Bloomin' Legends with Johnny Vaughan & Gavin Woods

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  The Extra Legendary Bit: Benevolent Dictators, Cold Plunges & A Pub Queue Revolt 04.10.2026 20Min.

  A pub near Waterloo. One enormous queue down the middle of the room. Two bartenders standing idle at either end. And one man, several pints in, who decides he's had enough.The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods leave the history books behind and hand the show over to you, and this week it's a masterclass in British pride, British moaning, and taking a stand over absolutely nothing.What you'll hear in this episode: 🍺 The queue that shouldn't exist – Lucy's mate Freddy reorganises an entire pub by shouting "this isn't the post office", and briefly becomes chief executive of queue prevention 👕 Millwall v West Ham – Doug watched a mouthy away fan get his shirt torn clean off his chest, no punches thrown, and reckons the culprit did the nation a service 🏖️ The great towel revolution – Johnny's proudest day: confiscating every reserved sunbed towel in a Tenerife hotel and putting the lot in lost property🌊 Damn fool Englishmen – Mark's teenage cliff dive in Malta for a crowd that had already wandered off, plus Johnny's near-death plunge into the freezing Atlantic off Cape Town purely so the locals would be impressed ⚽ Who should actually run Britain? – the benevolent dictator debate continues: Prince William, Gareth Southgate, Eddie Howe, and why Number 10 should be replaced with a dugoutGot a story that can top this week's madness?📩 Send it to [email protected] and we'll decide if it's Bloomin' Legendary or just brilliantly bonkers📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  He invented the police and London hated him - Sir Robert Peel 30.09.2026 56Min.

  In 1815, there were over 200 crimes in Britain that could get you hanged. Wrecking a fish pond. Stealing from a rabbit warren. Damaging a road.The man who started dismantling that list is the same man who invented the modern police force, and got so thoroughly attacked for it that his officers were nicknamed the Blue Devils. Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Sir Robert Peel: cotton money, a bought Irish seat at 21, and a career built on doing the one thing politicians are never supposed to do, changing his mind.What you'll hear in this episode: 🎩 895 men, top hats and a wooden rattle – how the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 put Britain's first full-time force on the streets, deliberately dressed to look nothing like soldiers 🐇 200 ways to hang – the genuinely unhinged list of capital crimes Peel inherited, from maiming cattle to returning from exile 🍊 "Orange Peel" – the man who spent two decades blocking Catholic emancipation… then pushed it through Parliament himself in 1829 ⛏️ The Tory who took on the factories – banning women and children from the mines in 1842, while his own family got rich on cotton 🌾 The U-turn that ended him – why repealing the Corn Laws in 1846 split his own party and cost him everything 🏇 Constitution Hill, 1850 – the horse, the fall, and Johnny's theory about what really happened ⚽ Plus: which football manager would make the best benevolent dictator of Britain?If you love history podcasts, British history, true crime origins, politics and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Did Peel make the Bloomin' Legendary leaderboard? Listen to find out, and tell us if we got the shuffle wrong.Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegends Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: The Titanic's Food System 27.09.2026 13Min.

  40,000 eggs. 75,000lb of fresh meat. One Atlantic crossing.After our Titanic episode, listener Bazil sent in the stat Johnny and Gav have been craving, and it sends The Extra Legendary Bit straight down a rabbit hole of floating farmyards, sub-zero labyrinths and the great mystery of "long egg".What you'll hear in this episode: 🥚 40,000 eggs, one crossing – the jaw-dropping shopping list behind a single Titanic voyage ❄️ The hidden sub-zero labyrinth – the steam-driven cooling plant, brine-filled pipes and separate meat, dairy and produce rooms that kept an egg tasting fresh on day seven 🐄 When ships carried the farm – why mid-19th century steamships packed live cows, sheep and poultry into deck pens and slaughtered them mid-voyage 🍳 The mystery of "long egg" – Johnny's former-caterer knowledge gets fully unleashed, plus a heated debate about where veal really came from 👁️ Cullen's all-seeing eye – the South African farmer who left his glass eye on a fence post to watch his workers… then spied on them through binoculars from over a ridgeIf you love history, the Titanic and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a story that can top this week's madness? 📩 Send it to [email protected] and we'll decide if it's Bloomin' Legendary or just brilliantly bonkers 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global production Produced by Ben Fairclough New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Blackbeard: The Most Feared Pirate in History 23.09.2026 48Min.

  He is the most famous pirate who has ever lived. The template for every terrifying pirate since. And he managed all of it in roughly two years.He braided his enormous beard, tied it with ribbons, and wore slow-burning fuses under his hat so his head was permanently wreathed in smoke. He wore six pistols across his chest, plus cutlasses and knives. And it worked so well that merchant crews frequently just surrendered without a fight.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Blackbeard - and discover that for the most famous pirate in history, we know remarkably little about him, including his actual name.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🔥 The burning beard – the most committed piece of personal branding in maritime history. Braids, ribbons, and lit fuses under the hat so he appeared through his own smoke🔫 Six pistols, worn as a statement – three pairs across the chest, cutlasses and knives on top, and a habit of using the pistol handle as a bludgeon once he'd fired it🧠 Fear instead of violence – Blackbeard favoured psychological warfare over fighting, which was also good business. A ship captured intact was worth far more than one you'd shot to pieces🏴 The flag – forget the standard skull and crossbones. Blackbeard's flag was something else entirely, and Johnny and Gav get into pirate branding, KFC versus Chicken Cottage, and why some pirate flags simply didn't work💊 He blockaded Charleston for a chest of medicine – held an entire harbour hostage, took prominent locals prisoner, and threatened to kill one person an hour. Not for gold. For medicine🏴‍☠️ Nobody knows who he was – Teach, Thatch, Thack, Thatche. Possibly Bristol, possibly Jamaica. The running joke is that his first act of piracy was stealing his own biography⚔️ It took 20 cutlass wounds and 5 gunshots to finish him – and legend claims his headless body swam around the ship three timesIf you love pirate history, maritime legends, eccentric characters and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: Mafia Punishments, Wrestling Moves & a Chindit in Burma 20.09.2026 17Min.

  The mafia didn't just kill people. They made the punishment fit the crime, and Johnny and Gav have worked out exactly how the poetic justice system operated. Say the boss has his head up his own arse and you'll be found in a very literal state.The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🔪 Mafia punishments that fit the crime – Johnny and Gav on the grimly poetic logic of mob justice, and the absurdity of the police having a boss on CCTV with a chainsaw, boasting about it in a deli, and still only being able to get him on tax 🤼 The greatest signature move in wrestling – Johnny makes the case for Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bomb, the only combat move in history built around using your own back as a weapon, and wonders what would happen if you tried it in a pub 🚚 A trucker's friend – Mark from Nottingham is working through the whole back catalogue on the Nottingham to Ipswich run, and is off to Angola to report back from the field 🌏 Great Uncle Albert, an original Chindit – James nominates his great-uncle, who slipped behind enemy lines into the green hell of wartime Burma, endured monsoons, malaria and the many-banded krait, then came home and never once mentioned it 🩲 The naked Brigadier – The officer whose obituary noted he might have achieved greater heights in the British Army were it not for his propensity to brief the men with no clothes on.If you love funny true stories, listener tales, mafia history, wartime legends and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a story that can top this week's madness?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  "This Man Won the War" – Hugh Dowding 16.09.2026 51Min.

  It is genuinely rare that you can point at one man and say he won the war. This is one of those times.He was nicknamed "Stuffy." He had no swagger, no flamboyance, and no interest in popularity. He won the Battle of Britain with radar stations, telephone lines, filter rooms and a terrifying level of organisation. but within weeks of doing it, the RAF removed him from his post.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, the man who built the system that saved Britain, and whose full name is arguably the greatest set of middle names ever committed to a birth register.What You'll Hear in This Episode:📡 The Dowding System – radar, the Royal Observer Corps, telephone networks, filter rooms and sector control. Not a single act of derring-do, just making absolutely certain the right squadron reached the right place at the right time✈️ He joined the Army, then saw an aeroplane – born in 1882, when powered flight did not exist. He learned to fly in 1913, ten years after the Wright brothers, and lived long enough to watch the moon landing🇫🇷 The call that made him deeply unpopular – he refused to send as many fighters to France as were being demanded, arguing that if Britain lost too many there it would have nothing left to defend itself. He was accused of being too conservative🥋 Big Wing versus fast interception – the tactical row inside Fighter Command, and why Dowding and Keith Park backed small, fast groups over enormous formations🎖️ 15 September 1940 – Battle of Britain Day. 1,100 German aircraft sent over. The system held, and Operation Sea Lion went back in the drawer🚪 Sacked in November – he saves the country from German air superiority, then gets replaced by Sholto Douglas. "Thanks for that, old boy. Now off you go."🐾 The strangest retirement – Dowding turned to spiritualism, spoke publicly about life after death, and campaigned against hunting and vivisectionIf you love World War 2 stories, the Battle of Britain, British war heroes, military history and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: The Car Salesman Who Passed Himself Off as a War Hero 13.09.2026 16Min.

  He convinced a room of actual airline pilots that he flew Boeing 757s for their own airline. He spent months letting a pub believe he was flying Hercules missions in the Gulf War. He was bought drinks and introduced as a war hero. He was, in fact, a car salesman.The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation.What You'll Hear in This Episode:✈️ The bullshido black belt – Ben from Dorset nominates his oldest friend Boley, a 90s chancer who talked his way through takeoffs, landings and approaches with real pilots and got away with it🍺 The Gulf War pub bluff – not blurted out in one night but gently fed over weeks and months until the whole pub believed he was a decorated RAF pilot on leave. When the landlord found out the truth, the entire gang got barred🥋 The one time it backfired – he once picked a fight well out of his league and came away with a black eye, courtesy of a female MMA fighter🤠 Butch Cassidy's Wyoming – Nick writes in from Medicine Hat, Alberta with a brilliant follow-up to the Butch Cassidy episode: the general store Butch used is still open, still run by the founder's grandson, and the Sundance jail is still standing📲 Telegram, engagement and traction – Johnny discovers what happens the moment you download a certain Russian messaging app, and reflects on being sent a DM that read like "alphabet spaghetti"If you love funny stories, shameless chancers, Wild West history and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a story that can top this week's madness?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  She rode zebras around Victorian London and bought her own artillery - Lady Meux 09.09.2026 40Min.

  She was a village butcher's daughter from Devon who reinvented herself twice, married into one of Britain's greatest brewing fortunes, and then drove around Victorian London in a carriage pulled by zebras.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Lady Meux, quite possibly the most eccentric woman in Victorian London, and a masterclass in what happens when high society refuses to accept you and you simply buy your way past it.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🦓 The zebras – she had a high phaeton pulled by zebras, animals nobody has ever properly tamed, and drove it through the West End past the hats, horses and chimney smoke🎭 Two complete reinventions – born Susie Langton, she arrived in London in the 1870s with no connections, no money and a brand new name, and worked her way into the theatrical world before marrying a baronet-to-be in secret🏛️ She bought Christopher Wren's arch – when Temple Bar was dismantled and dumped in a builder's yard, she bought it and had it re-erected as the front gate of her country estate🇪🇬 1,700 Egyptian antiquities – a serious collection, catalogued by an actual Egyptologist, which she tried to leave to the British Museum. They turned her down, so she sold the lot💥 She bought her own artillery – told that British forces at Ladysmith were under-gunned in the Boer War, and refused by the authorities, she went directly to Armstrong and paid for a battery of field guns herself💰 The inheritance twist – with no children, she left the entire brewing fortune to an army officer who'd simply come round and told her about the war, on one condition: he had to change his nameIf you love eccentric history, Victorian scandal, self-made outsiders and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: "The BEST Story So Far" 05.09.2026 13Min.

  Pee, Poo, Puke. The Grand Slam.This week, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods celebrate your own Bloomin’ Legends, with two listener stories involving heroic determination, disastrous decisions and a truly staggering amount of bodily waste.There’s a dad who thinks he can outmanoeuvre a septic tank pump, a naval aviator whose big weekend ends in the dreaded “grand slam”, and a potential merchandise scheme where your reward might be permission to buy something.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:💩 The sludge pump incident – when a pipe comes loose and sewage starts flooding the garden, Sean’s dad decides to reconnect it while the machine’s still running. It requires split-second timing. He does not have split-second timing🔧 “I’ve come this far…” – already covered from head to toe, one determined father keeps trying the same manoeuvre, with increasingly brown results. His family have never laughed harder. He never sees the funny side⚓ A seagull, some jelly powder and a big night out – after a week of escape and evasion training, a group of budding naval aviators ignore the warnings about overindulging and head straight for a weekend on the booze🤢 Johnny One Stroke completes the grand slam – one small sink, several urgent problems and an ambitious series of turns. A listener nomination that leaves Johnny and Gav in absolutely no doubt: he’s straight in👕 The exclusive right to buy a sweatshirt – the boys discuss mugs, merchandise and a coupon system that makes being rewarded for your loyalty sound suspiciously like an application processGot a legend you want us to cover? A disastrous DIY dad, a one-eyed wonder or another grand slam contender? We want your stories.📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin’ Legends is a Global production.New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Mark Anthony: The John Terry of Ancient Rome 03.09.2026 45Min.

  Friends, Romans, countrymen… get a load of this.He was a disgraced party boy in his twenties, a war hero in his thirties, and ruling a huge chunk of the Roman world by his forties. He became Julius Caesar’s right-hand man, fell for Cleopatra, and went all in on battles, banquets and spectacularly bad decisions.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods take on Mark Antony — the brilliant soldier, legendary liability and hopeless romantic they’ve dubbed “the John Terry of ancient Rome”.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:🍷 Brilliant soldier, terrible dinner guest – drinking, gambling and hiding from creditors before he’d even turned twenty. How Rome’s wayward party boy found his calling commanding cavalry💪 Apparently related to Hercules – Antony claimed divine ancestry and even styled himself to look the part. Johnny and Gav consider whether being descended from a demigod is the ancient equivalent of having had trials at Crystal Palace🗣️ The funeral speech that sent Rome into meltdown – with Caesar murdered, Antony turns a public funeral into a political masterstroke. Blood-soaked clothes, an inheritance for the people, and a crowd that’s suddenly very interested in finding Brutus🐍 Cleopatra knows how to make an entrance – she arrives on a golden barge dressed as a goddess. He’s a man with a taste for lion-drawn chariots. Naturally, they hit it off and start a dining club dedicated to outrageous excess⚔️ Marrying your rival’s sister only gets you so far – fragile alliances, brutal revenge and a return to Cleopatra. How Antony’s relationship with Octavian went from sharing power to fighting for control of the Roman world💔 A disastrous battle and an even worse message – the retreat at Actium, the false report of Cleopatra’s death, and a tragic ending that sounds like Shakespeare made it upIf you love ancient Rome, larger-than-life characters and history’s most spectacular rises and falls, this episode of Bloomin’ Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover? Or know someone who’s brilliant at their job but an absolute liability after a few drinks? Johnny and Gav want to hear about them.📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin’ Legends is a Global production.New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: The Worst Party Tricks We've Ever Heard 30.08.2026 14Min.

  A man who attempted to sniff a piece of string up his nose and pull it out of his mouth, with no practice, in a packed pub, on a Sunday lunchtime, and got thrown out covered in his own sick. And a dad whose signature party piece involved a recorder, an empty sleeve, and a finger poking out of his flies.The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🪢 Gary and the string trick – he'd seen someone do it once, never practised, gathered everyone round the bar to watch… and it ended in vomit and a barring🎼 The one-armed flute player – one listener's dad had a party routine so cringeworthy his own sons would leave the room when they saw him reaching for the jacket🏥 Johnny's grandad, the tube-insertion champion – a pioneer of modern anaesthesia who has a engraved tankard from his grateful students for winning a competition doing basically the same trick as Gary🍺 Man Size Issues – Johnny and Gav accidentally start a men's health podcast about moobs, Spanx, and why nobody can trust anything they're told about butterIf you love funny true stories, listener tales, terrible party tricks, pub disasters and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a story that can top this week's madness?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Leo Major: The Canadian Sniper Who Captured 93 Germans on His Own 26.08.2026 49Min.

  He lost an eye at Normandy and refused to go home. He broke his back and carried on. He captured 93 German soldiers on his own. And then, in April 1945, he liberated an entire Dutch city single-handedly by running around it all night with a machine gun and a bag of grenades, convincing the Germans they were surrounded.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Leo Major, the French-Canadian scout and sniper who treated his own safety as an optional extra, and became one of only a handful of Canadians ever awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal twice.What You'll Hear in This Episode:👁️ He lost an eye and stayed anyway – hit in the face by a phosphorus grenade days after landing on Juno Beach, doctors wanted to send him home. He pointed out he only needed one eye to fire a rifle🪖 93 prisoners, one man – how a single Canadian scout captured two German soldiers, marched them to their own commanding officer, and ended up with an entire company surrendering to him🎖️ The medal he allegedly refused – the story goes he turned down a decoration because he didn't think Montgomery deserved the respect of a salute🦴 A broken back, then back to work – a landmine killed the chaplain and driver beside him and threw him through the air. Thirty miles to a field hospital, morphine every fifteen minutes🔥 The liberation of Zwolle – after his friend Willie Arsenault was killed, Major spent an entire night alone faking a full-scale invasion, organised the Dutch Resistance, burned down the Gestapo HQ, and by dawn the Germans had gone. The city named a street after him🇰🇷 Korea in running shoes – he goes back for another war, slips 18 men through the Chinese lines in plimsolls, takes a hill, and then refuses an order to retreat for three daysIf you love World War 2 stories, war heroes, military legends and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: Worst dinner guests in history 23.08.2026 15Min.

  Johnny picks a war criminal over David Walliams as a dinner companion. That's where this one starts.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🍽️ Dinner Party Guests From Hell – Listener Kevin assembles a 10-person table including John Fury, Slobodan Milošević, Katie Price, James Corden and David Walliams. Johnny would rather sit next to the war criminal. Any day of the week.🧖 Celebrity Steam Room – Johnny recalls the time the steam cleared and he found himself naked with Ross Kemp, Ainsley Harriott, Lee Chapman and Dr. Fox. Ross pitched a show. It was terrible.💣 History's Biggest What If – The boys debate the single decision that may have saved Britain in WWII — and why one bomber over Berlin changed the course of modern history.🏅 George Broadley: A Real Blooming Legend – Listener Lee shares the story of a man who dug through Blitz rubble with his bare hands, rescued children, and was awarded the George Medal by King George himself.Got a story that can top this week's madness? 📩 Send it to [email protected] and we'll decide if it's Bloomin' Legendary or just brilliantly bonkers.📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download from your app store or visit www.globalplayer.comNew episodes every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss one!This is a Global Original Podcast, produced by Ben Fairclough.
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  Joan of Arc: The Saint Who Led an Army at 17 19.08.2026 58Min.

  She was 17, had never held a sword, and travelled 300 miles across France to find a king who was hiding among his own courtiers. She walked straight past the decoy, found him immediately, then told him something privately that apparently only he could have known. Within moments, the sceptical future king was visibly shaken, and Joan was given an army.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Joan of Arc, the teenage peasant girl who claimed she was on a mission from God, lifted the Siege of Orléans, crowned a king, outsmarted France's most educated theologians and became one of history's most extraordinary saints.What You'll Hear in This Episode:👑 The secret meeting – how Joan spotted the real Charles among a crowd of courtiers and told him something that apparently turned him from sceptic into believer. But what did she actually say?🐎 300 miles on horseback – how a 17-year-old girl travelled across France to find the future King after claiming she'd been ordered to drive the English out.📚 Joan vs the professors – how an uneducated teenager went head-to-head with France's top theologians and left them struggling for answers.⚔️ The teenage general – how Joan helped lift the Siege of Orléans, led French armies into battle, took a cannonball to the helmet and carried only a banner rather than a weapon.👑 Crowning a king – how Joan marched Charles to Reims and helped turn the supposedly illegitimate Dauphin into the crowned King of France.🔥 The trial – how Joan was interrogated, accused of heresy and condemned at just 19, with wearing men's clothes becoming part of the case against her.👻 The fake Joan – how, five years after her death, another woman appeared claiming to be Joan of Arc — and somehow even Joan's own brothers went along with it.If you love history, saints, medieval warfare, unbelievable true stories and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube.Listen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: Why All Guard Dogs Are German Soldiers 16.08.2026 15Min.

  Johnny has gone full barking mad this week, realising that all three of the world's top guard dogs are German, you can imagine every one of them in a helmet, and that Alsatians are only called Alsatians because nobody in Britain would buy a German dog after World War I.The Extra Legendary Bit is where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods dive into your messages and uncover the gloriously unhinged tales sent in by the Bloomin' Legends nation.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🐕 Johnny's German dog theory – Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds: all guards, all German, all looking like they should be wearing a helmet. Plus the true story of why Alsatians are called Alsatians (only in Britain) 🐟 The Doberman who saved a koi carp – one listener's dog bangs on the back door "like the Gestapo demanding entry" while gently holding a 14-inch fish in her mouth 🏛️ The pharaoh's curse update – Tertius returns to Egypt with a fedora and a stolen pyramid shard, hoping to undo a curse, and ends up bribing his way into sealed tombs 🦈 The naked shark swim – four drunk Australian teenagers strip off to swim across Sydney Harbor in the dark, nearly get hit by a speedboat, and later discover bull sharks had moved inIf you love funny true stories, listener tales, dog nonsense, Australian chaos and comedy podcasts, this bonus episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a story that can top this week's madness?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  "The Worst Woman Who Ever Lived?" Elizabeth Báthory 12.08.2026 44Min.

  She spoke four languages, owned more land than the King of Hungary, and may have tortured and murdered up to 650 young women over 25 years. When they finally caught her, she was so powerful they couldn't even put her on trial - so they bricked her up inside her own castle and left her there until she died.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods tackle Elizabeth Báthory - the 16th century Hungarian countess considered the most prolific female serial killer in recorded history, and the first true villain Bloomin' Legends has ever covered.What You'll Hear in This Episode:🏰 The Blood Countess – how one of Europe's most powerful noblewomen allegedly used her wealth, land, and total impunity to torture and kill for over two decades🐴 The most horrific execution ever? – as a child, Báthory witnessed a man sewn alive into a dying horse with his head left poking out, and it may have shaped everything that followed🩸 The blood-bathing myth – did she really bathe in the blood of virgins? Almost certainly not — that detail was invented by a Jesuit writer over 100 years later🤴 Too powerful to punish – why the King of Hungary wanted her gone, how her downfall was probably motivated by debt, and why she never stood trial🧱 Bricked up alive – her final punishment: walled into a room in her own castle with no doors, no windows, and no sunlight for three and a half years until she diedIf you love true crime, dark history, serial killers, medieval horror and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.Got a legend you want us to cover?📩 Send it to: [email protected]📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Ben FaircloughNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: A Beach Bar Brawl and a Christmas Plumber 09.08.2026 17Min.

  A night out turns into a beachside evacuation. Thirty Royal Marines charge into the dark wearing boots, body armour and ballistic helmets, armed with whatever they could find in the galley, including a two-handled boiling pot.The Extra Legendary Bit is the bonus episode where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods leave the history books behind and dive into the unhinged, moving and brilliant stories sent in by you, the listeners.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:The Royal Navy Run Ashore That Got Out of Hand – Gareth remembers his late dad Sean: a teenage Navy recruit, a police-car-light heist in Pensacola, and the Caribbean night a beach bar bust-up required a full Marine rescue mission.Can a Dickhead Still Be a Legend? – Mary asks the big question: can one heroic act outweigh years of being difficult? Johnny answers with a surprisingly profound passage from Tolstoy about why human beings are like rivers.Uncle Dave, the Christmas Plumber – Jason nominates the man who has spent 40 years keeping elderly customers warm, fixing boilers for free and quietly being a bloomin legend.🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Lachhiman Gurung: The Gurkha Who Took On 200 Men Alone 05.08.2026 46Min.

  He was 4 foot 11, weighed eight stone, came from a mountain village with no electricity, no roads, and no running water… and then held off 200 Japanese soldiers in a Burmese jungle trench after a grenade blew his hand off.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods take on take on Lachhiman Gurung, the Gurkha rifleman who became one of the most decorated soldiers of the Second World War. Four days after VE Day, while Britain was celebrating in the streets, Gurung was still fighting in the Burmese jungle. Half blind, badly wounded, and down to one usable hand, he spent four hours holding off wave after wave of Japanese attackers with a bolt-action rifle, a kukri, and pure bloody-minded courage.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:The trench stand - the astonishing night Gurung threw back grenades, lost his right hand, and still refused to give an inch“Come and fight a Gurkha” – the battle cry he reportedly shouted into the dark as 200 enemy troops closed inThe quiet hero – how one of the bravest men of the war went home, farmed in silence, and barely spoke about what he’d done...bloomin legend.🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: A Train Thief and a Secret Millionaire 02.08.2026 13Min.

  His grandfather was told to move a train up the line. The driver had wandered off, so he thought, how hard can it be? Twenty miles later, he found out.The Extra Legendary Bit is the bonus episode where Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods leave the history books behind and dive into the gloriously unhinged stories sent in by you, the listeners.What You'll Hear in This Episode:The Man Who Accidentally Stole a Train – A 1960s signal technician gets an empty locomotive rolling with zero training and absolutely no idea how to stop it. Land Rovers give chase. His response when they finally catch up is magnificent.The Tightest Man Who Ever Bought a House – Uncle Ray never spent a penny in his life. Same flat for 40 years. Fiver in every birthday card. Then the solicitor's letter arrived.The Ford Focus of Justice – Someone parks across Dave's driveway. Dave parks directly behind them and puts the football on. Three hours later, he delivers one line that ends the whole situation.🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Casanova: The World’s Greatest Lover Was a Prison-Breaking Spy 29.07.2026 44Min.

  He was a lawyer by 17, a priest who once fainted in the pulpit from a hangover, a professional violinist, a government spy, a prison escape artist, a con man, a duellist, and the man whose name became shorthand for the world’s greatest seducer.He blagged his way through 18th-century Europe, convinced a Venetian senator he had mystical powers, escaped from an “inescapable” prison through the roof, invented the French state lottery, and somehow still found time to get exiled from half the continent.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin “The Woodman” Woods take on Giacomo Casanova, the Venetian adventurer whose real life was far wilder than his reputation.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:The man behind the name - how Casanova became synonymous with seduction, even though his real life was much madder than just his love affairsThe prison break – Casanova’s legendary escape from Venice’s supposedly inescapable Leads prison by climbing out through the roof and strolling out dressed as a noblemanThe great European blag – how he convinced a senator he had magical powers, worked as a spy, and charmed his way into courts and palaces across the continentCasanova’s seduction formula – Johnny breaks down the four-act game plan that made him history’s most famous romantic operator🎥 Watch the full episode now on the Bloomin' Legends YouTube channel!Got a legend you want us to cover? 📩 Send it to: [email protected] 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegends 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloominlegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download the app, or visit www.globalplayer.comBloomin' Legends is a Global productionProduced by Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!