Roger Charles Tichborne - long thought lost at sea - or was he some larrikin on the lookout for an easy life?

This is part two of a two parter. Apologies all, I lost a good month and a half to a bout of pneumonia just after Christmas.

Content warnings: I said nothing on the tape: but on reflection: childhood bullying, and more talk of a character’s weight than I am comfortable with.

Sources Include: Robyn Annear’s The Man Who Lost Himself Rohan McWilliam’s The Tichborne Claimant

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This week on Tales I am still, technically, on holiday - and was hoping to re-release one of five old episodes still left from the first season. This plan has been derailed somewhat. My voice is still recovering from my bout of pneumonia; and I’ve written at least a million words since I did those episodes. I opened those old scripts and realised to be content with them I’d need to completely re-do those episodes…

Not so much out of inaccuracies as out of having refined this thing I do a lot since 2020.

I’ll get back to those episodes sometime.

In the meantime, please let me present this episode, compiled from three Patreon bonus episodes. Thank you to the patrons, whose generosity helps me keep the lights on.

The episodes are: Stranded on ‘Ata 400 Word Tales: Countess Zangari Bandi Walter Powell’s Final Flight

Sources this week include: The Stolen Island by Scott Hamilton Humankind by Rutger Bregman Borderlands by Mike Dash

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Hi all, apologies for the delay. I posted up on the blog site I was unwell with pneumonia, then it occurred to me a lot of folk never visit the blog site and I better put something up here as well. Anyway, please hit play it explains it all. I am on the mend but need some downtime… sorry all.

This week on Tales we enter the vaults to revisit - and re-record - one of the five early episodes still on here that was recorded on my cheap, starter microphone. (We’ll knock the other four off next year in mid-season breaks.)

With Christmas just around the corner this seems as good a time as any to follow a young Charles Dickens around Canongate Graveyard in Edinburgh Scotland looking for ghosts… And we meet the man who - most likely - influenced one of his most famous characters - John Elwes, The Miser of Marcham Park.

Apologies for the break between parts one and two of The Tichborne Claimant. I’m hoping to get that out in the last week of December.

Sources this week include:

Sorry all I never took down any of my sources for this at the time of the original. In revamping the piece though I referred to

This BBC Article. This Mercat Tours blog post This Edinburgh Enquirer article by David Forsyth This BBC piece on Robert Fergusson And this piece on Fergusson from Roderick Watson at Scottish Poetry Library This piece from the Royal College of Physicians on Dr Andrew Duncan Very rare for me, I referred to Wikipedia for more on Dr Andrew Duncan This piece on Giusto Fernando Tenducci And this piece on Tenducci by Aoife Barry in The Journal And John Elwes: The Miser Who Inspired Dickens by Kaushik Patowary

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Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly - (give or take… sorry all it’s been a rough year… Back to fortnightly Wednesdays in 2026?).

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Quick note all: This episode is approx 29 minutes long… I’ve accidentally left some background music or something muted at the end + will delete that and re-upload once home again… Sorry all, there is no secret Easter egg at the end of this episode, it’s ok to hit stop when the end credits roll… This week On Tales we return to the Australian outback - this is the last time we visit my neighbours to the west of Aotearoa/New Zealand for a while, I promise. The year is 1866, the location Wagga Wagga.

Tom Castro, the town’s Chilean-born butcher has a good life, living in ‘Castro villa’ with his young wife and step-daughter. He enjoys his work, horse riding and his larrikin mates down at the local pub… But then one of those larrikins turns his life upside down with a newspaper article.

Was Tom secretly Baronet Roger Tichbourne, a British peer who disappeared in mysterious circumstances off the coast of Brazil a dozen years earlier?

This is part one of a two parter. Apologies ahead of time, I’ll more likely than not have to pause part two till late December/early January to allow for a Christmas episode.

Content warnings: Not too much on this one. Some animal cruelty, and appearance being central to this tale, I have to comment on the protagonist’s appearance in ways not intended to offend… but I may slip up on this one

Sources Include:

Robyn Annear’s The Man Who Lost Himself| Rohan McWilliam’s The Tichborne Claimant

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This week On Tales we return to the Arctic, the year 1871. Charles Francis Hall has passed on, mysteriously, after drinking a suspiciously sweet, yet metallic coffee. What will happen to the expedition as power passes to the hard-drinking Sidney Buddington? Today we’ll find out.

This is part two of a two parter. Apologies for the delay in getting this one out there - it took some of my neighbours a week to run out of fireworks bought for Guy Fawkes Day.

Content warnings: Death. Gun violence. Brief mention of sexual abuse.

Sources Include: Fatal North by Bruce Henderson. Arctic Experiences… by Euphemia Blake The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton This New York Times article on John Torrington (that, shockingly, was not behind a paywall)

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This week On Tales we take a slight detour from the Polaris Expedition: I think where that Tale goes IS shocking, but not terribly in a Halloween horror kind of way… So this week we’re taking a ride to the town of Halifax, England to meet The Halifax Gibbet - someone’s wild solution to petty thievery.

We’ll return to The Polaris in a fortnight.

Content warnings: Beheadings. Sources Include: Daniel Defoe’s A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. Samuel Midgley & William Bentley’s Halifax and It’s Gibbet Law Placed in A True Light

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This week On Tales we travel back to 1871, to take a journey to the top of the world. Our intrepid hero, Charles Francis Hall has dreams of becoming the first man to stand on the North Pole - but dreams can sometimes go horribly awry. Just what happened to the Polaris Expedition?

This is part one of a two parter (part two will follow after we take a brief intermission for a Halloween special episode.)

Content warnings: Death. Gun violence.

Sources Include: Fatal North by Bruce Henderson. Arctic Experiences… by Euphemia Blake The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton This New York Times article on John Torrington (that, shockingly, was not behind a paywall) by Leanne Shapton

Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial.

Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

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