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Halloween, Spooky Stories and Carp Fishing

Chris gets into the Halloween spirit with David Bramwell, the co-author of The Mysterium and discovers the joys of carp fishing with awesome angler Bev Clifford.

Chris gets into the Halloween spirit with author David Bramwell and gets spooked by 4 real-life stories from his new book The Mysterium. We discover the autumnal joys of carp fishing with top tips from awesome angler Bev Clifford, who's the captain of the first female carp fishing team. In the Sports Locker, Vassos discusses England's chances of winning the World Cup with commentator Connor McNamara. Following on from Bev out-fishing her father, we ask for your claims to the fame of out-dadding dad and out-mumming mum. This morning's Pause For Thought comes from the Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Tue 31 Oct 201706:30
BBC Radio 2

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Clips

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Music Played

  • Michael Jackson

    Thriller

    • Diana-Michael-Gladys-Stevie (Compilat.
    • Priority.

  • Roy Orbison & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

    I Drove All Night (feat. Ward Thomas)

    • A Love So Beautiful: Roy Orbison & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Legacy Recordings.

  • The Marcels

    Blue Moon

    • 60's Number Ones Vol 1.
    • Old Gold.

  • Wham!

    Bad Boys

    • Wham! - Fantastic.
    • Epic.

  • Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott

    She Got The Garden

    • (CD Single).
    • EMI.

  • The Banana Splits

    The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)

    • Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 5: In Living Color (Various Artists).
    • TVT Records.

  • Ray Parker Jr.

    Ghostbusters

    • Young at Heart (Various Artists).
    • Reader's Digest.

  • Morrissey

    Spent The Day In Bed

    • Low In High School.
    • BMG.

  • Cher

    Believe

    • Love Songs - 39 All Time Love Classic.
    • Polygram Tv.

  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

    Monster Mash

    • Haloween Hits.
    • Rhino.

  • Ed Sheeran

    Perfect

    • ÷ Divide.
    • Atlantic.

  • Spiller

    Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (feat. Sophie Ellis‐Bextor)

    • (CD Single).
    • Positiva.

  • Stevie Wonder

    Faith (feat. Ariana Grande)

    • Sing O.S.T. (Various Artists).
    • Island.

  • Judy Garland

    Get Happy

  • Rita Ora

    Anywhere

    • (CD Single).
    • Atlantic.

  • Wet Wet Wet

    Sweet Little Mystery

    • Wet Wet Wet - Greatest Hits & More.
    • Precious Organisation.

  • The Steve Gibbons Band

    Tulane

    • Rollin': The Albums (1976-1978).
    • Esoteric Recordings.
    • 14.

  • The Doobie Brothers

    What A Fool Believes

    • The All Time Greatest Movie Songs.
    • Columbia/Sony Tv.

  • The Waterboys

    Fisherman's Blues

    • The Best Of The Waterboys '81-'90.
    • Ensign.

  • Train

    Drink Up

    • (CD Single).
    • Columbia.

  • Jamiroquai

    Virtual Insanity

    • Walk On - Hits From The Last 2 Decade.
    • Columbia.

  • Simple Minds

    Waterfront

    • Glittering Prize - Best Of Simple Min.
    • Virgin.

  • The Cult

    She Sells Sanctuary

    • Beggars Banquet.

  • Stereophonics

    Caught By The Wind

    • (CD Single).
    • Parlophone.

  • Eurythmics

    Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

    • NOW That's What I Call The 80s (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • R. Dean Taylor

    There's A Ghost In My House

    • And They Danced The Night Away.
    • Debutante.

Pause for Thought: "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can’t extinguish it."

From Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds:

I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Halloween. It’s not the spooky stuff or the violence done to a generation of turnips; it's the Trick or Treat stuff that gets me. Isn’t the trick for me to not be at home that night ... and the treat that the kids knocking on the door don’t have to meet me?

On the other hand, I love Halloween. I love the fact that it takes darkness seriously and compels us to face the reality of life and death.

OK, that’s not exactly what Halloween has become; but, it is what lies behind it all. All Souls night is when, traditionally, Christians remember those who have gone before them, face the power of bereavement and loss, and confront their own mortality. 

Here is where the rubber of faith hits the road of really tough human experience. As I know only too well - my dad died only a few weeks ago - the loss of people you love brings you face to face with your own mortality and the fragility of what it is to be human.

Well, that has the potential to plunge us into misery first thing on a Tuesday morning, doesn’t it? But, actually, All Souls (Halloween) can’t be separated from the day that follows it - by which I don’t just mean ‘Wednesday’, but All Saints Day. The darkness is followed by the light of celebration. For Christians this is all about our mortality - that death and fear don’t have the final word. 

At Christmas - now only seven or eight weeks away - we hear the great Gospel reading that defiantly whispers into the messiness of the world: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it.” Carry on with the story and we eventually get to Easter and the darkness of crucifixion being transformed by the quiet eruption of resurrection.

To live as if all were darkness is to cave in to the joylessness of fatalism; to live as if all were happy-clappy light is to prefer fantasy over reality. The celebration of All Saints - ordinary people discovering that light and love are eternal - only makes sense once we have taken seriously the darkness of All Souls that is all too real.

Anyway, I am missing Trick or Treat this year because I am here in London and not in Leeds.

Broadcast

  • Tue 31 Oct 201706:30
    BBC Radio 2

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