Folklore: a journey through the past and present – Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook

in conversation with David Clarke

19 October, 2025 at 6:00 pm

A ground-breaking guide to the weird yet everyday world of British folklore past and present. Folklore is explored in its remarkable variations from village rituals and fairy tales to UFO legends and internet fanfiction, travelling through a landscape of witches, wizards and wicker men. Leading experts Ceri Houlbrook and Owen Davies reveal how folklore is more than the remains of a fossilised distant, rural past but a dynamic living tradition that draws on many sources, including migrant communities, and is forever being renewed and updated.

Dr Ceri Houlbrook is a lecturer in History and Folklore at the University of Hertfordshire. She is editor of FLS News, the newsletter of the Folklore Society. Owen Davies is Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire. His books include The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts. Associate Professor at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr David Clarke, is an expert in contemporary folklore.