Episode 76: Memento Mitford
Graveyard hopping with Beer Christianity
Meet the Mitfords, memento mori monuments and meanders through churchyards and cemeteries over a few years.
Jonty and Laura have been 'graveyard hopping' for many years now, often recording their explorations. But what is graveyard hopping? What's the attraction?
We answer that question, discuss some of the coolest names and most beautiful epitaphs, and take you on a little tour of peaceful places. Be prepared for wind-noise, a meandering pace (more than usual) and at least one dead goat. It's not a standard episode of Beer Christianity, but it is an insight into what we like to do outside of recording the podcast - and the lovely churchyards around where we live.
Carve me like one of your French girls
From generations of noblemen posing like glamour models, to a grisly discovery near CS Lewis' grave and beautiful and interesting inscriptions on memorials, Laura and Jonty examine what they like about graveyards and remember the people buried there.
We also share a recent quest to find an interesting grave related to a famous / infamous set of siblings, including fascists, communists, authors and pals of dictators: the Mitfords. Nancy Mitford’s grave is somewhere in a little country churchyard, and we want to find it because it has a hedgehog on it. Spoiler: it looks nothing like a hedgehog.
Check out this episode for a crash course in the Mitford sisters (including the graves of Nancy Mitford, Unity Mitford, Diana Mitford and Jessica Mitford), the sounds of the Oxfordshire countryside and an elusive hedgehog / mole.
You can hear episode 76 wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify; Apple Podcasts; in the bath; crying in the car outside your ex’s house or in this player:
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Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, post-post-post-evangelical (and apparently republican) podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, to be helpful and entertaining.
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We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.