Bloomin' Legends with Johnny Vaughan & Gavin Woods

Episoder

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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!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: Drunken Sailors, Top Trumps & Plum Schnapps 26.07.2026 16min

  He jumped into freezing Portsmouth water after a few sherbets, swam to HMS Warrior, climbed to the very top of the mast, and tied his trousers up there like a denim flag. He got caught in his pants by security dogs and thawed out under a heater in the guard room. Somehow, that still wasn't the maddest part of the story.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 Boarded HMS Warrior In His Underpants – Andy “Wing Commander” Wing takes a drunken strength bet far too seriously, scales a historic warship in the dead of night, and leaves his jeans fluttering from the mast for months.Johnny Fish vs a Flaming Rope – Inspired by his mate’s heroics, one listener casually mentions attempts at parachute-less jumps and plans to abseil down a rope he’s set on fire.The Kosovo Chunder Challenge – A hungover RAF medic, a puking Finnish soldier, a helicopter ride over Kosovo, and one very attractive army officer combine to create a truly heroic act of British self-control.🎥 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 Ben Fairclough and Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Neil Armstrong: What He Actually Said on the Moon 22.07.2026 54min

  He learned to fly before he could drive. At 20, a cable strung across a Korean hillside ripped three feet off his wing at 350 miles an hour, and he nursed the plane to the sea before ejecting with half a second to spare. A decade later, he stopped a spacecraft spinning at one revolution per second using nothing but his nerve. Then NASA gave him a $678 pay rise and told him to go and land on the Moon.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods take on Neil Armstrong, the quiet kid from Ohio who became a naval aviator, a test pilot in a job with a one-in-four survival rate, the first civilian astronaut, and the first human being to set foot on another world. All while being described as the calmest man alive.What You'll Hear in This Episode:Flying before driving - How a kid from small-town Ohio got his pilot's license at 16, before he was even allowed behind a steering wheelThe Gemini 8 death spin – How Armstrong saved himself and David Scott from a spacecraft rotating once every second, and why NASA knew he was their man40 seconds of fuel - The terrifying final moments of the Apollo 11 landing, when Armstrong took manual control to dodge a boulder field🎥 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 Ben Fairclough and Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: Himalayan Cowboys & South African in Disguise 19.07.2026 16min

  He rode a horse through the Himalayas in a dinner jacket, got dragged 30 yards along a mountain path, stood up, brushed himself off, and told everyone he was fine. He wasn't fine. He was heavily medicated and privately terrified.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:🐴 James Bond in the Himalayas - He turned up for a Tibetan horse trek in a dinner jacket. The horsemen gave him the wildest stallion and stuck him at the front. It went exactly as badly as you'd expect.🥃 The Welsh Smuggler Who Forgot His Own English – A WWI veteran smuggles booze across the Irish Sea in WWII. When caught, he pretends he can't speak English and uses the interpreter's translation time to think up better lies.🍺 Beer In, Ear Out, Australian Forever – A South African pours beer in his ear as a party trick, gets an infection, and accidentally lets the doctor think he's Australian. He has to keep up the accent at every appointment from then on.📩 Send it to [email protected] — we're celebrating dads all month. 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download from your app store or visit www.globalplayer.comThis is a Global Original Podcast, produced by Ben Fairclough and Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  Butch Cassidy: He Blew Up a Bridge & Vanished Forever 15.07.2026 48min

  His first crime was stealing a pair of jeans and some pie. He left an IOU, got taken to court, and the jury let him off. Within a decade, he'd blown up a railroad bridge, robbed trains and banks across six states, and racked up the equivalent of $13.5 million, all while being described as charming, clever, and the least likely member of his gang to pull the trigger.In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods tackle Butch Cassidy, the Mormon butcher's boy from Utah who assembled the Wild Bunch, pulled off the longest string of successful bank and train robberies in US history, fled to Argentina with the Sundance Kid, and may or may not have died in a Bolivian shootout.🎥 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 Ben Fairclough and Cassie MerrittNew episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!
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  The Extra Legendary Bit: The Capsize King & Extraordinary Bastards 12.07.2026 14min

  A man so obsessed with the perfect racing finish on his dinghy that he moved it into the family hallway, sealed it inside a polytunnel, and was found at 4am, naked, still battling a mysterious dust problem he couldn't solve. That man was Johnny's dad. And this is Johnny's tribute to him.The Extra Legendary Bit is the 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.Got a legendary dad story? A classic catchphrase? The thing he always said when something went wrong?📩 Send it to [email protected] — we're celebrating dads all month. 📲 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @BloominLegendsListen to all episodes on Global Player, download from your app store or visit www.globalplayer.comThis is a Global Original Podcast, produced by Ben Fairclough.New episodes are released every Wednesday & Sunday. Subscribe to never miss an episode!