Episode 83 – A Room in a Rectory

A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

This episode Will and Mike hitch up their cassocks, pack their prayer books and head to ‘Southshire’ to open ‘A Room in a Rectory’ by Sir Andrew Caldecott!

Big thanks to Kirsty who provided the readings for this episode, and to Garry Platt who provided the photo that accompanies this episode. You can see more of Garry’s photos at his Instagram account.

Show notes:

• Sir Andrew Caldecott (wikipedia)
  You can find out about Caldecott’s life and exalted career in the Colonial Office at his wikipedia page.
• ‘Not Exactly Ghosts’ (Project Gutenberg Australia)
  While Caldecott’s stories are not quite out of copyright in most countries, you can still read the volume of ghost stories that ‘A Room in a Rectory’ comes from in its entirety online at Project Gutenberg Australia.
• St Michael defeating Satan (wikipedia)
  If you are trying to visualise the stained glass window that features in this story, head over to this wikipedia page where you can see a number of artistic interpretations of this very scene.
• Hymns Ancient and Modern (37mb PDF)
  This story features a crackingly devilish inversion of a hymn from the hymn book ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’. You can read the original version in this PDF, hymn number 335.