The 2MG e-card ('cause we're too cheap to send a real card)

2MG Christmas podcast!

It's here! Our very first podcast Christmas special! It comes to you live from Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield amidst the hustle and bustle and all the festive anticipation.

Or maybe not. Maybe we couldn't be arsed and stayed at home instead, swapping seasonal ghost stories and telling Christmas cracker jokes...

You can stream the podcast up there, download the full 37 minutes at the bottom of this page, or subscribe to us on iTunes.

Hans and Olaf from Bovaria

Wow! The plot thickens. Just received this email from Mike:

Hi Wooders,

I don't believe it! So there I was checking out loads of dusty old files in the 2MG Mansions basement, when I suddenly came across the attached picture. Totally up to you if you feel you'd like to use it.

Reading the background information, it appears that after Sir Reggie Droppings received the charter to set up 2MG from Queen Victoria, two members of the original team came from Bovaria. Hans and Olaf Biggiedickiesonn were sent out to investigate the Beast of Baildon Moor, but whilst nothing is mentioned as to what really happened, it appears that Hans returned to live out his days in Bovaria, whilst Olaf went to live in Sheffield. It seems that he opened a joke shop in Fulwood called Olaf A Minute!

Just as a side note, I discovered that many years later in the '60s, Sister Betty of The Holy Order of the Bearded Lady and Donkey equally tried to look into the case of the Beast of Baildon Moor, but with no success.

All amazing stuff, isn't it?

Best,

Mike ... covered in dust!

PS. Forgot to mention, I think that Olaf is the one on the right.

PPS. I was just thinking, do you think it possible that either Hans or Olaf were ever married? I couldn't find any details of a next of kin. I'll keep looking.

Another revealing document

Exclusively revealed here is another document from our basement which was revealed to me by Mike. (Click on the image above to reveal the full-sized version and read the revealing text.)

As you can see, it reveals more about our origins and is very revealing.

Andrew

PS. Did I say it was revealing?

The founder of Two Men and a Ghost

Following on from yesterday's revealing blog post, here is another startling document from the anals of time (or should that be annals?).

Could it be true that Two Men and a Ghost was founded by a Sir in 1859 rather than two struggling comics professionals over a cheap milkshake in Meadowhall Shopping Centre?

The truth is out there...

(In other words, it isn't here...)

Important documents come to light

Mike found the above while ferreting around in the basement of 2MG Mansions. He was trying to find the box of well-used Christmas decorations for our fold-up plastic tree, but instead he unearthed some important documents relating to the history of our organisation.

Turns out Two Men and a Ghost started decades before our casual chat in Meadowhall Shopping Centre two years ago. None other than royal personage Queen Victoria may have had a hand or two in setting us up, before we were even born! Anyone would think we were Torchwood or something.

More intriguing documents to come...

The 7 posts of Christmas

As a special treat to our thousands of ... er, hundreds of ... er, couple of followers, we will be posting something each day for the next seven days, leading up to a specially designed Christmas card, appropriately enough on Christmas Day itself!

Call it our own special Two Men and a Ghost Advent calendar, but without the tiny chocolates and the snakes and ladders game on the back.

Today's tasty treat is our appearance this morning on Rony's Panel on BBC Radio Sheffield (listen at this link while you can - the file will be out of date by Boxing Day). Hear what the men behind Two Men and a Ghost think about faith schools, the nativity story and what our favourite Christmas songs are.

We are joined by the legend that is Van Morrison, Ulster musician who has entranced millions throughout the decades with his soulful voice and catchy compositions.

(What was that? Sorry. Got it wrong. It was Val Morrison, moderator of the general assembly of the United Reformed Church. But we're sure she's just as soulful and catchy.)

8th podcast - Yorkshire ghost stories!

Amazing! Eight podcasts in ... and still going strong! Just...

This time we have a natter about true-life Yorkshire ghost stories, take to the road for the mad monk of Stocksbridge bypass, wear out the batteries on Mike's novelty sound machine, and try (but fail desperately) not to go off on too many tangents.

You can stream the podcast up there, download the full 40¾ minutes at the bottom of this page, or subscribe to us on iTunes.

7th podcast - What exactly is a ghost?

In our latest podcast, we confront the thorny question at the heart of our endeavours: 'What exactly is a ghost?'

Along the way we listen to a story from the making of Doctor Who's 'Revenge of the Cybermen', we read two entries from our ghost story competition and announce the winner, and Mike dances naked to torchlight while humming the theme to 'Tales of the Unexpected'. Good job this isn't a video podcast...

You can stream the podcast up there, download the full 36½ minutes at the bottom of this page, or subscribe to us on iTunes.

Amy Wake is the winner of our ghost story competition, and her entry will be featured on this very blog shortly, along with a specially drawn cartoon which will be winging its way to her in the post.

In the meantime, here is the runner-up's entry from Keith Webster in Sheffield. The runner-up's prize is ... erm ... having your story read out loud on our podcast and published on this blog. Sorry it's not a car or a package holiday in Marbeya or anything...

I used to live on Broomgrove Road in Sheffield. Our accommodation consisted of two rooms on one side of hallway, one room other side. I had to stand at bottom of staircase to unlock the door to room.

One evening I was unlocking door when I saw someone standing at the side of me. I said, ‘Can I help you?’ No answer when I looked round at the person. I saw it was someone in uniform. The uniform was from the First World War type. The person just smiled at me. I turned my head away to put key in door, and when I turned back, the person had gone.

They could not pass me on the stairs, and the entrance door at the end of the hallway was too far away for them to have reached it and gone outside in such a short time. The building at that time was a block of flats.

A couple of weeks later we heard screaming coming from one of the upstairs flats. We ran up to see what was happening.

The young lady who lived in the flat was terrified. She had been laid on her bed, watching TV, when she felt as if someone was watching her. She looked over to where her chair was and saw a man sitting there. Her windows were locked and no one had come down the stairs. When we asked her to describe the man, it was the same as the man I had seen.

A few months later, I was clearing out an old attic room for the landlord when I found an old chest inside it. I found old account books, NAAFI price lists for Blanco, moustache wax, etc. Also were account books for wages for staff and running of premises, wages, food and sheets and shrouds.

When I approached the landlord with these, he decided to look into the history of the building and found out that during the First World War it had been a home for wounded and badly injured officers.

The house number was 39. It now belongs to the university.