Showing results by narrator "Richard Stephens" in All Categories

This witty and unexpected show brings you toponyms, abbreviations, euphemisms, old words, new words, cockney rhyming slang and Greek gobbledegook. Find out the meaning of words like giff-gaff, knock-knobbler and buckfitches; the difference between French marbles, French velvet and the French ache; hear the glorious poetry of the English language, as practiced from writers varying from William Shakespeare to Vanilla Ice; and spend time laughing and learning with some of the finest Wordaholics in the business.

Passion, power, sex and suspicious deaths – the Tudor story is one of drama and dysfunction, and it has kept us enthralled for over 400 years. In these six dramatised documentaries, we take a behind-the-scenes look at Tudor England and get to know the key characters we have grown to love and hate, such as Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Compiled from contemporary sources by Alison Plowman and featuring first-hand accounts and letters, these thrilling, historically accurate retellings bring this tumultuous era to vivid life.

This sublime collection dips into the wit and wisdom of the man behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, uncovering his unique comic musings on everything from his school-trousers to malt whisky and from the letter Y through to his own nose, via atheism, hangovers and fried eggs. These hilarious collected writings reveal the warmth, enthusiasm and ferocious intelligence behind this most English of comic writers; a man who was virtually an unofficial member of the Monty Python team.

Poor sleep is one of the most common health problems and can leave you feeling exhausted, stressed and run-down. While prescribed medications and over-the-counter remedies rarely offer lasting benefits, cognitive behavioural therapy can help enormously and is the treatment of choice for insomnia.

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.

Everybody down! Prepare for more navigational blunders and maritime misadventures as radio's favourite frigate puts to sea once more. Collected here are the complete Series Twelve and Thirteen of the much loved show - including the 200th episode, 'Sir Willoughby at Shanghai', in which Troutbridge takes the Governor and his wife on a trip to China - only to find itself under attack... Plus, Lieutenant-Commander Murray and his wife Rita celebrate their first anniversary and move out to married quarters.

This BBC Radio collection includes the Booker nominated A Month in the Country. Be transported to the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby where, in the aftermath of the First World War, survivor Tom Birkin spends a summer uncovering a medieval mural in the local church.

Toby Stephens stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Raymond Chandler’s second Philip Marlowe mystery.Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily.In ‘Farewell My Lovely’, Marlowe has a chance encounter with a not-so-gentle giant outside Florian’s nightclub.

The path through trauma is one of the most difficult anyone can tread. With The Healing Trauma Summit, you’ll find that you don’t have to do so alone. Featuring some of the most prominent voices in the field, this audio collection will give you resources and options for the journey out of trauma and toward peace.

Award-winning jokesmith and self-confessed idiot Stephen K. Amos teams up with some of the world's sharpest comic minds to compile a dummies' guide to being a modern human. From raising children and having a mid-life crisis, to first impressions and facing your fears, who better than a bunch of comedians to lead us through life's existential maze?

It's been one year since a virus triggered junk DNA and people all over the world started changing, becoming something else, craving blood. It's been 10 months since the word vampire stopped being something from old monster stories and Hollywood movies. It's been six months since our world and theirs erupted into war, two since an uneasy peace was signed, and one hour since that peace was shattered. The war is here again - the vampire war.

Hear rare recordings from some of the world's most-respected poets reading their own works: Ezra Pound, "Old Men With Beautiful Manners"; W. B. Yeats, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"; Robert Graves, "A Last Poem"'; Edna St. Vincent Millay, "The Harp-Weaver"; Richard Eberhart, "The Groundhog"; Philip Levine, "Blasting from Heaven"; Marianne Moore, "The Mind Is an Enchanting Thing"; Stephen Spender, "What I Expected"; and Vachel Lindsay, "An Interpolation by Mr. Lindsay".

Fourteen-year-old Tom Röschenberg has inherited a ghost train and its members of the undead are very lively! And it's a suspenseful time for our young Ghostsitter: Vlarad the vampire has consumed too much hamster blood and has now turned into one, and Wombie the Zombie's hundredth deathday is coming right up. But the ritual for celebrating Wombie's deathday is no easy task: It requires a voodoo dagger, a magic ring, and an enchanted cauldron, and if Tom and his undead friends don't perform the ritual in time, Wombie will turn to dust.

Bird flu has reached the shores of the UK, and MRSA cases have spiralled in our hospitals. Is a human bird flu pandemic a real possibility? What about MRSA - can it be controlled? Should the UK be doing more to prevent infectious diseases, or does it call for a global solution?

Pandemics takes a look under the covers and finds out if a major outbreak of an infectious disease is a real cause for concern.

In the fourth installment of Germany’s popular Ghostsitter series, famous best-selling author Tiffany Shuster wants to promote her latest vampire romance novel, so she decides Tom’s Ghost Train is the best place for a photo shoot. But when she and Vlarad the vampire suddenly disappear, Tom and his team of monsters must investigate and rescue them. All leads seem to point toward rival carnival attraction Zoracz's House of Mirrors. Will Tom and his friends find Vlarad and Tiffany before they are accused of kidnapping?

What is global warming? Is the world really getting hotter? Is it our fault? What might happen and are we too late to act?

Our best-selling backgrounder, Global Warming, tackles the big questions around climate change. In only 120 minutes, this pithy pocket guide will quickly get you up to speed on the world's biggest issue.

Tom's life changed quite a bit since he inherited a Ghost Train full of living dead creatures. As the fairground is struck by mysterious earthquakes, even Mimi the ghost-girl seems to pale. Vlarad the Vampire has reason to believe that a restless poltergeist haunts the old town square. So, Tom and his undead friends have to go ghost-hunting - without anyone noticing, of course.

The war is tearing our world apart. Instead of big armies with tanks in the field, the Vampire War is fought in the streets, neighbor against neighbor, family against family. Anyone can turn at any time. The blood hunger can suddenly appear in the middle of a kiss. The person who sleeps next to you every night could wake up in the dead of night... hungry. So hungry.

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. This anthology includes brand-new stories by: Tommy Moore, Jessica Breheny, Naomi Hirahara, Calvin McMillin, Liza Monroy, Elizabeth McKenzie, Jill Wolfson, Ariel Gore, Jon Bailiff, Maceo Montoya, Micah Perks, Seana Graham, Vinnie Hansen, Peggy Townsend, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Lou Mathews, Lee Quarnstrom, Dillon Kaiser, Beth Lisick, and Wallace Baine.

The word kundalini refers to an energy that everyone has within them, but that usually lies dormant. What this means is that the majority of people don't feel this energy and, much of the time, don't even know it exists. However, in a few rare cases, this energy can come to life, getting activated and aroused. Depending on the person and their knowledge, readiness, and viewpoint, this can be a joyous occasion or something that disturbs and frightens them a bit.