Audiobooks narrated by Michael Fenner

Franz Beckenbauer is Germany's greatest-ever football player and one of the game's biggest icons of all time, a World Cup winner as player and manager. The Three Lives of The Kaiser is the first English-language account of a truly remarkable existence. Known everywhere as 'the Kaiser', Beckenbauer's compatriots even referred to him as 'the Shining Light'. Not anymore, though. Because what is often described as a blessed life has really been an emotional roller-coaster ride with stunning highs and bitter lows. He rose to fame at the 1966 World Cup in England, where after the final defeat the British press marvelled at the grace of a 'beaten but proud Prussian officer'. However, there was nothing Prussian about the Bavarian boy who flouted authority, disregarded rules and viewed the traditional German work ethic with the disdain of someone to whom everything comes naturally. Beckenbauer grew into one of the game's first truly global stars and transcended sport. He was painted by Andy Warhol and discussed the merits of Wagner with Aga Khan's wife at the Bayreuth Festival. He gently warded off overtures from Rudolf Nureyev and danced with Mick Jagger at Studio 54 in New York. Back home, though, people often wondered what to make of this most famous German athlete who was so un-German. It took his country three decades to learn to love Franz Beckenbauer - but shenanigans surrounding his greatest off-the-field triumph, bringing the 2006 World Cup to Germany, have made him a controversial figure all over again. Uli Hesse assesses his achievements and his legacy in this definitive insight into the life of a sporting icon.

Uli Hesse (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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The Tour: The Story of the England Cricket Team Overseas 1877-2022

An England cricket tour is a unique phenomenon, with its own pressures, challenges and remarkable highlights. It presents its participants - shorn of the usual support networks they enjoy at home - with a prolonged test of skill, physical stamina and mental resilience. Now Simon Wilde, author of the acclaimed England: The Biography, examines in The Tour the delicate chemistry that makes for a successful tour and why others disintegrate so badly. Since the 19th century, England has been sending its cricket teams around the world to take on their rivals. Initially, these trips were undertaken by boat, meaning players could be away for many months, often in alien conditions. With air travel reducing journey time and facilities much improved, the challenges still remain: homesickness, isolation, hostile crowds - not to mention an opposition determined to win at all costs. For some, the experience can be too much, while others thrive in the heat and dust of battle. The Tour looks at all aspects of the history of England's cricketers abroad, including the burden placed on the captain, who is expected to combine on-field acumen with the deft touch of an ambassador off it. There have been diplomatic incidents aplenty, from Douglas Jardine's Bodyline tactics to Len Hutton's tour of the Caribbean, as well as the special pressures of playing in countries such as India and Pakistan during periods of unrest. Touring has never lost its romance. There have been serious scrapes, from court cases to car crashes, but also much fun, whether joining in with the Barmy Army or David Gower famously taking a Tiger Moth for a spin. Wilde explains how this seemingly anachronistic activity has been adapted from an instrument of imperial soft power to a relentless cricket circus that never ends. Simon Wilde has once again created a masterpiece of insight, information and entertainment, an aspect of cricketing life that few will ever forget: the tour.

Simon Wilde (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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We Still Have Words

Georges Salines lost his daughter Lola in the attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris on 13th November 2015. Azdyne Amimour lost his son. Both were aged 28. Lola was one of the 90 victims, Amimour's son one of the attackers. From his meeting with Azdyne Amimour, an unprecedented dialogue emerged. Georges Salines carries the memory of his daughter and many other victims, while Azdyne Amimour seeks to understand how his son was able to commit acts which he condemns without appeal. Driven by mutual curiosity, the two tell their stories and unfold the story of 'their' 13th November. In the course of this conversation, a deep respect was born between these two fathers whom everything should nevertheless have opposed. Their testimony feeds a peaceful reflection on radicalization, education and mourning. Because if there are words left, there is also hope.

Azdyne Amimour, Georges Salines (Author), Homer Todiwala, Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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The Russian Affair: The True Story of the Couple who Uncovered the Greatest Sporting Scandal

It was the story that shocked the world: Russian athletics was revealed to be corrupt from top to bottom, with institutionalised doping used to help the nation's athletes win medals they did not truly deserve. But the full story of the couple who blew the whistle has never been told - until now. When Russian anti-doping official Vitaly Stepanov met the young 800m athlete Yuliya Rusanova, for him it was love at first sight. Within two months, they were married. But there was a problem - in fact, there were lots of problems. She admitted she was doping and that everyone else was doping, and she let him know that she came from a dark place … It could all have brought a very swift end to a very hasty marriage, but gradually the Stepanovs began to realise that whatever you did, the system in Russia was stacked against you. In the end, the only ones they could rely upon were each other. Fully aware of the risks they were taking, they decided to turn the tables on those who had manipulated them and cheated the sporting world. The result of their investigative work sent shockwaves around the planet and led to Russia's athletes being banned from world sport, while the Stepanovs themselves had to go into hiding. The Russian Affair is a gripping true-life drama that at times feels like a spy novel and at others like an epic love story. But, at the centre of it all, is a quietly determined couple who knew that if they stood together they could shine a light on a corrupt system and bring it crashing to the ground.

David Walsh (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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The Friends of Harry Perkins

'Harry Perkins was buried on the day that America declared war on China.' The definitive post-Brexit thriller, and long-awaited sequel to the bestselling A Very British Coup. 'Brilliant, chilling and all too plausible.' Alastair Campbell ?'Terrific...measured, heart-stopping, moving, clear-eyed'. Stephen Frears 'Brexit Britain was a gloomy place. True, the Armageddon that some had prophesied had not occurred, but neither had economic miracle promised by the Brexiteers. Instead there had been a long, slow decline into insularity and irrelevance. The value of the pound had fallen steadily against the Euro, the dollar and the Yuan. The much vaunted increase in trade with the Commonwealth had not materialised. The Americans, too, were proving particularly obstreperous. Even now after a nearly decade of negotiations no significant agreements had been reached. At the UN there was talk of relieving the UK of its seat on the Security Council.' Thirty-five years after the publication of A Very British Coup, former Labour MP Chris Mullin has written a compelling and timely sequel. In a near-future, post-Brexit Britain, the fault lines forged in the white heat of the referendum have become entrenched features of British political life. Britain's standing in the world has steadily diminished as its problems have grown. Into the maelstrom steps Fred Thompson, former aide to left-wing prime minister Harry Perkins and his successor as MP for Sheffield Parkside. As he ascends the greasy pole of British politics, Thompson must deal with corruption, the threat of the Far Right and personal tragedy. Along the way, he learns that power does not come without a personal price and that shadowy forces are at work behind the scenes...which, this time, appear to be on his side. At once a gripping political thriller and a chilling prognostication of where we may be headed, this taut, insightful and engrossing novel is essential reading for our troubled times.

Chris Mullin (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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Deep Blue

From the author of Legacy, now a major BBC Film, comes a brilliant new novel for fans of le Carre, Graham Greene and Charles Cumming. During a time of political disruption and rising anti-nuclear sentiment, MI5 discovers that an extremist fringe group, Action Against Austerity, appears to have links to an established political party while planning sabotage using something or someone called Deep Blue. Banned from investigating British political parties, the head of MI5 seeks advice from Charles Thoroughgood, his opposite number in MI6. Agreeing to help unofficially with the case, Charles must delve deep into his own past, to an unresolved Cold War case linked to his private life. Using the past as key to the present, he soon finds himself in a race against time to prevent a plot which is politically nuclear ... Authoritative and packed with in-depth knowledge, Deep Blue is a gripping new spy thriller from a master of the genre.

Alan Judd (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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Frost: That Was The Life That Was - The Authorised Biography

The official autobiography of Jamie Vardy. An ordinary lad from Sheffield, Jamie Vardy has become known as an against-the-odds footballing hero the world over. Yet a few years ago, things couldn't have been any more different. Rejected as a teenager by his boyhood club, Jamie thought his chance was gone. But from playing pub football and earning Â£30 a week at Stocksbridge Park Steels, while still working in a factory, his off-the-cuff performances saw him rise. Jamie had a wild and turbulent youth, something he doesn't shy away from. But football became his saving grace and, once he filled his boots with goals at FC Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town, he moved to Leicester City. With a growing sense of focus, Jamie put his head in the game. After the miracle of surviving relegation, Leicester set out on their fairy-tale season. The team of unlikely outsiders bonded together to achieve the unthinkable: Jamie set the record as the first player to score in 11 consecutive Premier League matches and Leicester beat odds of 5000-1 to become champions. Defying all expectations, this is the story of the boy from nowhere who reached the top in his own unflinching, honest words. 'Even now there are moments when I shake my head at the madness of it all going from the factory floor and playing Sunday morning pub football with my mates, to scoring for my country against the World Cup winners in Berlin. It's the stuff of dreams. It hasn't always been an easy journey, some doubted that I was capable, and at times I was probably guilty of not helping myself, but nobody can question my passion for football or my commitment once I set foot on the pitch. There is so much that people don't know and I look forward to sharing all of that and more in what I hope will be an inspiring story.' Jamie Vardy

Neil Hegarty (Author), George Frost, Lady Carina Frost, Michael Fenner, Rory Bremner, Wilfred Frost (Narrator)

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The Traitor

He died in the darkness, surrounded by friends. They found him at sunrise, on Venice's most popular beach. His throat had been cut, his tongue removed. Captain Kat Tapo suspects a ritual murder with Masonic roots. The brotherhood won't give up its secrets to a policewoman - but Kat won't give up the hunt.

Jonathan Holt (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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Murder Team

A standalone short story from bestselling writer Chris Ryan. Danny Black is a lone wolf on an unofficial mission. He is in the deserts of East Africa looking for his old comrade in arms Spud, wounded in their last mission and now missing. A wounded British solder is a commodity in these parts... Danny recruits a grizzled ex-Blade to help him, encounters an ex-Mossad mercenary, who is part of the supply chain, and heads for a showdown with a small Somali army, led by most-wanted Islamist militant Abu Bakr. In the heat of battle, Danny discovers he is not the lone wolf he thought he was. He begins to wonder, as so many soldiers have before him, is he just a pawn in a greater game?

Chris Ryan (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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A Devil Under the Skin

The third Kiszka and Kershaw crime thriller.Things are looking up for Janusz Kiszka, big-hearted 'fixer' to London's Poles. His girlfriend/the love of his life, Kasia, is finally leaving her no-good husband to make a new life with him, and he's on the brink of a deal to ensure their financial security for years to come.Then Kasia vanishes - and the big Pole's world is torn apart. Convinced she's been abducted, he must swallow his pride and seek the help of an old contact - maverick cop Natalie Kershaw, who's been suspended following a fatal shooting. But the search swiftly takes an even darker turn... What connects Kasia's disappearance and a string of brutal East End murders? And who is the mysterious and murderous enforcer stalking the streets of London?Meanwhile, time is running out for Kasia. To reach her, Kiszka must confront a gut-wrenching dilemma that will shape the rest of his life.

Anya Lipska (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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Zero Six Bravo: The Explosive True Story of How 60 Special Forces Survived Against an Iraqi Army of

Damien Lewis has spent twenty years reporting from conflict zones around the world. Zero Six Bravo--a Sunday Times number one bestseller--tells the story of "sixty special forces against 100,000--a feat of arms to take the breath away." (Frederick Forsythe) They were branded as cowards and accused desertion. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ten years on, the story of these sixty men can finally be told. In March 2003, M Squadron--an SBS unit with SAS embeds--was sent 1,000 kilometers behind enemy lines on a true mission impossible, to take the surrender of the 100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5th Corps, an operation so risky it earned the nickname â??Operation No Return' right out of the gate. Caught in a ferocious ambush by Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen, plus the awesome firepower of the 5th Corps' heavy armor, and with eight of their vehicles bogged in Iraqi swamps, M Squadron launched a desperate bid to escape, inflicting massive damage on their enemies. Running low on fuel and ammunition, outnumbered, and outgunned, the elite operators destroyed sensitive information and prepared for death or capture as the Iraqis closed their deadly trap. Zero Six Bravo contains previously unpublished information detailing the essential involvement of American troops in this astonishing military feat. Zero Six Bravo recounts in vivid and compelling detail the most desperate battle fought by British and allied Special Forces trapped behind enemy lines since World War Two.

Damien Lewis (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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The Abduction

The Abduction has begun... The teenage daughter of a US soldier disappeared in Venice last night. Now clues are appearing on anonymous website Carnivia.com - and the police are always one step behind. Kat Tapo of the Venice Carabinieri and US intelligence analyst Holly Boland are working together to find the girl, but the race to save her will uncover a conspiracy that powerful men will kill to keep hidden.

Jonathan Holt (Author), Michael Fenner (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Michael Fenner