John will be a guest speaker at the forthcoming Cultural Futures Foundry event, which will be held in their online, immersive Cultural Futures Hub. There are two days of presentations, Q&As and discussions, which are…
Fascinating Folklore will appeal to readers of all ages, with each particular folkloric topic explained simply, but not dumbed down (no mean feat!). In this day and age where we are all lacking in long…
Crafted by the masterful minds of two comic world luminaries, John Reppion and PJ Holden, this endeavour began as a creative pact between the pair, ignited by the ever-popular #FolkloreThursday hashtag, that swiftly blossomed into an extraordinary compendium, showcasing the…
Holden is one of the best and most versatile artists working today and his style shifts here from Mignola-esque to exuberant cartoons and a dozen other styles. One of my favourites is the extended section…
It all comes from Reppion and Holden’s Folklore Thursday strips, published through 2019 and 2020. They take so many different aspects of folklore, British, Irish, and global, and give us wonderful little strips to explain…
Just in time for World Folklore Day, we’re very proud to reveal the first look at Fascinating Folklore. The all-star team of John Reppion and PJ Holden have created a one-of-a-kind trip through the world…
Over the course of 52 weeks, finishing in mid-2020, Reppion and Holden have crafted something very different, very intriguing, and very good – a look at so many aspects of the folklore that surrounds us,…
Today marks week 52 in mine and PJ Holden‘s year of creating weekly #FolkloreThursday comics. When PJ and I first embarked on this little adventure of ours, way back in 2019 (when everything was so…
I used to do a bit of writing for the History (UK) TV channel website, and one of the things I wrote a lot about was the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Most…
Following on from a little one page Twitter comic made out of a Tweet of mine a few weeks back, P. J. Holden and I decided we’d try doing a weekly one-pager for #FolkloreThursday. So…
Today Dr. Karl Bell has posted an very interesting article entitled Spring-heeled Jack: The Terror of Victorian England over on the #FolkloreThursday website. This reminded me of my own small Spring Heeled Jack piece, originally…
Fresh for #FolkloreThursday, Greg Taylor has posted Maria J. Pérez Cuervo’s Spirits of Place essay “The Palace Built Over a Hellmouth“, about El Escorial on the southern slopes of Mount Abantos, over on the Daily Grail website. Only a…
Hare’s Eggs at Easter As the Easter weekend draws close, children and adults alike anticipating a chocolate egg binge, the internet is alive with articles on the “true” origins of Easter. Yet, could there be…
This short Forum piece was originally published in Fortean Times #297, released in January 2013 (dated February 2013 on the cover).
Reposted here for possible #FolkloreThursday interest
The common ash is the third most widespread tree species in Britain, making up 5.5% of UK woodland with an estimated further twelve million ashes in non woodland areas. 1 2 Although the ash may not have the same iconic status as Ye Olde Oak, it is nevertheless a tree whose roots are firmly embedded in the history and folklore of the UK.
