A very special episode to close series two: Dave Clarke and Andrew Robinson interview Professor John Widdowson at home in the Peak District.

For many listeners, John will need no introduction. John has been at the forefront of Folkloristics and dialect studies in the UK for decades. Following degrees from Oxford, Leeds and Memorial University, Canada, John founded the Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language (CECTAL) at the University of Sheffield, which later became the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition (NATCECT), where he served as its director for four decades. Dave Clarke was one of his PhD students in the 1990s.

In an article for Folklore in 2016, John called for a new national folklore survey, and it was this that ultimately inspired our current project.

In this episode, John reflects on his introduction to folklore, his career and his research, his survey which began in the 1960s - and that famous red mini.

You can find information about the John Widdowson Folklore Collection at Sheffield Hallam here: https://libguides.shu.ac.uk/c.php?g=55836&p=5005486

A huge thank you to Andrew Robinson for recording and editing this episode.

It’d be daft of us if we didn’t speak to our very own Dave Clarke. Probably best known as a world expert on UFOs, Dave has also researched a whole host of other folklore-related stories, trends, ideas and concepts, writing numerous books and appearing frequently on documentaries and podcasts (including most recently Sky’s The Alien Autopsy Scandal). His new book on the folklore of space is out next year.

You can find his website here: https://drdavidclarke.co.uk/

This podcast was recorded remotely on the then-hottest day of the year, so please excuse any differences in sound levels and quality.

Anna Milon and Christopher Ohge are two researchers working on a collaborative project between UK and German universities that seeks to create a digital tool that helps researchers navigate large folk narrative collections. Project StoryMachine is in its infancy, but its capabilities are already pretty exciting. Anna and Christopher tell us more here.

To find out more about StoryMachine, visit the website here: https://storymachine.iisys.de/

The Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project is still active and you can find it here: https://lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/