The Wyvern of Wiltshire

When Amy and George explore the medieval library at Salisbury Cathedral all they expect to find are dusty books but they are soon embarking on the adventure of their lives.

Join best-selling author and Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary on his new Wiltshire-wide quest across time, space, myth and legend.

Help solve the clues in each episode and stay one step ahead of the mysterious Wiltshire Wyvern.

The Wyvern of Wiltshire has been created in partnership with BBC Wiltshire, Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival and Prime Theatre.

• Listen weekdays from 11:00
• Look behind the scenes and listen again

"I was commissioned to write a play as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival and of course I said yes because it’s a fascinating part of the country.

I hope people will listen to the clues and find out the places that I give clues to. I hope they’ll have fun.

Terry Deary

"I’ve learnt so much about the history that I didn’t know. I’ve been to Salisbury before, I’ve been to Stonehenge and Sarum but there were so many other levels that I’d never explored and I just dived into it and found all I could and based my play on what I’d learnt.

"I thought I’d tell the story of the Wyvern of Wiltshire. There is a theatre in Swindon called the Wyvern. But my researchers found that there is no Wyvern of Wiltshire so I had to find out who he was and create him.

"There are Wyverns all around the country and they’re pretty evil creatures. They give off an aura of evil and they also give off an aura of very, very cold weather so I was fascinated to find out who he was. Now I’ve discovered and my play will tell you. But beware, he’s a bit dangerous.

"Writing for radio, I have to imagine I’ve got a cast of actors around me. When I’m writing a book, I very much think of my audience, my reader, but because I’m a professional actor myself it’s great because I’m able to act all the parts as I write them. You might find the Wyvern is a familiar character from the long past. Some readers might not recognise him but I had him very much in my mind. It’s great fun.

"Adults are particularly interested in finding out things which they never learned in school. Children are interested because I tell stories. My skill is not as a historian, it’s a children’s author and I tell the stories in funny engaging ways. So I tend to bridge the gap between children and adults.

"I hope people will listen to the clues and find out the places that I give clues to. I hope they’ll have fun, I hope they’ll have a lot of laughs and I hope they will contribute by phoning into BBC Wiltshire and guessing the answer to the mystery.“