Loremen Podcast - Garlick Hill, London Minisode

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

A lil' Wayne ahead of the big 💯 (100) show this weekend. If you're reading this before the 12th September (2021) then there must surely be tickets in here... https://dice.fm/event/2vl7p-loremen-alasdair-beckett-king-james-shakeshaft-12th-sep-the-bill-murray-london-tickets If you're reading it after or can't come then just enjoy a lovely bite size bit of London Folklore!

Welcome to Lawmen Minisoad. It's a mini-podcast about local legends, curiosities, days of yore, and also a small advert for the live show coming up. Yeah, it's not just a trailer. No! It's a piece of content in itself. There's actually quite a lot of tent for you. Some sweet, sweet content. So what's on your mind, James? The weekend's fast approaching.

Well, it's approaching at normal speed. Well, for you, maybe. But for me, it's galloping. Bounding towards you. It'll be upon us, depending on when you listen to this, to be honest. Yes. It might have already happened. It could be receding into the distance. It might be the band The Weeknd are running at you.

Ooh. While you're listening to this podcast and it's suddenly... It could happen. When you're trying to flee them, zigzag. Yeah. Don't just run in a straight line. You're making it easy for them. I heard that they're more scared of you than you are of them that's right they only attack from behind so you

have to run backwards in a zigzag in a zigzag whilst undressing ideally yes so that's how to avoid the band the weekend and bears probably and some bears you're listening to lawmen your folklore and bad bear advice podcast. Yeah, we like to, you know, straddle the genres, which is also a way of avoiding bears. Never turn you back on the weekend. But this weekend, the 12th of September, 2021. 2021.

We're going to do an actual live event. In front of an audience. In front of actual people, yeah. And people have bought tickets, so if they turn up, there's really no way of wriggling out of it. Well, there could be. What we'd do is we would zigzag. Run backwards.

Remove our clothing. Frankly, if you just remove your clothing, I think that's the show over. Yeah, definitely. That can't be COVID safe. So there's some tickets for that probably still. Feel free to buy them. But also, as well as being an advert for this Live Live, I've got a little bit of folklore prepped for us all.

I'm rubbing my hands with what I assume is glee. Good. Have you ever heard of an area of London called Garlic Hill? No. There's an area of London called Garlic Hill, so-called because they used to grow garlic there. In slightly more recent times, there's a church there, St. James Garlic Hive. Garlic Hive? Yes.

Like a bee, as in the bee? Like a bee's hive? Hive as in Rotherhithe. Oh, right. Okay. Which means hill. You see, what happened there was, in 1855, underneath some floorboards of this church, they found a mummified body of a man.

Now, it says here in Friend of the Show, Law of the Land, Westbourne and Simpson, that the dead man's real identity is unknown since the church records were lost when the building was gutted in the Great Fire of London. Now, I don't know much about keeping records, but I think if I'd stashed a mummy underneath the floorboards, I'd probably try and remove the paper trail. Or maybe, like Samuel Pepys famously did

with his parmesan, they popped the mummified corpse underneath the floorboards to protect it from the Great Fire of London. After the fire's over, you're going to want a little nibble of cheese, dip a little bit of mummy in the cheese. Delicious.

Yum, yum. Nice. Mmm, salty. So some people think he is Belling, who's a legendary king of the Britons. Belling. Some people think he's a Roman general. Some think he's a medieval London mayor

called Henry Fitzalewin. Oh. Some even think he's actual Dick Whittington. But he got the name Jimmy Garlic. Jimmy Garlic. They call him Jimmy Garlic. Old Jimmy Stinks. Yucky Jim.

And in Other Friend of the Podcast, the Reader's Digest Folklore Myths and Legends of Great Britain, they also talk about this story. And what's very interesting to see is that the readers digest one was published in the 70s and law of the land was published later and in law of the land they say that the body is up in the attic in the readers digest folklore myths and legends of Great Britain, it's still on display. Oh. This mummified chap. Yeah, he was on display and there was a little poem.

Stop, stranger, stop, as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so shall you be. So pray prepare to follow me. Oh, nice. Classic. Lovely little ditty. The dead love to remind you that you're going to be dead one day.

They're always going on about it, aren't they? By the format of rhyme. Yeah. Oh, they love a gloomy poem. The dead. So, old Jimmy Garlic, nowadays his body is up in a loft somewhere, apparently. Fine. That sounds reasonable. But when he was in his glass case, the choir

boys used to get him out and prop him up. Like a member of the choir you know just a casual bit of horse play with a corpse corpse play if you will and during the second world war in 1942 uh the church was bombed and the coffin was cracked and after that his ghost was meant to be seen walking around the place. Oh, the Germans cracked out his ghost. Yeah. Thanks, the Nazis. Something no choir boy could do. They bombed him so hard, his ghost came out of him.

They bombed a ghost out of him. Wow. Straight out of him. Yeah, a shrouded ghost was seen standing at the tower steps and in various other parts of the church. And one of the reasons why they might think it was dick whittington is because there's also a ghost cat knocking around oh yeah oh yeah that makes sense and what is dick whittington famous for if it's not his cat yeah there's a

statue of dick whittington's cat what was his cat called jess i think you're thinking of postman pat ah yes in in pantomimes it's normally put in boots, but that is not canon. That is mashing up the genres, which is going to keep bears off your back. But in this case, it's not helping. Well, according to the most reliable source on the internet, Wikipedia, his cat has been given the names Thomas, Tommy, Tommy Tittlemouse, or Mouser. Tommy Tittlemouse? I thought you would gravitate towards Tommy Tittlemouse.

I don't think he's titling them mice. I think he's killing them. But let's not forget that this is an actual mummified mystery that was found underneath that church and is now just up at the tower, evidently. Yeah, now it's just in someone's loft with old newspapers. Just comes out for Christmas.

I carefully put this mummy away every year and then every year I get it back out and it's tangled. How's it happening? The limbs are all tangled. How's that happening? I'm looking at you, the ghost of Tommy Tittlemouse. Meow. So you've got some more London stories for us for Sunday.

Yeah, I've got one from right round the corner from where we're going to be. Oh, cool. And in a throwback to the first series, I've got a story that I'm going to tell you as well. Oh, yes. Yep. One word for you. Go on. Grottos.

Ooh. I'm bringing grottos back. Ironically? No, with full commitment. Nice. I do everything sincerely. Good. We need more sincere grotto love.

Another name for a student band. So we've been sincere grotto love. Thank you very much. Sincere grotto Love. Another name for a student band. So we've been Sincere Grotto Love. Thank you very much. Sincere Grotto Love. 12th of September, 4.30pm BST at the Bill Murray Pub, London. We want to see you with your Sincere Grotto Love t-shirts.

Tickets available now and live streaming as well.