From the early humans of the Middle Pleistocene era through to the Norman conquest, the history of Sussex is a tale for the ages. East Grinstead, the town that didn't stare, is nestled in this landscape, but what do we know of the thousands of years before the bricks, houses and churches of the town sprang up? What do we know of this wild land where rhinoceros once roamed free? What emerged from the malaria filled marshland of the Sussex coast?

The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.

Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.

End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.

Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.

The interviewees on this episode were: Mark Roberts, Miles Russell, Damh the Bard, Christopher Hewitt, Caroline Metcalf and Jon Ronson.

This is the first part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.

The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1959, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, one of the world's most controversial religions, bought a manor house in the sleepy Sussex town of East Grinstead. In doing so, he changed everything for that town. East Grinstead was now world famous, not as a middle class commuter town with a beautiful timber-clad high street, but as the focus point of global concerns about abuses and corruption in alternative religion. How did it happen? What is life like for British Scientologists? And what did this little town do once it became Britain's home of occultist belief systems?

The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.

Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.

End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.

Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.

The interviewees on this episode were: Tony Ortega, Professor Eileen Barker, Jon Ronson, Charlotte G, Jon Atack, John Sweeney, Peter Fagg and Ken Eckersley.

This is the second part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.

The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is something that makes East Grinstead special, and has drawn extraordinary people to what looks, on the surface, like a very ordinary town. Amongst those who read the land like a book – like a religious text – there are those who say that the town marks the confluence of ley lines, the invisible underground energy currents that, for millennia, have silently and secretly governed the fate of mankind. Could it be that the town that didn't stare is Britain's most unusual town because of these ancient, mystic powers?

The Town That Didn’t Stare is written, produced and presented by Nick Hilton.

Intro and incidental music by George Jennings.

End credits music by Matt Payne and Ollie Lloyd at Shipyard Audio.

Podcast artwork by Tom Humberstone.

The interviewees on this episode were: Graham Gardner, Professor Elizabeth Loftus, Amelia Tait, Louise Devoy, Richard Creightmore, Marc Heal and Damh the Bard.

This is the third part of a 6-part series available on all good podcast platforms. You can find out more about the show on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – just go to @thetownpod – or visit www.thetownpod.com for episode notes and more information.

The Town That Didn’t Stare is a Podot podcast, for more information visit podotpods.com. For sales and advertising, email nick@podotpods.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.