Showing results by narrator "Phillip J Mather" in All Categories

This World War I poem by Henry Newbolt exhorts the British people to face the onset of war with the belief that God will defend their efforts in a righteous cause, exhorting the nation to “Pray that God defend the Right”. The Vigil was published in 1914, in “Poems of the Great War”, the net profits of which were donated to the Prince of Wales’ Fund.

Rudyard Kipling’s Gentlemen-Rankers first appeared in Barrack-Room Ballads and refers to young men of the privileged classes who may have suffered the indignity of bankruptcy or scandal, and joined the ‘rank-and-file’ of the British Army as privates.

The narrator pledges to donate 50% of his proceeds to The Royal British Legion Poppy Day Appeal - please support. "In Flanders Fields" is one of the most famous poems of The Great War, written by Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD, 1872-1918. It is believed that McCrae wrote the poem after presiding at the funeral of a friend killed during the second Battle of Ypres, in 1915. The poppy grew in abundance in the spoiled earth of the cemeteries and battlefields of Flanders, France.

The Ballad of Tommy Atkins was first published as “Tommy” in Kipling’s timeless Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, in the 1890s. ‘Tommy Atkins’, or simply Tommy was a generic name applied to British soldiers from as early as the 18th century, but came into popular parlance during the First World War when troops were simply referred to as “Tommies”. The ballad exposes the bitterness felt by the British soldier to the public’s treatment of their forces in times of peace, and how that alters in wartime.

Wilfred Owen’s famous poem was written in 1917 during World War I. Dulce et Decorum Est describes the horrors of the front lines and the gruesome effect of a gas attack. It is a rebuke to those that would glorify war. The title, taken from Horace, can be translated as “It is sweet and glorious to die for one’s country”.

Rupert Brooke’s poem, The Soldier, contains perhaps the most famous line of any poem of The Great War: ". . . That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England . . . "

Siegfried Sassoon is one of the best-known of the plethora of First World War poets. His poem, Counter-Attack, was published in 1918 in Counter-Attack and other poems and describes the horror of life in the trenches of the Western Front.

Originally published as part of the Just So stories, this tale has no animals, but is the endearing story of a Neolithic child and the hilarious ramifications of attempting to request a fresh fishing spear from the village by use of a pictorial letter. As ever, Kipling’s timeless prose is evocatively presented by Phillip J Mather - an excellent listen!

Kipling’s timeless classic of How the Leopard Got His Spots is skilfully narrated by Phillip J. Mather. Phillip’s mellifluous tones transport the listener, young or old, back to a time when the world map was indeed coloured red!

The kangaroo once ambulated on four legs. This charming story by Rudyard Kipling, and wonderfully narrated by Phillip J. Mather tells us how the kangaroo became the marsupial we know today.

"The Beginning of the Armadillos" is a tale that focuses on two days in the lives of three creatures "who lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon": Stickly-Prickly the hedgehog, Slow-and-Solid the tortoise, and Painted Jaguar.

One of Kipling’s Just So stories that might have been named “How the Elephant Got His Trunk” takes us to the banks of the "Great Grey-Green, Greasy Limpopo" river. A timeless classic, masterfully narrated by Phillip J. Mather.

The Rhinoceros was not always all wrinkly as he is today. In fact he was a rather smooth but bad mannered beast. His bad manners, in fact, are what got him into trouble. When you steal something that belongs to the Parsee-man, you could be in a heap of trouble. Sit back and listen as Phillip J. Mather masterfully tells the Rudyard Kipling tale of How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin.

From Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling and narrated by Phillip J. Mather, we learn the Camel has a hump given to him by a djinn as punishment for the camel's refusing to work (the hump allows the camel to work longer between times of eating).

How the Whale Got His Throat is the first of Kipling’s Just So stories (published in 1902) as series of fantastical children’s stories, themed with explaining oddities from the animal kingdom. Phillip J Mather’s skilful narration captures the spirit of the age, and will appeal to adults and children alike.

Whinchat is a nostalgic reminiscence of a long ago bucolic vacation that awakened a life-long interest in nature. Skilfully written and self-narrated by Phillip J. Mather, the tale will strike a chord with birdwatchers and nature lovers alike, and will remind all of gentler times in 1950’s England.

This quintessentially English poem is in the form of a father’s advice to his son on transitioning into manhood. Phillip J. Mather’s masterful delivery poignantly captures Kipling’s inspirational and timeless philosophy.

Framton Nuttle moves to the country to improve his health. His sister insists that he get to know his neighbors, and gives him letters of introduction to the families she met while staying there. Framton goes to meet one of his neighbors, Mrs. Stapleton, and while he waits for her, her 15-year-old niece tells him the tragic story about their French window that is always kept open, even in the winter.

Conradin, a ten-year-old boy, rebels against his strict guardian when he invents a new religion which idolizes his pet polecat-ferret, Sredni Vashtar. Conradin hides Sredni Vashtar and prays to him in secret. When the guardian begins a search for the boy’s new god, Conradin’s worship is answered with disturbing results.

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