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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. He is also the author of fantasy novels 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, 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 and Rufus Rees Coshan. 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

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). 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 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

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, On the Red Hill: Where Four Lives Fell Into Place, All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between as well as the forthcoming Mid Land: A Journey into England’s Heart. Jan Morris said ‘What a true wanderer he is, and how wonderfully well-read.’ Find out more about his work at https://mikeparker.uk/ Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. 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

This episode was recorded live at the Horse Hospital in London on 10 May 2026 as part of Concrete Atlantis. In this special episode, historian and biographer Gillian Darley kidnaps not just me but a whole audience at the Horse Hospital and takes us on a trip to the Essex coast, site of the long decommissioned Magnox nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea. She admires it for its sublime impact on the landscape, and its ancient neighbour St Peters Chapel, built for St Cedd, for its picturesque beauty. Hear the extraordinary story of how the power station was blithey waved through in the 1950s, and of the strange landscape in which it sits, and the graveyard of boats just off the coast. After the big theme of nuclear power, Gillian’s minor monster is as contrasting as could be – the shoe horn, an object she cannot get by without… Gillian Darley is an acclaimed writer and broadcaster focussed on, as she says, ‘inspiring people, intriguing buildings and beguiling landscapes’. Her many books include Villages of Vision: A Study of Strange Utopias (1975), a biography of Ian Nairn (co-authored with David McKie (2013) and Excellent Essex: In Praise of England’s most Misunderstood County (2019). Find out more about her and her incredible work at https://gilliandarley.com Concrete Atlantis is a series of events curated by former Monstrosities guest Travis Elborough and held at the Horse Hospital in London. Thanks so much to him, and the team who recorded the episode and made the whole event possible. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s ditch the Austin Maxi for a gentler way to travel: cycling round the 1950s bike lanes of Stevenage, discovering the joys of a well planned town, with Stevenage-born historian Gareth Edwards. Stevenage in Hertfordshire was Britain’s first post-war new town, designated in 1946. Initially overseen by Clough Williams-Ellis (founder of Portmeirion) and his communist deputy Dr Monica Felton, they were soon replaced by other ambitious planners and builders, not least engineer Eric Claxton, who designed the town’s elegant road network and invented – yes invented – the cycle lane. Discover why the development corporation had to translate the town guide into dutch, the splendour of its traffic-free shopping precinct, and how the town was robbed of its dignity once the local authority took over maintaining it. After all of that excitement, we take a break with a corned beef sandwich – a food from simpler times – and discuss its military value, its US name of bully beef, and its baffling key. So enjoy an episode of post-war optimism, Festival of Britain-era design, and absolute stodge, as we potter about pointing at things and attempt to stop Gareth’s cats stealing the show. Gareth Edwards hosts The Untitled History Podcast. You can follow him on Bluesky at @garius.bsky.social or game with him on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/gariusthebrit or YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@GariusTheBrit Monstrosities Mon Amour is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s crash the Austin Maxi in the basement of the Victoria Centre in Nottingham, with historian and raconteur Lucy Brouwer, who runs the very entertaining and illuminating tours Watson Fothergill Walk. Opening in 1972, the vast and vastly ambitious Victoria Centre became the nexus of all things shopping for a city on the up, where full employment was spoken of in the launch brochure. By the next decade the government’s war on miners, as well as rising unemployment and the destruction of the city’s rag trade made the Victoria Centre’s optimism look out of step with the times. But behind its rough concrete facade you could find a cornucopia of delights: an indoor market with a stuffed bear; a multi-themed Berni Inn, and the Emmett Clock, a magnificent kinetic whimsy that held passers-by transfixed. Lucy takes us on an odyssey to see a different side of this colossal beast, the railway station it replaced, and the many businesses that have come and gone. Alongside that beast, Lucy’s minor monster is a lost single – lost, it has to be said, at the request of the band who made it. ‘Pop is Dead’ is a Radiohead song from 1993, that is as much manifesto as it is musical bombast. Why has it been erased from the band’s history, how did it inspire Lucy to set up a fanzine, and is it actually any good? Lucy Brouwer is a Nottingham-based tour guide and historian. You can find out more about her tours at https://watsonfothergillwalk.com or follow her on Instagram @watsonfothergillwalk or on BlueSky @notrock.bsky.social Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. 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

It’s a home-town kidnapping in this episode, when award-winning beer writer David Jesudason whisks me down the road to the Point cinema in Milton Keynes. Exploring the shiny mirrored red framed pyramid, a huge landmark of 80s entertainment and a multiplex pioneer. David grew up in nearby Dunstable, and so here he pits the wonders of the sleepy glider-town against the bright new city of MK, where the Point helped hollow out his town’s high street, but also was a massive attraction to young David. Discover a world of blockbusters, arcade games and the mysterious Le Club. David’s minor monster mirrors the 8-bit delights of the Point: the Atari 2600, an early games console from 1977 more famed for its failed ET game than for its functional simplcity. So let’s go Back to the Future in the DeLorean* in the latest episode of Monstrosities Mon Amour. *Austin Maxi David Jesudason is the author of the award winning Desi Pubs, and is twice Michael Jackson Beer Writer of the Year (2023 and 2025). Journalist and Substacker: davidjesudason.substack.com Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. 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 reader-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

Archaeologist Rebecca Lambert is used to investigating stone circles and prehistoric sites, but when she first visited the National Theatre she found a modern henge on the south bank of the Thames. In the year of its 50th Anniversary, we visit the original ‘concrete monstrosity’, Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre, which opened in 1976. Seen through the eyes of an archaeologist it is a very different place, a vast modern henge and a place of ceremony where rituals, stone and water come together to create somewhere of great power and presence. Is the National Theatre like Stonehenge? Rebecca Lambert takes us through the many strange similarities - and dissonances - that show us a whole new side of one of the most magnificent modernist buildings in Britain, with startling insight and wit. But it’s drama of a different kind that has drawn our esteemed archaeologist to her other choice, that 1987 masterpiece of muscle, the Dolph Lundgren film Masters of the Universe. Find out what still captures her imagination in its depiction of small town America and its ‘Final Countdown’-style barrage of portentous hysteria and stonewashed denim. Join us for an episode that is part revelatory reading of prehistory and modernism, and part riot of camp. I won’t say which is which. Rebecca Lambert is an archaeologist and curator dedicated to public engagement, accessibility, and innovative research practices. Follow her on Instagram or Bluesky, or keep up with the progress of her work at https://practisesmakeplaces.wordpress.com/ where she’s investigating artistic responses to English ‘prehistoric’ monuments - from the 1720s to the present day. Her previous work has included the intriguingly titled Underpasses Are Liminal Places. Monstrosities Mon Amour is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Writer Tom Cox has long been fascinated by the eerie flatlands of the Fens, those drained marshlands on the edge of East Anglia. On our way around we discuss the folk horror of scarecrows, the romance of agribusiness and the weird agoraphobia - or is it claustrophobia? - of somewhere so flat and relatively uninhabited. And we marvel too at the odd midcentury modern villages that have cropped up in this landscape of ancient and modern. As well as that, Tom dazzles me with his love for the Rolling Stones’s psychedelic experiment, their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request, which many fans deem a failure but which Tom rates higher than Sgt Pepper. Find out why this album is so inspiring, and how its spirit is the very antithesis of people-pleasing AI. Tom Cox is the author of three novels – Villager, 1983 and his most recent, Everything Will Swallow You, as well as numerous works of non-fiction such as 21st-Century Yokel (on the spooky edges of the outdoors) and Ring the Hill (it’s a book about hills, obviously). You can find out more about his work on his site, where he also shares lots of new writing. Grindrodia is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Get ready for an underwater adventure as we go beneath the Thames with curator and architectural historian Dr Rosamund Lily West. Have you ever been told you’ve got a mouth as big as the Blackwall Tunnel? Or been stuck in a conversation about the traffic? Or worse still, been actually stuck in the traffic there? It’s easy to overlook what an engineering marvel the Blackwall Tunnel is, the first tunnel built in the late Victorian era, and a second opened in 1967 as part of a second age of engineering ingenuity. But why does art and architectural historian (and local) Dr Rosamund Lily West like it? And what secrets does this great unsung piece of London’s infrastructure hold for the curious Monstrosities Mon Amour listener? After a joy ride through the tunnel Rosamund takes us for a booze-up at Wetherspoons, the pub chain people love to hate, where we marvel at their incredible historic buildings, gasp at their local interpretation boards, and polish off our microwaved curries. Dr Rosamund Lily West is a brilliant architectural historian and academic. You can find out more about her work, her publications and her walking tours on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rosamundlilywest/ and Bluesky @rosamundlilywest.bsky.social and at her profile on British Art Network https://britishartnetwork.org.uk/membership/members/rosamund-lily-west/ Monstrosities Mon Amour is a reader-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s visit an ancient Norfolk town, and instead focus on its postwar estates with one of Britain’s best loved housing historians, John Boughton of Municipal Dreams. Thetford gets a bad rap. It isn’t particularly well known outside of Norfolk, and in many ways feels like a lot of towns expanded in the 1960s and 70s. With a variety of housing estates demonstrating the fashions and philosophies of the day, Thetford is a town of great history, from Roman to medieval and Georgian, and also of modernity. Discover where Dad’s Army’s Warmington on Sea was filmed, where Conran’s modern furnishings were made, and where a young municipal dreamer’s fascination with postwar housing was first kindled. And let’s also find out just why he’s so obsessed with white bread – not the plastic ready-sliced sort, and certainly not sourdough… John Boughton’s book Municipal Dreams grew from his amazing Wordpress and Substack sites: https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com and https://substack.com/@municipaldreams Monstrosities Mon Amour is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s visit a wonder of Britain’s industrial heritage – the gaudy seafront excess of Blackpool, Britain’s most extraordinary seaside town. After a summer break Monstrosities Mon Amour is back with a seaside special! Blackpool isn’t just the Tower, the illuminations and Strictly. Where else could you get your bumps felt on the beach by a phrenologist, see a dead woman in a coffin just for fun, and experience Britain’s first carpeted amusement arcade? Kathryn Ferry has spent years researching seaside history, and here she shares her love for this, the ultimate holiday destination, a place that thrived until the rise of the package holiday. Here’s a joy-ride through unexpected murano glass mosaics, beach huts and post-war design heritage, in a place as heady as candy floss and as over the top as drag bingo. Let’s allow ourselves to enjoy laughs, thrills and memories in one of the most remarkable towns in Britain. And let’s discover another of Kathryn’s passions too – postwar plastics, here in the form of drip-dry wonder fabric crimplene, which was invented in Macclesfield in 1959. Guaranteed to make you rush to Vinted to buy a psychedelic outfit fit for a distant relative at a 1970s wedding. Kathryn Ferry’s new book is Twentieth Century Seaside Architecture: Pools, Piers and Pleasure around Britain’s Coast, published by Batsford with the 20th Century Society. You can find out more about her other books and her work at https://kathrynferry.co.uk/ and follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/seasideferry/ Monstrosities Mon Amour is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

Turner Contemporary was the first modern art gallery in Margate this century, right? Wrong. And why are so many studio pottery teapots languishing in charity shops? Margate, on the north Kent coast, is famous for its amusement palace, Dreamland, for the Chas and Dave song, and for its hipster reinvention this century thanks to David Chipperfield’s Turner Contemporary. But before that gallery opened, another modern seafront structure – the Drum – by a very different modern architect – Terry Farrell – was built here, also celebrating the work of Turner. How did the town end up with two amazing contemporary buildings on the front, and why isn’t the Drum better known – or more widely loved? And why aren’t people going nuts over the earthy brown wonder of late twentieth century British studio pottery? Especially the teapots. Well, someone is. And I’ve met him. And that person is writer and artist Dan Thompson, who has lived in Margate for over a decade, and whose work has involved everything from epic community action, pop ups, poetry and large-scale history pieces, and has brought him together with master potter Keith Bymer Jones among any others. You can find out more about Dan’s work on his Substack (Dan Thompson Studio - see below), on his site https://mrdanthompson.wordpress.com/ or on his online shop https://payhip.com/DanThompsonStudio. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Grindrodia is a reader-supported publication. 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

What’s so special about this modest little bridge in a central London park? And why is twentieth century architecture’s saviour Catherine Croft a capybara superfan? St James’s Park in London is surrounded by spectacular acrhitecture: the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Buckingham Palace and Horseguards Parade. But in the middle, over the lake, is a polite little mid century bridge, that hides a few secrets. Designed in the mid-fifties in a Festival of Britain style by Eric Bedford, chief architect of the Ministry of Works – the man who also designed the Post Office Tower – the Blue Bridge is a modest structure that’s all about the view and not about its own presence. Now we live in an era when such modesty is unthinkable for a centrepiece in a royal park, and it is soon to be demolished. Catherine Croft, Director of The Twentieth Century Society, shares her love of the bridge, her memories of family trips and the design heritage it stands for. And also, why guardsmen were so obliging at testing it out. Meanwhile when not thinking about saving and celebrating modern buildings, Catherine is mainly thinking about capybaras. Discover how a modernist zoo led her to a love of these giant rodents, and why they have become a Tiktok sensation. Catherine Croft is Director of the Twentieth Century Society, an organisation that campaigns for the protection and wider appreciation of modern buildings and places. But it didn’t stop her from bashing me over the head and kidnapping me in her Austin Maxi, to wax lyrical about the charms of functional bridges and freaky giant rodents. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod Get full access to Grindrodia at johngrindrod.substack.com/subscribe

How and why was the chi-chi seafront in Regency Worthing modernised in the 1960s? And what is the appeal of a Swedish prog-rock album of Tolkien’s fantasy epic? Worthing in West Sussex, long associated with the subversive observational wit of Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde, has since been scandalised by the shadow of a late 1960s concrete car park on the sea front. Between the delightful lido and the pier, the car park represents a brave new Worthing, put up at the time when Harold Pinter is nearby writing his menacing play The Homecoming and social and cultural cjhange is coming to the seaside. Fast forward fifty-odd years and that modern dream is crumbling, the car park and its bowling alley are shut. But for some the americanised allure remains. Meanwhile Swedish prog rocker Bo Hansson’s 1972 album Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings casts a different sort of shadow, eerie in a space-age way. Choosing these two disparate beauties is Travis Elborough, author of many wonderful books, including one on the English seaside, Wish You Were Here; a classic work on the Routemaster bus; a history of spectacles, Through the Looking Glass; and many others. It was a delight to be bashed over the head and kidnapped by him in his Austin Maxi for this collision of seaside modernism and epic prog-rock extravagance. So don your wizard’s hat and bowling shoes, and come with us on the adventure of a lifetime* [*Lasts apprioximately 30 minutes]. Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. 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