Showing results by author "Hilaire Belloc" in All Categories

Dance with a lobster, telephone an elephant or knock on a moonlit door - this collection includes magical, macabre, dramatic, funny, bizarre, absurd, delightful, moving and charming poems by Lewis Carroll, A.A. Milne, Edward Lear, Hilaire Belloc, Kenneth Grahame and many others. Readers such as Anton Lesser, Simon Russell-Beale and Timothy West bring the lines beautifully to life and make this an ideal introduction to some of the best-loved children's poetry.

Come away from the noise of the present, and walk the old roads once more. The Hilaire Belloc Library presents the complete works of Hilaire Belloc, read aloud in full and unabridged. From stirring histories and spirited essays to travel, poetry, and unforgettable stories, these are books written for those who delight in adventure, faith, laughter, and the enduring inheritance of Europe. Take up the journey, and let Belloc himself be your fellow traveller.

Dive into the compelling exploration of labor conditions in Servile State, where the stark contrast between servile and non-servile work is meticulously examined. This thought-provoking analysis uncovers how legal compulsion imposed on individuals within certain statuses can lead to a form of slavery. When such coercive powers permeate society, it can be said that the very foundation rests on servitude. Join us in discovering the profound implications of this concept and how it redefines our understanding of freedom, authority, and the social contract.

Embark on a journey through the untamed landscapes of wandering and adventure, as suggested by the evocative title. This podcast delves into the lives of those who traverse the open roads, exploring themes of freedom, resilience, and the human spirit's quest for connection and purpose. With an emphasis on the experiences of drifters, travelers, and nomads, listeners are invited to reflect on the myriad stories that unfold along the way. Each episode features a new complete audiobook, offering a rotating collection that captures the essence of life on the move, filled with diverse voices and ...

Immerse yourself in the lyrical richness of "Verses," a podcast that celebrates the art of poetry through a rotating collection of audiobooks. Each episode invites listeners to explore the beauty of language, the depth of emotion, and the power of expression found in verse. From classic works that have shaped literary history to contemporary pieces that resonate with modern experiences, this series offers a diverse array of poetic voices and styles. As you journey through each unique exploration, you’ll encounter themes of love, nature, identity, and the human experience, all woven together ...

This book of 13 silly rhymes about strange animals is sure to delight and confuzzle its young listeners. More Beasts for Worse Children, a collection of nonsense verses for children, was written by English-French writer, historian, and satirist, Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953).

Aged merchant Mahmoud relates to his young nephews the story of his rise to fabulous riches. From being kicked out (literally) from the family home by his exasperated father, with only the barest patrimony to sustain him, the young wastrel goes from rags to riches, and back again, aided only by "providence" - and his very inventive wits.

Here is a timeless classic in an exclusive audio edition featuring Matilda, who told such dreadful lies; George, who played with a dangerous toy and suffered a catastrophe of considerable dimensions; and many, many other colourful characters. Witty, memorable, and always instructive, join the...

These humorous verses were originally written for children but the taste is much more to an adult liking. They are strange, perverse and the morals they provide….well, that’s for you to decide. Luckily Joyce Grenfell is narrating so it’s double the experience

The Victorians had a fondness for scaring their offspring straight with cautionary tales - moral stories featuring children who misbehaved and suffered the consequences. Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales are a parody of the Victorian moral fables: irresistible, irreverent and downright jolly.

"Cautionary Tales", humorous poems with an implausible moral, are the most widely known of Hilaire Belloc's writings. Supposedly for children, they, like Lewis Carroll's works, are more to adult and satirical tastes. Here, Joyce Grenfell reads a selection.

“It is, for that matter, self-evident that if one community decides in one fashion, another, also sovereign, in the opposite fashion, both cannot be right. Reasoning men have also protested, and justly, against the conception that what a majority in numbers, or even (what is more compelling still) a unanimity of decision in a community may order, may not only be wrong but may be something which that community has no authority to order since, though it possesses a civil and temporal authority, it acts against that ultimate authority which is its own consciousness of right. Men may and do ...

“When Fame comes upon a man well before death then must he most particularly beware of it, for is it then most dangerous. Neither must he, having achieved it, relax effort nor (a much greater peril) think he has done his work because some Fame now attaches thereto.” -- Hilaire Belloc

“Now that story is a symbol, and tells the truth. We see some one thing in this world, and suddenly it becomes particular and sacramental; a woman and a child, a man at evening, a troop of soldiers; we hear notes of music, we smell the smell that went with a passed time, or we discover after the long night a shaft of light upon the tops of the hills at morning: there is a resurrection, and we are refreshed and renewed.” - Hilaire Belloc

“I knew a man once, Maurice, who was at Oxford for three years, and after that went down with no degree. At College, while his friends were seeking for Truth in funny brown German Philosophies, Sham Religions, stinking bottles and identical equations, he was lying on his back in Eynsham meadows thinking of Nothing, and got the Truth by this parallel road of his much more quickly than did they by theirs; for the asses are still seeking, mildly disputing, and, in a cultivated manner, following the gleam, so that they have become in their Donnish middle-age a nuisance and a pest; while he--that...

Long before I knew that the speech of men was misused by them and that they lied in the hearing of the gods perpetually, in those early days through which all men have passed, during which one believes what one is told, an old and crusty woman of great wealth, to whom I was describing what I intended to do with life (which in those days seemed to me of infinite duration), said to me, "You are building castles in Spain." I was too much in awe of this woman not on account of the wealth, but on account of the crust to go further into the matter, but it seemed to me a very foolish thing to say, ...

“When a man weighs anchor in a little ship or a large one he does a jolly thing! He cuts himself off and he starts for freedom and for the chance of things. He pulls the jib a-weather, he leans to her slowly pulling round, he sees the wind getting into the mainsail, and he feels that she feels the helm. He has her on a slant of the wind, and he makes out between the harbour piers.” (quotation from Hilaire Belloc)

Hillaire Belloc of French by birth, British by naturalization was a diverse and prolific writer of the early 20th century. His writing runs the range from poetry, political writings and children’s stories. He was a close friend, and sometimes collaborator with fellow Catholic G.K. Chesterton. This book is a collection of essays and other short writings on a vast array of subjects ranging from observations on the barber, the duel, reflections on war and religion. Some are in the form of drama, dialogue and letters but always engaging with wit and satire. - Summary by Larry ...

This 1911 anthology is a collection of musings on the pleasures, challenges, and experience of walking. It features some famous authors (Thoreau, Dickens, Whitman, etc.) and others who are less well known. The works include essays, excerpts from fictional works, and first-person accounts of adventures had while walking. The collection was compiled by Hilaire Belloc, a Franco-English writer, many of whose books have been recorded for Librivox. - Summary by Verla Viera

Hilaire Belloc, French by birth, British by naturalization, was a diverse and prolific writer of the early 20th century. His writing runs the range from poetry, political writings and children’s stories. He was a close friend, and sometimes collaborator with fellow Catholic G.K. Chesterton. This book is a collection of essays and other short writings on a vast array of subjects ranging from observations on Bad Verse and Mumbo-Jumbo to Sailing the Seas and Hatred of Numbers. - Summary by Larry WilsonThis show includes AI-generated content.