Welcome to Beyond the Hedge where we go in search of the places, people, traditions and tales that make rural Britain extraordinary. Join us as we head out along the backroads to meet publicans, writers, hedgelayers, butchers, poets and keepers of everything from pigs to grey partridges to bees. We explore often-complex and sometimes-thorny themes with the help of real experts – practitioners with their hands in the soil and academics who’ve spent their lives thinking about things like the cultural history of fishing. Beyond the Hedge gets to the heart of rural Britain, as it was, is now and will be in the future. Subscribe to Scribehound to support independent countryside writing: https://www.scribehound.com/subscription
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Welcome to Beyond the Hedge where we go in search of the places, people, traditions and tales that make rural Britain extraordinary. Join us as we head out along the backroads to meet publicans, writers, hedgelayers, butchers, poets and keepers of everything from pigs to grey partridges to bees. We explore often-complex and sometimes-thorny themes with the help of real experts – practitioners with their hands in the soil and academics who’ve spent their lives thinking about things like the cultural history of fishing. Beyond the Hedge gets to the heart of rural Britain, as it was, is now and will be in the future. Subscribe to Scribehound to support independent countryside writing: https://www.scribehound.com/subscription
Jonathan Young - My Bid for Olympic Gold [7 min listen]
Voices of the Countryside
6 minutes
1 year ago
Jonathan Young - My Bid for Olympic Gold [7 min listen]
Come the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, I shall be in Team GB - so long as they change the events
What impressed you most at the Olympics opening ceremony this year? Axelle Saint-Cirel’s magnificent rendition of La Marseillaise, surely the world’s most stirring national anthem? The can-can dancers? Or perhaps Alexandre Kantorow tinkling away on his piano despite the deluge?
For me, I’m ashamed to say, it was my unfamiliarity with some of the countries represented. Yes, I have my Geography O-level and an old Times Atlas bought at the village church fete but Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso and Eswatini required some red-faced Googling, for which I apologise to their citizens.
And not just for my ignorance.
Whenever I see a small, proud nation at the Olympic ceremony I have a secret desire to join its national team, partly because I’m good at waving to crowds (albeit they’re unaware) but mostly because I’m an absolute gold-medal hope at shindigs and nowhere, I bet, parties harder than the Olympic Village - a feeling confirmed by a mate who’d stayed there throughout the 2012 London bash.
Voices of the Countryside
Welcome to Beyond the Hedge where we go in search of the places, people, traditions and tales that make rural Britain extraordinary. Join us as we head out along the backroads to meet publicans, writers, hedgelayers, butchers, poets and keepers of everything from pigs to grey partridges to bees. We explore often-complex and sometimes-thorny themes with the help of real experts – practitioners with their hands in the soil and academics who’ve spent their lives thinking about things like the cultural history of fishing. Beyond the Hedge gets to the heart of rural Britain, as it was, is now and will be in the future. Subscribe to Scribehound to support independent countryside writing: https://www.scribehound.com/subscription
