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.J. Cronin

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

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Winston Churchill

'The most persuasive and patriotic exhortations to arms since the Agincourt address from Henry V.' - The Guardian. 
 
 
Sir Winston Churchill steered Britain through its darkest hours during World War II. He was one of the 20th century's greatest orators and the speeches that he painstakingly composed, rehearsed and delivered inspired courage in an entire nation. Churchill's output was prolific - his complete speeches alone contain more than 5 million words. On this special recording, the best and most important of those have been brought together in this historic volume. 
 
 
Winston Churchill oversaw some of the most significant events the world has ever seen and he was the most eloquent and expressive statesman of his age. These speeches help reveal the man behind the defiant orator and demonstrate why, in a national poll, Churchill was voted 'Greatest Briton of All Time'. Many of his speeches were recorded after their original delivery because the Houses of Parliament did not have the facility to record live speeches at the time; fortunately, most were committed to tape later and we can today still hear the power of Churchill's oratory. 
 
 
 
Bringing together digitally remastered archive recordings of Winston Churchill with readings by his grandson in the few cases where we can't hear from the great man himself, this collection of speeches includes: 
 
 'Blood, toil, tears and sweat' 
 'Give us the tools' 
 'We can take it!' 
 'A total and unmitigated defeat' 
 'The Few' 
 'This was their finest hour' 
 'An Iron Curtain has descended' 
 'Never give in!' 
 'Sinking of the Graf Spee' 
 'Fall of Singapore' 
 'Review of the war' 
 'Battle of the Atlantic' 
 'Victory in North Africa' 
 'Tribute to George VI' 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Winston Churchill's Greatest Speeches

A BBC Collection

Audrey Gillan

Dan Maudsley

Audrey Gillan revisits her time on the ground with the British Army in Iraq, and the infamous friendly fire incident that killed Matty Hull 
 
'A remarkable listen: detailed, unflinching and revealing about the ripple effects of a wholly avoidable tragedy'Financial Times 
 
Award-winning journalist Audrey Gillan was embedded with British troops during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. She was on the ground with the Household Cavalry's D Squadron when American pilots, firing at what they believed to be the enemy, injured four of its soldiers and killed one: 25-year-old Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull. 
 
Realising their mistake moments later, one pilot is heard muttering to the other 'we're in jail, dude'. But although a 2007 inquest condemned Matty's killing as unlawful and criminal, they were never prosecuted or punished for their actions, nor have they ever offered any apology. Now, years later, Audrey Gillan has joined forces with producer Dan Maudsley to investigate the notorious incident and its aftershocks, and tell the story of D Squadron's war in her own voice and through the eyes of the men she lived alongside. 
 
From interviews with soldiers, fellow reporters, military doctors and relatives, to in-depth analysis of the US pilots' cockpit recordings, this compelling series, shortlisted for Radio/Podcast of the Year by the Foreign Press Association, sheds new and startling light on British soldiers' experiences during the Iraq invasion and the terrifying, tragic 'blue-on-blue' attack that changed their lives forever. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and descriptions of war that some listeners may find upsetting. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, details of organisations offering information and support can be found on the BBC Action Line website. 
 
Production credits 
Written and recorded by Dan Maudsley and Audrey Gillan 
Edited by Dan Maudsley 
Sound design by Rory Auskerry 
Executive producer: Shelley Jofre 
Title music: 'Ma Wefet' by UTN1 
Image: D8. Studio 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5live, 13 May-10 August 2020 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

On The Ground

The true story of young soldiers' lives forever changed by 'friendly fire' in Iraq.

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg explores the pivotal role of England's north in defining modern Britain, and its enduring effect on every part of the globe 
 
'It's impossible not to admire the thrust and sweep of this series' The Telegraph 
 
In this captivating 10-part series, Melvyn Bragg brings all his enthusiasm, experience and expertise to a subject that has enthralled him his entire life: the importance of the North in shaping the United Kingdom. Joined by special guests including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Michael Parkinson, Joan Bakewell, David Hockney, Maxine Peake, Simon Armitage and Sir Geoffrey Boycott, he charts the ebb and flow of Northern power and influence, examining how one smallish geographical region came to have such an enormous effect on our culture worldwide: from science and philosophy to music and sport. 
 
Beginning his story from the top of Hadrian's Wall, Bragg looks at the fall of Rome and the rise of Northumbria, and considers the glorious Northumbrian Renaissance - and the mark left on the North by invading Vikings and Normans. He looks at the turbulent years of rebellion that swept the area and the idea of 'northern speech', and tells of his love for the Northern landscape that inspired Wordsworth, Coleridge, the Brontës and Turner. 
 
Bragg also celebrates the North as the heartland of the Industrial Revolution, and sings the praises of Manchester, the first city of that revolution. He explains how many radical movements had their genesis in the North: from Chartism and the suffragettes to the birth of the Labour Party. Bringing us right up to date, he looks at some great 20th Century cultural icons, such as the Beatles and Coronation Street. Finally, he reflects on 'Northern power', asking what being and sounding Northern means and questioning what the future holds for the North in the wake of the EU referendum. 
 
Also included In Our Time: Hadrian's Wall, in which Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this famous archaeological monument, and the two-part series North and South: Across the Great Divide, which finds Ian Marchant travelling along England's North/South divide to ask what it really means - and see if it is shifting. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg. Produced by Faith Lawrence 
 
With guests including: Simon Armitage, Syima Aslam, Prof Simon Bainbridge, Dame Joan Bakewell, Maria Balshaw, Prof Hannah Barker, Dr Sarah Bastow, Chris Bonington, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Sir Geoffrey Boycott, Claire Breay, Prof Michelle Brown, Revd Canon Rosalind Brown, Prof Sally Bushell, Prof Robert Colls, Julian Cooper, Ed Cox, Prof Katy Cubitt, Judith Cummins MP, Dame Judi Dench, Prof Richard Gameson, Toby Gordon, Lee Hall, Prof Ian Haynes, Susan Harrison, Prof Nick Higham, David Hockney, Prof Richard Horrocks, Howard Hull, Prof Judith Jesch, Dr Chris Jones, Dr Katy Layton-Jones, Dr Jill Liddington, Bill Lloyd, Natalie McCaul, Jimmy McGovern, Ian McMillan, Dr Katrina Navickas, Sir Michael Parkinson, Maxine Peake, Dr Robert Poole, Irna Qureshi, Canon Apiarist Adrian Rhodes, Lee Rigg, Jonnie Robinson, Prof Dave Russell, Jonathan Schofield, Rommi Smith, Prof Keith Stringer, Dr James Sumner, Dr Matthew Townend, Jenny Uglow, Matthew Watson, Prof Andy Wood 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 29 August-9 September 2016 
 
In Our Time: Hadrian's Wall 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Victoria Brignell 
With Greg Woolf, David Breeze and Lindsay Allason-Jones. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 July 2012 
 
North and South: Across the Great Divide 
Presented by Ian Marchant 
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery 
With Sir Michael Darrington, Prof Danny Dorling, Rachel North, Dominic Watt, Prof David Morley, John Langton. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21-28 March 2012 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Matter of the North

How the north of England shaped modern Britain

Chloe Hadjimatheou

Helena Merriman

Carrie Grace

Three dramatic true stories, this is investigative journalism at its very best. 
 
'Slick, efficient and professional... hugely engaging' The Spectator (on Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel) 
'Thrilling... a really great listen'The Guardian (on Tunnel 29) 
'Brilliantly produced' The Observer (on Mayday) 
 
In these three gripping series, prominent journalists investigate fascinating human stories, shining a light on history and politics and deepening our understanding of the word we live in. 
 
Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel tells a shocking tale of sex, death and power, as Carrie Gracie delves into the mysterious murder that led to the toppling of charismatic Chinese politician, Bo Xilai, and the rise of his greatest rival, President Xi Jinping. The story of the killing of British businessman and fixer Neil Heywood in Chongqing in 2011 is one the authorities do not want told. Gracie was warned off making this programme, her phones were tapped and her emails hacked. But she would not be silenced. Here, she uncovers a tragedy 'with no heroes but only villains and victims', and takes us into the dark heart of Chinese politics. 
 
In Tunnel 29, Helena Merriman recounts the incredible story of Joachim Rudolph, who, in the early 1960s, joined a group digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall, and helped smuggle out 29 people. It's a story of the young people who risked everything, the spy who betrayed them, and the terrible price paid by those who were caught - and of the love that developed between the refugees who found freedom. Based on interviews with the tunnellers, thousands of documents from Stasi archives, and recordings from the tunnel, it is an astonishing tale of one of the most daring escape attempts of the 20th Century. 
 
Mayday investigates the extraordinary case of James Le Mesurier, an ex-British army officer found dead in an Istanbul street in 2019. The co-founder of the White Helmets - a civil defence force who pull survivors from bombed-out buildings in Syria - he was a hero to many, awarded an OBE for his efforts. But he also attracted deep suspicion, and accusations of being a spy, faking rescue videos - and involvement in appalling atrocities... Talking to Le Mesurier's widow, friends and colleagues, Chloe Hadjimatheou attempts to discover who he really was and how he died, and unravel a tangle of truth and lies. Also featured is a special extended version of The Canister on the Bed, exploring the events of the Douma massacre. In addition, bonus programme Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers reveals how a Western-funded NGO, responsible for extracting over a million documents from Syria allegedly containing evidence of torture and genocide, is now fighting a disinformation war. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and scenes which some listeners might find upsetting 
 
Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel 
Presented by Carrie Gracie 
Produced by Maria Byrne and Neal Razzell 
Sound mix by James Beard 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13-17 March 2017 
 
Tunnel 29 
Written, presented and produced by Helena Merriman 
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck 
Editor: Richard Knight 
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt 
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 21 October-1 November 2019 
 
Mayday 
Produced, written and presented by Chloe Hadjimatheou 
Editor: Emma Rippon 
Researcher: Tom Wright 
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman 
Sound design and mix: Neil Churchill 
Additional mixing Graham Pudifoot 
Editing assistance: Robbie Wojciechowski 
Arabic translation and additional research: Vanessa Bowles and Abdul Kader Habak 
Turkish researcher: Nevin Sungur 
Narrative Consultant: John Yorke 
Original music: Nick Mundy and Bu Kolthoum 
End track: Zamilou by Bu Kolthoum 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 9-20 November 2020 
 
Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers 
Produced, written and presented by Chloe Hadjimatheou 
Editor: Emma Rippon 
Researchers: Orla O'Brien and Lara Al Gibaly 
Executive producer Maggie Latham 
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman 
Sound design and mix: Neil Churchill 
Commissioner for Radio 4: Richard Knight 
Prof Paul McKeigue and Ivan played by Mark Fleischman 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 7 April 2021 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Intrigue: 3 explosive true stories

Tunnel 29, Mayday & Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel

New Generation Thinkers

The most exciting emerging thinkers of our age present their ideas 
 
Since 2010, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC have joined forces to find the best and brightest academic minds whose cutting-edge research deserves to be shared with a wider audience. Each year, 10 pioneering scholars are selected as New Generation Thinkers, and given the unique opportunity to bring their groundbreaking work to life on radio. New Generation Thinkers have explored the arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, and continue to share ideas, bring people into their world, and expand horizons everywhere. 
 
To mark ten years of this incredible scheme, this collection brings together the 100 winners from the past decade. Many have gone on to become prominent public figures, and all have fascinating insights to share. Charlotte Blease questions the relationship between doctors and patients; Sarah Dillon explores roles for women in science fiction and whether the genre is sexist; Anindya Raychaudhuri discusses the 1947 Partition of India and how it is remembered; Edmund Richardson tells the story of Alexander the Great's lost city; and Ben Anderson explains how trespassers in the early 20th Century helped create new attitudes to nature by going off-piste. 
 
With topics ranging from a pirate's cookbook to prison breaks, from shaving to Shakespeare and from Berlin techno music to the Glasgow rag trade, these intriguing radio essays will inform, provoke, stimulate and surprise. 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
 
If you'd like to learn more about New Generation Thinkers, visit the Arts and Humanities Research Council website at ahrc.ukri.org

Instant Expert

100 of the best ideas from New Generation Thinkers

Mobeen Azhar

In 1989, the literary world was rocked by an unprecedented event: Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Revolutionary Iran, issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses. 
 
Rushdie's book was considered by many Muslims to be blasphemy for its depiction of Mohammed, and Khomeini had just ordered Rushdie's death. The book was banned in several countries and led to attacks against those involved in its publication. Hanif Kureishi called the fatwa "one of the most significant events in postwar literary history". 
 
In Fatwa, Chloe Hadjimatheou and Mobeen Azhar tell the hidden story of the fatwa - the forces which led to the death sentence and the consequences for all of us. Covers a 20-year period from 1979 to 1999, they speak to extraordinary voices from often overlooked British communities to explore race relations in Britain, identity, free speech and the connection between the fatwa and contemporary violent jihad. 
 
Also included is an interview with Salman Rushdie three years after the fatwa, Life after The Satanic Verses, in which the author talks about his life and work with Christopher Bigsby. Finally in The Book Burners: Salman Rushdie, Mike Wooldridge hears from Muslims who protested against The Satanic Verses twenty years after the fatwa - what do they think it achieved? 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Book Burners

Salman Rushdie, the fatwa, and the consequences for us all

Mike Thompson

The BBC Radio 4 historical series that uses documentary evidence to shed new light on the past 
 
In this Sony Award-winning investigative history series, BBC international correspondent Mike Thomson and guest presenters pore over private papers, public records and primary sources, uncovering the hidden truth about historical events. 
 
As they follow the documentary trail, they talk to key participants, contemporary commentators and academic experts, and explore shocking stories of cover-ups, covert operations and collusion. Here are the extraordinary tales of the 1956 French offer to merge the UK and France; the Wall Street plot to overthrow Franklin D Roosevelt; and the journalist's notebook that came perilously close to revealing one of Britain's greatest Cold War secrets. 
 
Plus, Gordon Corera travels to Stockholm to investigate the assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, David Loyn investigates how a lost document is helping Afghanistan come to terms with its painful past, Heather Jones asks why an intelligence warning given seven weeks before Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland was ignored, and Sanchia Berg traces the career of an MI5 agent left out in the cold... 
 
From the clandestine Nazi radio station in Scotland to an MI6 chief's secret slush fund, the diaries of a Chinese ambassador to the Soviet Union and the CIA's attempts to subvert Albania, Documents That Changed The World will challenge your assumptions and make you question everything you thought you knew about history. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Mike Thomson, Jeremy Duns, Nick Rankin, Sarah Richardson, Gordon Corera, David Loyn, Heather Jones, Sanchia Berg, Dominic Streatfeild, Anne McElvoy, Dr Yee Wah Foo, Robert Bickers, Arne Westad, Jonny Foo, Andy Cheung, Jo Fox 
Produced by Tom Alban, Kate Borde, Mark Burman, Marya Burgess, James Cook, Isobel Eaton, Neil George, Patrick Gregory, Laurence Grissell, Roger Hermiston, Julia Johnson, Robert Ketteridge, Hannah Loy, Neil McCarthy, Paula McGinley, John Murphy, Sarah Shebbeare, Phil Tinline 
Executive producer: Philip Sellars 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 5 September 2005-4 December 2017

Documents That Changed The World

A BBC Radio 4 History

From Neil MacGregor, the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects, this is a view of Germany like no other 
 
For the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental Europe. Thirty years ago a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people now understand themselves? 
 
Neil MacGregor argues that uniquely for any European country, no coherent, over-arching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. Its frontiers have constantly floated. Königsberg, home to the greatest German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is now Kaliningrad, Russia; Strasbourg, in whose cathedral Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's greatest writer, discovered the distinctiveness of his country's art and history, now lies within the borders of France. For most of the last five hundred years Germany has been composed of many separate political units, each with a distinct history. And any comfortable national story Germans might have told themselves before 1914 was destroyed by the events of the following thirty years. 
 
German history may be inherently fragmented, but it contains a large number of widely shared memories, awarenesses and experiences; examining some of these is the purpose of this book. Beginning with the fifteenth-century invention of modern printing by Gutenberg, MacGregor chooses objects and ideas, people and places which still resonate in the new Germany - porcelain from Dresden and rubble from its ruins, Bauhaus design and the German sausage, the crown of Charlemagne and the gates of Buchenwald - to show us something of its collective imagination. There has never been a book about Germany quite like it. 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Germany: Memories of a Nation

Eric Appleby

Phyllis Kelly

A landmark drama series telling the compelling real-life WW1 love story of English soldier Eric Appleby and his Irish sweetheart Phyllis Kelly 
 
Eric Appleby was an engineering student from Liverpool, who joined the Royal Field Artillery when war began in 1914. Posted to Athlone, he met and fell in love with solicitor's daughter Phyllis Kelly at a dance. Their romance was interrupted when he was sent to fight in the trenches on the Western Front, but they kept their love alive through a series of wonderfully crafted letters. 
 
This radio series charts their extraordinary correspondence, including over 200 letters, field service postcards and telegrams in which Eric describes his experiences from the time he left Athlone in March 1915 until the tail-end of the Somme offensive in October 1916. Discovered on a top shelf in Belfast's Linen Hall Library by producer Ian Dougan, the letters reveal a touching, unique and bittersweet story. 
 
From memories of their courting days of dances and boat trips, to quarrels, jealousy and the pain of being apart, Eric pours out his deepest feelings of love and loneliness to Phyllis. And as the casualties mount around him, he confides to her the horrors he has witnessed, painting a vivid, shocking picture of the stress and terror of life at the Front. In each letter, the voices of Eric and Phyllis interweave, as if in an intimate conversation, as they reach out across the miles that separate them. 
 
Read by Ruairí Tohill and Roisin Gallagher, and featuring music and sound effects that bring the story to life, this remarkable, moving series will touch your heart. Also included is a 30-minute documentary, Introducing Love Letters from the Front, in which the actors discuss the challenges of performing the letters (they never met during the recording, so that their two perspectives could be kept separate). Plus, presenter Maggie Cronin talks to Phyllis Kelly's relatives, Tom and Patrick, about who Eric and Phyllis really were; and discusses the remarkable context in which their memorable words were written. 
 
 
Read by Ruairí Tohill and Roisin Gallagher 
Produced by Ian Dougan 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster &amp; BBC Radio Foyle, 21 April-28 October 2016 
 
Introduction to Love Letters from the Front 
Presented by Maggie Cronin 
With Ruairí Tohill, Roisin Gallagher, Tom Kelly and Patrick Kelly 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster &amp; BBC Radio Foyle, 17 April 2016 
 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Love Letters from the Front

A BBC Radio dramatisation of a true love story

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee's highly-acclaimed and award-winning BBC Radio 4 history of the British Empire. 
 
Britain had the biggest empire the world has ever known. At one time a quarter of the global land mass was British. Over a third of the world was insured at Lloyds. At his coronation, more than 400 million people saluted George V. Truly, the sun never set on this historical phenomenon. Whatever the day, whatever the hour, somewhere on the globe, the empire worked and played the British game, often absurdly so. 
 
BBC Radio 4's monumental history of Britain tells the story of the British Empire from its earliest beginnings through the years when British influence grew steadily around the globe, years when Britain took full advantage of the technical advances of its industrial revolution. 
 
Here are the origins of the modern nations of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and of the ways in which British influence has affected, for better or for worse, nations such as India, Sri Lanka, and China. Here are the stories, not always happy and glorious, of Captain James Cook, Mungo Park, Warren Hastings, Sir Stamford Raffles, and David Livingstone. 
 
The story of the British Empire is one of enormous personalities, adventure, scientific and maritime development, and the building of one of the most complex international administrations the world has ever seen. 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

This Sceptred Isle: Empire

The Classic BBC Radio History

Alistair Cooke

This selection contains eight of Alistair Cooke's Christmas and New Year Letters from America, broadcast in December and January over the five decades of his career and covering a range of festive topics from the light-hearted to the sombre. 
 
Starting with his December 2001 Letter - broadcast in the wake of 9/11 - he remembers introducing Leonard Bernstein to Handel's 'Messiah', muses on the creation of A Christmas Carol and shares his memories of two friends who died in 1977, Groucho Marx and Bing Crosby. 
 
Here, too, are Cooke's reflections on Christmas in Vermont, the early days of television in the USA, cigarette advertising and sport, the Millennium Bug and the Nixon family's first days in the White House. The Letters are introduced and linked by the BBC's Justin Webb, who sets them in their historical context and adds his own observations. 
 
'Cooke's debonaire, transatlantic tones are unmistakable...' - FT Magazine.

Letters From America: Seasonal Letters

Alistair Cooke was a radio legend, entertaining millions of listeners for over fifty years in his weekly Letter from America. It was the longest-running one-man series in radio history, and every show was a virtuoso performance. Wise and witty, informed yet informal, Cooke was the doyen of foreign correspondents. 
 
To correspond with the 2008 election, and the centenary of Alistair Cooke's birth, here are five Letters about previous presidents and their elections over the past sixty years, in which Cooke - one of the world's most famous letter writers and radio's greatest observer - reflects on American life and politics. 
 
Starting with Truman's surprise victory in 1948 and concluding with another surprise win, that of George W. Bush in 2000 - he comments on opinion polls, democracy, the difference between Democrats and Republicans, Bill Clinton's fashion sense and what Clinton's symbolic rejection of 'the blue blazer' meant to the American political system. In each Letter, his unique style of expression and analysis shines through. 
 
The Letters are introduced by the BBC's North America editor, Justin Webb, who sets them in their historical context and reflects on what has changed since Cooke's original broadcasts and what has not. 
 
'Cooke's debonaire, transatlantic tones are unmistakable...' - FT Magazine.

Letters From America: The Elections

Sean Bean

The Second World War ended over 75 years ago, and the number of men and women who lived through it is rapidly dwindling. But its legacy casts a long shadow, and the memories of those who experienced the conflict left both powerful stories and often a complex inheritance behind for their children and grandchildren. 
 
In this series, Sean Bean investigates how the trauma of profound wartime experiences - whether spoken or unspoken - can be transferred down through subsequent generations. For although physical wounds may heal, emotional wounds can remain to inform family dynamics for good or ill. 
 
From prisoners of war and hero soldiers to infamous traitors and long-lost relatives, Sean meets 10 families who have been forever changed by World War II. He talks to Gethin Jones, whose father was a conscientious objector; Anne Godden and Barbara Sherman, daughters of returning soldiers whose marriages broke down; Tom Boden, who lived through the bombing of Liverpool and was evacuated twice; Ingrid Von Oelhafen, who discovered she was the victim of the Nazi's 'Lebensborn' programme in which children were stolen from their parents; and Stella Collis, daughter of a German POW who was interred at Wormwood Scrubs. 
 
We also hear the moving story of Barclay Patoir, who came to Britain from Guyana and survived war and prejudice to marry and raise a family; the extraordinary experiences of Kurt Marx, a Kindertransport refugee, and his wife Ingrid, who lived through Auschwitz; and the children of Nazi sympathiser John Beckett talk about their complicated, conflicted legacy. Shafquat Towheed reflects on the ways that his father's experience of the Bengal Famine stayed with him throughout his life - and the ways in which it is remembered. And in a fascinating voyage of discovery, Niki MacCarthy journeys to Nagasaki to find out about her father Aidan's life-saving medical work, and uncover the truth behind a very special family heirloom. 
 
©2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2014 BBC Worldwide Ltd 
Presented by Sean Bean 
Produced by Martin Williams, Kate Bissell and Mark Rickards 
 
Featuring: Gethin and Adam Russell-Jones; Betty and Max Paschal; Kurt, Michael and Johanna Marx; Anne Godden and Barbara Sherman; Clare Beckett-Wrighton and Francis Beckett; Juliet Weller; Shafquat Towheed, Niki and Adrienne MacCarthy; Tom Boden, Dawn Hann, Evie Thame and Michael Thame; Ingrid Von Oelhafen 
 
With thanks to: Michael Newman of the Association of Jewish Refugees, Diya Gupta and Brian Hann 
 
For more information about Kurt Marx's wartime experiences, please see Refugee Voices, a project of the AJR: https://www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/ 
 
And for more information about the legacy of such experiences please visit the Second Generation Network and the Holocaust Memorial Trust: https://secondgeneration.org.uk/ and https://www.het.org.uk/ 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13 May-10 August 2020

Legacy of War

A BBC World War 2 History

Susan Morrison

Comedian Susan Morrison zips through the centuries to explore Scottish history in this brilliant BBC radio series 
 
Glaswegian comedian and history enthusiast Susan Morrison mines the rich, sometimes murky, depths of Scotland's past. Aided by a host of 'history detectives', the amazing stories she uncovers are sometimes dark, sometimes funny - but always fascinating. 
 
From Black Flag pirates to WW2 spies, from jousting knights to accused witches, and from princess nuns to lion-taming ancestors, Susan examines the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. Mary Queen of Scots and King Robert Bruce rub shoulders with medieval heresy hunters and male prostitutes, Highland bandits mingle with heroic nurses, and a revolutionary football player shares the spotlight with a ghost-busting minister in these 40 enthralling episodes. 
 
We meet a female slave owner, a dashing privateer, a First World War poet and a family planning pioneer; visit a Pictish monastery, a Goth pub and the lost village of Lassodie; find out about some of the bloodiest, most destructive campaigns on Scottish soil - the 16th Century wars of the 'Rough Wooing' - and dig deep into the intriguing world of Victorian true crime, and the grisly world of 18th Century dissection... 
 
Plus, there's a wealth of special shows themed around topics including Halloween, the Diaspora Tapestry, Suffragettes, the Scottish Women's Institute and World War One. 
 
Bin your Outlander box set and wave bye-bye to Braveheart - this is Scotland like you've never seen it before. 
 
©2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd 
Presented by Susan Morrison 
Resident historian and producer: Dr Louise Yeoman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, 16 May 2017- 6 December 2018.

Time Travels in Scotland

A BBC History

All five volumes from the landmark BBC radio series This Sceptred Isle: The Twentieth Century 
 
Christopher Lee's vivid, compelling history tells the story of Britain from the death of Queen Victoria to the dawning of a new millennium. This collection includes the original volumes 1-5: 
 
1901-1919: The Victorian era comes to an end, Suffragettes demand 'Votes for Women', the Titanic sinks and the Great War casts a long shadow. 
 
1919-1939: Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour PM, millions of workers take industrial action during the General Strike, Wall Street crashes and Hitler rises to power. 
 
1939-1959: The horrors of the Second World War and the onset of the Cold War, Indian independence, the founding of the NHS, the beginning of a new Elizabethan age and the Space Race. 
 
1959-1979: War in Vietnam, Profumo causes a scandal, the Beatles generate worldwide hysteria, Britain joins Europe and Thatcherism is born. 
 
1979-1999: The nation celebrates a fairytale royal wedding, Argentine troops invade the Falklands, disaster strikes at Chernobyl, the Berlin Wall falls - and as the year 2000 approaches, construction begins on London's Millennium Dome. 
 
Narrated by Anna Massey, with additional readings by Robert Powell, this is the definitive radio account of one of the most exciting and fast-moving periods in the history of the United Kingdom. 
 
 
NB: Due to the age of these recordings, sound quality may vary 
 
 
Production credits 
Written by Christopher Lee 
Narrated by Anna Massey, with additional readings by Robert Powell 
Produced by Pete Atkin 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 August-31 December 1999

This Sceptred Isle: Collection 3: The 20th Century

Laurence Grissell

From Hollywood to Silicon Valley, California wants to dazzle you with its sunshine and its vision of the future - but that's just a mirage. I know the whole, sordid truth. 
 
Hello. I'm Stanley Tucci. I'll be playing a hard-boiled screenwriter - you know the type: he's met 'em all, he's gotten drunk with 'em all. My screenplays will tell the stories of ten men and women who built modern California, warts and all. I'll show you where all the bodies are buried. 
 
I'll tell the story of the very first movie-maker, shot dead on his studio lot; and the men who lied and lied and lied again to bring water to L.A. Without the water, there would be no L.A. We'll also hear the story of the revivalist preacher who was as big as Chaplin before she disappeared without a trace; and the man who brought silicon to Silicon Valley, right before he became a white supremacist. That's the Valley's dirty little secret. We'll tell the story of the original gangster rapper Ice-T, the man behind 'Cop Killer'; and we'll finish off with California's longest-serving governor, Jerry Brown - the man they called 'Governor Moonbeam'. 
 
The Californian Century is the dramatic story of the west coast: if you make it here, you're on top of the world. If you don't, there's a long, long way to fall. And you never know when your luck's about to run out. 
 
It's a story littered with dead bodies, disaster and duplicity. It'll be one hell of a ride. 
 
Come with me, and bring your shades. 
 
 
Written and produced by Laurence Grissell

The Californian Century

Stanley Tucci tells the dramatic story of modern California

All ten episodes of BBC Radio 4’s ambitious global series, presented by Neil MacGregor 
 
‘Insightful, provocative, satisfying’ Telegraph 
 
With the United Kingdom on the brink of potentially momentous change, historian and broadcaster Neil MacGregor embarks on a worldwide voyage to discover how Britain is perceived from abroad. 
 
Visiting Germany, Egypt, Nigeria, Canada, India, Singapore, the United States, Spain, Australia and Poland – all countries with significant historical links to the UK – he talks to leading opinion formers to find out how they, as individuals and members of their wider communities, see Britain. 
 
His interviewees reveal what they learnt about Britain at school, and how key events and cultural influences, as well as their own personal experiences, have shaped their impressions of the country now. Each has a defining image that symbolises the UK to them: from Shakespeare to Monty Python, the 1966 World Cup, the Suez Crisis, the Financial Times, ‘99’ ice cream and The Crown. 
 
Throughout his travels, MacGregor uncovers tensions and frustrations, admiration and affection – along with an underlying sense of hope and a desire to retain close links with Britain as it prepares to reevaluate its relationship with Europe and the world.

As Others See Us

The BBC Radio 4 series

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

Chris Barker

Bessie Moore

Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey read a love story in letters, played out against the backdrop of the Second World War. 
 
‘Can you feel, as you read these words, that I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the thought that you are in the same world, and by some strange chance loving me.’ 
 
A small blue box opened in 2008 revealed a wartime world of love, longing and frustration. Inside were bundles and bundles of letters written neatly in pen, in pencil, on thin blue airmail paper or headed army notepaper. Envelopes covered in postmarks, redirections, censor’s stamps. A love affair in letters, between two people who barely knew each other, thousands of miles apart, in the middle of a war, with no idea when or whether they will ever see each other again. 
 
On September 5th 1943, Chris Barker, a signalman stationed near Tobruk in North Africa, decided to write to a former work colleague, Bessie Moore, a Morse code interpreter at the Foreign Office back in London. The unexpected warmth of Bessie's reply changed their lives forever. 
 
Chris and Bessie's love letters first appeared in Simon Garfield's book To The Letter. They toured literary festivals as part of Letters Live before being published in a book, My Dear Bessie. 
 
 
Written by Chris Barker and Bessie Moore 
Letters compiled by Simon Garfield 
Adapted by Sara Davies 
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins 
 
Cast: 
Chris - Benedict Cumberbatch 
Bessie - Louise Brealey 
Irena - Jane Slavin

My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters

A BBC Radio 4 adaptation

James Cary

Set during World War Two, Hut 33 follows the adventures of a team of codebreakers at Bletchley Park as they work tirelessly to break German codes, matching wits with the fabled Enigma Machine. Unfortunately, they hate each other. 
 
Archie is a stroppy Geordie socialist revolutionary, while Professor Charles Gardner is a toffee-nosed snob. In theory, the immensely stupid 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall is in charge of the hut, but he is still struggling with even the most basic concepts such as his name. They are joined by child prodigy Gordon, and the silent Winstanley. There’s also Mrs Best, the lascivious landlady, and the hut’s Polish secretary Minka, the only competent member of the team – although her answers to everything usually involve violence. 
 
Starring Tom Goodman-Hill as Archie, Robert Bathurst as Professor Charles Gardner, Alex MacQueen as 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall, Fergus Craig as Gordon, Lill Roughley as Mrs Best, and Olivia Colman as Minka. 
 
Produced by Adam Bromley

Hut 33: The Complete Series 1-3

The hit BBC Radio 4 comedy

Joanna Bourke

Eyewitness accounts from the BBC Archive are at the heart of this unique history of the first half of the 20th Century, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith. 
 
The events of 1900-1949 are described by the people who saw them happen, from the death of Queen Victoria and accession of Edward VII through the First World War, the sinking of the Titanic, the General Strike and the Great Depression, to the Second World War and its aftermath. 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 1900-1949

Voices from the BBC Archive

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

Mark Jones

A unique collection of historic recordings covering the events of 1916, from the final evacuation of Gallipoli to the aftermath of the Somme. These fascinating and often poignant first-hand accounts describe the humiliating retreat by Allied forces from Gallipoli, starvation during the Siege of Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia, the Easter Rising - viewed from both sides of the Irish divide - and the costly battles of Jutland and the Somme. At Jutland, the only full-scale fleet-to-fleet encounter of the war, 6,000 sailors died. Survivors are haunted by memories of their drowning comrades but it is the Somme which arouses the strongest feelings. Soldiers speak bitterly of the carnage and needless sacrifices as men were cut down ‘like sickled grain’. With a final toll of over 600,000 Allied casualties and no decisive breakthrough, the battle marked the point at which hope began to fade. Among the reminiscences, conscientious objectors defend their beliefs, the poets Edmund Blunden and Robert Graves offer their own distinctive observations on life in the trenches and a fusilier on the Western Front recalls meeting his new battalion commander, Lt-Col Winston Churchill. Finally, David Lloyd George, looking back on 1916, remembers a ‘dark and desperate’ time for the country.Duration: 2 hours approx.

First World War: 1916

A unique collection of historic BBC archive recordings documenting the last months of the Second World War, the euphoria of the victory celebrations, and the dawning of a very different world. 
 
In this original compilation of eyewitness accounts, BBC correspondents and official observers describe the contentious fire-bombing of Dresden in February, the liberation of Belsen in April, and the dropping of the atomic bomb in August. 
 
At home the July election produced a shock Labour landslide, putting Churchill out of office. Those close to him, politicians and family, analyse the reasons for his defeat. Its consequences were far-reaching, and led ultimately to the foundation of the Welfare State. 
 
Gradually the country returned to normal life; cricket and football matches were resumed, and cinema audiences increased as people enjoyed more leisure. At the same time, deadlock with the Soviet Union at the Potsdam conference was sowing the seeds of a new kind of conflict: ‘cold’ war. 
 
For demobbed troops and returning POWs there were more immediate problems: the unexpected tensions of ‘coming home’. But at least there was the consolation of the first peace-time Christmas since 1938.

1945 - Year of Victory

A unique collection of historic recordings covering the events of 1915, from the first Zeppelin raids to the ultimate failure at Gallipoli. 
 
In this selection of authentic eyewitness accounts, survivors describe the sinking of the Lusitania; the author Compton McKenzie remembers the Gallipoli disaster; and Violet Bonham Carter pays tribute to Rupert Brooke, who died en route to that campaign. In another poignant memoir, a close colleague recalls the last hours of the British nurse Edith Cavell, executed by the Germans for treason. 
 
Women left at home talk about the hazards they faced taking over men’s jobs, particularly in munitions; but it is the troops speaking informally and candidly who convey the truly harrowing nature of the war. Whether helpless during a poison gas attack, or pinned down on the Gallipoli beaches, their memories are bleak. For one soldier, ordered to take part in a firing squad, there was a further horror: the prospect of shooting a comrade for desertion. 
 
As the stalemate of the trenches continued, hopes for 1916 were focused on a radical new invention: the tank.

First World War: 1915

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

E F Benson

Aubrey Woods

Barbara Jefford is the hilariously outrageous Lucia in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by E.F. Benson. Lucia is the uncrowned queen of 1920s provincial society, the Everest of social climbers and the most delicious of snobs. In the pastoral serenity of the village of Riseholme, Lucia and her unforgettable cronies face up to an Indian guru, spiritualism and a cultural usurper. 
 
E.F. Benson's wickedly witty satires on the rivalries of English middle-class life have elevated Lucia's extravagant exploits to cult comedy status.

Queen Lucia

The BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

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

A unique collection of historic recordings covering events from the last days of peace to the Christmas truce, 1914. 
 
At midnight on 4 August, Britain had declared war on Germany. The pacifist Bertrand Russell was shocked by the pro-war euphoria on the streets, yet young men enlisted willingly because “it would all be over by Christmas”. It was not. Instead the opposing armies had become entrenched. It was the beginning of a long and bitter stalemate. 
 
In this new audio compilation, troops of the British Expeditionary Force vividly recall the exhausting retreat from Mons, the success at the Marne, and the first battle of Ypres, where the Territorials arrived in bright red London buses. For reconnaissance pilots, the battlefield was defined by blazing villages, and fields alive with German troops. 
 
Among the items which powerfully capture the mood of the time are an eyewitness account of the Kaiser’s reaction to the news from Sarajevo on 28 June; Margot Asquith, wife of the Prime Minister, remembering their despair at the inevitability of war; and the poignant reminiscences of civilians and soldiers.

First World War: 1914: Voices From the BBC Archive

Mark Bostridge

Alan Bishop

A selection of the powerful and poignant wartime letters of Vera Brittain and her friends.‘If war spares me,’ wrote Vera Brittain to her brother Edward in 1916, ‘it will be my one aim to immortalise in a book the story of us four.’ Seventeen years later, Vera was to achieve her aim with the acclaimed Testament of Youth. 
 
This series of letters was the inspiration behind Testament. Written between Vera, her brother, her fiancé Roland Leighton and their two best friends Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow, they give a unique perspective on the most horrifying conflict the world has ever seen. 
 
They show the heartbreaking disillusionment of an idealistic public-school generation, raised on ideas of patriotism and duty, as the reality of war emerged. Yet they also give a fascinating insight into the era as a whole: their generation’s literary tastes and the place of women in society. 
 
Read by Amanda Root, Jonathan Firth, Rupert Graves, James Wallace and Robert Portal, and first heard on BBC Radio 4, these deeply moving letters let us hear for ourselves the voices of Vera Brittain’s lost generation.

Letters from a Lost Generation

First World War letters of Vera Brittain and four friends

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.

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