Showing results by narrator "Sian Phillips" in All Categories

A BBC Radio 3 full-cast dramatisation of Shakespeare’s classic ‘Cymbeline’, starring Bill Wallis. Originally broadcast in December 2006 as part of the ‘Drama on 3’ collection.Shakespeare's play, set during the Roman invasion of Britain, centres around the banishment of the man who has incurred the wrath of the king by secretly marrying his daughter. Confusion follows in an intricate plot in which nobody is quite who they seem to be.

Illegal battering of gingernuts and conkers in a murky corner of the playground; a procession of bearers of lost property interrupting the telling of the story of Joseph; justice being firmly done on three malefactors who stole Mr Henry's eggs... Here are 40 delightful stories about life as a village schoolteacher, set against the changing seasons of the countryside.

An acclaimed novelist, short story writer and critic, Leslie Poles Hartley is best known for his 1953 novel The Go-Between, which won the W. H. Heinemann Award and was adapted as a BAFTA-winning film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates. Included here is a radio dramatisation of that classic tale, alongside adaptations of three further novels and five short stories.

In Monte Guano, a ridiculously small and penniless principality in Renaissance Italy, Prince Ludovico II finds his rule constantly undermined by those around him: his shrewd wife, his official mistress and his three disappointing—if not outright humiliating—sons. As well as having to manage the ever-increasing tributes demanded by the Pope, Prince Ludovico must also contend with feeble conscripts in search of war booty, getting on the pilgrim map, fake currency, religious battles and worst of all, English tourists. 

The remarkably honest and brilliantly entertaining memoir of one of our finest acting Dames whose long and celebrated career includes her much-loved performance as Livia in I, Claudius and who was married for 20 years to the hell-raising Hollywood star Peter O'Toole. Siân Phillips has a long and celebrated career on both stage and screen. For the first time, her two best-selling volumes of memoir Private Faces and Public Places will be available as a single volume with a brand new foreword by the author.

In a blaze of light, rush of wind, and scrabble of claws, Rachel and Eric are ripped through the wall and hurtled on to another world. Like thousands of other children before them, they have been snatched away by the Witch. But this time the Witch has met her match. Rachel discovers that she has extraordinary gifts: she can transform herself into a feather, or fly on an owl’s back, just as the Witch can. The Witch is excited she has found someone to use for her own evil purposes. But for the Witch’s victims, Rachel is their only hope.

Rachel and Eric have special gifts. She is a spell-maker who can fly, take any shape she pleases, and see far and wide with her many-colored eyes. He is a destroyer of spells. When a party of witches are dispatched to Earth from the planet Ool, Rachel and Eric are tested to the limit.

The magic of all children has been released. Throughout the skies of Earth they swoop, crossing continents, changing shape, diving to the ocean depths and playing the deadly new spell-games. Rachel bides her time, watching the skies for what she knows will happen - the invasion of the Witches. But when it comes it is not in the way anyone expects, and there is also a new enemy - the huge, terrifying Gridda-breed.

On a summer’s day we have perhaps all wished to take flight and view life and the world from the vantage point of a clear blue sky. Our feathered friends do it as a matter of course, and in this volume some of our finest wordsmiths speak with imagination, longing and desire on their behalf.

Framed for a theft he didn’t commit and expelled from the church which has been his life, Silas Marner, the weaver, exiles himself to the remote rural village of Raveloe to bury himself in making money with his loom. The arrival of a golden-haired orphan toddler at his door, however, drags the recluse back into the world and away from his obsession with his hoard.

This proud nation with its long history - sometimes rough, hewn from bleak landscapes, and sometimes gently soft from its comforting voices - has produced a long succession of artists and poets.

In the latter category, Louis MacNeice most probably stands pre-eminent; his words and phrasing are on a plane few can equal and most are in awe of. But in this volume we do put forward others who have their own words and voice to add to this rich tapestry.

All's Well That Ends Well finds Helena rewarded for her ministries to the sick with the choice of any husband she wishes. Her choice, Bertram, is unwilling to have her as his wife and sets her a number of seemingly impossible tasks to complete before he will relent. 

Rachel and Eric have special gifts. She is a spell-maker who can fly, take any shape she pleases, see far and wide with her many-colored eyes. He is a destroyer of spells. When a party of Witches are dispatched to Earth from the planet Ool, Rachel and Eric are tested to the limit. The High Witch will stop at nothing to destroy them and slay her old adversaries, the Wizards. A breathtakingly exciting story in which armies of Witches and Wizards swoop through the air and thousands of children all over the world are invested with astonishing magical powers.