A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Aaron Robertson

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Mike Walker

Eleven BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas telling the stories of Mary Queen of Scots and the Stuart royals 
 
Under the Stuarts, Britain entered the modern world. But with great change came turmoil, and for 111 years, the Stuart monarchs faced dynastic struggles, religious conflict, the rise of parliamentary democracy – and civil war. These dramas chart that turbulent epoch through its royal family, from Mary, Queen of Scots to the ‘last Stuart’, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s daughter Charlotte. 
 
It Came In with a Lass – 1561. Arriving in mist-shrouded Scotland, Queen Mary must quickly distinguish her friends from her enemies. Starring Jeany Spark as Mary. 
 
To Make the Plough Go Before the Horse – James I’s life and reign told through his relationships, from his first love, Esme to his last favourite, George Villiers. Starring Bill Paterson as James I and VI. 
 
A World of Fools and Knaves – Henrietta Maria, Charles I's Catholic queen, watches her husband fail to keep hold of the reins of government. Starring Julian Rhind-Tutt as Charles I. 
 
This War Without an Enemy – Only on the morning of his execution can Charles I begin to understand the events that brought him to to the scaffold. Starring Julian Rhind-Tutt as Charles I. 
 
Charles II, Part One: Through the World in Various Fortune – When news of Oliver Cromwell's death reaches Brussels, the exiled Charles II plots his return. Starring Jamie Parker as Charles II. 
 
Charles II, Part Two: The Long Lease of Pleasant Days– Charles II plots to confound parliamentary reformers and secure the throne for his brother. Starring Pip Torrens as Charles II. 
 
James II: The Storms of this Deceitful World– 1688. After just four years as King, James II flees England in the Glorious Revolution. How did it all go so wrong? Starring James Fleet as James II. 
 
William III and Mary II: To Have and To Hold– Dutch William marries his Stuart cousin for reasons of politics, not passion – but their partnership proves crucial when it comes to ruling England. Starring Mark Edel-Hunt as William III and Elaine Cassidy as Mary. 
 
Queen Anne: Myself Alone– Queen Anne must abandon long-held allegiances to command parliament’s loyalty and rule with authority. Starring Fenella Woolgar as Queen Anne. 
 
Bonnie Prince Charlie: Who Dares to Be Free– Charles Edward Stuart, the ‘Young Pretender’, risks everything for the Stuart name. Starring Blake Ritson as Charles. 
 
Charlotte Stuart: The Last Stuart – Is Charlotte Stuart as driven as her predecessors, or the last victim of the Stuart curse? Starring Kate O’Flynn as Charlotte. 
 
Produced and directed by Jessica Dromgoole, Sasha Yevtushenko, Marc Beeby and Gemma Jenkins.

The Stuarts

The epic BBC Radio 4 Drama

Bridget Kendall

Bridget Kendall presents an oral history tracing decisive moments of the Cold War. 
 
The Cold War is one of the furthest-reaching and longest-lasting conflicts in modern history. It spanned the globe - from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba - and lasted for almost half a century. It has shaped political relations to this day, drawing new physical and ideological boundaries between East and West. 
 
Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand. This landmark series draws on exclusive interviews with individuals who lived through the conflict's key events, offering a variety of perspectives that reveal how the Cold War was experienced by ordinary people. From pilots making food drops during the Berlin Blockade and Japanese fishermen affected by H-bomb testing, to families fleeing the Korean War and children whose parents were victims of McCarthy's Red Scare, Cold War covers the full geographical and historical reach of the conflict. This is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand how the tensions of the last century have shaped the modern world, and what it was like to live through them. 
 
1. The Greek Civil War 
2. The Czech Coup 
3. The 1948 Election in Italy 
4. The Berlin Blockade 
5. The Fall of Shanghai 
6. The Korean War 
7. McCarthyism 
8. The H-Bomb 
9. The East German Uprising 
10. The Iran Coup 
11. Khrushchev’s Thaw 
12. The Hungarian Revolution 
13. The Congo Coup 
14. The Berlin Wall Crisis 
15. The Cuban Missile Crisis 
16. The Fall of Khrushchev 
17. The Chinese Cultural Revolution 
18. The Prague Spring 
19. America’s Vietnam War 
20. The Coup in Chile 
21. The Fall of Saigon 
22. Ostpolitik 
23. The Angolan Civil War 
24. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 
25. The Birth of Solidarity in Poland 
26. The New Cold War 
27. Gorbachev’s Perestroika 
28. The Fall of the Berlin Wall and German Reunification 
29. The Baltic Singing Revolution 
30. The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Cold War: Series 1 and 2

Stories from the Big Freeze

Eleven compelling BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas telling the stories of the Russian tsars 
 
Broadcast to mark the centenary of the Russian revolution, this extraordinary drama cycle by Mike Walker comprises eleven ambitious plays spanning over 400 years, exploring the lives of Russia’s key rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin. 
 
Ivan the Terrible: Absolute Power - The rise and fearsome reign of the first Tsar of All Russia. Starring David Threlfall as Ivan IV. 
 
Boris Godunov: Ghosts - Did Boris Godunov have Ivan the Terrible's son killed? And what happened when the murdered boy came back from the dead - leading an army? Starring Shaun Dooley as Boris Godunov. 
 
Peter the Great: The Gamblers - Moscow, 1682 and two joint tsars rule: one, Ivan, is feeble-minded and the other is Peter, a child of ten years old. Starring Will Howard as Peter. 
 
Peter the Great: Queen of Spades - Distracted by his new capital, St Petersburg, and wife Catherine, Peter ignores his opponents: until his own son Alexei declares his colours. Starring Elliot Cowan as Peter. 
 
Catherine the Great: Husbands, Lovers and Sons - Did Catherine foresee the consequences of staging a coup d'état against her husband the Tsar? Or did she want him dead from the start? Starring Samantha Spiro as Catherine II. 
 
Alexander I: Into the Woods – The story of the reluctant Tsar who took on the greatest threat Russia had ever faced – Napoleon Bonaparte – and won. Starring Joel MacCormack as Alexander I. 
 
Alexander II: The People’s Will – Revolutionary terrorist cell The People’s Will is determined to assassinate the Tsar. But in the struggle between autocracy and socialism, there can be only one winner. Starring Joseph Millson as Alexander. 
 
Nikolai II: Three Hundred Years - In 1913, the Romanov dynasty celebrated three hundred years on the Russian throne. But a mere four years later, Tsar Nikolai II was forced to abdicate. Starring Raymond Coulthard as Nikolai II. 
 
Lenin: Tears – As the Soviet era begins, Lenin joins the provisional government, but soon becomes set on seizing complete power for his Bolsheviks. Starring Paul Ritter as Lenin. 
 
Joseph Stalin: The Last Bolshevik – In 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by the Nazis – and Joseph Stalin retired to his dacha, seemingly defeated... Starring Brian McCardie as Stalin. 
 
The Shield and the Sword – Thirteen interconnected stories about the enigmatic Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Starring Nicholas Murchie as VV. 
 
Written by Mike Walker 
Produced and directed by Sasha Yevtushenko and Alison Hindell

Tsar: An epic chronicle of the Russian leaders

Eleven BBC Radio 4 dramas

Martin Sixsmith

Power struggles have a constant presence in Martin Sixsmith’s story of Russia. Collected here in 50 episodes, he chronicles the Mongol hordes invading in the 13th century, through the iron autocratic fists of successive Tsars, to the fall of the Soviet Union and Russia’s re-emergence as a superpower. 
Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great – all left their mark on a nation that pursued expansion to the East, West and South. Many Tsars flirted with reform, but the gap between the rulers and the ruled widened until, in 1917, the doomed last Tsar, Nicholas II, abdicated. After the whirlwind of the revolution, the Bolsheviks struggled to consolidate their victory. To rescue the economy and save the regime, Lenin made concessions to the people. But after his death, Stalin introduced forced collectivisation and industrialisation, condemning the Soviet people to conditions worse than those experienced under the Tsars. Nikita Khrushchev reversed the worst excesses of Stalinism, and in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on radical reforms of the communist system – unleashing unforeseen consequences that swept him from power and destroyed the USSR. 
Martin Sixsmith brings his firsthand experience of reporting from Russia in the 1980s and ‘90s to his narrative, witnessing the critical moment when the Soviet Union lost its grip on power. He asks if the recurring patterns of Russian history can help us understand what has happened since 1991, when the promise of Western-style democracy aroused so many hopes for change. Eyewitness accounts, archive recordings and personal testimony enrich his narrative, as well as readings from Russian authors and historians such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Vasily Grossman, plus music by Stravinsky, Prokofiev and others.

Russia: The Wild East

The complete BBC Radio 4 series

Joanna Bourke

Eyewitness accounts from the BBC Archive are at the heart of this unique history of the latter half of the 20th Century, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith. 
 
The events of 1950-1999 are described by the people who saw them happen, from the Festival of Britain in 1951 through to dawn of a new millennium at the end of 1999. 
 
Inbetween are the eras of the Angry Young Men, the Teddy Boys and the Punk Rockers; the arrival of rock and roll and the permissive society; the advent of industrial strife in England and sectarian unrest in Northern Ireland; the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher; the miners’ strike, three day week and Winter of Discontent; the Queen’s Silver Jubilee; the IRA’s campaign of bombing and the eventual Good Friday agreement; the marriage of Prince Charles, the death of Princess Diana, the Poll Tax riots, and the British participation in wars in the Middle East and Bosnia. 
 
Events both joyful and sorrowful are illustrated with fascinating and rarely heard archive recordings, with a linking narration by the historia Joanne Bourke. Thought-provoking and moving, these are the voices of the past speaking to the present day.

Eyewitness: 1950-1999

Voices from the BBC Archives

Jimmy Perry

David Croft

Twenty episodes from the second BBC Radio series, starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. 
 
In 1973 the BBC adapted its hit TV series for radio, featuring the original TV cast and characters. Three series were broadcast between 1974 and 1976, with episodes adapted from their TV counterparts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles. 
 
Now you can enjoy once again these unique recordings, with a supporting cast including John Laurie, Arnold Ridley and Ian Lavender. Among the twenty-one episodes are Don't Forget the Diver, Put That Light Out, Mum's Army, A. Wilson - Manager, and The Day the Balloon Went Up.

Dad's Army: Complete Radio Series Two

Twenty episodes from the first BBC Radio series plus an hour-long Christmas special, starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. 
 
In 1973 the BBC adapted its hit TV series for radio, featuring the original TV cast and characters. Three series were broadcast between 1974 and 1976, with episodes adapted from their TV counterparts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles. 
 
Now you can enjoy once again these unique recordings, with a supporting cast including John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley and Ian Lavender. Among the twenty-one episodes are The Man and the Hour, The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage, Sgt Wilson’s Little Secret, Something Nasty in the Vault, The Menace from the Deep and No Spring for Frazer.

Dad’s Army

The Complete Radio Series One

Michael Goldfarb

Michael Goldfarb looks back to the Europe of the 1930s and asks how artists, writers and film-makers responded to the poverty, mass unemployment and poltical instability of the Great Depression. 
 
Through the work of Bertolt Brecht, George Orwell, Jean Renoir and others, Michael charts the devastating impact of the slump as economic crisis impoverished the continent, engulfing both highly-industrialised nations such as Germany and the more agrarian economies of Greece, Spain and Ireland. And as economic faultlines threaten to divide Europe once again, Michael asks whether a new art of austerity is now emerging. 
 
The novelists Anne Enright and Justin Cartwright are among Michael's guests as he considers how writers are responding to the latest wave of banking crises, spending cuts and popular protest. 
 
Produced by Julia Johnson. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 29 April 2012 
 
 
©2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Europe - The Art Of Austerity

Guy de la Bédoyère

A guided tour of Roman Britain with historian Guy de la Bédoyère, as heard on BBC Radio 4. In 55 BC, Julius Caesar invaded Britain, which was then on the edge of the known world. But he was unable to conquer it. Where Caesar failed the Emperor Claudius, in AD 43, succeeded and the mighty Roman Empire came to stretch from Cairo to Carlisle. The Romans in Britain tells the story of four hundred tumultuous years under Roman rule. A colourful and cosmopolitan people, the Romano-British created a unique corner of the ancient world by merging their own Celtic traditions with the sophistication of Roman civilization. Presented with warmth and wit, historian and archaeologist Guy de la Bédoyère takes us on a fascinating tour through Britain which is as much an adventure in social geography as it is a lively and surprising history.

Romans In Britain

Katie Hickman

In this fascinating BBC Radio series, Katie Hickman examines the lives of 'diplomatic women' through their letters and diaries. From the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through the heyday of the British Empire and still today, the foreign service has been shaped and run behind the scenes by the wives of ambassadors and minor civil servants. Accompanying their spouses in the most extraordinary, tough, sometimes terrifying circumstances, they have struggled to bring their civilization with them. Their stories - from ambassadresses downwards - never before told, are a feast of eccentricity, genuine hardship and genuine heroism, and make for a hilarious and compelling series.

Daughters Of Britannia

Will Gompertz

The Royal Collection is one of the most wide-ranging collections of art and artefacts in the world and provides an intriguing insight into the minds of the monarchs who have assembled it. In this series, BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz examines dozens of these unique objects, in a quest to 'use the Collection as a prism through which to better understand the art of being a monarch'. From intimate portraits to epic tapestries, from the Coronation pen to the Investiture sword, from a treatise against Martin Luther to the first televised Christmas message, each has an absorbing history. Famous objects such as the Gold State Coach and the Imperial State Crown rub shoulders with lesser-known but still fascinating artefacts such as the Exeter Salt and the Wriothesley Garter Book. With the help of historians, academics and Royal Collection curators, Gompertz selects choice items to find out what secrets they reveal about the art of monarchy.

The Art Of Monarchy

Kathryn Tempest

The Essay is a BBC Radio series exploring cultural topics. In these five episodes, I Confess: The Power of the Confession looks at the history of confessions, which links the legal world of Cicero to our own. In Episode one, Dr Kathryn Tempest of Roehampton University excavates the roots of one of the most powerful legal concepts of all time. Episode Two sees Professor John Arnold of Birkbeck College, University of London, taking us into the mental world of the inquisitions. In Episode Three, witchcraft scholar Dr Emma Wilby of Exeter University investigates the confessions of 17th-century peasant woman, Isobel Gowdie, who was accused of witchcraft - and meets Isobel herself, through her own words read by actress Gerda Stevenson. Episode Four finds Dr Iain Lauchlan of Edinburgh University exploring the Moscow show trials of 1938, and in the last episode, journalist and writer Andrew Brown considers the modern public role of confession.

I Confess

The Power Of Confession

Melvyn Bragg

Broadcaster and arts presenter Melvyn Bragg fronts 'The Written World', a five-part BBC Radio 4 series following the origins of writing from its first appearance 6,000 years ago and exploring how it has shaped the world's intellectual history.  In the first programme he looks at the technology of writing, and how making signs on clay, wood or parchment enabled the development of human culture. The second programme sees Bragg considering the impact of the invention of the book and examining one of the earliest surviving examples. The third programme examines the role of writing in the spread of religions and the fourth programme looks at how the invention of writing made it possible to record history, and how oral poetry traditions were transformed into the new medium of literature. Bragg concludes his survey of the written word by considering how the invention of writing made the scientific revolution of the Englightenment possible.

In Our Time

The Written World

Dr David Musgrove

To accompany the August 2011 issue of BBC History Magazine, expert historians discuss the life and reigns of the five Tudor monarchs with BBC History Magazine editor Dr David Musgrove. 
 
Dr Steven Gunn, of Oxford University, discusses Henry VII. Professor George Bernard, of Southampton University, introduces us to Henry VIII. Reading University’s Professor Ralph Houlbrooke talks about Edward VI. Dr Anna Whitelock of Royal Holloway University of London invites us to reconsider Mary I. Oxford University’s Dr Susan Doran reviews the reign of Elizabeth I.

The Tudors (BBC History Magazine)

Jonathan Bardon

From The Ice Age to Northern Ireland's Peace Settlement and everything in between, the acclaimed academic Dr Jonathan Bardon presents a history of Ireland spanning 10,000 years. 
 
Beginning with the Ice Age and Ireland's first plants and wildlife, this history encompasses the arrival of Christianity, the age of the Celts, the Viking era, Brian Boru, the Norman invasion, the plantation and the famine through to rebellion, partition and the creation of the Irish Free State. 
 
Recorded to mark BBC Radio Ulster's 30th birthday, this landmark series gets behind the historical headlines to produce a marvellous mosaic of Ireland's rich and turbulent history, delivered with clarity and narrative skill. 
Each programme was read by local actors Frances Tomelty, James Greene and Richard Dormer, who interweave eye-witness accounts, letters and diary extracts from the times with the historical facts.

A Short History Of Ireland

Hugh Cunningham

Written by Hugh Cunningham and presented by award-winning children's author Michael Morpurgo, this genuinely ground-breaking history of British childhood teaches us about the key elements that have shaped children's lives. The Invention of Childhood explores how gender, geography and ethnicity has impacted the development of children throughout the ages. Beginning from the year 1000, Cunningham studies the many important events in history for our children, ranging from Britain's earliest child-care guru in the Middle Ages to the first ever Foundling Hospital in the 18th Century. This hugely enjoyable piece of teaching that delves into the idea of how childhood has been constantly reinvented through the centuries, and why the role of children in society continues to obsess us today. 
 
Fascinating and thought-provoking, it will appeal to parents, grandparents and anyone who has ever been a child themselves.

The Invention Of Childhood

Simon Schama

Timothy West reads the second volume of Simon Schama’s compelling chronicle of the British Isles. The British wars began on the morning of 23 July 1637, heralding two hundred years of battles waged within and away from our isles. Most would be driven by religious or political conviction, as Republicans and Royalists, Catholics and Protestants, Tories and Whigs, and colonialists and natives vied for supremacy. Of those battles not fought on home territory, a great number took place across Europe, America, India and also at sea. Schama’s examination of this turbulent period reveals how the British people eventually united in imperial enterprise, forming what he calls ‘Britannia Incorporated’. The story of that change evokes the memory of such enduringly influential people as Oliver Cromwell, as well as lesser known but equally extraordinary individuals. A story of revolution and reaction, progress and catastrophe, this is a vivid account of two centuries which changed Britain.

A History Of Britain

Volume 2 - The British Wars 1603-1776

Volume 3 - The Fate of Empire 1776-2000

Volume 1: At The Edge Of The World? 3000BC - AD 1603

Misha Glenny

More series of Misha Glenny’s BBC Radio 4 show about the borders, the stories and the people of countries worldwide 
 
Former BBC Central European correspondent Misha Glenny investigates the borders, the histories and the people that make different nations what they are today. 
 
Aided by a wealth of expert contributors, he discovers the geographical quirks, Game of Thrones-style battles and history-changing personalities that have defined each nation - busting some persistent myths and stereotypes along the way. 
 
'Every series is a revelation' Daily Telegraph 
'One of the jewels in the BBC radio crown' Radio Times 
 
This collection takes a deep dive into Scandinavia, Bangladesh, Poland, Russia, Turkey, China, Taiwan, Hugary and more.

How to Invent a Country: A Second Collection

Ten More Nations and the Histories that Made Them

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

Aidan Waits

Air Ministry Survival Guide

Alan Partridge on the BBC

Aldrin Adams Adventure

Alec Devlin

Alex Craft

Alex Cross

Alex Delaware

Alex vs Axel

Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar

Alfie

biblio.categories.code

biblio.publicationStatus

biblio.brand

biblio.workEditions.format

biblio.ageRange

biblio.series.seriesName

biblio.imprint.description

biblio.type

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

Search Results

East of Eden

Little Black Classics Box Set

Jane Austen: The Complete Works

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Boxed Set: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov

Uncategorized

Thank you for requesting a proof copy of The Keeper by Tana French!

Thank you for requesting a hardback proof of The Murder at World’s End by Ross Montgomery!

Gifts based on their favourite classic book

Features

Jolabokaflod: the Icelandic Christmas reading tradition you need to know about

A Christmas Carol Penguin illustration 2019

The greatest film adaptations of 'A Christmas Carol'

A line drawing of a notebook with a pencil

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter