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AudioBookRadio are currently archiving many of the programmes we have broadcast. We know it’s not always convenient to listen at a particular time so we’re aiming for everyone to be able to choose from a selection of programmes when you want to as we are sure this is a choice you’d like to have.
The launch of any feature is usually easier said than done but we are looking to add materials on a weekly basis. If there are particular programmes or themes you’d like to hear again then please let us know.
As the archive builds, themes and pockets of interest will develop so you’ll be able to choose more of what you want to hear when you want to hear it.
There are other materials we plan to include here too. Some are what you might call ‘vintage’ or ‘historical’ or just plain old but we hope they’ll still be of interest. You’ll find them here.
Other programmes might just be too specialised to broadcast. Yes, that sounds like a euphemism for boring but it’s probably because they are odd lengths, too niche, a bit long winded by which we mean ‘slow to the boil’. Sometimes we just can’t get broadcast rights but we can deliver them on a one to one basis by streaming. If everything was logical it wouldn’t be as interesting!
Visit regularly for all the latest titles.
Radio Archive featuring Hollywood Stage, Take Five with Peter James & Kobo interviews with Margaret Atwood & Roddy Doyle
Prunella Scales Dandruff Hits The Turtleneck By John Mayfield. Read by Prunella Scales From the moment pub landlord and keen amateur entomologist, Arnold Matson, arrives in Blinkington-on-the-Treacle to take over his new hostelry, the listener is guided superbly by one of Britain’s best-loved actresses, Prunella Scales, as she introduces local characters and intimately narrates her way through a colourful collection of vignettes and poignant flashbacks that are both comically funny and disturbingly familiar.
Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney was born in April 1939, the eldest member of a family which would eventually contain nine children. Heaney, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, uses all aspects of Irish culture, history, folklore, song, myth, and religion to write poetry that not only describes the Irish experience to the reader, but also allows the reader to feel the experience and emotions of the Irish people. He received a Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1990.
Gore Vidal Gore Vidal is the author of twenty-two novels, five plays, many screenplays, more than two hundred essays, and the critically lauded, Palimpsest: A Memoir. Vidal’s United States (Essays 1952-1992) won the 1993 National Book Award. In its “American Masters” series PBS said “Vidal’s lineage in American literature may be traced back to Henry James, the sophisticated American from the upper echelons of society who mingles with European sophisticates, and Mark Twain, the raw humorist and critic of American empire.”
Noon & 8pm & 4am
PLAYS/DRAMA
MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS by JOHN DRYDEN Part 2
Brought to us by Radio Drama Revival we hear Part 2 Murder, Alliances and Greed of this excellent drama that transposes Charles Dickens’ satire on the corrosive power of money to the hot, hectic streets of modern-day Mumbai, India. In it, the miserly old recluse Martin Chuzzlewit adopts an orphan girl, Mary, to be his caregiver. As she will inherit nothing upon his death, he believes she will do her utmost to keep him in good health. But when Chuzzlewit’s grandson Mickey falls in love with Mary, Martin’s plans are thrown into disarray. Disinheriting him, Martin triggers a complex web of deceit, betrayal and manipulation as the extended family and hangers-on close in, in pursuit of his fortune. This fast-paced drama full of intrigue, romance, suspense and murder is told in three hour-long parts, and you can hear the final part tomorrow or previous parts on Radio Drama Revival introduced by Fred Greenhalgh.
1pm & 9pm & 5am
IN CONVERSATION with MARGARET ATWOOD
Margaret Atwood is an extraordinarily talented writer of poetry, literary criticism, non-fiction and of course novels including The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid’s Tale (1983) and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000.
THE POETRY HOUR Vol 13 featuring Rumi, Ben Jonson & more
Poetry is often cited as our greatest use of words. The English language has well over a million and poets down the ages seem, at times, to make use of every single one. But often they use them in simple ways to describe anything and everything from landscapes to all aspects of the human condition. Poems can evoke within us an individual response that takes us by surprise; that opens our eyes and ears to very personal feelings. Forget the idea of classic poetry being somehow dull and boring and best kept to school textbooks. It still has life, vibrancy and relevance to our lives today. In this hour we’ll be listening Ben Jonson, The Poetry of Hell, Rumi, The Female Poet – Volume 1 and Victorian Poetry Volume 1
All of them are from a dedicated poetry publisher – Portable Poetry who believe that poetry should be a part of our everyday lives, uplifting the soul & reaching the parts that other things can’t. Their range of audiobooks and ebooks cover volumes on some of our greatest poets to anthologies of seasons, months, places and a range of themes. Check them out at https://www.deadtreepublishing.com/ That’s Portable Poetry – poetry that carries you through!
ALTERNATIVE RADIO with RALPH NADER
Here at Audiobook Radio we are keen to provide a range of voices – very literally as well as in terms of opinions and views of the world. This strand created by Alternative Radio does just that. We will hear from some of the most informed minds and greatest social activists of our time whose take on justice and power does not chime with those that hold the power and don’t provide justice for all so we rarely get to hear from them in mainstream media. Different opinions always help inform our own and we are always eager to hear from listeners about this or any other strand. Contact us on the tab at www.audiobookradio.net.
Today’s talk is by Ralph Nader who has spent a lifetime fighting on behalf of ordinary people. He has run for president four times. And Life magazine ranks him as one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century. Founder of Public Citizen, he is a long-time advocate for consumer safety and workers’ rights. He rose to fame in the 1960s when he took on General Motors and its unsafe Corvair car. His book Unsafe at Any Speed not only created a sensation but was instrumental in the enactment of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. His efforts helped create the Environmental Protection Agency. He has exposed the misdeeds of the corporate sector as well as of the political system.
4pm & Midnight & 8am
SHERLOCK HOLMES CLASSICS
GREG WAGLAND superbly narrates The Dancing Men by Arthur Conan Doyle.
5pm & 1am & 9am
SPARK LONDON
The concept is stand out simple. Real people telling real stories. Today’s are A Breakdown on the Motorway by Simon Mason and A Picnic in Paris by Mark Yansen.
A WORD IN YOUR EAR
Word in Your Ear are a Bath based collective of writers who gather to tell their stories. They liked the way our ancestors enjoyed stories – by listening to them. We totally agree with them so let’s have a listen to The Captain by Phillip Douch and Blue Genes by Elaine Miles.
TAKE FIVE WITH ELIF SHAFAK
We asked the same five questions to a range of writers – today ELIF SHAFAK, the award winning novelist, whose most recent book is the mesmerising Honour.
6pm & 2am & 10am
HOLLYWOOD STAGE with Alice Adams
Hollywood is indelibly printed in our minds as a go to place for entertainment and has been for decades. We take you back in time as The Hollywood ringmaster himself, CECIL B DE MILLE interviews DW GRIFFITHS and unveils
Alice Adams featuring CLAUDETTE COLBERT and FRED McMURRAY
7pm & 3am & 11am
SHORT STORIES – LONDON & LEBLANC
THE LAW OF LIFE BY JACK LONDON READ BY WILLIAM DUFRIS
Old Koskoosh was the chief of an Eskimo tribe. Now he is blind and lame, and his tribe is preparing to leave him alone in the snow to face his death as they travel on without him. His son leaves him a pile of sticks to feed the fire beside him. When the fire dies, so will he. As he waits alone for death, he thinks of the time he left his own father in the snow.
THE MYSTERIOUS RAILWAY PASSENGER BY MAURICE LEBLANC. READ BY PATRICK MALAHIDE
French author and journalist, known as the creator of Arsène Lupin, master of disguises, the French gentleman-thief turned detective. Leblanc was a very prolific writer – he published over 60 novels and short stories. His famous hero appeared first time in the crime story ‘L’arrestation d’Arsène Lupin,’ which was written for periodical Je Sais Tout in 1905. Lupin was a forerunner of Simon Templar (The Saint) and other Robin Hoods of modern crime. In this story, a notorious villain dupes the police with his audacity and dexterity