Showing results by narrator "Martin Jarvis" in All Categories

One of the very best in the popular Blandings series, set in that idyllic Shropshire countryside, where the sun always shines. Comedy centres around Clarence, the dotty ninth Earl of Emsworth, doting on his prize pig: The Empress. His brother Galahad fears her fate is under threat with Clarence's rival Sir Gregory Parsloe. Parsloe is aiming to prevent her taking the County Prize. He lives in fear of Galahad publishing his memoirs and revealing their wild younger days.

One million dollars: that's what Harvey Metcalfe, lifelong king of shady deals, has pulled off with empty promises of an oil bonanza and instant riches. Overnight, four men: the heir to an earldom, a Harley Street doctor, a Bond Street art dealer, and an Oxford don, find themselves penniless. But this time Harvey has swindled the wrong men. They band together and shadow him from the casinos of Monte Carlo to the high-stakes windows at Ascot and the hallowed lawns of Oxford.

The Code of the Woosters is one of the best known of Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves series. Bertie's beloved Aunt Dahlia pressures him into stealing a cow-shaped silver creamer much coveted by his uncle from his arch rival in silver collecting, Sir Watkyn Bassett. At the same time, Bertie attempts to patch up the shaky romance between Guisse Fink-Nottle, the newt expert, and Madeline Bassett, a four star drip. The results of Bertie's efforts are, as always, a financial disaster.

The first volume of Wodehouse's brilliant complete and unabridged short stories. Originally a semi-novel, this version contains self-contained stories which are nonetheless linked, often by Bingo Little, an endearingly hopeless chap and a serial romancer.

In this wonderful caper Bertie Wooster would rather run a mile in tight shoes than visit Totleigh Towers . . . Where you'll find Madeline, something or someone of a drip who truly believes that the stars are God's daisy chain. Madeline is engaged to Bertie's old chum Gussie, but it turns out she'll willingly settle for Bertie should anything go awry.

'The Third Man' is Graham Greene's brilliant recreation of postwar Vienna, a 'smashed dreary city' occupied by the four Allied powers. Rollo Martins, a second-rate novelist, arrives penniless to visit his friend and hero, Harry Lime. But Harry has died in suspicious circumstances and the police are closing in on his associates...'The Fallen Idol' is the chilling story of a small boy caught up in the games that adults play. Left in the care of the butler and his wife whilst his parents go on a fortnight's holiday, Philip realises too late the danger of lies and deceit.

‘An unknown place.’ This was what Michael Frayn’s children called the shadowy landscape of the past from which their family had emerged. In this book he sets out to rediscover that lost land before all trace of it finally disappears beyond recall. As he tries to see it through the eyes his parents and the others who shaped his life, he comes to realise how little he ever knew or understood about them. This is a charming, moving and witty childhood memoir from one of Britain’s best-loved writers.

The elegant, intelligent amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey is one of detective literature's most popular creations. Ian Carmichael is the personification of Dorothy L. Sayers' charming investigator in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. The dignified calm of the Bellona Club is shattered when Lord Wimsey finds General Fentiman dead in his favourite chair. A straighforward death by natural causes? Perhaps... but why can no one remember seeing the general the day he died?

From money-making schemes involving placing wagers on vicars to poor Bingo having to produce the village school Christmas entertainments, every one of Wodehouse’s superb short stories are guarantee to raise a smile from even the most stony-faced listener!

The night before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that celebrity chef and restaurateur Max Moreton is cooking the evening's meal. But the last thing he needs is to hear that his food is suspected of putting 24 of the guests in hospital.

Frustrated copy man Ken Handley cannot help but conceive of the world in advert form. Over three series witness Ken coping with a drunken boss, straight-laced colleagues and an overactive mind, as we follow his exploits and moral dilemmas in this advertising satire. Martin Jarvis stars as Ken, alongside a cast that includes Miriam Margolyes, Imelda Staunton, Christopher Godwin and Joss Ackland.

A collection of stories in which Jimmy could almost be younger brother to William Brown (of Just William fame). Like William, Jimmy has a big heart and all of his efforts go towards trying to make his family and friends happy. Unfortunately, and again like William, his plans always take a turn for the worst, or don't turn out in the way that he intended. Fortunately for a listener, this makes for a myriad of classic comedy moments.

Part of Wodehouse Blandings series. When a valuable scarab belonging to an American millionaire is absent-mindedly stolen by Lord Emsworth, young writers Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine are tasked with infiltrating Blandings Castle to retrieve it. Meanwhile, vacuous Freddie Threepwood worries that some compromising letters may scupper his engagement to the millionaire's daughter.

This fine collection of intelligent, unabridged short stories about intriguing, interesting and sometimes inspirational men is an audio treat for young and old, male or female. A carefully compiled anthology featuring timeless tales from classic authors including Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Anton Chekhov, read by a cast of acclaimed and respected actors, including Stephen Fry, Martin Jarvis and Kerry Shale; this compilation will be enjoyed by the whole family.

In Terence Rattigan’s classic drama, an aging schoolmaster at an English secondary school faces the harsh judgments of his students, his fellow teachers, and his vicious and spiteful wife. But can a lone act of kindness from a sympathetic student change his heart? This recording also includes an interview with Michael Darlow, the author of Terence Rattigan: The Man and His Work.

The third “battle” of Ayckbourn’s celebrated trilogy The Norman Conquests, returns us to the same weekend in the country, but this time to the setting of Mother’s overgrown English country garden. Something more troublesome than brambles is lurking among the roses. Havoc ensues among the flora and fauna, as this cynical masterpiece makes its way to a hilarious conclusion.

Trent's Last Case, published when Conan Doyle and Chesterton were both at the pinnacle of their respective literary careers, was the first detective story to use finger-printing as a means of detecting the criminal. The book was intended to be a gentle parody of the detective genre, only for it to be quickly hailed as a classic.

It's the third death that really troubles former champion jump-jockey Sid Halley. He knows the perils of racing all too well, but in his day, jockeys didn't usually reach the finishing line with three .38 rounds in the chest. But this is precisely how he finds Huw Walker, the new winner of the Triumph Hurdle and Halley's friend. Now former friend. Walker was riding one of Lord Enstone's horses in the Hurdle and it was the inimitable owner who invited Halley in the first place.

Martin Jarvis performs two full-length William stories, 'The Lost Tourist' and 'The Leopard Hunter', recorded live on stage at the Cheltenham Festival in 2003. Described by the Daily Telegraph as 'the wizard of the talking book', Martin Jarvis has made the voices of William and his gang of outlaws his own.

It's London, 1879, and the hapless members of the Explorers Club must confront their most lethal threat yet: the admission of a woman into their hermetically-sealed ranks. But the intrepid Phyllida Spotte-Hume turns out to be the least of their troubles, in this hilarious farce starring members of the original Broadway cast.