Kingswood and Prior’s Court alumnus Martin Vaux has had a momentous year so far, including the publication of his first book and marriage to his long-time partner and creative collaborator Eleanor Conlon.

Vaux joined the Kingswood family of schools on an Academic Scholarship in 1996, and was a full boarder throughout his time at Kingswood, living in Hall House. He became a combined Drama Scholar during his time in the Sixth Form, and was shown on the cover of Kingswood in Focus in productions of Jane Eyre, Guys & Dolls, and Our Day Out.

After achieving straight As in his A Levels, he went on to study for a BA (Hons) in English at the University of Exeter, earned a PGCE from the University of Buckingham, an MA in Romantic and Victorian Literature and Culture from Goldsmiths, and for years balanced a career as a writer, radio presenter, and English teacher in London and Sussex.

“My teachers at Kingswood saw things in me that I didn’t see in myself at the time,” Vaux said, looking back. “From Marcus Cornah and Andy Smith to David Sims, John Kingsnorth, and Daryl Harding, they each encouraged me to act and write, and now that is what I do for a living.”

Vaux’s book, written with his wife and published in hardback by The History Press in July, is called Three Ravens Folk Tales and contains 39 short stories, each based on a folktale from one of the 39 historic counties of England. It has seen the pair compared to Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett, Angela Carter, and M.R. James, and came about through their history and folklore podcast, Three Ravens.

Launched in 2023, within its first year Three Ravens had become one of the Top 1% of podcasts in the world and now ranks as one of the ‘All Time Top 50 English Podcasts’ and the ‘All Time #4 Short Story Podcast’ according to podcast aggregator Goodpods.

“It has been wonderful to have become a kind of ‘word of mouth’ hit online,” Vaux continued, “especially as Millennials. But we write, research, record and edit the whole thing at home, next to the ironing board, and never imagined it would take off as it has.”

Episodes of Three Ravens, which have been downloaded over half-a-million times, explore aspects of English history and folk culture, and contain folk song performances, new telling of traditional stories written and performed by Conlon and Vaux.

The show has also had live recordings at events such as Chichester Festival, Black Shuck Festival, and will be appearing at future events such as Gloucester History Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, and others throughout 2025 and into 2026.

“We retell legends of mermaids and ghosts, the Devil and England’s half-forgotten heroes, along with explorations of each county’s heritage, legends, landscape, and traditional foodstuffs.

“It has been a mad year, bearing in mind we got married as well!”

The couple, who met as graduates, have worked together for several years, touring Conlon’s plays, including such folklore-inspired productions as Black Shuck, The Green Children of Woolpit, and The Wild Man of Orford with her theatre company Rust & Stardust Productions.

Their shift to podcasting since 2023 has since seen them increasingly exchanging sets and costumes for microphones, appearing at the likes of Chichester Festival, Black Shuck Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, and others high profile events and venues, too.

“We have interviewed award-winning storytellers and academics from across folklore studies,” Vaux continued, “including the likes of Hugh Lupton, Taffy Thomas, Dr Owen Davies, Dr Francis Young, and Dr Rory Waterman, have played Rudyard Kipling songs and Medieval ballads to marquees full of people, and each written and broadcast at least one story from every historic county in the nation. It has been a wild ride!”

Learn more about the Three Ravens Podcast and Three Ravens Folk Tales via threeravenspodcast.com.