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Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.

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Natural Histories: Eel

BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories, Eel

Brett Westwood explores our relationship with the mysterious and fascinating eel.

Brett Westwood uncovers our long and fascinating relationship with eels via a festival in the Isle of Eels, a river bank in Dorset and a pie and mash shop in London.

We have been catching and eating them for centuries; jellied, smoked or stewed and yet there is still much we don't know about the life of an eel as Brett Westwood discovers when he joins a traditional eel fisherman on the banks of a river in Dorset and learns about bobs and worms. Eel skins were once worn as wedding rings and their heads used as finger puppets in Ely, otherwise known as the Isle of Eels which today holds an annual festival to celebrate all things 'eel' from a giant eel paraded through the streets to the World Eel throwing competition! 

First broadcast in a longer form on the 22nd August 2017

Original Producer (2017) Sarah Blunt
Archive Producer (2024) Andrew Dawes

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