Monstrosities Mon Amour celebrates places and things that have been unfairly dismissed. Host John Grindrod (author of Tales of the Suburbs and Concretopia) is your excitable guide to a world beyond the lazy stereotypes of crap towns and guilty pleasures. He meets people who share their enthusiasm for monsters major and minor, places that get a bad press and cultural artefacts that need to be rescued from the bin.
‘Warmly, welcomingly geeky.’ Observer
‘A genuine celebration of places and culture it’s all too easy to dismiss.’ Radio Times
Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando.
You can support the podcast by subscribing through Substack or https://ko-fi.com/grindrod.
Thank you for listening.
johngrindrod.substack.com (https://johngrindrod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Monstrosities Mon Amour: Onyx House, Mile End, with Will Wiles
Back to the future in the Austin Maxi - but which future? Is it the East End of London in the Georgian era, or are we in the mid-eighties? That’s right, it’s both! Novelist Will Wiles loves his local landmark, Onyx House, which he says is like a toy designer’s idea of a building, a pomo office block that pretends to be an eighties glass structure bursting from the stomach of a neo-Georgian mansion like Ridley Scott’s Alien.
Designed by postmodern maestros CZWG, Onyx House has since been disowned by the architects, but it remains an appealingly bizarre landmark opposite Mile End Station. We discuss humour in architecture, changing tastes and how on earth did anyone get this bonkers piece of architecture past a developer?
Will also chooses another cultural artefact stranded in time: the fantasy art of Boris Vallejo. If you’ve ever seen a barbarian princess on top of a mountain in a chain mail bikini a) where do you live and b) you have probably seen the work of Vallejo, a cultural phenomenon of the 70s and 80s. Will, a fantasy author, shares his enthusiasm for these kitsch cheesecake epics, and debunks any idea that these oil paintings were airbrushed.
Will Wiles is a freelance journalist and has written about everything from Pot Noodles to jumbo jets for the art magazine Apollo (https://apollo-magazine.com/author/will-wiles/). He is also the author of fantasy novels (https://uk.bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=w+p+wiles) The Last Blade Priest, and The Dead Man’s Empire under the name W. P. Wiles, which are published by Angry Robot. He is the author of three literary novels (https://uk.bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=will+wiles), Care of Wooden Floors (a Betty Trask Prize winner), The Way Inn, and Plume. He’s on BlueSky at @willwiles.bsky.social and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wiles_books
Theme tune by Lorna Rees (https://www.gobbledegooktheatre.com/) and Rufus Rees Coshan (https://www.instagram.com/rufusrusic/). You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod
Monstrosities Mon Amour is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe (https://johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
10 Aug 2026
Monstrosities Mon Amour: Lewisham High Street with Emma Warren
Here we go again! More kidnapping, more Austin Maxis, more journeys to the curious recesses of the mind of my guest. This episode it’s cultural historian Emma Warren, who has championed everything from youth clubs to dancing in her marvellous books, and this time shares an infatuation with Lewisham High Street in South London.
As a former resident of Lewisham I am very familiar with the energy of this often maligned corner of South London. It’s too much for some, but not for the residents of this London Borough, who have seen everything from riots, redevelopment and reasonably priced fry-ups happen on their patch.
Emma takes us through the history of the place, as a hotbed of radicalism and resistance, but also as a community hub famed for its market and even its McDonalds (as featured in Novelists’s 2014 track Lewisham McDeez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdLrY2YUsw8)).
While we’re there she also alights on a church, from where you can buy Virgin Mary Holy Water bottles. Derided by some as the epitome of kitsch, these are also much-loved and nostalgic relics of Catholic family life, and here lapsed Emma shares the joy of holy water bottles shaped like Mary, an essential in the home of her maternal grandmother.
Emma Warren (http://emmawarren.squarespace.com/) is a writer and broadcaster, author of a number of warm and wonderful books that cross social and cultural history, including her most recent, Up the Youth Club, which tells the brilliant hidden story of youth clubs from across the last century, and Dance Your Way Home: A Journey Through The Dancefloor (Faber, 2023). She was a founding contributor to Jockey Slut magazine, worked on staff at The Face and as an editorial mentor at Brixton youth-run Live Mag.
Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe (https://johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
8 Jul 2026
Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Great Wall of Kidderminster with Mike Parker
Kidnapped once more in an Austin Maxi, I find myself in the Land of Mid – Kidderminster, to be precise, admiring its largely unheralded William Mitchell artwork, the Great Wall.
Travel writer Mike Parker hails from Kidderminster, and has always loved this vast concrete mural along a retaining wall beside the town’s ring road. Created in 1973 by concrete wizard William Mitchell, the Great Wall of Kidderminster is a third of a kilometre long and features his trademark abstract geometeries and rugged, Aztec-inspired designs. These days it’s aged into an ancient-looking monument, overgrown in parts. But now, after decades of being derided and ignored, is the Great Wall of Kidderminster finally having its moment in the sun?
Mike’s minor monster is another Midlands icon, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, written as nature notes in 1906 by Birmingham art teacher Edith Holden and not published until 1977, at which point it became an enormous publishing phenomenon. Would Edith have recognised the way she was portrayed, or the things the Diary would go on to inspire? And why is Mike so obsessed with such a contrasting work of art?
Mike Parker is a much-loved travel writer and historian. Author of books including Map Addict: A Tale of Obsession, Fudge & the Ordnance Survey (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/map-addict-the-bestselling-tale-of-an-obsession-mike-parker/f539097be449da51?ean=9780007351572&bkshp-astro=t), On the Red Hill: Where Four Lives Fell Into Place (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/on-the-red-hill-where-four-lives-fell-into-place-mike-parker/d0617e47cd685c3d?ean=9781786090492&bkshp-astro=t), All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/all-the-wide-border-wales-england-and-the-places-between-mike-parker/1ddd1b7ee1c4c9fc?ean=9780008499211&bkshp-astro=t) as well as the forthcoming Mid Land: A Journey into England’s Heart. (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mid-land-a-journey-into-england-s-heart-mike-parker/7cc678c1242e15fa?ean=9780008758455&bkshp-astro=t) Jan Morris said ‘What a true wanderer he is, and how wonderfully well-read.’ Find out more about his work at https://mikeparker.uk/ (https://mikeparker.uk/)
Theme tune by Lorna Rees (https://www.gobbledegooktheatre.com/) and Rufus Rees Coshan (https://www.instagram.com/rufusrusic/). You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod
Monstrosities Mon Amour is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe (https://johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 19 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
19
Social presence
91
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
Contact Monstrosities Mon Amour
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
