Audiobooks by John Wilson

Top of the Class: The complete BBC Radio 4 series

"Major public figures go back to their beginnings and uncover where they really started John Wilson (acclaimed arts and culture reporter and journalist, and presenter of Front Row, Newsnight Review and Pick of the Week) meets up with a variety of public figures from such diverse fields as food, mathematics, politics, writing and music, and takes them back to the influential schools, teachers, and early workplaces they may have forgotten, but which have not forgotten them. His guests include the first Black trade union leader, Lord Bill Morris; classical violinist Tasmin Little; the late restaurateur and television chef, Gary Rhodes; Lord Digby Jones, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment; the late Women's Prize and Costa Book Award winning author, Andrea Levy; veteran journalist, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo, and many more. The locations too are widely varied and richly formative - from car component manufacturers and specialist vocational institutions to grammar and private schools. Top of the Class is a fascinating look beneath the usual façade of a public figure, perfect for anyone wanting to see the human face behind a successful life story, as well as the teachers, mentors, best friends and rivals who helped them grow into the person they became. Episode guide First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: Bill Morris 28 July 2008 Tasmin Little 4 August 2008 Lauren Child 11 August 2008 Gary Rhodes 18 August 2008 Marcus du Sautoy 28 December 2010 Rachel Portman 18 January 2011 Lord Digby Jones 25 January 2011 Michael Portillo 19 July 2011 Andrea Levy 26 July 2011 Production credits Presented by John Wilson Produced by Sarah Taylor © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd."

Andrea Levy, Bill Morris, Digby Jones, Gary Rhodes, John Wilson, Lauren Child, Marcus Du Sautoy, Michael Portillo, Rachel Portman, Tasmin Little (Author), Andrea Levy, Bill Morris, Digby Jones, Gary Rhodes, John Wilson, Lauren Child, Michael Portillo, Rachel Portman, Various (Narrator)

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Broken Arrow

"Steve thinks he made the right choice turning down a snowy week with his cousins at a cabin in northern Ontario in favor of a relaxing (and perhaps romantic) time under the Spanish sun with his friend, Laia. But when an email from his brother DJ arrives, implicating their grandfather in some shadowy international plots involving nuclear bombs, Steve and Laia immediately put aside all thoughts of a lazy, sun-drenched vacation. In a desperate attempt to find out if Steve’s grandfather was a Cold War-era spy, they crack mysterious codes, confront violent Russian mobsters, dodge spies, unearth a bomb and avoid nudists. But the more they uncover, the more Steve wonders: whose side was Grandpa really on? Broken Arrow is the sequel to both The Missing Skull, part of The Seven Prequels and Lost Cause, part of Seven (The Series)."

John Wilson (Author), Mark Ashby (Narrator)

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Lost Cause

"Steve thinks a trip to Europe is out of the question—until he hears his grandfather's will. Suddenly he's off to Spain, armed with only a letter from his grandfather that sends him to a specific address in Barcelona. There he meets a girl named Laia and finds a trunk containing some of his grandfather's possessions, including a journal he kept during the time he fought with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Steve decides to trace his grandfather's footsteps through Spain, and with Laia's help, he visits the battlefields and ruined towns that shaped his grandfather's young life, and begins to understand the power of history and the transformative nature of passion for a righteous cause. Steve's adventures start in The Missing Skull, part of The Seven Prequels and continue in Broken Arrow, part of The Seven Sequels."

John Wilson (Author), Mark Ashby (Narrator)

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High John the Conqueror

"First printed in 1948, High John the Conqueror, John W. Wilson's only published book, was considered a breakthrough novel for its attention to racism, sexual politics, and the oppressive nature of agribusiness. It has since become a classic depiction of the arduous life and work of African American cotton farmers in southeast Texas. 'Mr. Wilson seems to have grasped the same sense of slowmoving inevitable force, beyond man himself, that can so easily lift or destroy him.'-New York Times Book Review"

John Wilson (Author), Peter J. Fernandez (Narrator)

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