The herring and the sad story of C17th struggles for British maritime sovereignty and fishing limits, the chopping down of Chopwell Wood and the chopping off of Charles I’s head, not to mention the fishy obsessions of the House of Stuart – together with The Herring Buss, a traditional jig played by Rob Harbron, the herripedia’s Official English Concertina Player.

Listen… Sovereign of the Seas (2 of 6)

From the Sea of Tethys to the Cold War waters of the Baltic, from C10th Norway to C20th harengophiles in the UK government, the curative powers of the herring to herring cravings in pregnancy, the origins of the herring to the origins of Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring, aka The Herripedia. And, as a bonus, a performance of the scurrilous C16th tale of how Pope Vigilius canonised a red herring as the King of Fishes. Eyvind Skaldaspillir, Arthur Samuel, Paul Neucrantz, Thomas Nash and others weave their ways between shoals of farting herrings. What more could anybody want?

Listen… Of Beginnings and Fundamental Ends (1 of 6)