Team Christian (myself and Janie) recently went on a "Hidden History of Norwich" (UK) tour at the KindaKafe on Castle Meadow. (Note the "castle" bit, we'll come back to that.) The story starts with the Missing Kind charity taking over the old Ponds shoe-fitters shop (Ponds had been there since the 19th century – Norwich ised to have a major shoe manufacturing industry) and while clearing out decades of junk from an old storeroom, they discovered a doorway leading downstairs to another old storeroom filled with junk.

Guess what, when that was cleared away, they found another doorway leading even further down into the ground to another old storeroom and what appeared to be a row of old shops and an undercroft. Historians and archaeologists were called in and they dated the timbers of a building at the lower level to circa 1600.

What had happened? Basically early Norwich was a walled city and as the population grew, the only option was to build up and over existing properties. In addition, when the medieval castle, built on a mound and surrounded by a deep ditch and meadows, ceased to have any military significance, the local residents started encroaching on that as well – and so the property line started to extend in front of earlier properties and the street level also increased as the ditch filled. Which explains why the Ponds site appears to contain abandoned buildings that are now about 20 feet below the modern street level.

Anyway, if you are ever in Norwich, do take one of these tours. Totally fascinating and the guide is an excellent (and professional) storyteller who knows how to tell a good tale without being corny. The tour (lasts about an hour – no wheelchair access, wear sensible shoes as you'll be climbing down tight wooden staircases) helps support a charity and you get a free hot drink in the cafe – which also does a nice line in cakes and light meals. (Mmm... cake.) HOWEVER you do need to book in advance – and wrap up well, it was surprisingly cold down there.

One a more gruesome note, the city used to execute its criminals in the castle ditch while the county, which took over the castle keep as a prison, used to execute its criminals on the top of the castle hill. As our guide said, if you'd lived in these old properties "you'd have a great few of the gibbets". For tour times and tickets call 01603 850309 or visit https://www.missingkind.org

In Episode 49 of the Weird Tales Radio Show we celebrate St Paul’s Day (25th January) because if it is fair and clear, we shall have a happy year. We also look at a couple of modern urban legends: love locks on bridges and shoes tossed over telephone cable and ask: are they really ancient traditions or modern fads? And we remember the Mad, Bad Life of Earl Ferrers who ended his life swinging from the Tyburn Tree by a silken noose.

For today's Insider Skinny we are heading into the world of media and podcasting in particular. We start with some data courtesy of PodNews...

RAJAR, the UK radio and audio measurement company, have released their MIDAS research for Q4 2018, which contains research about multiplatform use of audio including a large amount of data about podcast use. Among the highlights:

• 12% of UK adults listen to podcasts weekly. Podcasts are heavily skewed to 25-34 year-olds (21% listen) rather than 55+ (5% do). Two-thirds of listeners identify as male.

• Two-thirds of listening is on a mobile phone. Podcasts are mostly listened-to while driving/travelling (30% of total time listening), or working/studying (29%). 90% of listening is done alone.

• Only 1% of all podcast listening is done on a smart speaker. 60% of people listen to all/most of the podcasts they download. Two-thirds listen to the whole episode. The peak time for podcasting? 8am with another at 6pm.

​AND, still on the topic of podcasting, we enjoyed this self-confessed rant by Sean Howard about audio fiction on Medium. Yeah, we don't like self-appointed "gatekeepers" either!

Today's Insider Skinny is a folklore special... for today (24th January) is St Paul's Eve. In the 19th century it was a holiday for Cornish tin miners and called Paul Pitcher Day from the custom of setting up a water pitcher then throwing stones at it until it broke. The miners would then buy a new pitcher and fill it full of beer.

Children, apparently, would also roam the streets throwing broken crockery at people's front-doors or into their hallways. As one commentator said "On entering a house, I have more than once stumbled over the broken pieces of a Paul's pitcher."

Our sources say the tradition of throwing broken crockery at doors has "no obvious rational explanation" nor logical association with Saint Paul.

In today's collection of stories we have Royal DNA for sale on eBay plus there may be another branch of the human evolutionary family tree out there we don't know about and welcome to the 21st century as reality makes your science fiction dystopian nightmares come true!

And it is the start of another week and time for the latest Insider Skinny (and yes we have added a final 'R' to Inside). Our stories include: when hi-tech meets crime-busting + a preview of the world's largest witchcraft festival + a preview of the new version of Mortal Kombat. And watch out for tomorrow when we have rock 'n' roll dwarfs!