Finest hour. 60. 6 music the best of the best of moods right now I'm curious. That. You. a. Group. That . Has me a. Long way. It's. A. Compilation album just came out so that you. Are going to show the tracks to. Were. You. Were going to. To welcome to the show. That was from the streets. Of Edinburgh no go go round could see. I'm bowing in now as. It is of. All December many Christmases as. A company even show before Christmas. Today and his band the Macusi play as they would be our main musical offering today on water and often it is so ringleaders of the posse that some check in as we speak he was last on the show if you expect. Him to keep on in the cozy play as I were also going to welcome. From emperial College London and Thomas to talk. Mojo hands. Moden witchery and then. All of this features in his book tryst Brits and history of witchcraft and black magic in modern times we've got music from the Donna Del Ray Mahalia Jackson Funkadelic. Group and will soon read some facts to. Show him who we. Are in the. Show as. Anyone in the country or around the world please to just text us us. Us about this letter already from Diana to. My daughter Laura. Program she lives in Spain I live in a. Program we feel connected to see I was on the same day morning last week and together as I was visiting that was perfect. How much she. Loved Happy Christmas to me I mean I've seen. People. Who can speak music. B.b.c. . 6 to tax I mean $100.00. 2020 anything it would be good to see more maybe. That's not what you think anything you don't see. Any resolutions or predictions and then put out that you feel welcome to share them with us for the next 3 hours I've got a sprinkling of Christmas songs as well including this one from a festive release from my brothers. And I feel slightly. Take it quite easy began in. The snow. Imagine. I am just so much fun to the music especially around the field so I think today's which is magic. Sauce or the cunningness all the rest of it try not to play the ones I've been since they every Halloween is off so there's a few new ones in that and it's a bit they includes that one is a truck from a god excellent compilations as well coming out this time of year great stocking for those who play new loads in the coming show but this one is from one called every sin is going to be all right celebrating 50 years of west bound soul and funk released on West Bank records his last months before then the lost brothers beautiful here comes a smile from a release called keep Christmas in the hot bed Doc recordings they've got some live dates in the diary through March and in the u.k. And Ireland on call can America's Wiley and Waterford Levy were put on and they probably hoping that the lost brothers are going to come in and do a session with us as well to be in pain rather than not fugitive moon is a track of any way to Paris can you please say happy birthday to my husband met it is his birthday today tell him I love him very much he's my lovely man thank you very much for your business and on a Sunday morning love the show have a good day Len Daniels thank you very much for being in touch keep on coming. Going to see bands. Seem called some small clubs to fusing the exhausting music out of the place more like as much as all of this is Steve come on shows like it should not only the music I like the installation Sloot is famously of The Fix lifestyles of the Great Place To some a Steve listen never looks like also some full cost rundown b.c. Sales going to the Christmas spirit is one of those days should also plays Oakland because you'll see physically shelling out special joints on all this Christmas plus a place during the week I'm really 6 Music. Coming morning relax into rather than with. One for 6 Music he's such a morning as well and Christopher Riley No suggestions or predictions. Just keep doing what you're doing good guests and great show. Peter get because I'm asking you know what you want to see more of what you see less of in 2022 to get says more of peace love and understanding what's so funny about less of what my stuff. I'm going to feed into what he's got to because Robert Pugh Today Show the funky one I may choose yourself over a visit in my girlfriends. And every There's this new release relatively new come out and the end of October and it's just got the best sort of groove and I know when base I'm going to play in a minute but it has at the beginning of it so motif that reminded me of the song in the play fast. As I was feeling particularly sort of emotional as well I haven't talked to. Heat and last it was last week show was in it and talking about the anniversary focused on a vision and cooler than it will be leveraged play some Joe Strummer with The Mescaleros in a truck I'm particularly fond of. And also I should mention that Don is doing a clash special as well on the what is it Sunday the 22nd of December on b.b.c. 6 Music so any way you going to get Wilson to quickly would recognize the motif from that in the next song Remy and brain it is just love that they say if you've got a bass like it's cool things dials to now also a new speaker or somethin. This . Next. But he told him he. Was in the. Know should go. Get the. Stuff. Just to. Get one of the kids. And I would go. Get this. Money for good causes. But. You. Know. You. Get an f. 100. Days and I can fill. A finance for that to. Keep it strong and. Let me be me. Yes. Absolutely. If you. Do crazy. Dance with being your lips and love. And let. My good. Like you. Tell me to. Come to. The bank ship I know that this connection with. You. Is a song about the fantasy world poetry that you create when you're in the hall just a straight man rap duo rapper Remy Colo Wally and produce a sensible j. Not so Remy they are brain feature in an already mornin carriage Merry Christmas can I get a shout out to the Taylor Kennedy bangs family massive all gathered in Manchester today to celebrate Christmas and the biggest they happy birthday Stevie is it still . It's they said it both ways so hopefully Thanks this is Laura from Bolton if you listen in Bolton please shout out to the Levy family from when she started to grow slowly and be you are packing everything into boxes ready to move house tomorrow but time to move house is copy chaos got reduced 6 brass and over some great trucks lined up and hopefully the move doesn't go too badly Alou is a lesson in Melbourne Australia hope in my lovely London friend Sue is listen to she introduce you to me and I'm eternally grateful thanks for all the music Lou thanks for listening in Melbourne hello to any of you and listening in astray of their New Zealand and far off places Katherine cuckoo where I've read that one adult ready to read one more Kate in Cambridge morning Carol my husband Andy and I listen whenever we can and love the eclectic MacSpeech could he say a big happy birthday to him is birthdays on Thursday the 19th and he always suffers from Christmas birthday joint parties and presents are getting any more Birthday shout outs please feel free to do so this is our last live show before Christmas I'm feeling particularly crispy got patted Tony on the desk going to have a cup of tea maybe some alcohol later. But I anyway brings us to the news definitely does we'll be back with talking which is can invoke sorcery Billy face and all sorts of history coming up after the news. This is b.b.c. Radio feeding p.c. News the senior Tory Michael Gove's says the Commons will vote quickly on the government's Bracks it withdrawal deal speaking to Sky News he also insisted that discussions with the e.u. On the case future relationship would be concluded next year I won't get into speculation about the precise date for precise pieces of legislation but what I can absolutely confirm is that we'll have an opportunity to vote on with Daldry look in rather to pick short order and Van and we'll make sure that's it then we will make sure that it passes before January 31st. Promising to make it a legal requirement for the government to raise spending on the health service in England by nearly $34000000000.00 pounds a year by $2232024.00 it's also been confirmed that the government has ordered a review to consider decriminalising nonpayment of the b.b.c. License fee. Says if anyone should be blamed for what he called Labour's catastrophic election result it is him. Has also apologized in an article for 2 newspapers saying he took responsibility immediately after the vote the Labor leader was criticised for not apologising to Labor M.P.'s who lost their seats the Foreign Office says it's supporting the family of a man who was killed in a suspected robbery outside a 5 star hotel in Argentina the man son is being treated in hospital after being shot in the. United Nations climate negotiators have worked through the night in Madrid to try to resolve a rift about how fast they should act to tackle global warming the Chilean minister leading the talks has appealed to delegates to show flexibility the B.B.C.'s Matt McGraw is there the big sticking point of course is the question of how much ambition countries want to show in terms of causing climate change some of the richer countries and some of the small island states they want everybody to put a new climate plan on the table by the end of next year when this meeting will be in Glasgow a lot of other countries including the Us Australia and others don't want to go so quickly past the 6 Music News the next 30. Is To finish and Neville brother Aaron Neville mojo Hannah to welcome my 1st guest in the show Dr Thomas waters lecturer in history at Imperial College London and the specialist in the modern history of witchcraft the magic you hear might be able to be taught either of 2 modules by Dr Thomas waters Imperial College their 1st revolutions in the making of the modern world. Sounds fascinating Dr Thomas would just like the dramatic history of conspiracies riots coups civil wars in months patient era between the late seventy's hundreds in present day and it's available to 2nd I said yeah undergraduates that he's in and then also the 2nd module a 20 week evening class in titles and a history of magic from ancient times to the present day so that's what we're kind of going to set up this morning so welcome to the show thanks Gary so you can take my courses and become a revolutionary or alternatively a witch whichever a lot of you at the moment what. Do you feel is a kind of a current fascination because it could ebbs and flows the way of mass being there is such a thing I think about and I just feel that at the moment there's there's more of an interest certainly from my perspective the interest in these wise women yeah you have a quote revivals periodically and periods where belief in magic and the esoteric becomes more controversial. Well I think you're right that we're living through a period where increasing numbers of people are interested in magic a call was of thinking and experimenting and exploring and I think it's a fairly long term development I think it's something that's been growing in strength since then I've seen some to it I think it's more from my perspective about an interest in people that know about the lands and the powers of natural plants you know the medicine men and women of the or as well because it's been taken out of the hands of. There are people on the ground by this sort of massive industrial families who tickles Yeah I mean it with so many things and so many of our concerns today you know some people who are environmentalist's So take inspiration from spiritual beliefs of the order and as you say for some for other people who I don't know they've got certain conditions certain illnesses that aren't responding to orthodox medicine you know that try holistic therapies and well that that's where yes witchcraft I'm not a conversant things are common where did your interest in things you know dark arts and crafts begin it began in the library. You know it really should be a story about you know personal experience of being kissed the way which does something that's that's not true I mean the reality is that I I grew up in a secular family I didn't really have much contact with religion or with much of what have you and went on study history or university I was very interested in Victorian period and political reform and all that sort of stuff and of reading some of the Victorian diary one day and have references to all this sort of amazing folklore on the Welsh border and I was just shocked at how kind of weird really how eggs are exotic how dramatic it all was and how familiar it was to me. So it was the strangeness of it that got me interested in it and initial a book it's been it's been filling up and would you believe I'm sorry to say I've been researching for the last 15 years or no but you can tell the book is so full it's so vast a subject I mean it's almost like taking the the religions of the entire world and trying to put it in a book because there is a dance between the face of you have to face to believe these magic Yeah that magic works there is a correlation between faith really is that you've almost tried to write a book on on the religions of the world to me yeah it's been such a how did you know where to begin. I didn't really you know I started in the in the countryside on the Welsh border in the English countryside in the Victorian period and I thought you know I want to write the history of belief in the dark arts in the modern period and just. Checks bounding out from there. Ultimately my book into the purge dealing with the pits of the present day and as you say you know sort of going to cross the world looking at the British Empire and you know all the different topics much rise in influence of the colonized over the colonizers Yeah definitely you know people who were sort of just defying action back in the day they like to or they tended to disparage the people that were being colonized 100 to describe them as being sort of superstitious and sort of you know not properly educated and that kind of thing and you know the notion would be that you know the British colonisers would bring civilisation and and education and progress to the colonies but actually when people went out there they went over to the colonies they found that despite all these kind of haughty and disparaging ways of thinking they found themselves very affected by the kind of magic in the spiritual beliefs of the native peoples You know it was more like the as you say the the colonizers the people being colonized really fit with the fact of the contours of let's have some music so much I'm going to just get again some topic shall fascinated me from a. Little bit of gas in the mood natural magic. So where in their West Country folkloric you describe. You know as people who are from the west of England all know from Comal and Devon and some certain there's so much which kept the magic and ghosts and traditions more what have you down there at sea it's quite amazing really why some areas of the country seem to attract so much so much magic and so much. So much folklore and others let us I suppose the West country's been a real center of of witchcraft since since the 1516 hundreds actually right up to the present day just changing all the time but at the same time it's it's a kind of consistent theme so what with there's a museum in Cornwall what would you find in the museum there is recommend it to everyone it's one of most wonderful museums in this country it's the Museum of witchcraft and magic which is in a little village called Bos castle on the north Cornish coast and it was in the 1960 s. To represent the history of witchcraft through through objects on the kind of things you'll find are well quite dark things you'll find kissing Popish you'll find they sinister objects that people use when they try when they've tried to harm others when they've tried to inflict pain and. As one of the people you also find the ways that people try to protect themselves from ill wishing the evil lie kind of dark type of witchcraft and sort of healing puppets and what have you and you'll find the ceremonial objects the garments and the swords and what have you that relate to Wicca which is a modern type of witchcraft that emerged in a round about middle of the 20th 20th century Tell us more about the Wicca Yeah well Wicca is a very fascinating new variety of witchcraft that was I'm trying to say created but maybe synthesised is a better word by a gentleman called Gerald Gardner who had been a had been working out in the colonies in the early 20th century as one of these people you know were talking about before people that were sort of affected very deeply by the atmosphere of the places that they that they went. And he came back to Britain and the kind of brought together all sorts of different traditions and elements in the history of magic to create a new type of witchcraft called Wicca which wish it nature and really venerated femininity at the same time as well and it was a real it was is really countercultural thing to do in the kind of slightly buttoned up keep calm carry on atmosphere of the 19 forties 19 fifties to be. Propagating and promoting a type of witchcraft and rituals and what have you or something really quite different and quite freeing I think for gardener in the earlier Terence interesting that. The role of the female in witchcraft is power at this power that that that it seems comes across all the time in every read about the subject that it's something to be scared off this planet and you know you mentioned the female cartoon hairs and you know it comes again and again the wise women something to be scared of something to be respected as well yeah. That it's very strange the history of magic actually you tend to find the. Well if these are days of corn across across the entire world in the association between magic and women it's quite quite common quite common theme really you know the thing that really persists. Does the secretive of it all because to be the leader. Traditionally Anyway yeah. It's something to be honest Kerry says something that still remains mysterious to me to be able to explain in a really convincing way why the majority of people are accused of witchcraft in Britain where women and I really tried you know sort of looking into the history of women in women's lives and you know what particular situations that the women got in say the kind of conflicts they had with other people that lets them being accused. But there's something mysterious about it and I suppose ultimately it touches on I'm sorry to say like about a decrease in Richard. So much that. This is from the way this is. I'm joined by Dr Thomas Fortis lecturer in history at Imperial College London and I talking about his book pierced Britain the history of witchcraft and black magic in modern times which is published this year how has it been received. I think it's been generally good but makes this of this a very controversial topic I suppose and it's something that people feel some people at any rate feel very strongly about particularly if they identify with you as a witch with certain types of witchcraft or better some people really like. A few people think it's all right and some people really you know. It's a very academic study Yeah it's a it's a work of scholarship for the same time I thought was important to try and write in an evocative way to try and convey to readers why actually feels like to be so because thoughts of thinking you know I think the kind of main thing I have to do with us to make it intelligible to almost make it familiar to people because a lot of listeners maybe think in that you know Magic and I call forces is it's silly it's unreal it's unbelievable it's something that they could never credit and the truth is that a lot of people I st