Audiobooks by Kingsley Amis

Kingsley Amis: A BBC Radio Drama Collection: I Spy Strangers, I Want It Now, All Free Now based on Girl 20 and more

"Adaptations of Kingley Amis’s great novels and acclaimed short stories Novelist, poet and critic Kingsley Amis was one of Britain’s greatest post-war writers. A master of comic fiction, he came to fame in 1954, and won the 1986 Booker Prize for The Old Devils. Included in this collection are dramatisations of seven of his short stories and two novels, all imbued with his characteristic wit and social satire. We begin with ‘To See the Sun’, a tantalising tale of vampires, a mad Scots librarian, a handsome Englishman and a Countess, set in 1920s Dacia. In ‘Moral Fibre’, a Welsh librarian tangles with a social worker determined to save a young girl from sin, while in ‘All the Blood Within Me’, Alec attends the funeral of the only woman he has ever loved: and faces some uncomfortable truths. Tensions run high in ‘I Spy Strangers’ as a group of soldiers in 1945 hold a mock parliament; poet A E Potter questions the value of his art in ‘Dear Illusions’ and in ‘Affairs of Death’, the confessions of the Scottish King Macbeth trouble the conscience of Pope Leo X. Set in the late ’60s, I Want It Now centres around ambitious TV personality Ronnie Appleyard, who pursues wealthy Simona Quick for her money, only to fall in love. And recently recovered in the BBC’s Treasure Hunt, ‘Something Strange’ features four inhabitants of a space capsule, who have unusual experiences to report. Based on Amis’s classic novel Girl, 20 and written by Tony Bilbow, All Free Now is a hilarious observation of the Sixties’ permissive society. Please note: I Want It Now is an archive dramatisation from 1977, and the language used reflects some of the attitudes of that time. Due to the archive nature of some of the pieces, the sound quality may vary. Cast and credits Written by Kingsley Amis All Free Now written by Tony Bilbow, based on Kingsley Amis’s novel Girl, 20 To See the Sun Cast: Christopher Cazenove, Gayle Hunnicutt, Graham Crowden, Alan Dudley, Jennifer Piercey, Zelah Clarke Dramatised by John Scotney Directed by Jane Morgan Moral Fibre Cast: Sion Tudor Owen, Julie Berry, Thelma Whiteley, Victoria Carling, Steve Hodson, Jennifer Piercey, Simon Cuff, Susan Sheridan Dramatised by John Scotney Directed by Jane Morgan All the Blood Within Me Cast: Tom Watson, David Sinclair, Mia Soteriou, Jonathan Tafler, Caroline Gruber, Jill Lidstone, Alan Dudley, Brian Hewlitt, Kim Hughes Dramatised by John Scotney Directed by Jane Morgan Piano: Mary Nash I Spy Strangers Cast: Iain Cuthbertson, Steve Hodson, Anthony Jackson, Philip Fox, Kim Wall, Michael Deacon, Paul Sirr, John Samson Dramatised by John Scotney Directed by Jane Morgan Dear Illusion Cast: Freddie Jones, Carolyn Pickles, Shaun Prendergast, Brian Hewitt, Alan Dudley, Michael Deacon Dramatised by John Scotney Directed by Jane Morgan Affairs of Death Cast: Peter Jeffrey, Ken Stott, Olivier Pierre, Kim Wall Dramatised by John Scotney Directed by Jane Morgan I Want It Now Cast: Nigel Anthony, David March, Irene Sutcliffe, Bruce Beeby, Anna Calder-Marshall, Margaret Robertson, William Fox, Alaric Cotter, Jonathan Scott, Penelope Reynolds, William Eedle, Heather Bell, Harry Towb, Harold Kasket, Rod Beacham, Michael Harbour Adapted by Frederick Bradnum Directed by Betty Davies Something Strange Cast: Noel Johnson, Garard Green, Nerys Hughes, Olive Gregg, Charlotte Mitchell, Frank Duncan, David Garth, Tom Watson, Brian Wilde and members of the BBC Drama Repertory Company Produced by Christopher Holme All Free Now Cast: Robert Stephens, Christopher Timothy, Eva Stuart, Geoffrey Whitehead, Kim Thomson, Anna Mazzotti, Okon Jones, Michael Graham Cox, Adrian Egan, Richard Pearce, Joan Walker, Michael Dean Produced by Matthew Walters Text copyright © The Estate of Kingsley Amis 1958 (‘Moral Fibre’), 1960 (‘Something Strange’), 1962 (‘All the Blood Within Me’, ‘I Spy Strangers’), 1968 (I Want It Now),1972 (‘Dear Illusion’), 1980 (‘To See the Sun’), 1982 (‘Affairs of Death’) All Free Now copyright © Tony Bilbow 1989 © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Alan Bennett, Anna Calder-Marshall, Christopher Cazenove, Freddie Jones, Full Cast, Gayle Hunnicutt, Iain Cuthbertson, Ken Stott, Nigel Anthony, Peter Jeffrey, Robert Hardy, Tom Watson (Narrator)

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Lucky Jim

"Brought to you by Penguin. Jim Dixon has accidentally fallen into a job at one of Britain's new red brick universities. A moderately successful future in the History Department beckons. As long as Jim can survive a madrigal-singing weekend at Professor Welch's, deliver a lecture on 'Merrie England' and resist Christine, the hopelessly desirable girlfriend of Welch's awful son Bertrand. © Kingsley Amis 2000 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), James Lailey (Narrator)

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Girl, 20

"Brought to you by Penguin. Douglas Yandell, a young-ish music critic, is enlisted by Kitty Vandervane to keep an eye on her roving husband - the eminent conductor and would-be radical Sir Roy - as he embarks on yet another affair. Roy, meanwhile, wants Douglas as an alibi for his growing involvement with Sylvia, an unsuitably young woman who loves nothing more than to shock and provoke. Life soon becomes extremely complicated as Douglas finds himself caught up in a frantic, farcical tangle of relationships, rivalry and scandal. Girl, 20 is a merciless send-up of 1970s London's permissive society from a master of uproarious comedy. © Kingsley Amis 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Oliver Chris (Narrator)

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One Fat Englishman

"Brought to you by Penguin. Brimming with gluttony, booze and lust, Roger Micheldene is loose in America. Supposedly visiting Budweiser University to make deals for his publishing firm in England, Roger instead sets out to offend all he meets and to seduce every woman he encounters. But his American hosts seem made of sterner stuff. Who will be Roger's undoing? Irving Macher, the young author of an annoyingly brilliant first novel? Father Colgate, the priest who suggests that Roger's soul is in torment? Or will it be his married ex-lover Helene? One thing is certain - Roger is heading for a terrible fall. Outrageously funny and irreverent, One Fat Englishman (1963) is a devastating satire on Anglo-American relations. © Kingsley Amis 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

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Ending Up

"Brought to you by Penguin. At Tuppenny-hapenny Cottage in the English countryside, five elderly people live together in rancorous disharmony. Adela Bastable bosses the house, as her brother Bernard passes his days thinking up malicious schemes against the baby-talking Marigold and secret drinker Shorty, while kindly George lies bedridden upstairs. The mismatched quintet keep their spirits alive by bickering and waiting for grandchildren to visit at Christmas. But the festive season does not herald goodwill to all at Tuppenny-hapenny Cottage. Disaster and chaos, it seems, are just around the corner ... Told with Amis's piercing wit and humanity, Ending Up (1974) is a wickedly funny black comedy of the indignities of old age. © Kingsley Amis 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Fergus Craig (Narrator)

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The King's English

"Brought to you by Penguin. The King's English is Kingsley Amis's authoritative and witty guide to the use and abuse of the English language. A scourge of illiteracy and a thorn in the side of pretension, Amis provides indispensable advice about the linguistic blunders and barbarities that lie in wait for us, from danglers, four-letter words to jargon and even Welsh rarebit. If you have ever wondered whether it's acceptable to start a sentence with 'and', to boldly split an infinitive, or to cross your sevens in the French style, Amis has the answer - or a trenchant opinion. By turns reflective, acerbic and provocative, The King's English is for anyone who cares about how the English language is used. © Kingsley Amis 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), John Sackville (Narrator)

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Complete Stories

"Brought to you by Penguin. The short stories of Kingsley Amis - the great master of post-war comic prose - are dark, playful, moving, surprising and extremely funny. This definitive collection gathers all Amis's short fiction in a single volume for the first time and encompasses five decades of storytelling. In 'The 2003 Claret', written in 1958, a time machine is invented for the weighty task of sending a man to 2010 to discover what the booze will taste like. In 'Boris and the Colonel' a Cambridge spy is unearthed in the sleepy English countryside with the help of a plucky horse, while In 'Mason's Life' two men meet inside their respective dreams. The collection spans many genres, offering ingenious alternative histories, mystery and horror, satirical reflections and a devilishly funny attacks. Amis's stories reveal the scope of his imagination and the warmth beneath his acerbic humour, and they all share the unmistakable style and wit of one of Britain's best loved writers. © Kingsley Amis 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), John Sackville (Narrator)

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I Want It Now

"Brought to you by Penguin. The quickest way to get rich is to marry someone rich, but how do you do this if you aren't yet rich? TV chat-show host Ronnie Appleyard is preoccupied with this question as he pursues wealthy heiress Simona Quick over two continents in the company of braying aristocrats, Greek shipping magnates, American dandies and the dreaded mother-in-law to be. But as he comes closer to his prize other questions present themselves. Is the androgenous Simona really worth it? Why doesn't she like sex? Is it possible to drink all day? With his unerring eye for absurdity and class satire Kingsley Amis shows us what happens when money meets naked ambition. © Kingsley Amis 2012 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

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The Anti-Death League

"Brought to you by Penguin. In this surreal comedy of soldiers and spies, Lieutenant James Churchill and his colleagues find themselves questioning their purpose. Are they for death or against it? These men of action will travel between the barracks, the lunatic asylum and the house of an aristocratic nymphomaniac in search of answers. For while few know the awful truth about Operation Apollo, the mission they are being trained for, fewer still understand the motives of the powerful psychiatrist Dr Best, who thinks he is surrounded by repressed homosexuals, and none know the identity of the secret agent among them. When the Anti-Death League is founded they are at last offered the chance to rebel and perhaps escape ... © Kingsley Amis 2012 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Jot Davies (Narrator)

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The Folks That Live On The Hill

"Brought to you by Penguin. Harry Caldecote is the most charming man you'll ever meet, a convivial academic who devotes his life to others. He is on call when his alcoholic niece falls into strange hands, when his brother threatens to emulate Wordsworth, when his son's lesbian lodger is beaten up by her girlfriend. He endures misplaced seductions, swindles and aggressive dogs just to keep the peace at the King's pub in Shepherd's Hill. But when the Adams' Institute of Cultural and Commercial History in America offers him the opportunity to do 'whatever he wanted to do' in a picturesque lakeside town, he faces a choice between freedom or responsibility - and whether to take charge of his own life. © Kingsley Amis 2012 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), David Rintoul (Narrator)

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New Maps of Hell

"Brought to you by Penguin. In this hilarious, inspiring and provocative series of essays, Kingsley Amis introduces every reader to the wonders and value of science fiction writing. From the extraordinary ideas but sexless science of Jules Verne to the power of H. G. Wells's terrifying storytelling; from the brilliance of bad science fiction writing to the potency of their important ideas; from a portrait of the average SF reader to Amis's sad prediction that this genre will never make it in film or television, New Maps of Hell is a warm and witty exploration of a world many readers may be yet to discover. © Kingsley Amis 2012 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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Difficulties With Girls

"Brought to you by Penguin. In Kingsley Amis's Difficulties With Girls, Jenny Bunn and Patrick Standish have settled into London life with their troubled courtship long behind them. Patrick works in publishing and Jenny teaches sick children in a hospital. They have reached a certain level of maturity, or so they think. It is not long before they realize their respectability will be severely tested by seductive neighbours with a taste for whisky, the sexually confused Ted Valentine, and the literary set of Hampstead. In this funny and provocative study of a young couple growing up, Amis shows us that the difficulty with marriage is that it's so hard to preserve, especially when Patrick and Jenny harbour deep yearnings for a different kind of life. Kingsley Amis's (1922-95) works take a humorous yet highly critical look at British society, especially in the period following the end of World War II. Born in London, Amis explored his disillusionment in novels such as That Uncertain Feeling (1955). His other works include The Green Man (1970), Stanley and the Women (1984), and The Old Devils(1986), which won the Booker Prize. Amis also wrote poetry, criticism, and short stories. © Kingsley Amis 2013 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Kingsley Amis (Author), Kristin Atherton (Narrator)

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Audiobooks by Kingsley Amis

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