Showing results by narrator "Alex Wingfield" in All Categories

Foden is one of the hottest talents in the world and his rise through the Manchester City first team has been remarkable. He has matured from Man City youth prospect, to the first footballer ever to be named Premier League Young Player of the Season in consecutive years, despite competing for a position in a team of world class players. And this is testament to his silky style of play and natural flair for football.

Becky Brown has selected extracts from the Mass Observation Archives to anthologise the voices of everyday people as they deal individually and collectively with the crisis of the Second World War. The diarists themselves have been selected from every level of society - from warehousemen to widows, soldiers to farmhands, WRENs to architects. The extracts have been chosen to both uplift and to ground, to remind listeners that nothing is new, that everything can be weathered and perhaps even made better. After all, World War II saw the birth of the NHS.

Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like his dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules, and he’s learning how to do lots of things by himself. Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’t prepared for. While she helps guide him every day, she’s also writing notebooks full of advice about the things she hasn’t told Joe yet, things he might forget and answers to questions he hasn’t yet asked.

In February 2019, award-winning writer Alex Roddie left his online life behind when he set out to walk 300 miles through the Scottish Highlands, seeking solitude and answers. In leaving the chaos of the internet behind for a month, he hoped to learn how it was truly affecting him - or if he should look elsewhere for the causes of his anxiety. The Farthest Shore is the story of Alex’s solo trek along the remote Cape Wrath Trail.

Joe, Tom and Pip are excited about spending the Easter holidays at Granny's in Muddlemoor village. They plan to climb trees, eat chocolate and loll around on Granny's sofa. But wait! They’ve forgotten that Muddlemoor is an absolute hotspot for crime. When a sign appears in Mr Draper's cow field, announcing plans for a horrible battery chicken farm, the children are outraged. They join a protest group to try to stop the farm and save the chickens. But they soon notice that Mr Draper's enemies keep getting sick. Oh no! Is Mr Draper poisoning them? And, if so, is Granny in danger?

Our boys need a new kind of hero. Rule-breakers and innovators who aren't afraid to think outside and be themselves, whatever people think about how men should behave. Bedtime Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different is a collection of the lives of 200 incredible men from all over the world - from David Attenborough to Beethoven to Stormzy - who succeeded through brains, not brawn, and who will inspire young boys everywhere to follow their dreams.

HEALER? Meet Hollie Jenson, presenter of the smash-hit docu-series Bad Medicine, which exposes the perils of extreme therapies. Her next target: a new retreat run by wellness guru Ariel Rose, who claims to have discovered the secret to healing pain through her three-day ice rebirth treatment. LIAR? Acting on a mother's plea to find her son, who vanished soon after his stay, Hollie ventures into the Swiss mountains where the retreat occupies a former observatory. There she will search for the boy, and hopes to expose Ariel as the charlatan she believes her to be.

With Damien hell-bent on power, Reid unwaveringly loyal to him and Ari grappling to understand the voice in her head, Mikira is more alone than ever as the face of the underground rebellion, intent on overthrowing the corrupt royal family. But Damien is playing games of his own, and he won't hesitate to get rid of anyone who stands in his way . . .

When a kid is dragged to Central Park in New York on a Saturday (when he could be at home watching the ball game), the last thing he wants is a history lesson from his mom. But then his mother starts telling him a story. A story about the giant structure sitting in right in front of them—Cleopatra’s Needle. It turns out that an enslaved boy and hundreds of other people spent more than six hundred days carving the Needle out of stone and pulling it upright. And another kid’s drawings were used to create the hieroglyphs on its sides.

It’s the start of the winter term and there’s a new teacher in town at Villains Academy – the notorious dragon-rider Felix Frostbite. Class Z are in awe of him and his lessons on venomous beasts and mythical creatures, but werewolf Bram is suspicious. Soon Bram and his friends the Cereal Killers uncover Felix Frostbite’s evil plan to steal all the dragons from the Wicked Woods and leave Villains Academy undefended. Have the gang learnt enough to outsmart their troublesome teacher, or will Felix Frostbite’s heist go down in villain history?

Welcome to Villains Academy—the most prestigious villain school in the ENTIRE land. You will either leave here as a fully formed villain...or in tatters. It's werewolf Bram’s first day at Villains Academy. He really doesn’t feel like a villain at all, but the coveted Villain of the Week trophy is up for grabs, and Bram knows he’ll have to dig deep. With the help of new friends Mona the elf-witch, Bryan the lion, Shelia the ghost and Tony the skeleton, can Bram find his inner badness and become the villain he's always dreamed of being?

Sigi lived upstairs from Sara at Friedrichstrasse 19, yet before they met, Sara had no idea that Berlin could be so thrillingly irreverent or that sex could be so intoxicatingly wonderful. But then came the war and hunger, loneliness and barbed wire. It was just as a young girl, a protegee of the Academy of Magical Arts situated in Friedrichstrasse at the start of the century, had predicted. Battered and divided, Berlin, like its people, endured.

Ant Stevenson has many questions, like when did he stop being a virgin? Are there degrees of virginity? And is it different for boys? Especially for boys who like boys? Ant tries to figure out the answers to his questions as he balances his relationships with three very different boys: Charlie, who is both virulently homophobic and yet close friends with Ant; Jack, whose camp behaviour makes him the target of Charlie's rage; and finally Freddie, who just wants Ant to try out for the rugby team.

In 2002, during the final moments of injury time, David Beckham scored an incredible free-kick, securing England a place in the World Cup. It was this moment that ensured that Beckham would become one of the most loved English footballers, as well as a Manchester United and Real Madrid hero. During a career which spanned twenty years, Beckham won an impressive nineteen major trophies. This is the story of a true sportsman, who earned respect and loyalty from his fans around the world.

Since the first ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ issue in 1983, Granta has championed the work of authors who have changed the landscape of British literature. In 1983, featured writers included Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Martin Amis and Pat Barker, among many others. Subsequent editions have highlighted the work of Zadie Smith, Nicola Barker, Ben Okri, Jeanette Winterson and others. In 2023, they will introduce listeners around the world to a cohort of outstanding new British voices.

Raven is a deeply disturbed teenager, who, after witnessing the death of his mother, is placed in foster care. The Russells do their best to earn his trust, but only little Ella manages to get through to him. Meanwhile, at school, bullies are making his life a living hell. An unexpected companion comes in the form of Lotte, a classmate bored by her "ordinary" friends. Together, they track down Raven's mum's killer, with the goal of exposing him to the police. But their carefully crafted plan goes dangerously wrong, and suddenly nothing is as it seems.

Two worlds, two timelines and one person's impact. Manhattan, 1963: weeks before the assassination of President Kennedy, fresh-faced Raymond Wallace lands in the New York Times newsroom on a three-month bursary from Cambridge University. He soon discovers his elusive boss, Bukowski, is being covertly blackmailed by an estranged wife, and that he himself is to assist the straight-laced Doty on an article about the ‘explosion of overt homosexuality’.

As one of the top pianists at the Royal College of Music, Flynn has been put forward for an important concert, the opportunity of a lifetime. On a good day he feels full of energy and life, but on a bad day being alive is worse than being dead. Sometimes things can only get worse before they get better.

In his final year at the Royal College of Music, star pianist Flynn Laukonen has the world at his feet. He has moved in with his girlfriend, Jennah, and is already getting concert bookings for what promises to be a glittering career. Yet he knows he is skating on thin ice—only two small pills a day keep him from plunging back into the whirlpool of manic depression that once threatened to destroy him.

Two boys, one struggle. A new family, an uncovered secret. Tommy and Ryan are as different as they come. Tommy is a young offender, he’s tough and he’s cool. Ryan is a good student, well-behaved, and definitely not cool. Forced to become a family, the two discover their shared dyslexia and develop an unlikely friendship. As Ryan helps Tommy to read, a secret is revealed that will change their lives forever. Prize-winning Malcolm Duffy's third novel explores the joys and challenges of dyslexia in a story full of his hallmark heart and humour.