Absolute Units

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Oops, sorry folks, we accidentally uploaded our first conversation with Guy twice! We will fix this as soon as possible and share the actual episode either tomorrow or Monday. Thank you for bearing with us.
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Thanks for waiting for us, as we return with a second episode with the fantastic author, environmentalist, and campaigner Guy Shrubsole. 
Where last episode we spoke broadly about the history of land ownership in England, revving up to almost a thousand years an hour, this time we're lasering in on one specific part of rural English life that speaks to much of the complexities and tensions invoked by Guy's work as well as our collections: hunting. And more specifically, grouse shooting.
We discuss the modern invention of grouse shooting, the transformative impact of shooting culture on rural landscape and ecosystems, and the diabolical experiment we're all living through wherein 50 million pheasants get released into the countryside each year.
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

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Turns out scheduling breaks are like London busses! Joe's come down with the flu, so we haven't had the chance to produce this week's episode in time for Thursday release. We'll be back with regular programming and return for our second episode with Guy Shrubsole in two weeks' time.
Meanwhile: are there topics you'd like to hear about? Do you have a burning question? We've re-enabled our fan mail link, so please send anything that you'd like to share with us, and we'll be sure to cover them in future episodes!

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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

Send us Fan Mail
It's a simple three-word question. Yet the answer is extremely complicated, expensive, and concealed behind paywalls that run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
How did we get here? And how do we get out of it?
In this episode, Joe and Ollie are joined by the remarkable author and campaigner Guy Shrubsole (co-founder of Right to Roam) to explore the question of who really owns England. We chart the course of land management in England from the Norman conquest, through to the Tudors, and right up to the present day, with policy changes coming out as recently as 2026.
Learn more about Right to Roam: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

Send us Fan Mail
Hi folks! We're closed tomorrow for Easter (which is when we'd usually release our next episode). Ollie and Joe are also in and out of the office at the moment, so we're going to use this as a chance for a brief hiatus and we'll then be back to regular programming in 2 weeks' time. See you very soon!
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/

Send us Fan Mail
Content warnings: infant mortality (indicated in the chapter list!) - skip from 14:38 to 19:33
Today we turn 1 years old! A fine age for a growing podcast. Thanks to everyone who has tuned in, joined us in the booth, and supported us in these last 12 months.
To celebrate, we decided yesterday afternoon to record an impromptu anniversary episode, taking listener questions via Bluesky. We talk about a range of topics, including: our favourite museums, what we're reading, spookiness, the definition of an oat, more haunting, cookbooks, horses, hogs, and hovercraft.
Should we do more listener question episodes? Do you have any burning feedback? Can you shed any light about an oat? Please leave us a review to let us know what you think!
Links:
JC Niala's new book (congrats JC!): https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/jc-niala/the-new-eden/9781856755887/
Nicola Chester's new book (congrats Nicola!): https://nicolachester.com/book/ghosts-of-the-farm-two-womens-journeys-through-time-land-and-community/
Apotropaic objects: https://theconcealedrevealed.wordpress.com/
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Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Theme tune by Tai Dawson. This podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound.
Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe Vaughan
Producer: Joe Vaughan
Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/