Aeham Ahmad, born in Damascus in 1988, grew up in Yarmouk, a suburb of Damascus. From the age of four onwards his father encouraged his musical talent and at seven he received piano lessons at the Arab Institute in Damascus. He later studied music education in Homs and worked as a music teacher. 
 
In 2015 he was forced to flee to Germany because of the war in Syria. Today he lives with his family in Wiesbaden and gives concerts all over Europe. In December 2015, Ahmad was awarded the International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights. 
 
This is his first book.

Aeham Ahmad

Aemilia Lanyer

Aeneas Gunn

Aerosmith

Aeschylus

Aesop lived in the early sixth century BC on the island of Samos, which lies off the coast of modern Turkey. He originally came from Thrace which was a separate country in those days, though it now forms part of Greece and Bulgaria. Very little is known about his life except that he worked as a slave on Samos for a master called Iadmon, and that he became a very famous storyteller. He was so famous that almost any fable which could have been told by him became attributed to him.

Aesop

Afsaneh Knight

Afsaneh Moqadam

Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. She is the author of Brit(ish), the Sunday Times bestseller that explores Britishness, identity and belonging, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. She co-presented Enslaved, a 6-part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson. She is the presenter of the Audible podcast series We Need To Talk About the British Empire, and Africa Rising, an ongoing flagship series about art and culture for the BBC, through her production company Born in Me Productions. She is a longtime columnist for the Guardian and is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.

Afua Hirsch

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is an author, blogger and international speaker who inspires audiences around the world. She has spoken at many corporations and conferences, such as Nike Women, Starbucks,Time Inc., Virgin, Johnson &amp; Johnson and the American Heart Foundation. She was born in Athens and trained in London at RADA before gaining a Master’s in psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She has collaborated with her sister, Arianna Huffington, to develop talks and seminars, and has worked with the Oprah Winfrey network. She is currently hosting a new podcast series in collaboration with The Huffington Post, entitled ‘Sundays with Agapi’, which includes guided meditations and interviews with prominent guests. She lives in Los Angeles.

Agapi Stassinopoulos

Agatha Christie

Aggie MacKenzie

Aghnia Mardiyah is a London-based Illustrator and Character Designer with a passion for children's books and animation. She is drawn to fun, bright and vibrant colours. When she isn't disappearing under piles of work, she loves to travel! Exploring foreign places, exciting new sights and sensations is what inspires her the most!

Aghnia Mardiyah

Agnes Callard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s, Boston Review, and penned a monthly column for the Point. From 2019 to 2020, she held a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for the research that contributes to this book.

Agnes Callard

Agnes Jekyll

Agnes Bertha Marshall (24 August 1855-29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur who became a leading cookery writer, dubbed the 'Queen of Ices'. Her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for 'cornets with cream', possibly the earliest publication of the edible ice cream cone. Marshall was born in Walthamstow. She wrote four books: Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885), Mrs A B Marshall's Book of Cookery (1888), Mrs A B Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891) and Fancy Ices (1894).

Agnes Marshall

Agnes Prus

Agri Ismaïl is a Kurdish author based in Sweden who has worked as a corporate lawyer in London, Dubai, and Iraqi Kurdistan. His work has been published in The White Review, The Rumpus, Litro, 3:AM Magazine, and Asymptote amongst other places. His piece 'Haunted Home' won the 2016 Stack award for best non-fiction for The Outpost, runner-up in the Lifted Brow &amp; RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction, and he was longlisted for the 2017/2018 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. Hyper is his first novel.

Agri Ismaïl

Aharon Appelfeld authored more than 45 acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction and received many international awards including the MLA Commonwealth Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, the prix Médicis étranger, the Israel prize, and the Nelly Sachs prize. Born in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) in 1932, he survived the Holocaust and passed away in Israel in 2018.

Aharon Appelfeld

Ahmadou Kourouma

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist and human rights activist based in London. He is the co-founder and director of We Are Not Numbers and a journalist with Palestine Deep Dive. Ahmed holds a degree in English Literature from Al-Azhar university in Gaza, and an MA in International Journalism from Leeds University, where he was a Chevening Scholar. 
 
Pam Bailey is a social-justice activist and journalist based in Washington DC. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip following the 2008/9 Israeli assault, and co-founded We Are Not Numbers. Today, in addition to her ongoing dedication to the Palestinian cause, she dedicates herself to two nonprofits that advocate for people detained in American prisons -- including one she co-founded in 2020, called More Than Our Crimes.

Ahmed Alnaouq

Ahmed Errachidi

Ahmed Rashid

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Ahron Bregman is the author of four books about Israel and the Arabs: The Fifty Years War (with Jihan el Tahri), Israel's Wars, A History of Israel and Elusive Peace. He teaches at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

Ahron Bregman

Ai Qing is regarded as one of the finest modern Chinese poets, whose free verse was influential in the development of new poetry in China.

Ai Qing

Ai Weiwei

Aidan Chambers was born in County Durham in 1934. After national service in the Royal Navy he became a teacher and then, for seven years, a monk. His young adult novels have been widely acclaimed, with POSTCARDS FROM NO-MAN'S LAND winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and the US Michael L Printz Award. With his wife Nancy he ran Signal magazine and he has served as the president of the School Library Association. His devoted services to children's literature were recognised by his receipt of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Aidan Chambers

Aidan Higgins was born in 1927. Langrishe Go Down, his first novel, won the James Tait Black memorial Prize and the Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was later filmed for television with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. His second novel, Balcony of Europe, was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize. The novel Lions of the Grunewald appeared in 1993 and a collection of shorter fiction, Flotsam and jetsam, in 1996. Donkey's Years and Dog Days were the first two volumes of the Higgins Bestiary which concludes with this volume.

Aidan Higgins

Aidan Mathews

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Laurence Olivier

Regarded by many as the greatest actor of the 20th Century, Laurence Olivier enjoyed a stellar career in film, theatre and television, winning multiple awards along the way from the 1920s to the 1980s. 
 
 In this absorbing collection of archive interviews he discusses his schooldays and early acting career; his drama training; his spells as actor-manager running the Old Vic and the National Theatre (which he helped create); his wartime service, and his friendship and collaboration with fellow actors including John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. 
 
 Hear all the highlights from Olivier's legendary life, as he recounts his fascinating story in his own words. 
 
 Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Laurence Olivier In His Own Words

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

Wolfgang Stoecker

Wolfgang Stoecker is on a mission to explore the cultural meanings of dust. Cologne-based artist Stoecker has collected samples of dust from historic buildings across Europe and beyond. With the help of scientists and an electron-microscope, he has analysed the dust and discovered it contains tiny fossils, particles from the Sahara, pollutants of various kinds and human debris. He is fascinated by what dust can tell us about human culture and history, and proves an engaging and charismatic host in this thought-provoking, witty documentary.  Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery.

My Empire Of Dust

Charles Dickens

Following his father's death, John Harmon returns to London to claim his inheritance. But he finds he is only eligible if he marries Bella Wilfer. To observe her character he assumes another identity and secures work with his father's foreman, Mr Boffin, who is also Bella's guardian.   'Our Mutual Friend'  was Charles Dickens'  last complete novel and is a satiric masterpiece about money. This complete Woman's Hour Drama, which contains all 20 episodes, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.

Our Mutual Friend (Woman's Hour Drama)

Tina Pepler

A pregnant fourteen year-old and her angry mother present the ante-natal team with some difficult decisions in a gripping medical ethics drama written by Tina Pepler.  When Rosie is admitted to A&amp;E with stomach pains, she's shocked to find out that she's pregnant. Her mother is even more horrified, and the ante-natal team must decide if Rosie is capable of making her own decisions without her mother's consent. The situation is further complicated when Rosie wants to keep an even more shocking piece of news from her mother, and the medical team's efforts to support her come under real pressure as an emergency confronts them with a difficult decision about what is best for Rosie's welfare.

Positive

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

Peter Souter

By Peter Souter. Hugh and Bella, are running to the same timetable, the timetable you're on if someone you love has just died, and they keep running into each other.  They visit the same undertakers at the same time; Hugh's Mum is cremated immediately after Bella's husband; and they even end up in the same bereavement-counselling group.  But Hugh and Bella are dealing with very different types of grief. Hugh's heart is like a toy that has never been taken out of the box, Bella's is like a beautiful crystal glass that's been dropped from a 30 storey building.  Starring Alex Jennings, Juliet Stevenson, and Lizzy Watts. Directed by Gordon House.

Stream, River, Sea

Michael Butt

El Ultimo Proyecto - The Last Project by Michael Butt, a play in two languages- Spanish and English.  A romantic thriller set in the hills of Andalucia. A British former soldier, Travis, has a love affair with the wife of a famous Spanish film director. Story telling and reality collide when the director insists Travis helps with his latest film, his 'last project' in which a murder is committed.  Starring Bryan Dick, Yolanda Vazquez, William Marquez, and Hugo Cubilla. With original song composition by Akintayo Akinbode and words by Federico Garcia Lorca Produced and Directed by Pauline Harris.

The Last Project: El Utimo Proyecto

Ronnie Barker

Ronnie Corbett

The Two Ronnies was one of Britain's most successful comedy sketch shows, and dominated the TV schedules for sixteen years between 1971 and 1987. This second compilation of classics from the much-loved show includes such sketches as 'Mispronounciation'; 'Night, Night; Cheers'; 'Cricket Commentators'; 'Train of Events'; and not forgetting 'The News According to The Two Ronnies'. There's also 'All in a Day's Wonk'; 'Sex Equalit'y; 'Pam Ayres'; 'The Castaway'; and 'You're Welcome, Milord'. Taken from the TV series The Two Ronnies, first transmitted June to August 1976. Due to the archive nature of the source material, the sound quality may vary.

Two Ronnies, The Volume 2 (Vintage Beeb)

DJ Britton

As Chief Executive of her local council, Robyn has just days to stop recycling being wiped from her ambitious environmental plans. But the credit crunch continues to put pressure on other priorities. Meanwhile, her daughter Afrah provides a safe house for a fiercely committed environmentalist from Eastern Europe.  Written by D. J. Britton and starring Lesley Sharp, Anamaria Marinca, Lizzy Watts, Sam Dale, Ben Askew, Stephen Hogan and Philip Fox. Produced by Pam Marshall.

Welcome To The Wasteland

Simon Brett

Jeremy Front

Charles Paris is his own worst enemy, a louche lush who can resist anything except temptation – especially in the form of women and alcohol. 
 
He’s been out of work so long now he feels he may never get a job and he’s driving Frances, his semi-ex-wife, mad. So when he’s offered a small role in a play, she nearly pushes him out of the door. But it seems that The Message is Murder is such a terrible production that someone wants to kill off the cast. First there is a series of nasty accidents, then someone attempts to stab Charles. Can he find the murderer before they strike again? 
 
Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris in this entertaining dramatisation by Jeremy Front. 
 
Written by Jeremy Front, based on the novel by Simon Brett. 
 
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins approx.

Charles Paris: Murder in the Title

Gareth Roberts

Somebody’s interfering with time. The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack arrive on modern-day Earth to find the culprit - and discover a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. Only a trip back to the primeval dawn of humanity can solve the mystery. Who are the mysterious humans from the distant future now living in the distant past? What hideous monsters are trying to escape from behind the Grey Door? Is Rose going to end up married to a caveman? Caught between three very different types of human being - past, present and future - the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack must learn the truth behind the Osterberg experiment before the monstrous Hy-Bractors escape to change humanity’s history forever... This is a gripping adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, together with Rose and Captain Jack as played by Billie Piper and John Barrowman in the hit series from BBC Television. It is read by Anthony Head, who played Lucas Finch/Brother Lassar in the Doctor Who episode 'School Reunion'.

Doctor Who: Only Human

Mike Walker's adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic tale of family relationships tells the story of Paul Dombey, head of the House of Dombey, who lacks a son and cannot reconcile himself to his only daughter.   First published in monthly parts between October 1846 and April 1848.   Narrated by Alex Jennings. Starring Robert Glenister, Helen Schlesinger, Fenella Fielding, Abigail Hollick, Trevor Peacock, Adrian Lukis, Nicky Henson, Joseph Arkley, Geraldine James, Claire Rushbrook, Nadine Marshall, Sam Pamphilon, Katy Cavanagh, and Lloyd Thomas. Other parts played by Ben Crowe, Alex Lanipekun and Simon Treves. Music by Nicolai Abrahamsen. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole.

Dombey And Son

Donald Stewart

‘The history of crime detection has produced no more famous name than that of Sexton Blake’William Franklyn stars as paperback hero Sexton Blake, with David Gregory as his assistant Tinker, in four original BBC Radio dramatisations from 1967. Lost from the BBC archives for over 40 years, these rediscovered episodes are presented for the very first time.‘Lilies for the Ladies’: In the first episode of the series, Blake investigates the unexplained murders of four wealthy society women. ‘The Sin-Eater’: An old friend of Blake’s receives a series of cryptic messages written on playing cards. Featuring James Beck (Private Walker, Dad’s Army).‘Bluebeard’s Keys’: Blake is sent a mysterious key in the post. The attached note reads: ‘This is Bluebeard’s first key.’Plus a special bonus episode - ‘Murder on the Portsmouth Road’. In one of Britain’s earliest surviving drama recordings (from 1930), Arthur Wontner stars as Sexton Blake, tracking down a killer on a stormy night.WARNING: Due to the archive and off-air nature of some of the source material, the sound quality may vary.  Also, some of the language on this recording reflects the era in which it was first recorded.

Sexton Blake Lilies For The Ladies & Other Stories

‘The history of crime detection has produced no more famous name than that of Sexton Blake’William Franklyn stars as paperback hero Sexton Blake, with David Gregory as his assistant Tinker, in four original BBC Radio dramatisations from 1967. Lost from the BBC archives for over 40 years, these rediscovered episodes are presented for the very first time.‘The Vampire Moon’: Sexton Blake and Paula Dane are out at a London restaurant, when one of their fellow diners suddenly collapses. His dying words warn of the danger of the Vampire Moon. Featuring Marjorie Westbury (Paul Temple).‘The Fifth Dimension’: Harry Monkton wins £84,000 on the Pools. Then, one day, the phone rings and he disappears‘First Class Ticket to Nowhere’: Lost in the fog, Sexton Blake and his friends stumble across a deserted railway station. Then there’s a gunshotPlus a special bonus episode - ‘Murder on the Portsmouth Road’. In one of Britain’s earliest surviving drama recordings (from 1930), Arthur Wontner stars as Sexton Blake, tracking down a killer on a stormy night.WARNING: Due to the archive and off-air nature of some of the source material, the sound quality may vary.  Also, some of the language on this recording reflects the era in which it was first recorded.

Sexton Blake The Vampire Moon & Other Stories

Geoff Bunn

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series.Human beings have long been fascinated by the brain and how it fulfils its many functions. This groundbreaking cultural history explores the development of our ideas about the mind from Neolithic times to the present day.Starting with prehistoric trepanation and Ancient Egyptian practices, he then focusses on the ideas of Hippocrates, Galen and early Christian and Islamic scholars. He introduces pioneering scientists such as Thomas Willis and looks at the impact of electricity and evolutionary theory on our understanding of the brain. In addition, he explores the synapse and the part Freud almost played in the history of the brain, reflects on the invention of the EEG, and discovers the impact of neurology on how we understand ourselves today.The series is written and presented by Dr Geoff Bunn of Manchester Metropolitan University. Actors Paul Bhattacharjee and Jonathan Forbes provide the voices of those who have written about the brain across the ages. Actor Hattie Morahan gives the Anatomy Lesson establishing the part of the brain to be highlighted in each episode. The original, atmospheric score is supplied by composer, Barney Quinton. The producer is Marya Burgess.

History Of The Brain, A (Complete)

Natalie Haynes

BBC Radio 4 programme all about the fashion for keeping chickens in your back garden, a hobby which shows no sign of waning.   Natalie Haynes has heard some dark rumours about the true habits of the hen. Can they be true? However her own knowledge is limited entirely to chicken lives in Ancient Rome.     Natalie hears from chicken breeders and keepers; but perhaps the most keen insight is from ornithologist Mark Cocker, who explains how things look from the chickens' own perspective. Poultry and people can be very good for one another, but like any relationship it does require respect!  Last broadcast on 29 March 2011 and produced by Christine Hall.

Attila The Hen

Hugh Costello

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Hugh Costello, about some gripping events at the Vatican.   After the short reign and mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, the election of a new Pope takes place in an atmosphere of high tension between opposing factions.   Including those who want to elect the first non-Italian Pope for over four hundred years!   First broadcast on 25 February 2011. Starring David Calder, Alison Reid, Nicholas Le Prevost, Andrew Hilton, Nigel Anthony, Paul Humpoletz, Paul Nicholson, Christian Rodska, Jonathan Nibbs, Bill Wallis, David Collins, Paul Dodgson, John Sandeman and Kristian Phillips.

Conclave

Jacqueline Rayner

Rose and the Doctor return to present-day Earth, and become intrigued by the latest craze - the video game, Death to Mantodeans. Is it as harmless as it seems? And why are so many local people going on holiday and never returning? Meanwhile, on another world, an alien war is raging. The Quevvils need to find a new means of attacking the ruthless Mantodeans. Searching the galaxy for cunning, warlike but gullible allies, they find the ideal soldiers on Earth. Will Rose be able to save her family and friends from the alien threat? And can the Doctor play the game to the end and win? This is a gripping adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose, as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in the hit series from BBC Television. It is read by Camille Coduri, who played Rose's mother Jackie Tyler in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: Winner Takes All

Georges Simenon

Nicholas Le Prevost stars as the French detective in four new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatizations  These new adaptations of classic stories find Maigret recreating four memorable cases for his creator Georges Simenon.  In ‘Maigret: A Man’s Head’, a convicted man is allowed to escape, then followed by police investigating a double murder. Maigret finds himself entering glittering society and a war of nerves with a suspect.   ‘The Bar on the Seine’ sees a condemned man telling Maigret about a riverside drinking hole where a murderer lurks undetected. Pursuing the clue, Maigret witnesses a death and discovers a much older crime...  ‘My Friend Maigret’ finds Maigret investigating the murder of a tramp on the French island of Porquerolles - but he is hampered by the attentions of Inspector Pyke of Scotland Yard.   Finally, in ‘Madame Maigret’s Own Case’, when Madame Maigret makes a friend outside her dentist’s office, she stumbles upon the resolution of one of her husband’s most stubborn investigations.

Maigret A Man's Head & Other Stories

Four full-cast dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Inspector Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon.  'Maigret and the Minister', 'Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets', 'Maigret and Monsieur Charles', and 'Maigret and the Madman of Bergerac'.   Georges Simenon and his masterful inspector, Jules Maigret, look back together over four of their greatest cases   Where is the vital report that holds the key to the fate of the French government? What is the secret behind the mysterious suicide in Bremen? Who is responsible for the sudden disappearance of one of Paris’s best known solicitors? And will the demented double murderer strike again?

Maigret And The Minister & Other Stories

Four gripping dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon; 'Maigret Goes to School', 'Maigret and the Old Lady', 'Maigret Hesitates' and 'The Patience of Maigret'   The world’s best-known French detective, Jules Maigret, talks to his creator Georges Simenon about four intriguing cases in these full-cast dramatisations that have been specially adapted for radio from the original novels.   There are two trips to the seaside for Maigret as he attempts to help a schoolmaster fight off an unfair charge of murder and soothes the fears of an elderly widow who fears she is about to be poisoned. An anonymous letter throws up a baffling problem: someone is about to be murdered, but who? Finally Maigret’s old bête noire, Manuel Palmari, has been found murdered. Will that help Maigret get to the bottom of his criminal empire at last?

Maigret Hesitates & Other Stories

Four gripping dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon   'Maigret Goes Home', 'Maigret Sets a Trap', Maigret at the Crossroads' and 'Maigret Has Doubts'   The world’s best-known French detective, Jules Maigret, talks to his creator Georges Simenon about four intriguing cases in these full-cast dramatisations that have been specially adapted for radio from the original novels.   Things are never the same when you go back, as Maigret discovers when an anonymous letter draws him to his place of birth. Montmartre is the scene of his next case, but can Maigret’s carefully prepared approach prevent the latest in a line of serial killings? A murder with unusual characteristics finds Maigret at the remote Three Widows Crossroads, and finally he regrets being forced to suppress his instincts about the indecipherable Josset case.

Maigret Sets A Trap & Other Stories

Four full-cast dramatisations starring Nicholas Le Prevost as Inspector Maigret  ‘The Yellow Dog’ sees Maigret upsetting the citizens of Concarneau as he begins his murder investigation. But there is poison in the Pernod, a howling yellow dog and, it seems, a madman on the loose...    In ‘Maigret and the Burglar’s Wife’, "Sad Freddie" is committing a burglary when he discovers the body of a dead woman, holding a telephone in her hand. Can Maigret believe the burglar’s wife in the face of other evidence?   ‘Inspector Cadaver’ sees Maigret dealing with an old enemy - an ex-police officer nicknamed ‘Inspector Cadaver’, who seems to be doing everything in his power to obstruct Maigret in his investigations.   Finally, in ‘Maigret’s Little Joke’, Maigret and his wife take a secret holiday in Paris. When a murder occurs, Maigret must get his information from the press and radio. How can he leave Janvier to solve the crime alone?

Maigret's Little Joke & Other Stories

William Wordsworth

BBC Radio 4 presents William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem ‘The Prelude’, read by Sir Ian McKellen, directed by Susan Roberts and features specially composed music by John Harle.‘The Prelude’ is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Accessible, full of emotion and gripping, the poem is recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria and looks back over events in his early life in Grasmere, Cambridge, France, London and the Alps.Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was revolutionary in its time.Last broadcast on 14 and 15 May 2011, with music performed by John Harle on Saxophone and Neill MacColl on guitar.

Prelude, The Complete Series (BBC Radio 4 Classical Serial)

Peter Cook

Peter Cook was an exceptional talent - verbally witty, surreally inventive and a true original. The father of modern satire and alternative comedy, he was voted the top comedian of all time in the Channel 4 show The Comedian's Comedian. 
 
In this selection of clips from the BBC archive, Michael Palin trawls Peter Cook's back catalogue for his funniest and silliest moments, including several rare gems that have never been previously broadcast. 
 
Covering Peter Cook's 36-year career, it features all the best interviews, monologues and sketches, including extracts from Beyond the Fringe, monologues from the immortal E. L. Wisty and excerpts from Cook and Moore's taboo-breaking 'Derek and Clive' dialogues. There are also hilarious parodies of Malcolm Muggeridge and Loyd Grossman, radio phone-ins from 'Sven' and various interviews discussing his involvement with Private Eye. 
 
Insightful and irresistible, this is a fascinating exploration of the life and career of a seriously funny man. 
 
Peter Cook In His Own Words features classic comedy extracts which reflect the language and attitudes of their time. 
 
©2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Peter Cook In His Own Words

Guy Adams

John Telfer reads this exciting Torchwood adventure - a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day. 
 
When Oscar Lupe appears 20,000 feet up in the air, his body is frozen solid and free-falling to earth. It shatters on impact. Soon after, a CIA Special Activities Division squad goes rogue with a cargo marked ‘Torchwood’ that they’ve been escorting from somewhere called Cardiff. 
 
The Agency puts Rex Matheson on the case. As the strange deaths pile up, Rex realises there must be experimental tech out there, but someone is obstructing him at every turn. Rex is the CIA’s golden boy - but has he met his match in the evasive Mr Wynter…? 
 
Based on the hit series created by Russell T. Davies, The Men who Sold the World is a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day, starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles as Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, with Mekhi Phifer as Rex Matheson. 
 
NB: Contain strong language, sexual references and graphic scenes of violence

Torchwood The Men Who Sold The World

Raymond Chandler

Robert B Parker

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In Poodle Springs, Marlowe is fresh from his honeymoon with heiress Linda Loring, and living a life of idle leisure in the upmarket Californian town of the title. But being a kept man soon loses its charm and, bored and restless, Marlowe sets up shop as an investigator once more. Hired by a local criminal to find a gambler on the run from his debts, he is sucked into a world of bigamy, blackmail and murder... The eighth and final Philip Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs was unfinished at the time of Raymond Chandler’s death in 1959. It remained so for another 30 years, until crime writer Robert B. Parker completed the novel to mark the centenary of Chandler’s birth. Starring Toby Stephens, this entertaining dramatisation by Robin Brooks retains all the pace and intrigue of the original book.

Poodle Springs

Charlotte Jones

A BBC Radio 4 comedy musical drama, ‘The Diva in Me’, written by multi award-winning playwright Charlotte Jones, for the actress and extraordinary mimic Phillippa Stanton, with music woven into the narrative. 
 
Phillipa spends Saturday night eating toast and fantasizing about a boy-man from Southern Electric. She can sing anything from Bjork, to Winehouse, Garland to Gaga, even Shirley Bassey, but why has the world turned it’s back on her? On top of her extraordinary talent, Phillipa discovers the ingredient that will finally make her a truly great diva! 
 
Written by Charlotte Jones. 
Directed by Claire Grove. 
Starring Phillippa Stanton, Stuart McLoughlin as Shadwell, Sally Orrock as Vicki, Daniel Rabin as Gene Kelly, Joanna Monro as Mona and Brian Bowles as Trevor. 
 
Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 5 May 2011. 
 
 
©2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2011 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Diva In Me, The (BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play)

Steve Lyons

In the far future, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where it’s a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream. But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back. And the Doctor wants to help until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares. With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all. Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth. This is a gripping adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, together with Rose and Captain Jack as played by Billie Piper and John Barrowman in the hit series from BBC Television. It is read by Camille Coduri, who played Rose's mother Jackie Tyler in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams

Glenda Jackson

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with the renowned actress and MP begins with an archive radio interview in 1970 and runs through to a guest appearance on Desert Island Discs in 1997. Along the way Glenda Jackson appears on numerous programmes including Omnibus, Profile, Parkinson, In The Psychiatrist's Chair and Start the Week, during the course of which she discusses her background and early years, women in theatre, and her journey from being a highly successful actress to becoming a Member of Parliament (and Minister of Transport). She also appears on A Chance to Meet Glenda Jackson and In The Hot Seat, where she faces the questions of an invited audience and discusses a wide range of topics. 
 
The included interviews are: radio archive interview (first broadcast 5 August 1970); Omnibus, BBC television (19 September 1971); Profile, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 20 March 1972); A Chance to Meet Glenda Jackson, BBC television (first broadcast 1 October 1972); Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 24 November 1973); Parkinson, BBC One (first broadcast 23 October 1976); In The Psychiatrist's Chair, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 31 July 1982); Start the Week, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 9 July 1990); In The Hot Seat, BBC radio (first broadcast 31 August 1990); Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4 (28 December 1997). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Glenda Jackson In Her Own Words

DI Helen Grace Novellas

Crumpled, slapdash and foul-mouthed as ever, Detective Inspector Jack Frost struggles to cope with inadequate back-up and never enough time; the unsolved crimes pile up and the vicious killings go on. Frost must cut corners and take risks as he staggers from crisis to crisis, rapists to murderers, missing bodies to discovered body parts; will he be able to keep Denton safe?

DI Jack Frost

Prepare to be gripped by this prequel series to R.D. Wingfield's A Touch of Frost. 
 
Back in Denton, Detective Sergeant Jack Frost returns to investigating murders, finding missing children, and discovering dead bodies in woodland areas. With Detective Inspector Williams missing, and a new policeman, DS Waters, to mentor, DS Jack Frost has to put the stresses and straings of his personal life on hold in order to keep Denton safe.

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