A BBC Radio 3 adaptation by Michael Symmons of Alfred Lord Tennyson's ‘The Idylls of the King’, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith and broadcast on 12 July 2009 to mark the bicentenary of the poet's birth.In this extraordinary epic poem, Tennyson transforms Malory's ‘Le Morte d'Arthur’, infusing the legend of King Arthur with a passionate intensity.

In Youth, the first of two volumes, Feaver conjures Freud’s early childhood: Sigmund Freud’s grandson, born into a middle-class Jewish family in Weimar Berlin, escaping Nazi Germany in 1934 before being dropped into successive English public schools. Following Freud through art school, his time in the navy during the war, his post-war adventures in Paris and Greece, and his return to Soho - consorting with duchesses and violent criminals, out on the town with Greta Garbo and Princess Margaret - Feaver traces a brilliant, difficult young man’s coming of age.  

Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels. Charles Arrowby has determined to spend the rest of his days in hermit-like contemplation. He buys a mysteriously damp house on the coast, far from the heady world of the theatre where he made his name, and there he swims in the sea, eats revolting meals and writes his memoirs.

M thinks he has an easy case for 007. Exactly what’s needed after his latest near-fatal encounter with SMERSH. However, arriving in Jamaica to look for a missing agent and his secretary, Bond learns that the reclusive Dr Julius No could be connected with their disappearance. When Bond and the exotic Honeychile Rider are imprisoned on Dr No’s private island, they realise that his plans could threaten international security.

Why does it no longer seem odd that are able to eat sushi in Italy and Neapolitan pizza in Dubai? What has happened to the food we eat to make this possible, and how have these blurred boundaries influenced cultural development as well as national appetites? From bananas and grapes to ultraprocessed snacks, we may not spend enough time thinking about the origins of the food are eating or how their ingredients might have altered over time. 

Katherine Rundell - Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and prize-winning author of five novels for children - explores how children’s books ignite and can reignite the imagination - how children's fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world. This delightful and persuasive essay is for adult listeners. 

Ten years after the walk across Central Asia and Afghanistan that he memorialized in The Places in Between, Rory Stewart set out on a new journey, traversing a thousand miles between England and Scotland. Stewart was raised along the border of the two countries, the frontier taking on poignant significance in his understanding of what it means to be both Scottish and English, of his relationship with his father, who's lived on this land his whole life, and of his ties to the rich history and culture of the region.

"A bear on Paddington Station?" said Mrs Brown in amazement. "Don't be silly - there can't be." The Browns first met Paddington on a railway station - Paddington station, in fact. He had travelled all the way from Darkest Peru with only a jar of marmalade, a suitcase and his hat. The Browns soon found that Paddington was a very unusual bear.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Charlie Changes into a Chicken by Sam Copeland, read by Rhashan Stone. Charlie McGuffin tries to be an optimist, but in reality he's a bit of a worrier. Some of the things Charlie is worried about are his brother (who is in hospital), their very panicked parents, unwanted attention from the school bully, and the fact that he's started turning into animals! Even though every kid wants a superhero power, Charlie isn't keen on turning into a pigeon in the middle of the school play. 

A guy walks into a bar.From here, the story could take many turns. A guy walks into a bar and meets the love of his life. A guy walks into a bar and finds no one else is there. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humour and intelligence and leave you deeply moved. In Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. The common thread? Sedaris masterfully turns each episode into a love story: how it feels to be in a relationship where one loves and is loved over many years, what it means to be part of a family, and how it's possible, through all of life's absurdities, to accept oneself. With Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris shows once again why he has been called 'A humorist par excellence, he can make Woody Allen appear ham-tongued, Oscar Wilde a drag' (Observer).