Showing results by narrator "David Charles" in All Categories

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast production of one of the earliest plays by Alan Bennett. The 1970s are a time of change, but Labour MP George Oliver feels stuck in one place: distrusting the ‘mawkish mentality’ of the young and fearing the encroaching life of the middle-aged, with little to look forward to but the imminent end of a not-very-interesting road.

All of Lee West's post-apocalyptic best sellers in one boxset! Six books, two series. Over 1,000 pages of post-apocalyptic action and suspense.

The '90s was the decade when British culture reclaimed its position at the artistic centre of the world. Not since the 'Swinging Sixties' had art, comedy, fashion, film, football, literature and music interwoven into a blooming of national self-confidence. It was the decade of Lad Culture and Girl Power, of Blur vs Oasis. When fashion runways shone with British talent, Young British Artists became household names, football was 'coming home' and British film went worldwide.

This delightful anthology is a timeless collection of poems chosen by Classic FM listeners. With humorous limericks, romantic sonnets, traditional and modern classics, this book is a true refelction of the greatest and best-loved verse. Discover poems for special occasions, as well as poems to...

David Edgar is among the UK’s leading contemporary dramatists, well known for his powerful plays chronicling Britain's changing political landscape over the past 50 years. More than 60 of his original plays, adaptations and translations have been performed around the world, and in 2023 he was honoured with a Writers’ Guild Outstanding Contribution award for his service to British playwriting. This radio anthology contains some of his most notable work.

Join us for an exhilarating and immersive adventure through 500 years of history, told entirely in the words of those who were there. With their artless prose and their polished & witty gossip, these are the men and women who have shaped our past. Brought to life by an award-winning all-star cast of 30 celebrated actors, including Charles Dance, Harriet Walter, David Suchet, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West, Jenny Agutter and many more.

Nature took on a new importance for thousands of people when the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Britain, providing solace in a time of great anxiety - not least because the crisis struck at the beginning of spring, the season of hope and renewal, and furthermore, in an extraordinary conjunction, the spring of 2020 turned out to be the loveliest spring ever recorded in Britain. Three nature writers, living like everyone else under lockdown, but walking out each day to exercise, resolved to record their experiences of the coronavirus spring, in widely contrasting parts of the country.

London, 1853, and the sedate religious publishing house of Spavin and Spavin is about to experience a radical shake-up. Vivacious actress Cordelia is on the hunt for a husband and has her eye on Gerald, one of the firm's partners, while her son, Primus, has ambitions to take over the firm. And when he does, it'll be out with the Bibles and in with the best sellers - starting with Charlotte Brontë's latest blockbuster.

The great explorers were the celebrities of their day - the romance and danger of their daring expeditions captured the public imagination and the world's headlines to an extraordinary degree. Not all of them lived to tell the tale, of course, but those who emerged triumphant from jungle, desert, or polar wasteland were hailed as if returning from beyond the grave. Journalists vied for their stories and publishers rushed their firsthand accounts of exciting and dangerous journeys into print for a wide and voracious readership.

Check out superb short works from seven popular authors.

Sherlock Holmes und Dr. Watson machen sich auf die Suche nach dem geheimen Buch des lange verstorbenen Alchemisten Gordon Adrik. Ihre Reise gestaltet sich länger und schwieriger als erwartet. Sie ahnen nicht, dass Theodora Sachs, Aleister Crowley und Rasputin dasselbe Ziel verfolgen und bereits einen beachtlichen Vorsprung haben.

Sworn allegiances, cruel punishments, broken hearts, shattered dreams and ancient magic make for an utterly spellbinding listen in this full-cast adaptation of Gareth Jones’s masterful novel.

On November 24, 1947, the most powerful men in American film met in New York’s plush Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to decide how to address the Communist witch-hunt being carried out by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Twenty-four hours later, they emerged having created the Hollywood Blacklist. The Waldorf Conference dramatically speculates on what went on in that room.

Sherlock Holmes und Dr. Watson nehmen die Mordermittlungen in Molderton auf. Völlig unerwartet stoßen sie dabei auf ein altes Geheimnis, das ihnen selbst zum Verhängnis wird. Auch Theodora Sachs, Rasputin und Aleister Crowley halten sich in dem kleinen Ort auf. Sie haben in London den Hinweis erhalten, dass es in Molderton etwas zu kaufen gibt, was dem Zirkel der Sieben ermöglichen könnte, die Herrschaft über das gesamte Königreich zu erlangen.

One moment Liselotte, the Duchess of Orleans is observing the Prince of Orange consummating his marriage in thick woollen drawers and the next, Harold Nicolson is at the Savoy Grill dining with the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson who is, 'bejewelled, eyebrow-plucked, virtuous and wise'. There's a young medical student watching his friend bowing to the crowd as he is hanged on the roof of Horsemonger Lane Gaol.

Eight highly diverse works from one of America’s most prolific and versatile authors. This collection includes an exclusive dramatization of Oates’ best-selling novel American Appetites; two comedic plays, The Perfectionist and The Truth Teller; four short plays (Gulf War, Black, The Key, and Tone Clusters); as well as her libretto for Black Water: An American Opera, composed by John Duffy.

Dance of the Love Caterpillars is a romantic tale of two Monarch butterflies that serendipitously meet and fall in love. While sharing a love flower for lunch, they journey through and experience vulnerability, hope, and comfort that emerge from their relationship. Savoring the ephemeral present moment and trusting life, as their daring transformation fast approaches, they decide and learn how to make the most out of their time together.

At Waterloo, women are stripping the corpses of their valuable shoes and stockings yet the Highlanders are left in mass graves with their coarse tartan socks still on. Roy Strong attending a private dinner with the Prime Minister notes that Margaret Thatcher in floaty chiffon is 'the apotheosis of the boss's wife, with the appeal of cosmeticised putty.' Even at the coronation of George IV, Queen Caroline, who is denied entry to the Abbey, is observed looking like 'a blowsy landlady'.

Voices from the Past with David Suchet as Lord Nelson writing to his beloved Emma on the eve of Trafalgar, hoping in God that he will live to finish his letter after the Battle, while Harriet Walter as Virginia Woolf hangs about the House of Commons mourning the passing of Edward VIII and the coming of King Albert I. Winston Churchill is captured and imprisoned by the Boers and Jane Austen sells 'Pride & Prejudice' for £110.

Then climb aboard and join Oscar Wilde in America amused at the sight of local gun slingers looting the house where outlaw Jesse James had been killed a few days earlier. Meet John Betjeman as he implores the BBC to engage the impoverished Dylan Thomas while Jane Austen demands the return of her unpublished novel. Austen Chamberlain rages at Hitler for sending a wreath emblazoned with the Swastika to be placed at the foot of the Cenotaph.