Telling Stories w/ Tom Thumb

About Telling Stories w/ Tom Thumb

Telling Stories is a podcast about stories and storytelling. In each podcast I take down a book from my shelf and tell you about it, the stories it contains and which other stories they relate to. One week I'll be telling tales from Sufi poetry, the next anecdotes from the world of chess, then on to stories about sharks, the next week hot air balloons - there are stories everywhere... I'm a writer and storyteller from England and I spent 20 years travelling the worldl and picked up a few tales along the way. You can find my books and more storytelling at www.tomthumb.org (https://tomthumb.org)

Publisher

Tom Thumb

Category

arts · history · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

15 Sept 2025

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

17 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   16. Bedouin Stories - Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger

   Remarkable tales of crossing the enormous dunes of Arabia by camel with Bedouin tribes in the 1940's, recounted in the book Arabian Sands by Wilfred Theisger. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   15. Alone Together - Loneliness and Technology

   Exploring themes from Sherry Turkle's book, Alone Together, which examines whether technology is making us ever more isolated from one another. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

3. 

   8 Jun 2026

   14. Every Man for Himself & God Against All - Werner Herzog Stories

   There are few people alive quite as fascinating as the filmmaker, Werner Herzog. Here I tell a few of the stories from his wonderful memor, Every Man for Himself and God Against All. I bought it on the strength of the title alone.. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

4. 

   26 May 2026

   13. Who were (are) the hippies anyway?

   13. What is a hippie? Back in 1995, I left school and went to India and, arriving in Goa, I found a culture of travellers and drop-outs who had been there, on and off, since the 60's. who called themselves freaks. We (I swiftly decided I wanted to join their ranks) called ourselves freaks rather than hippies. A freak was someone who had gone their own way and lived a life on their own terms, undefined by the culture from which they came. It was a badge of honour to be a freak and one we used to distinguish ourselves from the tourists who were beginning to outnumber us as development rapidly ate away at our counter-culture paradise. Every day I hung out with some of the older personalities at hidden-away cafes in the jungle and one of them, 8-Finger Eddie, was going strong at the age of 74, having arrived to Goa in 1965 and never left, straying no further than Nepal for regular visa runs. I wanted to know how it all got started and so one day asked him: 'Eddie, before the freaks and hippies, there were the Beatniks, right? 'Kerouac! Ginsberg!' he grinned. Right, so who were the cool people before the Beatniks?' 'Hipsters!' he told me, the memory of the jazz age lighting up his eyes. 'And before hipsters?' Eddie paused for a moment and shrugged. 'Black people!' he laughed. There's this story that when the Beatles first came to the US, a much feted cultural invasion, they were greeted by screaming crowds and a throng of reporters who asked them what they wanted to see in America. Muddy Waters, the Beatles said, referring to the legendary bluesman, one of many who had influenced their musical formation. Oh, where's that? The reporter replied. The Beatles weren't the first to revamp black music and bring it to the American mainstream - Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly had already done that - but they were the first to give them credit and that helped spark a renewed interest in the blues. But early black American culture hadn't just given groovier music to future generations, the tunes went hand in hand with more open attitudes towards sexuality and drugs. John Lennon never would have sung Why Don't We Just Do It in the Road? without having heard I Got My Mojo Working. And black jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong freely claimed that marijuana made them play better. Beatnik writers like Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg used speed, opiates and psychedelics to open their minds to new realms of experience in the 50's, laying the groundwork for the following generation of Flower Children who would truly blow their minds open in the 60's. The music, the drugs, the new ideas marked the difference between the status quo and those who had decided to 'tune in, turn on and drop out.', as LSD guru, Timothy Leary had it. In fact, a whole new lexicon sprung up to define the new movement. You might 'turn someone on' by giving them their first joint. A person could be 'with it' or 'cool' if they 'dug' what was going on. All with a certain degree of pride as Bob Dylan had it in A Ballad of a Thin Man: 'You walk into the room With your pencil in your hand You see somebody naked And you, you say, "Who is that man?" You try so hard But you don't understand Just what you will say When you get home Because something is happening here But ya' don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?' But what took everyone so long? Why had everyone been so straight up until then? The rather prosaic answer is the economy, stupid. Until then, the kind of individual who took an interest in drugs, eastern religions or non-conventional sexuality was likely to an eccentric member of the upper classes with money behind them and the social licence to be a bit of a colourful character - an oddball, to...

5. 

   14 May 2026

   12. Holy Shit - the History of Swearing

   What makes swear words 'bad' language in the first place? It turns out that it's the fact  we hide the words and the anatomy and actions to which they belong that give them their power. So i've learnt by reading Holy Shit, an excellent book by Melissa Mohr on the history of swearing in which she explores why swear words have the force they have and how they've changed over time. In thiss episode we explore the history of swearing. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

6. 

   5 May 2026

   11. Dying Young

   Otis Redding, Jimi Hendirix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winhouse - how come they all died young? And how come so many others didn't... You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

7. 

   25 Nov 2025

   10. Hot Air Balloons - When Humans Learned to Fly

   What was the point of science and Age of Enlightenment if it couldn't impress a few people along  the way? Hundreds of thousands of people came to see the first hot air balloon flights though they were incredibly dangerous adventures that often ended in tragedy.. Drawing on stories from the wonderful book, The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

8. 

   18 Nov 2025

   9. The Matrix - Red & Blue Pills, Misogyny & Conspiracy Theories

   When the Matrix came out in 1999, it gave us a new version of an old metaphor for enlightenment and mystical revelation - what a shock then when its central metaphor got hijacked by the manosphere and conspiracy theorists.. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

9. 

   9 Nov 2025

   8. The Blues - Selling Souls to the Devil

   There's an old myth in blue music that a musician would walk on down to the crossroads and sell their soul to the Devil in return for incredible talent. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

10. 

    26 Oct 2025

    7. How the World Ended Before

    We often wonder and worry if the world might end. But it already has, many times before. In his book, A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright tells us the stories of societal collapse in ancient Sumeria, Rome, Easter Island the Mayan Empire. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

11. 

    20 Oct 2025

    6. Bob Dylan - His Songs, Life, and Influence

    Bob Dylan was the one who got me writing songs back as a teenager and I wasn't alone in that. He inspired a whole generation of aspiring singer-songwriters, many of whom couldn't help but sound just like him.. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

12. 

    12 Oct 2025

    5. Famous Last Words: Dahl, Marx, Jobs, Dickinson, Wilde and Me?

    What will your last words be? People from Marcus Aurelius to Steve Jobs worked hard on theirs... You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

13. 

    6 Oct 2025

    4. Kurt Vonnegut & the Real Meaning of the Gospel Story

    A look at the stories of Kurt Vonnegut the science fiction writer, including his analysis of what the Jesus story really meant.. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

14. 

    29 Sept 2025

    3. My Blind Kung Fu Master

    This is the tale of my studies with a blind kung fu teacher when I was a teenager in my hometown in England. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

15. 

    21 Sept 2025

    2. Chess - Nerds, AI & Beating Anyone in 12 Moves

    I was pretty good at chess as a boy and I found myself admitted to a stuffy, tense world of old men and nerds, slowly bneing driven mad by the ticking of a chess clock. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

16. 

    17 Sept 2025

    1. Sufi stories of Rumi

    Rumi, the 13th century Sufi mystic is one of the most read poets in the world and his work is a tapestry of stories, imagery, insights and the odd lewd tale. Come with me on a tour of his stories and hear about how I went looking for Sufis in the mountains of Iran.. (more stories like that in my book, Hand to Mouth to India, (https://kdpbook.link/for/978-0979598425) about hitchhiking from England to India when I was 20..) You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

17. 

    15 Sept 2025

    What is Telling Stories about?

    An introduction to my new podcast, Telling Stories. You can find more podcasts, stories and books from Tom Thumb on www.tomthumb.oeg (https://tomthumb.org) Tom Thumb is is the author of: Hand to Mouth to India Tales of a Road Junky Somewhere Under the Rainbow Science for Hippies And also the podcasts: Road Junky Travel Stories Stories of Tom Thumb

Contact Telling Stories w/ Tom Thumb

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.