Searching for: "Bill Wallis"
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All five series of Peter Tinniswood's bawdy comedy about roguish poacher/philosopher Winston Hayballs - plus special seasonal episode Winston at Christmas 'Earthy, resilient, witty and bloody-minded ... nobody can write like Peter Tinniswood' The Times When the middle-class Empsons move from London to picturesque Winterleaf Gunner, they find themselves totally unprepared for country life - and utterly reliant on Winston. Handyman, village poacher, scholar, gentleman romantic and out-and-out rogue, Winston transforms their lives, fixing up their dilapidated house, introducing them to the works of Kingsley Amis - and giving Nancy a lesson in love. So when his wife throws him out because...read more
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The full-cast BBC Radio adaptation of C. P. Snow's epic series about the English establishment across the twentieth century 'A vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life' Guardian 'A very considerable achievement... It brings into the novel themes and locales never seen before (except perhaps in Trollope)' Anthony Burgess In 1920s Leicester, Lewis Eliot must escape the drudgery of a council clerk's office and his provincial lower class background to begin his decades-long rise to power. As the years pass, and Lewis progresses to successful London lawyer, to Cambridge don, to wartime service in Whitehall, to senior civil servant and finally retirement, he faces...read more
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Christopher Marlowe turns government spy in these four comedy crime dramas Murder and intrigue are all in a day's work for Kit Marlowe, England's leading playwright and undercover agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service. Amid the squalor and splendour of Elizabethan London, he probes a series of baffling mysteries, aided by his trusty underworld accomplice Bartholomew Ratsbane. The Curious Case of the Curs'd Quayside - Two of the navy's finest warships have been mysteriously sunk while moored in harbour. Sent by spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham to investigate, can Marlowe find the saboteur before more ships are scuppered? The Turbulent Tale of the Troubl'd Tragedy - Spring, 1590, and...read more
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Six full-cast BBC Radio productions of Shakespeare's classic tragedies Treachery, betrayal and fatal power struggles are among the themes of these six iconic productions of Shakespeare's timeless tragedies. Featuring all-star casts, they are introduced by Sir Richard Eyre. Hamlet Shakespeare's powerfully poetic tragedy of murder, madness and revenge stars Michael Sheen as the Prince of Denmark, with Kenneth Cranham as Claudius and Juliet Stevenson as Gertrude. Macbeth In this notorious 'Scottish play', a lust for power and the prophecy of three witches transform a brave nobleman into a traitor and murderous tyrant. Ken Stott stars as Macbeth and Phyllis Logan as Lady...read more
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A full-cast adaptation of Lynne Reid Banks' bestselling novel, plus sequel The Backward Shadow and more Award-winning author Lynne Reid Banks is perhaps best known for her classic children's book The Indian in the Cupboard. But it was her groundbreaking debut novel for adults, The L-Shaped Room, that made her name. First published in 1960, it was an instant success, and has been in print ever since. This collection contains both The L-Shaped Room and sequel The Backward Shadow, as well as two stories specially written for BBC radio and a bonus edition of Bookclub. The L-Shaped Room - Jane is young, middle-class, single - and pregnant. Thrown out by her parents, she rents a squalid...read more
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Dramatisations of six of Conrad's finest novels, plus bonus material Polish-born author and mariner Joseph Conrad is widely regarded as one of the greatest English novelists. His 16 years in the merchant navy profoundly shaped his fiction, giving him transformative experiences of adventure and exotic places, and a unique insight into the human psyche. Included here are adaptations of six of his best works, brought together for the first time and collected in chronological order, plus one fascinating bonus programmes exploring his life and art. Heart of Darkness - Ordered to sail up the Congo River in search of enigmatic ivory trader Mr Kurtz, Marlowe's journey takes him deep into an...read more
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In this eclectic selection of biographical sketches Bill Deedes remembers some of the key figures of the twentieth century. Political heavyweights such as Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Anthony Eden are reassessed and reevalued, while record breakers such as Sir Edmund Hillary and Roger Bannister are shown to be far more than just their achievements. Further afield, W. F. Deedes ruminates on the chaotic and shady world of Imelda Marcos, the dignity and determination of anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Suzman and the controversial leadership of Ian Smith in Rhodesia. But there are lighter portraits too. Noel Coward, with his useful advice on trains, Mary Whitehouse's inadvertent...read more
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Father Brown. This wonderful creation by GK Chesterton is a familiar favourite to many as a TV series in the 70s with Kenneth More. Chesterton's other works include 'The Man Who Knew Too Much. These four stories test Father Brown in many ways creating headaches a plenty. However Father Brown is nothing if not redoubtable and whilst Chesterton's stories are, in his own words, "very slight and improbable" his method is all his own. Bill Wallis captures perfectly the mood and tone of Father Brown in this...read more
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Edgar Allen Poe, is considered the greatest of all writers of macabre stories, was born in Boston, Massachesetts, in 1809. His father, an Irish-American actor, died the following year, and his mother, an English actress, the year after, in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a wealthy Richmond merchant, adopted him. When he was 7, the Allans moved to England, sending him to school at Stoke Newington, at age 12 they moved back to Richmond. He wanted to become a writer, but John Allan wanted him to become a lawyer. He failed to finish courses at the University of Virginia and at West Point Military Academy, and John Allan disowned him. Struggling to live by his writing, he became an ill-paid...read more
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Edgar Allen Poe, is considered the greatest of all writers of macabre stories, was born in Boston, Massachesetts, in 1809. His father, an Irish-American actor, died the following year, and his mother, an English actress, the year after, in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a wealthy Richmond merchant, adopted him. When he was 7, the Allans moved to England, sending him to school at Stoke Newington, at age 12 they moved back to Richmond. He wanted to become a writer, but John Allan wanted him to become a lawyer. He failed to finish courses at the University of Virginia and at West Point Military Academy, and John Allan disowned him. Struggling to live by his writing, he became an ill-paid...read more
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Gothic Tales Of Terror - Volume 1. This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Thomas Hardy, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you'd perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories are The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy, The Judges House by Bram Stoker, Hop Frog by Edgar Allan Poe and The Lurking Fear by HP Lovecraft. These stories are read for you by many readers including Bill Wallis, David Healy and Richard...read more
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Gothic Tales Of Terror - Volume 3. This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Nesbit and MR James. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you'd perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories are Facts of the Case Of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe, The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling, Man Size in Marble by Edith Nesbit and Casting The Runes by MR James. These stories are read for you by many readers including Geoff McGivern, Bill Wallis and Richard...read more
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Gothic Tales Of Terror - Volume7. This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Rudyard Kipling, Guy De Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe, Arnold Bennett, Daniel Defoe, Edith Nesbit and MR James. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you'd perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories are My Own True Ghost Story by Rudyard Kipling, The Horla by Guy De Maupassant, The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, Phantom by Arnold Bennett, The Apparition Of Mrs Veal by Daniel Defoe, In The Dark by Edith Nesbit and A Warning To...read more
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When it comes to motives for crime, the past can never be forgotten. Sara Hirsch is a nervous elderly spinster who still lives in the flat above a long-standing Florentine antiquities shop in which she was raised. Frightened, she calls Marshal Guarnaccia for help, sure that strangers have been in her apartment. The marshal knows she is a lonely old woman but he is preoccupied with an investigation into an Albanian prostitution ring. Before he can respond to her latest alarm, she is found dead. The marshal's search for the villains who precipitated her death brings him into confrontation with the past, with Jewish refugees from fascism, and with English expatriates, including the...read more
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Olivia, an American-born model, married Count Ugo Brunamonti, a feckless, soon impoverished aristocrat. After his death, she supported her children by starting a fashion house which has prospered. When she is kidnapped, the crime is reported to Marshal Guarnaccia by her daughter, who may have been the intended victim. Kidnapping is almost a second business for the Sardinians nominally engaged in raising sheep in the Tuscan hills. They inhabit a vast wilderness where a victim can be hidden away forever, and where those searching for her will be quickly spotted. The government's official policy is not to permit the payment of ransom. But if the money isn't paid, the kidnappers cannot let...read more
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Stephanie Sandford, recently widowed, must tell her family the truth. But the past is indistinct and it's complicated. First, there was her mum, who developed an anxious streak after marrying the wrong Reg. And then there was the young man from the dairy who gave Stevie swimming lessons before he broke her heart. War came, and four years chopping root vegetables in the canteen of the Sun Pat peanut factory on the Old Kent Road. Then the wet London nights, with the Doodle Bugs slipping through the sky like huge silvery fish. It's not until she's under an umbrella with Jonathan - dark hair and seaweed eyes - that Stevie finally starts to sense safety. Meanwhile, Michael Royston's memories...read more
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Translated by Sandra Smith, with an introduction by Patrick Marnham. In 1929, 26-year-old Irène Némirovsky shot to fame in France with the publication of her second novel David Golder. At the time, only the most prescient would have predicted the events that led to her extraordinary final novel Suite Française and her death at Auschwitz. Yet the clues are there in this astonishingly mature story of an elderly Jewish businessman who has sold his soul. Golder is a superb creation. Born into poverty on the Black Sea, he has clawed his way to fabulous wealth by speculating on gold and oil. When the novel opens, he is at work in his magnificent Parisian apartment while his wife and...read more
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When Marshal Guarnaccia is called upon to investigate the murder of a young woman, he is convinced that there's more to her family than meets the eye, and wonders if the girl's father, Paoletti, might have had something to do with her death. Enlisting the help of a local journalist, Marshal Guarnaccia's investigations draw him into the seedy underworld of Florence - lap dancing, prostitution and the illegal, human trafficking of Eastern European women who are sold into the sex trade. But can he save these women before it's too late? And what do they have to do with the killing of Daniela Paoletti? Distracted by the plight of these women and the murder investigation, Guarnaccia forgets...read more
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When did your sexual experiences start? Are you having more virtual sex than real sex? Can you have too much or not enough sex? What exactly is 'normal'? Bestselling author and leading sex therapist, Pamela Stephenson-Connolly takes us on an eye-opening journey to explode the myths and answer the embarrassing questions we've always wanted to ask about sex and our insatiable appetite for it. Drawing on hundreds of intimate interviews with ordinary people of all ages, appetites and backgrounds, Stephenson-Connolly reveals how the ever-present sexual force in each of us evolves throughout our lives, from our first months in the womb up right until our nineties. She also shows that there...read more
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'Harris's novels about the Roman statesman Cicero, are perfect audiobook material.' 50 best audiobooks, Daily Mail 'Masterful' Sunday Times 'Gripping and accomplished' Guardian 'Truly gifted, razor-sharp' Daily Telegraph Ancient Rome teems with ambitious and ruthless men. None is more brilliant than Marcus Cicero. A rising young lawyer, backed by a shrewd wife, he decides to gamble everything on one of the most dramatic courtroom battles of all time. Win it, and he could win control of Rome itself. Lose it, and he is finished forever. Imperium is an epic account of the timeless struggle for power and the sudden disintegration of a society. 'In Harris' hands, the great game...read more
