Bron Yr Aur Micronation Welcomes Its First International Creative Collective

Writers, artists, musicians, poets and makers from around the world have been selected to form the first Creative Collective of Bron Yr Aur Micronation.

Following an international search, 11 creators from Wales, England, Italy, Iran and the United States have become Founding Citizens of the global, borderless micronation.

Around 150 people applied, but the organisers also explored independent work, social platforms and creative communities worldwide. 

They sought people whose values connected with Bron Yr Aur’s commitment to creativity, sustainability and well-being.

Although the chosen creators work in very different disciplines, they share a belief that creativity can connect people, challenge established ideas, provide nourishment and inspire communities across cultural and geographical borders.

Their arrival takes Bron Yr Aur beyond its first 50 Founding Citizens. Its eventual goal is to welcome 100 before making a formal declaration of independence.

Rooted in Wales but open to the world, Bron Yr Aur Micronation is exploring whether countries and communities can be built around participation, inclusivity and peace. Creativity is not regarded as an optional extra, but as an essential part of nation-building.

This approach is being developed through the Ministry of Culture, Heritage & Creative Well-being, established by Chief Visionary Boohai and Ambassador of Culture Heledd Wyn.

Wyn, a Welsh filmmaker, director, visual artist and Future Wales Fellow, has written the micronation’s draft Culture Policy and Cultural Manifesto. It argues that culture should be lived rather than merely consumed, that imagination is a civic necessity and that small nations can dream of large futures.

“Culture is understood as a bridge between peoples and not a border between them,” the manifesto declares.

The Founding Creative Collective includes Grammy-winning Appalachian musician Chance McCoy; experimental electronic artist NÓWNØIS; former Duran Duran vocalist and multidisciplinary artist Andy Wickett; writer Maya Jordon; sustainable creative practitioner Daisy Buckle; and Iranian visual artist and photographer Kazem Ostadali.

They are joined by songwriter Eddy Dyer, whose 2026 album Bron Yr Aur Dagda was recorded at the house itself; furniture restoration artist Grace Carrol; Italian-born visual artist Siro Carraro; Welsh singer and multi-instrumentalist Alys Hardy; and Philadelphia musician and musical healer Raji Malik.

“We didn’t want to simply put out an application form and choose from whoever came to us,” said Chief Visionary Boohai. “We went looking; we explored the work of people around the world because creativity has this extraordinary ability to travel across borders, cultures and languages.”

Find out more at www.bronyraur.com.

Evening Dress, Good Manners and General Knowledge: The Joy of Vintage TV Quizzes

There is something wonderfully comforting about disappearing down a YouTube rabbit hole and finding yourself watching a television quiz show made 50, 60 or even 70 years ago.

Vintage television quizzes and panel games offer far more than an opportunity to test your general knowledge against contestants from another era. 

They provide fascinating little windows into a world of television that operated according to very different rules.

And sometimes the differences are delightful.

One of the first things you notice is how smartly everybody is dressed.

On many programmes, appearing on television was evidently regarded as an occasion. Male presenters and panellists might wear dinner jackets and bow ties, while female guests arrived in elegant evening dresses, jewellery and beautifully styled hair.

Nobody looked as though they'd popped into the studio on the way back from doing the weekly shop.

Then there are the manners.

Watch some old panel shows and you'll occasionally see the male panellists stand when a female guest enters the studio. Chairs are pulled out, introductions are courteous and conversations can have an almost formal quality.

Of course, we shouldn't pretend everything about those times was better. Social attitudes have changed enormously, often for very good reasons, and women appearing on television weren't always treated with the equality we would expect today.

But there is nevertheless something rather appealing about the idea that courtesy itself was considered important.

When the quiz was the entertainment

Vintage quizzes can also feel remarkably restrained by modern standards.

There may be no enormous cash jackpot, dramatic lighting, pounding music or presenter shouting, "IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER?"

Sometimes the prize seems almost incidental. The attraction is simply watching knowledgeable people attempting to answer difficult questions, or witty people enjoying a good panel game.

And the questions themselves can be fascinating.

Some answers that would have been obvious to viewers in 1962 are completely baffling today, while questions considered difficult then can now seem remarkably straightforward. References to politicians, actors, books, plays, radio personalities and forgotten sporting heroes provide intriguing snapshots of what constituted popular culture at the time.

That makes these programmes accidental historical documents.

YouTube's unlikely television archive

One of the great pleasures of YouTube is that programmes which might otherwise have disappeared from everyday public consciousness can suddenly find new audiences.

You might begin by watching one old quiz and, several recommendations later, realise you've spent an evening in a television studio somewhere in the 1950s or 1960s.

The picture might wobble. The sound may hiss. They'll be in black and white, the set may consist of little more than some curtains, chairs and a desk.

Yet somehow it works.

Perhaps that's because these programmes remind us that television doesn't always need to be enormous, noisy and spectacular. Sometimes intelligent questions, interesting personalities, gentle humour and a little courtesy are quite enough.

And when a glamorous female guest walks onto the set and every gentleman on the panel immediately gets to his feet, it's difficult not to smile.

Some of the things happening might raise eyebrows such as smoking on set, but those were different days back then.

Do you watch vintage quiz and panel shows on YouTube? Which forgotten programmes have you rediscovered? Let us know, because there may be some gems the rest of us should be watching too.

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Meet Merv: The Internet’s Talking Cat, Her Beloved Charals – And the Merv Merch

If your social-media feeds have somehow escaped the phenomenon that is Merv the Cat, prepare to enter a very strange world indeed.

There are wispies. There is Ohio. There is the mysterious and apparently alarming BAGAGWA. And, most importantly, there is CHARALS!

Merv, gloriously formally known as Mervyn Cumberland Weems, is actually a female cat living in Los Angeles with her humans, actor Chad Jamian and celebrity make-up artist Chanel Cross.

Rescued as a tiny kitten in 2017, Merv has subsequently become one of the internet's great feline personalities. What makes her particularly special is her extraordinary range of vocalisations, some of which sound remarkably like words.

Whether Merv really believes she's talking to her humans is another question entirely, but millions of people have happily entered into the joke.

And Merv has quite a vocabulary.

There's "Ohio", "Pad Thai" and, of course, the ominous BAGAGWA.

However, one word towers above all others:

CHARALS!

Who is Charals?

"Charals" is Merv's distinctive pronunciation of Charles, the gardener who works at the home of Chad and Chanel.

Charles has unwittingly become the romantic leading man in the ongoing soap opera that is Merv's life.

Merv watches him through the window, becomes tremendously excited at the sight of him and apparently calls his name. The fact that Charles frequently goes about his gardening without a shirt has also become part of the running joke.

It has reached the point where Charles isn't simply the gardener any more. Within the strange fictional universe surrounding Merv, he's Merv's great love interest.

And, inevitably, Charals has made it onto the merchandise.

Yes, there's official Merv merchandise

Merv now has her own official merchandise shop – wonderfully named Official BAGAGWA Merch! – selling products based around the phrases and characters that regular followers instantly recognise.

There are Merv T-shirts in colour and black and white, but naturally there are also Charals T-shirts, currently listed from $22. Long-sleeved versions are available too.

The Merv/Charals romance gets even better. Fans can buy CHARALS magnets, mugs, stickers, pins, pillows and hats, along with Valentine's Day designs featuring Merv and her beloved gardener.

There is even a separate Charles Secret Stash range offering, amongst other things, a Charles and Merv T-shirt.

But Merv fans will probably be equally delighted by the merchandise celebrating her wonderfully peculiar vocabulary.

"BAGAGWA" appears on mugs, magnets, stickers, pins, pillows and clothing, while "Don't Summon BAGAGWA" has become an entire merchandise theme in its own right. There's even a BAGAGWA tapestry for those who feel their home décor is currently rather too normal.

"NO OHIO!" hasn't been forgotten either, appearing across mugs, magnets and other items.

Prices are quoted in US dollars and, as products, prices and availability can change, UK Merv fans should check delivery costs and availability before ordering.

Visit Merv's official BAGAGWA merchandise shop

And there's a talking Merv!

Perhaps the ultimate piece of Merv merchandise has been the Talking Merv plush, produced by Youtooz.

Merv's own official links have promoted the nine-inch talking plush alongside the official merchandise shop and Merv vinyl stickers.

It is somehow entirely appropriate that a cat who became famous for apparently talking should eventually be transformed into a talking toy.

From abandoned kitten to merchandise empire

There's something rather lovely underneath all this silliness.

Merv began life as a vulnerable rescued kitten and has ended up bringing enormous amounts of laughter to people around the world. Chad and Chanel have spoken about receiving messages from people going through grief, illness, heartbreak and burnout who say Merv has helped make difficult days a little brighter.

That's probably why the merchandise works.

A CHARALS mug or BAGAGWA T-shirt isn't merely another piece of internet merchandise. To someone who follows Merv, it's a reference to an elaborate shared joke – one which has gradually developed its own characters, vocabulary and mythology.

It's almost like being a fan of a long-running comedy series.

Except the star is a rescued cat.

And the romantic hero is the gardener.

For readers of That's Books and More who love cats, internet oddities and unusual gifts, the Merv phenomenon is certainly worth discovering. But be warned: watch a few videos and you may soon find yourself discussing wispies, worrying about Ohio and shouting "CHARALS!" at entirely inappropriate moments.

Just whatever you do...

DON'T SUMMON BAGAGWA.

https://www.bagagwa.com 

http://mervthepet.dashery.com

https://www.youtube.com/@MervTheCat

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NHS GP turns 20 years of frontline experience into gripping debut medical thriller

What happens when the systems designed to protect vulnerable people begin to serve those with power instead?

That unsettling question lies at the heart of What Can’t Be Unseen, the debut medical thriller from British NHS GP Michael Crisp, who has drawn on more than two decades of frontline medical experience to give his fiction an unusually authentic edge.

While the conspiracy at the centre of the novel is entirely fictional, Crisp says the pressures, ethical dilemmas and human stories surrounding it have been shaped by his years working as a doctor.

“Medicine is built on trust,” Crisp told That's Books and More. “But trust can sadly be exploited. The aim of my debut novel was to explore what happens when the systems designed to protect the vulnerable begin to serve power instead.”

The story introduces Dr James Harland, an NHS physician left deeply shaken after being unable to save a young migrant woman in a London emergency department.

However, her death soon becomes considerably more troubling. Toxicology reports reveal an unknown pharmaceutical compound in her blood, drawing Harland into an increasingly dangerous investigation involving illegal drug testing, organised crime and political corruption.

Alongside journalist Emily Morris and his estranged daughter Lucy, Harland faces a choice familiar to many a good thriller protagonist: protect his career and walk away, or risk everything by pursuing a truth that powerful people would rather keep hidden.

Yet What Can’t Be Unseen isn't simply a conspiracy thriller. Crisp uses the story to explore some of the less visible realities of working in medicine, including exhaustion, difficult decisions, professional responsibility and the emotional burden that can follow doctors home after their shifts have ended.

“I have seen how overstretched systems create cracks and how vulnerable people can fall through them,” he explains. “I wanted to explore what could happen if those cracks were deliberately exploited – and who ultimately pays the price.”

There are also themes of family, regret and redemption, with the novel asking how ordinary people might respond when extraordinary circumstances make doing the right thing personally costly.

With shades of medical thrillers in the Michael Crichton tradition combined with the darker territory of contemporary British crime fiction, What Can’t Be Unseen promises readers both a fast-moving mystery and some uncomfortable questions about trust, power and professional ethics.

Crisp continues to practise as a doctor while writing and is already working on his second novel, The Shadow Helix.

What Can’t Be Unseen is published by Foreshore Publishing, priced at £12.99 and available from Amazon at our own bookshop: https://link.amazon/B06iJE6mF