5ive Guys FC

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A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

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Victoria Wood

Rebecca Front presents this two-part look back at Victoria Wood’s stand-up and songs using her own archives and tapes – including never-before-heard material 
 
Victoria Wood was a comedian, actress and all-round national treasure. She wrote and starred in countless sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over four decades, winning numerous awards, and her work remains timeless to this day. With her perceptive observational humour, she made the everyday and mundane hilarious – but how did she do it? 
 
In this BBC Radio 4 documentary, Rebecca Front uses Victoria Wood’s personal rehearsal recordings, rare live performances and behind-the-scenes footage to reveal some of her comedy tricks and techniques. We hear about her instinctive sense of rhythm, amazing rhyming ability and unerring knack for finding the perfect word to make a sentence sing, and learn how she honed her unique talent to become one of Britain’s favourite funny women. 
 
With unprecedented access to Victoria’s own boxes of battered cassette tapes, this programme is a shameless chance to hear some wonderful stand-up comedy, characters and songs, mixed with a look back at what made her so funny and so universally loved. 
 
Executive Producer: Geoff Posner 
Produced by David Tyler 
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.

Victoria Wood: From Soup to Nuts

A BBC Radio 4 Retrospective

Eddie Izzard

The stand-up comedian of his generation. Star of stage and screen. Tireless supporter of charity. Runner. Political campaigner. Fashion icon. Human. There is no one quite like Eddie Izzard. 
 
This is the story of how a boy who wanted to become a professional footballer and win the lead in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat found comedy. Affecting, witty and nothing less than rousing, readers will, as Eddie himself says, 'look at my life and say, 'If that idiot transvestite can run a whole bunch of marathons, play the Hollywood Bowl, and travel across France with a French-speaking tour, then what's holding me back?''

Believe Me

A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens

Colin Dexter

Three BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations starring John Shrapnel as Morse and Robert Glenister as Lewis, plus a bonus reading by Colin Dexter of one of his short stories. 
 
In Last Seen Wearing, Inspector Morse is reluctant to take over an old missing person case from a dead colleague. But two years, three months and two days after teenager Valerie Taylor’s disappearance, somebody decides to supply some surprising new evidence. . . 
 
In The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn Inspector Morse tackles the murder of an exam invigilator. The newly appointed member of the Oxford foreign exam syndicate was deaf, and he wasn’t from the insular world of the Oxford colleges. Now he is dead. 
 
After he’s rushed into hospital, Inspector Morse becomes intrigued by an old crime in The Wench is Dead. Could the wrong men have been hanged for the murder of Joanna Franks? 
 
Plus Colin Dexter reads his own short story, The Double Crossing, in which it is a good first day for a certain detective named Lewis. 
 
Gripping, suspenseful and entertaining, these BBC dramatisations were adapted by Guy Meredith from the original Inspector Morse novels by Colin Dexter.

Inspector Morse: BBC Radio Drama Collection

Three classic full-cast dramatisations

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry invites readers to take a glimpse at his life story in the unputdownable More Fool Me. 
 
It is a heady tale of the late Eighties and early Nineties, in which Stephen - ever more driven to create, perform and entertain - burned bright and partied hard with a host of famous and infamous friends, regardless of the consequences. 
 
This electric and extraordinary book reveals a new side to Mr Fry.

More Fool Me

David Darlington

Do you remember when the Fourth Doctor called in on Pete Murray's Open House? Or when Louise Jameson was menaced by a Dalek on BBC Radio Bristol? Do you remember when June Whitfield auditioned a Dalek? If these things passed you by in the 1970s and 1980s, now's your chance to catch up! Featuring rare recordings from the BBC archives and beyond, Doctor Who at the BBC: Lost Treasures is full of gems. There are recollections from six lead actors - Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith - plus their companion co-stars Louise Jameson, Lalla Ward, Nicholas Courtney, Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman; and production personnel including Delia Derbyshire, Peter Howell, Pennant Roberts, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat. There are also features on the show's famous theme tune, the recovery of a lost TV episode, the cancellation of Shada and the legendary exhibition at Blackpool, along with excerpts from a radio programme broadcast live from a Doctor Who convention! Louise Jameson (Leela) is your guide on this entertaining tour behind the scenes of the series which has been entertaining us all for an astonishing half century.

Doctor Who At The BBC: Lost Treasures

Neil Gaiman

Beneath the streets of London there is another London. A subterranean labyrinth of sewers and abandoned tube stations. A somewhere that is Neverwhere... An act of kindness sees Richard Mayhew catapulted from his ordinary life into the strange world of London Below. There he meets the Earl of Earl's Court, faces a life-threatening ordeal at the hands of the Black Friars, comes face to face with the Great Beast of London, and encounters an Angel. Called Islington. Accompanied by the mysterious Door and her companions, the Marquis de Carabas and the bodyguard Hunter, Richard embarks on an extraordinary quest to escape from the fiendish assassins Croup and Vandemar and to discover who ordered them to murder her family - all the while trying to get back to his old life in London Above. Adapted for radio by the award-winning Dirk Maggs, this captivating dramatisation features a stellar cast including David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Anthony Head and David Schofield. Contains over 25 minutes of additional unbroadcast material, including extended scenes, bloopers and outtakes. 
 
 
 ©2013 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2013 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Neverwhere

A BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation

Agatha Christie

'It's very easy to kill - so long as no one suspects you.'   So says Miss Pinkerton when ex-policeman Luke Fitzwilliam meets her on a train. Luke doesn't take much notice of this little old lady's story about a serial killer on the loose in her village - until her predictions start to come true, when he feels compelled to check it out. Very soon the race is on to prevent any more murders...   Dramatised by Joy Wilkinson, and with a distinguished cast including Patrick Baladi, Lydia Leonard, Michael Cochrane and Marcia Warren, this is a gripping BBC Radio dramatisation of one of Agatha Christie's most ingenious detective stories.

Murder Is Easy

David Agnew

Whilst sightseeing in Paris, 1979, the Doctor and Romana notice a series of unexplained temporal disturbances. When a visit to the Louvre lands them in hot water, they realise that a certain Count Scarlioni knows more about advanced technology than a 20th Century Parisian should.   With British detective Duggan in tow, the time travellers become embroiled in an audacious plot to steal the Mona Lisa and sell it on the open market. Not only that, but Count Scarlioni appears to have more da Vinci masterpieces at his disposal - each one apparently genuine.   What time experiment is Scarlioni forcing a genius professor to undertake? What is behind his suave persona, and what are his plans for not only Paris but the whole world? The Doctor and his friends must discover the answers before time itself runs out.   Lalla Ward narrates this classic TV adventure, and in an exclusive bonus interview she recalls her time as Romana in the BBC TV series.

Doctor Who: City Of Death (TV Soundtrack)

Terry Nation

On Skaro, the home world of the Daleks, the Doctor encounters the militaristic Movellans - who have come to Skaro on a secret mission - whilst his companion Romana falls into the hands of the Daleks themselves. It soon becomes apparent that the Daleks have returned to their abandoned home city with a crucial objective, one which they hope will give them the advantage in a strategic war. When the Doctor realises what the Daleks are up to, he is compelled to intervene. But he has not bargained for the Movellans having a few secrets of their own, and soon he, Romana and the human refugee Tyssan are wondering who exactly they can trust. Moreover, will they be able to avert the Daleks from their self-proclaimed destiny? Lalla Ward narrates this classic full-cast TV adventure, written by Terry Nation, and in a special bonus interview she recalls her time as Romana in the BBC TV series.

Doctor Who: Destiny Of The Daleks

John Barrowman

Carol E. Barrowman

It starts with a series of unexplained events. Earth tremors across the globe. Women being driven insane by their heightened and scrambled senses. And the world is starting to notice - the number one Twitter trend is #realfemmefatales. Governments and scientists are bewildered and silent. The world needs Torchwood, but there's not much of Torchwood left. Captain Jack Harkness has tracked the problem to its source: a village in Peru, where he's uncovered evidence of alien involvement. In Cardiff, Gwen Cooper has discovered something alien and somehow connected to Jack. If the world is to be restored, she has to warn him - but she's quickly becoming a victim of the madness, too... From Torchwood star John Barrowman, and Carole Barrowman, this is an epic thriller that finds Captain Jack and Gwen in a race to save humanity itself. Read by Daniel Pirrie (Doctor Who, Downton Abbey). 
 
7 CDs. 8 hrs 12 mins.

Torchwood: Exodus Code

Mark Morris

Ross Chapman is one of life's losers. So when he survives a point-blank shooting, dons a superhero costume and becomes a crime-busting vigilante, something strange is clearly going on. And Ross's transformation isn't the only odd thing happening in Cardiff. Time is distorting - around the city, some people are aging, dying and decomposing in a matter of minutes, while others are reverting to childhood. Sgt Andy Davidson knows he's out of his depth - so when Jack Harkness sweeps into the police station, he's glad of the help that only Torchwood can provide. But for Jack, the stakes are higher than ever. He's seen a vision of Gwen, dead, murdered by an unknown gunman. And if he can't solve the mystery of Mr Invincible, he can't save her... Written specially for AudioGO by Mark Morris, Mr Invincible is read by Tom Price, who played Sgt Andy Davidson in the hit BBC television series. 
 
1 CD. 1 hr 4 mins.

Torchwood Mr Invincible

Micky Flanagan

The complete BBC radio series of Micky Flanagan's autobiographical comedy show - plus pilot episode 
 
'Excellent, funny and poignant' Miranda Sawyer, The Observer 
 
Based on his Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated show What Chance Change?, Micky Flanagan's debut radio series combines brilliant stand-up with insightful behind-the-scenes interviews to tell the story of his life from the 1970s to the 2000s. 
 
These four episodes chart the Cockney comedian's progression from working-class Herbert to middle-class intellectual giant - and being awkwardly caught between both worlds. Via hilarious jokes and sharply-observed comic routines, Micky takes us from the mean streets of the East End to the leafy lanes of East Dulwich, outlining his rise to fame from Billingsgate fish porter to successful entertainer, from Sunblest to panini, tabloids to broadsheets and the street party to the dinner party. We hear how he left school without qualifications, ran away to New York to be an international lover and player, returned to education to become a teacher, and settled down with his wife and built his stand-up career. 
 
Chatting to family, friends and special guests - including sociology professor Paul Willis, millionaire plumber Charlie Mullins, and fellow comedian Sean Lock - he considers how his upbringing shaped his identity, discusses the thorny issue of class and comedy, and explains how, over four decades, taking chances has changed his life. 
 
Written and performed by Micky Flanagan 
Produced by Tilusha Ghelani 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 25 May-15 June 2010 (Series 1) 
 
 
 ©2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?

The complete BBC Radio series

David Attenborough

One of the nation’s most popular presenters examines twenty marvels of the natural world from his extraordinary and pioneering experiences. How did Sir David track down a giant Earthworm? Why does he respect Rats? What was the first bribe in nature? Why do well known foods often have two names? And where can you see evidence of the earliest life on Earth? His enthusiasm is as infectious as ever, and conveys a unique fascination on topics as diverse as the Kiwi, Hummingbirds, Monsters, Butterflies, Chimps, Cuckoos, Fireflies and Elsa, the famous lioness. So listen to these stories to find out why Rats should be respected and which insects emerge from the ground only once every 17 years. Includes detailed programme notes inside the booklet. 
 
3 CDs. 3 hrs 15 mins.

David Attenborough New Life Stories

Paul Magrs

Trapped underground, the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey encounter a small boy who claims to be Aladdin, in search of a fabled lamp. He joins them on their own quest, to find a power source in this weird domain and switch it off. Many obstacles lie in their way. Vast rooms stuffed with exotic items give way to torch-lit tunnels and deadly precipices. Creatures of mythical proportions lie in wait. Peculiar atmospheres take their toll on them. Perhaps strangest of all, the Doctor’s multi-coloured scarf appears to take on a life of its own... As friends are separated and uneasy alliances are formed, the strange environment attempts to claim them. Will the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey ever get back to Hexford? And will Aladdin discover who he really is? With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Guy Harvey as Aladdin, Sophie Ward as the Storyteller, Terrence Hardiman as the Gryphon, Andrew Sachs as the Scarf, Simon Shepherd as the Magician, and Su Douglas as the Toad, Aladdin Time is the third of five linked stories written by Paul Magrs.

Doctor Who Serpent Crest 3: Aladdin Time

It’s been many months since the Doctor was in Hexford, and Mrs Wibbsey keenly feels his absence. As her grave suspicions about her new neighbour grow, she is in danger of becoming ostracised from village life. When Mike Yates turns up at Nest Cottage with a visitor in tow, Mrs Wibbsey’s life is turned even further upside down. Why has this strange new fellow appeared - and can he really be who Mike thinks he is? With UNIT watching the skies, and a strange forest growing daily around the village perimeter, it comes as little surprise when an enormous spaceship slides into view and dominates the skyline. Who is watching Hexford, and what do they want? Never has Mrs Wibbsey needed the Doctor more. But can she cope with two...? With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Cornelius Garrett as Reverend Tonge, David Troughton as the Visitor, Nerys Hughes as Deirdre and Joanna Tope as Tish, The Hexford Invasion is the fourth of five linked stories written by Paul Magrs.

Doctor Who Serpent Crest 4: The Hexford Invasion

Two things arrive on the same night in Central Park, New York, 1976. The first is a fireball from space, bringing with it a new identity for one Alice Trefusis. The second is the TARDIS, carrying the Doctor and his friends on the trail of an unusual comic book cover. The Doctor's strength is sapped by something in the New York air - but what could cause such a malaise? As he and Mike are first mixed up with the police and then taken on an aerial ride over the city, Mrs Wibbsey comes face to face with the legendary Talkies film star Mimsy Loyne. And all the while, long multicoloured scarves and floppy felt hats are climbing the stairs of the Dakota Building... With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Trevor White as Buddy, Laurel Lefkow as Alice, Lorelei King as Mimsy Loyne, Rupert Holliday Evans as the Cop, and John Chancer as the Cultist, Starfall is the fourth of five linked stories written by the acclaimed Paul Magrs.

Doctor Who Demon Quest 4: Starfall

Arthur Smith

'My name is Arthur Smith, unless there's anybody here from the Streatham tax office. In which case, I'm Daphne Fairfax.' This has been Arthur's opening line at hundreds of stand-up comedy performances. In fact, he is neither Daphne nor Arthur. Friends and family know him as Brian. 
 
One of the 'alternative comedians' who shook up light entertainment in the eighties and nineties, Arthur (and Brian) is also a broadcaster, an opening bat for Grumpy Old Men, a West End playwright (his plays include An Evening with Gary Lineker) and a guest on innumerable radio and TV panel shows. 
 
In My Name is Daphne Fairfax he reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on the bombsites of Bermondsey, a wild-haired undergraduate, a roadsweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient who has been told never to drink again. 
 
Hilarious, scandalous and rude, his memoir incorporates a tender tribute to his parents and a vigorous account of the peculiar business of being alive.

My Name is Daphne Fairfax

A Memoir

Michael Bond

Worth his weight in marmalade sandwiches, here’s Paddington in four more favourite adventures. Whether he’s playing in the sand, going to the theatre, picnicking on the river or enjoying Christmas Day, you can be sure life will be full of surprises! The stories are ‘A Day at the Seaside’, ‘Pantomime Time’, ‘A Picnic on the River’ and ‘Paddington’s Christmas.' Introduced by Michael Hordern, who narrated the original BBC TV series Paddington.

Paddington A Day At The Seaside & Other Stories

The Doctor arrives in a bleak English midwinter of long ago. Plunging into the snowy landscape of the Dark Ages, he learns that wild dogs besiege the local Tilling Abbey every night. When he is given shelter by the sisters of the abbey, the Doctor begs an audience with the Mother Superior they fiercely protect. Something unearthly has already happened here - and if the Doctor is right, it’s connected to his recent encounters with an ancient enemy. As night falls again, the dogs can be held off no longer - and the sisters’ secret is about to be revealed. Forced to draw his enemy off into the depths of the TARDIS, the Doctor finds himself in a nightmarish chase through his own ship - but is he the pursuer, or the pursued? As they fight him on his own ground, the hornets are determined to possess his mind... With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Clare Corbett as the Nun, Susie Riddell as the Sister, Rula Lenska as the Swarm and Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, A Sting in the Tale is the fourth of five linked stories written by the acclaimed Paul Magrs. '... Baker delivers the drama and intensity that you recognise from the Fourth Doctor of old' - Doctor Who Magazine

Doctor Who Hornets' Nest 4: A Sting In The Tale

Four charming tales starring the marmalade-loving bear from darkest Peru.   The stories are: ‘Please Look After This Bear’, ‘A Bear in Hot Water’, ‘A Disappearing Trick’ and ‘Paddington and the Amateur Dramatics.’   ‘Please look after this bear’ said the label around Paddington’s neck, so the Brown family take him home and do just that. Life with Paddington, however, is full of surprises –as you’ll find out in these four great dramatised stories!

Paddington Please Look After This Bear & Other Stories

Douglas Adams

A dynamic remastering of the original BBC Radio 4 full-cast serial - Fit the First to Fit the Sixth - which spawned a phenomenal hitchhiking legend 
 
The original series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, remastered by Dirk Maggs (director of the Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases) to give a full, vibrant sound, now with Philip Pope's version of the familiar theme tune and specially re-recorded announcements by John Marsh. 
 
Join Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect,Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android in their first series of adventures as they witness the destruction of Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass, stumble upon the ancient planet of Magrathea, dine at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and seek an answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe And Everything. 
 
Peter Jones, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Susan Sheridan, Stephen Moore and a full supporting cast star in these BBC Radio 4 episodes. 
 
A special 55-minute bonus programme, Douglas Adams's Guide to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, explores the genesis of the radio series and its incredible success, with contributions from the original cast and production team. 
 
Audio files were replaced in April 2021 
 
 
 ©2008 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2008 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary Phase

Various

Forty-five of Britain's best-loved poems, read by John Nettles, Siobhan Redmond, Greg Wise and Emma Fielding. 
 
In a national poll conducted to discover Britain's favourite poem, Rudyard Kipling's 'If -' was voted number one. This unique anthology brings together over forty poems from the poll, including the top ten. 
 
Here is poignant war poetry (Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', Rupert Brooke's 'The Soldier' and Siegfried Sassoon's 'Everyone Sang' ); romantic verse such as Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?' and W. B. Yeats' 'When You Are Old'; Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear's great nonsense poems 'Jabberwocky' and 'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat', and much more. Classics such as Wordsworth's 'The Daffodils' and Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shallot' sit alongside contemporary poetry like Allan Ahlberg's 'Please Mrs Butler' and Wendy Cope's 'Bloody Men'. 
 
Superbly read by John Nettles, Siobhan Redmond, Greg Wise and Emma Fielding, this popular collection includes many of the very best examples of British verse, as chosen by poetry lovers nationwide. 
 
The poems included in this collection are: 
 
1 'If -' by Rudyard Kipling, read by John Nettles 
2 'The Lady of Shallot' by Alfred Lord Tennyson, read by Siobhan Redmond 
3 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare, read by Greg Wise 
4 'Not Waving but Drowning' by Stevie Smith, read by Siobhan Redmond 
5 'The Daffodils' by William Wordsworth, read by John Nettles 
6 'To Autumn' by John Keats, read by Siobhan Redmond 
7 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' by William Butler Yeats, read by Emma Fielding 
8 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, read by Greg Wise 
9 'Ode to a Nightingale' by John Keats, read by Siobhan Redmond 
10 'He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven' by William Butler Yeats, read by John Nettles 
11 'Remember' by Christina Rossetti, read by Siobhan Redmond 
12 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' by Thomas Gray, read by John Nettles 
13 'Fern Hill' by Dylan Thomas, read by John Nettles 
14 'Leisure' by William Henry Davies, read by Emma Fielding 
15 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes, read by Greg Wise 
16 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell, read by Greg Wise 
17 'Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold, read by John Nettles 
18 'The Tyger' by William Blake, read by John Nettles 
19 'Adlestrop' by Edward Thomas, read by Siobhan Redmond 
20 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke, read by Greg Wise 
21 'Sea-Fever' by John Masefield, read by John Nettles 
22 'Upon Westminster Bridge' by William Wordsworth, read by Greg Wise 
23 'How Do I Love Thee?' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, read by Emma Fielding 
24 'Cargoes' by John Masefield, read by Greg Wise 
25 'Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll, read by Emma Fielding 
26 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, read by John Nettles 
27 'Ozymandias of Egypt' by Percy Bysshe Shelley, read by Greg Wise 
28 'Abou ben Adhem' by Leigh Hunt, read by John Nettles 
29 'Everyone Sang' by Siegfried Sassoon, read by Greg Wise 
30 'The Windhover' by Gerard Manley Hopkins, read by Siobhan Redmond 
31 'Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night' by Dylan Thomas, read by John Nettles 
32 'Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?' by William Shakespeare, read by Siobhan Redmond 
33 'When You Are Old' by William Butler Yeats, read by Emma Fielding 
34 'Lessons of the War (To Alan Mitchell): Naming of Parts' by Henry Reed, read by John Nettles 
35 'The Darkling Thrush' by Thomas Hardy, read by Emma Fielding 
36 'Please Mrs Butler' by Allan Ahlberg, read by Emma Fielding 
37 'Kubla Khan' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, read by John Nettles 
38 'Home-Thoughts, from Abroad' by Robert Browning, read by Greg Wise 
39 'High Flight (An Airman's Ecstasy)' by John Gillespie Magee, read by Greg Wise 
40 'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat' by Edward Lear, read by Emma Fielding 
41 'The Glory of the Garden' by Rudyard Kipling, read by Greg Wise 
42 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost, read by Siobhan Redmond 
43 'The Way through the Woods' by Rudyard Kipling, read by Emma Fielding 
44 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' by Wilfred Owen, read by Greg Wise 
45 'Bloody Men' by Wendy Cope, read by Siobhan Redmond 
 
©1998 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)1998 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

The Nation's Favourite Poems

Vikram Seth

A Suitable Boy is now a major 2020 BBC TV series, and one of the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world. 
 
The award-winning BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Vikram Seth's masterpiece 
 
'The drama highlight of the year...this sumptuous production, wonderfully atmospheric, written with pace and performed, by an all-Indian cast, quite superbly. The novel may be vast but I was convinced by this version right from the start. Magnificent drama' - Radio Times 
 
A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly-observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the twentieth century. 
 
The story unfolds through four middle-class families - the Mehras, Kapoors, Khans and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with. There are standards to be met and finding a husband for Lata becomes a family affair in which all the members are to play a part. The characters struggle, they try to buck the system, to break free of restraint, of interference - but ultimately their strength and sense of being comes from their family and friends. It is a celebration of ordinariness; a beautifully composed story that is an affirmation of family and friendship. 
 
In his sweeping epic, Vikram Seth has created an entire world filled with warmth, humour, pathos, tragedy - in short, life. Recorded on location in India, A Suitable Boy is made by the production team behind the award-winning Bleak House and The Handmaid's Tale. 
 
Shortlisted for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, 1993. 
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1994. 
Winner of the WH Smith Literary Award, 1994. 
 
Dramatised and directed by John Dryden. A Goldhawk Production.

A Suitable Boy

Stephen Cole

When a naval cruiser sinks in mysterious circumstances in the North Sea, all aboard are lost. Rose is saddened to learn that the brother of her friend, Keisha, was among the dead. But then he appears to them as a ghostly apparition, begging to be saved from the coming feast... the feast of the drowned. As the dead crew haunt loved ones all over London, the Doctor and Rose are drawn into a chilling mystery. What sank the ship, and why? When the cruiser’s wreckage was towed up the Thames, what sinister force came with it? The river’s dark waters are hiding an even darker secret, as preparations for the feast near their conclusion... Read by the Tenth Doctor himself, this exciting adventure features the Doctor and Rose, as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper in the acclaimed hit series from BBC Television. Also included is an exclusive bonus interview with the author, Stephen Cole, compiled by David Darlington of Doctor Who Magazine.

Doctor Who: The Feast Of The Drowned

Kit Pedler

Gerry Davis

'You will be like us...' On the planet Telos, the Doctor and his friends encounter a party of archaeologists intent on uncovering the mythical tomb of the Cybermen. Only the Doctor seems aware of the folly of this venture, but suddenly it’s too late - the ice tombs are open and the Cybermen are coming back to life... Trapped underground with the Cyber Controller and his acolytes, including the vermin-like Cybermats, the Doctor and company learn that they are to be turned into a new generation of Cybermen. To make matters worse, there is treachery and double-crossing amongst the humans. Can the Cyber menace be made dormant before it spreads out to the galaxy once again - and will the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria escape with their lives? Frazer Hines, who played Jamie in these four BBC TV episodes from 1967, provides linking narration for the story. In a bonus interview, he also recalls the making of The Tomb of the Cybermen.

Doctor Who: The Tomb Of The Cybermen (TV Soundtrack)

Jimmy Perry

David Croft

Diehard Dad's Army fan Phill Jupitus has selected four of his favourite episodes from the sitcom that captured the heart of a nation. As Jupitus says, 'There are episodes here you will be familiar with and some you may never have heard, but what I can promise is that they are all achingly funny.' 'The Man and the Hour' is the first ever episode of the series, in which Mainwaring barks out, 'Come on Adolf, we're ready for you!'; 'My British Buddy' finds Mollie Sugden guest starring as a Walmington inhabitant besotted with the new GIs in town; 'Time on My Hands' finds a German airman snagged by his parachute on the town hall clock; and in 'A Soldier's Farewell' Mainwaring dreams he is Napoleon at Waterloo, with Wilson an elegant Duke of Wellington... Providing stalwart support to the stars are John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley, Ian Lavender and Bill Pertwee. 
 
2 CDs. 1 hr 53 mins.

Dad's Army: The Very Best Episodes

Volume 1

Sing and rhyme along with these 26 much-loved nursery rhyme songs! Includes: 'The Wheels on the Bus' / 'Down at the Station, Early in the Morning' / 'Row Row Row Your Boat' / 'The Big Ship Sails on the Alley Alley Oh' / 'London Bridge is Falling Down' / 'Jack and Jill' / 'Hickory Dickory Dock' / 'I'm a Little Teapot' / 'Polly Put the Kettle On' / 'Miss Polly had a Dolly' / 'Pop Goes the Weasel' / 'Five Currant Buns' / 'Ten Fat Sausages' / 'Peter Hammers with One Hammer' / 'The Grand Old Duke of York' / 'Girls and Boys Come Out to Play' / 'I Jump Out of Bed' / 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush' / 'Ring a Ring o'Roses' / 'I Hear Thunder, I Hear Thunder' / 'Incy Wincy Spider' / 'Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes' / 'If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands' / 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' / 'Wee Willie Winkie' / 'Ten in a Bed'. 
 
1 CD. 40 mins.

The Wheels On The Bus

Favourite Nursery Rhymes

Don’t panic! The Hitchhiker’s saga returns once again with a full-cast dramatisation of Mostly Harmless, the fifth book in Douglas Adams’s famous ‘trilogy in five parts’. 
 
‘A radio event... the great original cast has been reassembled’. Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph 
 
While frequent flyer Arthur Dent searches the universe for his lost love, Ford Prefect discovers a disturbing blast from the past at The Hitchhiker’s Guide HQ. Meanwhile, on one of many versions of Earth, a blonder, more American Trillian gets tangled up with a party of lost aliens having an identity crisis. And just when Arthur thinks he has found his true vocation on the backwater planet of Lamuella, the original Trillian turns up with more than a little spanner in the works. A stolen ship, a dramatic stampede and a new and sinister Guide lead to a race to save the Earth … again. But this time, will they succeed? 
 
Simon Jones returns as Arthur, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Sandra Dickinson as Tricia McMillan, and Stephen Moore as Marvin. William Franklyn is the Book, Rula Lenska is also the Book and Samantha Béart is Random. Guest stars include Miriam Margolyes, Griff Rhys Jones, John Challis, Roy Hudd, Saeed Jaffrey, and Jonathan Pryce. 
 
This extended edition features 40 minutes of material not heard on BBC Radio 4.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Quintessential Phase

Richmal Crompton

Described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘the wizard of the talking book’, Martin Jarvis has made the voices of William and his gang of outlaws his own in these marvellous readings. Roar with laughter as the lovable rogue, hampered by the loathsome Violet Elizabeth, wreaks havoc in this hilarious collection. Includes the following stories: 'The Christmas Truce'; 'Only Just in Time'; 'The Midnight Adventure of Miss Montague'; 'William and the Musician'; 'William Leads a Better Life'; 'William and the Twins'; 'William’s Birthday'; 'William and the Little Girl'; 'The Outlaws and Cousin Percy' and 'William and the Princess Goldilocks'. ‘There’s nothing to touch them’ - Independent on Sunday. 
 
2 CDs. 2 hrs 30 mins.

Just William

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

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