012. Riots, Raves, and Robin Hood (with Katrina Navickas)
Absolute Units
Throughout modern English history, people have protested against the movements to enclose and limit access to green spaces.
Their reasons have varied dramatically – from deadly agricultural protests like the Swing Riots, to 90s raves, and druids campaigning for access to Stonehenge. Yet each moment of resistance gives us new insight into the complex and contested relationships we have with the world around us.
In this episode, we continue our conversation with Katrina Navickas (Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire) to explore the modern history of contesting the commons, ahead of the release of Katrina’s upcoming book, Contested Commons.
- Pre-order Contested Commons by Katrina Navickas: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contested-commons
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
011. A Radical History of the Commons (with Katrina Navickas)
Absolute Units
"The law locks up the man or woman who steals the goose from off the common / But leaves the greater villain loose: who steals the common from the goose."
In this episode, Joe and Ollie speak with Professor Katrina Navickas (University of Hertfordshire) about the history of the commons: the shared resources that communities depended upon for their livelihoods. Learn about the historical processes that encroached upon the commons, and the public resistance to get those resources back.
Katrina's next book, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England, is published by Reaktion Books this autumn.
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
010. Flying Your Drone Through a Michelin-Starred Polytunnel (with Amy Bateman)
Absolute Units
Modern farming is full of digital technology. Nobody knows this better than Amy Bateman, a prize-winning photographer and sheep farmer who uses digital tech in both lines of work (even using the same kit to take photos and to run the farm).
In this episode, Joe and Ollie continue chatting with Amy about technology and diversification on modern farms: from tech's opportunities for developing farms and improving farmers' lives, to the risks and challenges that technology presents to rural communities.
Links:
- Amy Bateman wins photography award for lamb photo: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cumbria-47091514
- 360-degrees VR shepherding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-913nvaQMRU&feature=youtu.be
- Forty Farms video: https://youtu.be/oOlzZWg58SY
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
009. Forty Farms (with Amy Bateman)
Absolute Units
In 2020, award-winning photographer and sheep farmer Amy Bateman set out to document the stories of forty farms in Cumbria. From Lake District hill farms, to the Solway marshes.
Amy's photographs present a captivating picture (literally!) of Cumbrian farming in a period of profound societal and technological change. We've been fortunate enough to display them in our 2025 exhibition, Forty Farms, based on Amy's gorgeous book of the same name.
In this episode, Joe and Ollie chat with Amy about her work and perspective as a farmer and photographer. What motivated Amy to create Forty Farms? What did she learn from the project? And as myriad challenges continue to impact English farmers, where are those forty farms five years later?
Links:
- Forty Farms: https://amybatemanphotography.com/forty-farms/
- A Landscape for All: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXMrTTifpw8
- The Wanderlust Women: https://www.thewanderlustwomen.co.uk/
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
008. The Art of Dog Poo Posters (with Man in the Woods)
Absolute Units
Man in the Woods makes art about parts of rural England that you wouldn’t normally think about – and definitely wouldn’t find in Wordsworth. From hastily-printed dog poo posters, to portraits of massive cows framed in pubs.
In this episode, Joe and Ollie continue last week’s conversation with Man in the Woods. We discuss his artistic career, his interests, and the modern history of people interpreting and distilling the rural world.
Links:
🐑🐑🐑
Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
007. We Were All Rural Once (with Man in the Woods)
Absolute Units
Seven years ago on a Friday, artist Scott (best-known on social media as Man in the Woods) set off for a walk to no particular destination. The next Friday, he started a new walk where the previous week's ended. He's been doing that every Friday ever since, documenting his travels on social media while producing beautiful artworks that reflect his finds and the connections he builds to where he explores.
In this episode, Joe and Ollie speak with Man in the Woods about what inspired the Friday walks, where it's taken him, and how exploring England's rural landscapes has helped him reimagine his relationship with English cultural identity. Topics range from psychogeography and rural flaneurs, to pubs, Peckham, and the pooing pigeon that now represents London Museum.
View images that accompany this episode on our website: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2025/07/the-friday-walks-with-man-in-the-woods/
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
006. The Meaning of Pigs (with Dolly Jørgensen)
Absolute Units
Content warning: This episode contains references to animal slaughter, antisemitism, and injury to children. Listener discretion is advised.
Joe and Ollie continue their deep-dive into the history of pigs with Professor Dolly Jørgensen (University of Stavanger, Norway). This time, we explore the symbolism of pigs: from their significance in our myths and religious texts, to their use as a foil for thinking through what it is to be human.
Delve deeper into Dolly's work in her book, The Medieval Pig: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837651689/the-medieval-pig/
See visuals from our discussion with Dolly in Dolly's Bluesky thread: https://bsky.app/profile/dollyjorgensen.bsky.social/post/3lsjukzwkzk2s
This episode contains audio from Epidemic Sound.
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
005. Medieval Pigs (with Dolly Jørgensen)
Absolute Units
Content warning: This episode contains references to animal slaughter and blood. Listener discretion is advised.
In medieval England, all roads led to pigs. They lived side-by-side with humans, and were a common sight in daily life.
In this episode, Ollie and Joe speak to historian Dolly Jørgensen (Professor of History at University of Stavanger, Norway) about what it was like to live with pigs in medieval England: from pigs' place in homes and food systems, to the challenges required to maintain pig populations.
We'll be following up with Dolly in two weeks' time for another episode, exploring the symbolism of pigs, and what they have represented historically and today.
Delve deeper into Dolly's work in her most recent book, The Medieval Pig: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837651689/the-medieval-pig/
See visuals from our discussion in Dolly's Bluesky thread: https://bsky.app/profile/dollyjorgensen.bsky.social/post/3lsjukzwkzk2s
This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound, plus freesound_community via Pixabay.
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
Schedule Update: Big Sheep, Big Dreams
Absolute Units
Episode 4 marked the end of our pilot series, produced by a group of extremely talented students from the University of Reading. Now, we're at the wheel planning future episodes. The tractor wheel of our mind and our dreams.
In the meantime: for a shorter bonus adventure, join hosts Dr Ollie Douglas (curator) and Joe Vaughan (social media manager) as they reflect on the podcast to date. We talk about what we've learned, what we've loved, and what we're looking forward to for the future. Plus, follow us down some random tangents like the US-UK trade deal, our memories of meeting up for a socially-distanced coffee in Ollie's garden, and the correct terminology to describe sharing your hog on the Internet.
References:
- Katrina Navickas' Open Spaces Society map
- Guy Shrubsole with a cool map at The MERL
- The Medieval Pig, by Dolly Jørgensen
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
004. The Pest is History (with Dr Alice Mauchline)
Absolute Units
How has our understanding of ecology in farming changed in time? What makes a pest a pest? And is an aphid chimney as metal as it sounds?
Join Dr Alice Mauchline (University of Reading) to learn about changes in modern farm management. We course from the green revolution of the 1950s (the same era our work began) to the present day.
This episode is introduced by Dr Ollie Douglas (MERL curator) and Joe Vaughan (MERL social media manager) - we forgot to say! The main discussion features Ollie and Katie Bergen (our former Digital Engagement Officer).
This is the final episode of our podcast pilot series! We'll be back with regular programming from late June. Or early July depending on the direction of travel. Future episodes hosted by Ollie and Joe. More to come when we have it!
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
003. I Just Want a Cup of Tea in Reading (with Dr Shweta Ghosh)
Absolute Units
What do documentary makers and museum have in common? How do we choose which stories to tell, and how to tell them?
Join Dr Shweta Ghosh, Lecturer in Screen Practices and Industries at the University of Reading, as we discuss storytelling, film-making, spices and tea, and rural connections between India and England.
- Visit Shweta's website: https://shwetaghoshdotcom.wordpress.com/films/
- Shweta's staff profile, University of Reading: https://www.reading.ac.uk/film-theatre-television/staff/shweta-ghosh
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
002. I Want My Hog to Look Spectacular (with Dr Hannah Lyons)
Absolute Units
Why did people in the past make paintings of impossibly big animals? What does art teach us about the history of the countryside? And how do we work with artists today to explore the past, present and future of rural England?
Here to unpack these questions and guide you through our art collections is Dr Hannah Lyons, Curator of the University of Reading Art Collection.
- See some of the artworks referenced in this episode
- An online version of Sire, an exhibition exploring selective breeding
- Shop our livestock portraiture merch
- Learn more about the University of Reading Art Collection
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
001. Here Because this Tweet Exists (with Adam Koszary)
Absolute Units
In April 2018, we shared a photo of a very large sheep on Twitter with the caption 'look at this absolute unit'. Before we knew it, this sheep had changed our museum's fortunes forever.
For our first-ever episode of Absolute Units, we're joined by Adam Koszary – former MERL social media manager from 2012 to 2019 and father of the Absolute Unit post–to revisit the story behind our most viral moment.
What did it take for a museum to go viral on the Internet? What was its role in our history? And what did it mean for our future?
Episode produced by students at the University of Reading's Department of Film, Theatre, and Television. Intro produced by Joe Vaughan.
P.S. We hope to offer transcripts for future episodes! We're a very small team and trying to figure out the best way of providing these.
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
Trailer
Absolute Units
It's just like all the other podcasts you love, but instead of trying to sell you mattresses and underwear we're explaining everything you always wanted to know about the history of rural England but never knew to ask.
Why the name? Well, we're known for the Internet's most famous sheep, an 'absolute unit' who first went viral in 2018. But ask any of our staff and they'll tell you everything at The MERL is worth that level of fuss.
So join us for a very special pilot season, coming mid-to-late March. We'll be covering topics ranging from square cows to big hogs, to how a museum is like a documentary, and why farmers are using infrared technology to count insect wingbeats in their fields.
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
- Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
- Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
012. Riots, Raves, and Robin Hood (with Katrina Navickas)
44:57
011. A Radical History of the Commons (with Katrina Navickas)
41:09
010. Flying Your Drone Through a Michelin-Starred Polytunnel (with Amy Bateman)
40:42
009. Forty Farms (with Amy Bateman)
34:58
008. The Art of Dog Poo Posters (with Man in the Woods)
42:03
007. We Were All Rural Once (with Man in the Woods)
42:20
006. The Meaning of Pigs (with Dolly Jørgensen)
38:03
005. Medieval Pigs (with Dolly Jørgensen)
42:45
Schedule Update: Big Sheep, Big Dreams
21:19
004. The Pest is History (with Dr Alice Mauchline)
45:32
003. I Just Want a Cup of Tea in Reading (with Dr Shweta Ghosh)
48:24
002. I Want My Hog to Look Spectacular (with Dr Hannah Lyons)
46:12
001. Here Because this Tweet Exists (with Adam Koszary)
49:59
Trailer
1:55