CATCH-cast

Mark Explores the history of Travel on The Isle of Wight

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Episodes

• CATCHcast 69 Geoff Posner on AcornAntiques, French&Saunders & more

  Friday, 4 September 2026

  24 minutes

  BAFTA Award-winning Geoff Posner is back with more tales of AcornAntiques, French&Saunders, Dinner Ladies & his other telly productions in the 2nd part of our long giggly natter about his life as a TV Director

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• CATCHcast 68 BAFTA-Winning TV Director & Tube Lover Geoff Posner

  Friday, 28 August 2026

  28 minutes

  He's worked with them all! From Catherine Tate, Jasper Carrott, Griff Rhys Jones, Harry Enfield, Steve Coogan, French & Saunders, John Sessions, Matt Lucas...

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• CATCHcast 67 Reading On Trains (Andrew Martin)

  Friday, 21 August 2026

  26 minutes

  Substack has taken off as a major media outlet and one of the best is a page about great books to read while in transit. Mark Ovenden speaks with Andrew Martin of "Reading On Trains".

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• CATCHcast 66 Vintage Bus & Coach Posters (Michael Walton)

  Friday, 14 August 2026

  25 minutes

  What's the attraction of that golden age of bus and coach travel? Transport Historian Michael Walton wants to enthuse you about the beautiful design of the marketing that epitomises those glory days.

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• CATCHcast 65: Trams, Rail, Sport & Music DO Mix! (Dr Kevin Tennent)

  Friday, 7 August 2026

  26 minutes

  Who would have thought that Trams, Railways, Sport and Music can all be bedfellows? But Dr Kevin Tennent of University of York specialises in all of them!

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• CATCHcast 64: The Professor and the Sugar Railways

  Friday, 31 July 2026

  22 minutes

  Brought up partly in China, Dafydd Fell loved the language and culture but ended up living and working in Taiwan, where he studied their amazing industrial railways.

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• CATCHCast 63 - A Railway Magazine Editor's Life (Andy Bowes-Roden)

  Friday, 24 July 2026

  25 minutes

  Ever wondered how stories get picked for coverage? What goes into researching and compiling magazines? Today's guest Andy Bowes-Roden reveals all!

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• CATCH cast 62: Ashley Hollebone (Hovercraft History)

  Friday, 17 July 2026

  28 minutes

  Ryde resident and historian Ashley Hollebone has spent a lifetime building unfeasible machines; making them for huge Hollywood movies from James Bond to Harry Potter. In an exclusive interview for Vectis Radio Ashley explains his love of the hovercraft and how it was developed.

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• CATCHcast 61: You've Got To Fight for Better Transport (Carter Lavin)

  Friday, 10 July 2026

  26 minutes

  If you want to win better public transport: you have to fight for it. Direct from Oakland, Carter Lavin explains his book and why we have to battle to get improvements 

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• CATCHcast 60: Phil Marsh - from junior clerk to board level

  Friday, 3 July 2026

  28 minutes

  Phil Marsh's gone from selling tickets (including a Senior Railcard to Bette Davies) - to managing the railways - but calls himself: "just a rail worker". 

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• CATCH-cast 59: Jack the WightWanderer

  Friday, 26 June 2026

  26 minutes

  Island rail history YouTube guru Jack is the WightWanderer, he explains how the lines were built, reveals a secret railway and why old Tube trains run here.

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• CATCHcast 58: DJ Dave Pearce - King of Trance Anthems

  Friday, 19 June 2026

  35 minutes

  As the Isle of Festival kicks off: what's the enduring appeal of electronic music? DJ Dave Pearce, King of Trance Anthems talks us through his love of dance music from the pirates to the BBC.

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• CATCH-cast 57: GreenSignals (Richard Bowker)

  Friday, 12 June 2026

  33 minutes

  Richard Bowker and Nigel Harris are the erudite hosts of one of the most respected rail industry YouTube channels: GreenSignals. Richard speaks with Mark about HS2, Heritage Railways and getting great guests!

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• CATCH-cast 56 - The Man In Seat 61 (Mark Smith)

  Friday, 5 June 2026

  26 minutes

  One of Britain's most prolific travel writers and host of Seat61.com, Mark Smith, explains how and why he set up this most helpful travel blog.

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• CATCH-cast 55: Preserving Old Posters

  Friday, 29 May 2026

  25 minutes

  Do you have an old poster or some paper ephemera you want to preserve? Today's guest explains how to do that plus his interest in transport history. The 20th Century produced some of the most iconic pictorial posters for travel and events. Today's CATCH-cast guest has a lifetime in curating and preserving old posters. Join us as we delve into this fascinating subject with 20th Century Posters website curator David Bownes

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• CATCH-cast 54: Vintage Bus Festival (Rydabus)

  Friday, 22 May 2026

  23 minutes

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• CATCH-cast 53: YouTube Star Jago Hazzard

  Saturday, 16 May 2026

  22 minutes

  With 1000 videos and approaching 100 million views, Jago Hazard is one of Britons best exports! His channel is witty and wise and we coaxed him into a rare interview. Thats Jago!

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• CATCH-cast 52: Letter Man Talking Typefaces (Dan Rhatigan)

  Friday, 8 May 2026

  30 minutes

  Dan Rhatigan is one of the world's leading typeface experts, now working for the Monotype Corporation but previously for Adobe. He and fellow font geek Mark Ovenden discuss the importance of type from Letraset to lettering on your screen. A complete geek-out session which everyone will love!

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• CATCH-cast 51: TheTransportPolitic (Yonah Freeman)

  Friday, 1 May 2026

  25 minutes

  TheTransportPolitic.com is hugely influential in the train and transit world. Mark Ovenden met its creator when they were both living in Paris in the Noughties. Now Yonah is a full time lecturer, researcher and broadcaster on the importance of urbanism, especially housing and transport. Hear his life story and transport campaigns on this week's CATCH-cast, direct from Washington D.C.

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• CATCH-cast 50: HighSpeed.blog (Taras Grescoe)

  Friday, 24 April 2026

  26 minutes

  New High-Speed trains are being built everywhere...except Canada and the USA. Blogger & author Taras Grescoe explains why direct from Montreal.

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• CATCH-cast 49: Railnatter: YouTube Railway Blogger Gareth

  Friday, 17 April 2026

  27 minutes

  He talks fast and furious and he's a huge advocate of common sense in the rail industry: meet Gareth Dennis of #Railnatter.

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• CATCH-cast 48: Railways, Radio & Me (Sim Harris)

  Friday, 10 April 2026

  32 minutes

  Former Radio 4 announcer & rail journalist Sim Harris confesses he was scared of steam trains as child but came to appreciate the beauty of the railway.

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• CATCH-cast 47: HS2, GBR & Me (Christian Wolmar)

  Friday, 3 April 2026

  23 minutes

  Distinguished journalist, broadcaster and author of many railway book, Christian Wolmar, shares his thoughts on High-Speed rail (both here and in China), Great British Railways and why he wanted to be Mayor of London!

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• CATCH-cast 46: TravellingArtGallery (Greg Norden)

  Friday, 27 March 2026

  23 minutes

  Remember those beautiful artworks in old train compartments? Bucolic scenes of Britains idyllic landscapes? Greg Norden has the largest collection of them!

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• CATCH-cast Replay 7: Inter-railing Across Europe (Brendan James)

  Friday, 20 March 2026

  24 minutes

  Ever wanted to just drop everything and whiz across Europe by train. No itinerary, just jump on the first one that comes along! That's Inter-railing! One ticket: as many trips as you like! Expert Brendan James tells us how it works.

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• CATCH-cast: 150th Anniversary of the Phone (Replay 6)

  Friday, 13 March 2026

  24 minutes

  It's 150s years since Alexander Graham Bell patented the Telephone. A device that has transformed our lives! We celebrate by replaying the first CATCH-cast interview with Emeritus Professor Nigel Linge.

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• CATCH-cast 45: Timetables & Maps (Matthew Shaw)

  Friday, 6 March 2026

  25 minutes

  How are huge maps put online? What's the process to scan an entire timetable? Matthew Shaw explains to joys of collecting and displaying transport timetables and maps on his website timetableworld.com

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• CATCH-cast 44: LGBT Rail History

  Friday, 27 February 2026

  29 minutes

  For the culmination of LGBT History Month, National Railway Museum Curator Ashlynn Hudson-Welburn introduces her new project: "People Pride Progress".

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• CATCH-cast 43: Transport Treasury (Robin Fell)

  Friday, 20 February 2026

  23 minutes

  What would you do with half a million train photos? That was the task facing Robin Fell who set up the UK's largest privately owned archive of transport images. Find out how he did it on today's CATCH-cast.

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• CATCHcast 42: Bus Map Rise & Demise (John Davies)

  Friday, 13 February 2026

  25 minutes

  You may use them then discard them, but bus maps are well designed pieces of cartography and have become collectors items for John Davies. He also loves old Soviet Military Maps too! 

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More episodes...