Showing results by narrator "Anton Lesser" in All Categories

Full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the first five Falco novels by Lindsey Davis, starring Anton Lesser as Marcus Didius Falco. The Silver Pigs: One fine day, A.D. 70, Sosia Camillina quite literally runs into Marcus Didius Falco on the steps of the Forum. It seems Sosia is on the run from a...

Abridged edition. Dissolution is the first in the phenomenal Shardlake series by bestselling author, C. J. Sansom. It is 1537, a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066. Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to...

Abridged edition. C. J. Sansom's bestselling adventures of Matthew Shardlake continue in the fourth title of the series, the haunting Revelation. Spring, 1543. King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr, whom he wants for his sixth wife. But this time the object of his affections is resisting...

Abridged edition. Following on from Dissolution and Dark Fire, Sovereign is the third title in C. J. Sansom's bestselling Shardlake series. Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to attend an extravagant submission of his rebellious subjects in York...

BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please is the longest-running broadcast of verse anywhere in the world. First aired in 1979, the programme, a request show which broadcasts to two million listeners a week, has become a unique record of the country's best-loved poems over the decades since its inception. The BBC has looked back through its rich archive of recordings to produce a poll of the most asked-for and most broadcast pieces ever: 50 of those poems are read here by Adjoa Andoh and Anton Lesser.

Here are the greatest and best-loved stories from the Old Testament of the Bible, stories which can be read as much for their human, literary, and historical appeal as for their religious meaning. The selection ranges from childhood favorites like David and Goliath, to key moments in Jewish history (such as Exodus), and also includes some of the finest poetry in the Old Testament (the Song of Solomon, for example).

General interest in Buddhism has never been higher. The story and teachings of a man who lived 2,500 years ago have a special resonance for us today, perhaps because he taught a way of life that was not based on belief in a creator god but rather on personal experience. "Test my words for yourself," he said. But what lies behind those distinctive images of the Buddha, seated with unshakeable poise, with eyes half-closed and a slight smile? Jinananda, a Western-born Buddhist, divides the subject into the Three Jewels....

Perhaps the greatest poem of the Western world, The Iliad tells the story of 50 critical days towards the end of the Trojan war. Achilles has quarrelled with Agamemnon and sulks in his tent, while Hector brings his Trojans to the brink of victory; but fate will have the last word.

In Paradise Regained, Satan again is on the prowl, having successfully tempted Adam and Eve, and forced their departure from the Garden of Eden. Here he sets out to tempt again, this time Jesus himself, as he comes to the end of his 40 days in the desert. The magisterial poetry of Milton enriches the encounter and, while not matching the greatness achieved in Paradise Lost, provides drama and depth.

Angela Carter was one of the most important writers of the 20th century. A pioneer of British magical realism, her work was described by Salman Rushdie as 'without rival and without equal'. Her radical, inventive novels influenced countless writers, while her dark, sensual short fiction turned traditional fables inside out, giving women the power over their desires and fates. Susannah Clapp, Angela Carter's literary executor and friend, introduces the productions and offers fascinating insights into Angela Carter's life and work.

The painter Mario Minniti has travelled to Naples to seek out his old friend and former mentor Caravaggio. But on arrival, the great painter is nowhere to be found. In a bid to find him, Mario retraces Caravaggio's last known movements. His search reveals a life lived dangerously. Starring David...

Hard Times is Dickens's most political novel. Set in the industrial north of England, in Coketown, he examines the lives of working people, who are taught by the capitalists Gradgrind and Bounderby to think only of the facts of life and not to indulge in imagination. Gradgrind’s own children have been so educated and as a result are dysfunctional and disconnected from their feelings. Only the travelling circus company of Sleary seems to offer any hope of humanity in Coketown.

New York Times #1 bestselling author Jeffrey Archer, a master of the short-story form, joins forces with renowned illustrator Paul Cox to re-imagine twenty of his most popular and fêted short stories alongside beautifully rendered watercolor illustrations in The Short, The Long and the Tall...

Cat O'Nine Tales is the fifth collection of irresistible short stories from the master storyteller and bestselling author Jeffrey Archer. Ingeniously plotted, with richly drawn characters and Archer's trademark of deliciously unexpected conclusions, some of these thirteen stories were inspired...

Pepper's fourteenth birthday is a momentous one. It's the day he's supposed to die. Everyone seems resigned to it—even Pepper, although he would much prefer to live. But can you sidestep Fate? Jump sideways into a different life? Naïve and trusting, Pepper sets a course through dangerous...

Remember the wonderfully romantic book of love letters that Carrie reads aloud to Big in the recent blockbuster film, Sex and the City? Fans raced to buy copies of their own, only to find out that the beautiful book didn't actually exist. However, since all of the letters referenced in the film...

Nine full-cast dramatisations of Schnitzler’s sizzling psychological plays and stories, plus a reading of Dream Story The sharp, provocative works of Viennese writer Arthur Schnitzler have been banned for transgressive content, burned by the Nazis, and beloved by fellow writers and artists –...

An audio dramatisation in 6 episodes of With Our Backs To The Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 by David Stevenson, Professor of International History at the LSE.

Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Tamar is Mal Peet's astonishing novel about love, lies and secrets in a time of war. When her grandfather dies, Tamar inherits a box containing a series of clues and coded messages. Out of the past, another Tamar emerges, a man involved in the terrifying world of...

Series 6-10 of the epic BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during the First World War – plus special episode Home Front: A Lightening First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast...