Showing results by narrator "Daniel Philpott" in All Categories

The appearance of a hastily constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of imminent missile-borne apocalypse.

One of the greatest classic horror stories, Mary Shelley's gothic novel sees Dr Frankenstein manufacture life - The Monster - only to see it go beyond his control. The original novel is more sympathetic to the monster's plight than is generally presented on film, making it an important book to be read.

Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall is an Edwardian history book for younger listeners (age six to 12) which tells the story of England, concluding with the reign of Queen Victoria. Antonia Fraser and many other current historians declare that it was this book that opened the delights of history for them. It fell from fashion in the 1960s, but its recent re-release in hardback has seen it become a publishing surprise in the UK, with sales of some 75,000 copies in a few months.

Tom and Sophie join their mum in a dash to Whipsnade Zoo to help an elephant deliver its calf, and another exciting adventure begins. At first the elephant calf, Dirshani, struggles to survive as it doesn’t eat well. With expert help and lots of care, the calf grows stronger. During the next year the young elephant is encouraged to take its place in the herd. Tom and Sophie dream that one day Dirshani will take part in the elephant demonstration.

Gunnar is the son of a Viking chieftain, living peacefully with his mother, father, and their people - until they are raided by Skuli and his Wolf Men, who raze his home to the ground and take his father’s life. Gunnar swears to avenge his father’s death and save his mother from Skuli - but first he must run to save himself facing murderous raiders, hand to hand battles, mythical flying wolves, and a relentless sea journey to the Land of Fire and Ice... Unknown to Gunnar, his life has been foretold, and he finds he has a destiny greater than his own story.

Here are 16 tales from one of the great works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled for a while the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio’s answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

The gothic tale of Frankenstein and his construction of a human being who runs amok has, with the help of numerous films, become one of the most vivid horror stories. But Mary Shelley's original novel, written in 1816, dealt more sympathetically with "the daemon," showing how an initially beneficent creature is hammered into a daemon by the way he is treated. Her ideas, and her dramatic but poignant story, is brought to life in this sound dramatization.

This is a story from the Famous People in History II collection.

H. E. Marshall’s classic children’s chronicle of Britain, Our Island Story, includes all the best-loved (and most infamous!) stories from history: King Alfred and the cakes, King John and the Magna Carta, Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar, Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada, and many others. This recording contains the complete and unabridged text, released previously in separate volumes. It is read with aplomb by Anna Bentinck and Daniel Philpott.

For decades, Omar Yussef has been a teacher of history to the children of Bethlehem. When a favourite former pupil, George Saba, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Yussef is convinced that he has been framed. With George facing imminent execution Yussef sets out to prove his innocence. As Yussef falls foul of his headmaster and the local police chief, time begins to run out for Saba.

England, 1346. For Thomas Blackstone the choice is easy - dance on the end of a rope for a murder he did not commit, or join the king's invasion. As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone learns the brutal lessons of war. Vastly outnumbered, Edward III's army will finally confront the armoured might of the French nobility on the field of Crécy. It is a battle that will change the history of warfare.

The year is 1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns, two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away. Though almost as damaged as their beloved city, Fiammetta Bianchini and Bucino Teodoldi, a fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion, are already planning their future. They head for the shimmering beauty of Venice, a honey pot of wealth and trade where they start to rebuild their business. As a partnership they are invincible. Venice, however, is a city that holds its own temptations.

Paris, 1585: Giordano Bruno has come to Paris, a city on the edge of catastrophe. Alone and near destitute, Bruno turns to old friend and zealous preacher Paul Lefevre. But when the priest is murdered, Bruno is pulled into a dangerous world. If Bruno can't uncover the truth, not only is the future of the de Valois monarchy threatened - but his own life will be the forfeit.

Farideh's husband is a corporal in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, entrapped by MI6 for interrogation. His job as a driver to a top general has left him with potentially valuable knowledge, but he won't talk unless Farideh is brought out of Iran. The SAS say it's too dangerous, so MI6 assemble a team of three ex-soldiers and a student dropout who knows the language and smuggles them into Tehran.…

Reunited with his crew aboard the frigate HMS Themis, Captain Charles Hayden is ordered by the Admiralty to the West Indies to carry war to the French among their own islands. Before he makes port in Barbados, the Themis intercepts a single boat adrift in the middle of the ocean - its sole occupants, two young Spanish noblemen. But not is all as it seems with Hayden’s unexpected guests.

Set against the music we know and love, Mozart, Beethoven, and many more come alive through their correspondence. Poignant, funny, revealing, informative and so often direct and honest, these letters offer a fascinating insight into the personalities that created our Western musical tradition.

Here are the remarkable life stories of nine famous people who have left their mark upon the world: Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, George Washington, Ludwig van Beethoven, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and Mahatma Gandhi.

How long can you pretend to be mad without going mad? Two English pilots are forced to find out when they are shot down behind enemy lines in 1944. The area is swarming with German troops, so, unable to escape, they ditch their clothing and personal belongings, pose as German soldiers, and board a train carrying wounded SS men home from the eastern front.

Inspector Montalbano is awake at dawn, sitting on his porch, when his attention is caught by a seagull that falls from the sky, performing a strange dance, before lying down to die. Montalbano is perplexed by what he has witnessed and the scene hangs over him like an omen. About to depart for a holiday with his girlfriend Livia, Montalbano makes a quick trip to the police station to tie up loose ends. But when his dear colleague Fazio is discovered missing, Montalbano instead launches a desperate search for his lost friend....

Naive and already war-weary, James Gouding takes up a position in Naples in 1943. What he doesn't anticipate is that this involves a limited menu of fried Spam fritters and interrogating the would-be Italian fiancees of members of the armed forces.