Hayden Thorpe on Orford Ness

In Talk The Line, our resident artist and curious interviewer Emmeline Armitage speaks to brilliant people about their unusual fascinations and obsessions that sometimes lie far away from their day job as musicians, directors, comedians and actors.

Today we're talking to singer and songwriter Hayden Thorpe about Orford Ness, a former Ministry of Defence weapons development site during both World Wars and the Cold War tht was acquired by the National Trust in 1993 and left to re-wild. Orford Ness is where RADAR was invented, where camouflage was developed and where bombs were first strapped to planes. As a result, it was on Ness that missiles designed to deliver atomic payloads were tested and perfected. It remains a place of paradox, mystery and constant evolution for Thorpe, whose 2024 record Ness is an ode to the physical place and the book it inspired, written by celebrated nature writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Stanley Donwoood.

Talk The Line is a podcast from UK music magazine ⁠The Line of Best Fit ⁠and is co-produced by Emmeline Armitage and Paul Bridgewater, with music by Seams.