Audiobooks narrated by Roger May

The Other Renaissance: From Copernicus to Shakespeare

It is generally accepted that the European Renaissance began in Italy. However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This 'Other Renaissance' was initially centred on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence was soon being felt in France, the German states, England, and even in Italy itself. Following a sequence of major figures, including Copernicus, Gutenberg, Luther, Catherine de Medici, Rabelais, van Eyck and Shakespeare, Paul Strathern tells the fascinating story of how this 'Other Renaissance' played as significant a role as the Italian renaissance in bringing our modern world into being.

Paul Strathern (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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The Man With Miraculous Hands: The Incredible Story of Himmler's Physician Who Saved Thousands of Li

Soon to be a major motion picture The incredible story of Felix Kersten who used his influence over Henrich Himmler to save thousands of lives during the Second World War. Steven Spielberg's Oscar winning film Schindler's List turned the hero Oscar Schindler into a household name, telling the story of the man who saved countless thousands from Nazi Germany's concentration camps. Few, however, have heard of Felix Kersten, the rotund, avuncular, and reluctant Finn who was pulled into the Third Reich's corridors of power as Heinrich Himmler's personal physician, seemingly the only person who could cure the chief architect of the Holocaust of his crippling stomach pains. Kersten's success with Himmler gave him extraordinary power over the second most important person in the Nazi regime. He was able to ultimately save thousands of lives from the concentration camps and outlive his captor. As Himmler said himself: ‘With every one of his massages, Dr Kersten deprives me of a life.'

Joseph Kessel (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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J. Sheridan Le Fanu: A BBC Radio Full-Cast Gothic Horror Collection: Carmilla, Uncle Silas, Shalker

Dramatisations and readings of Sheridan Le Fanu's best-known Gothic masterpieces One of the leading ghost story writers of the Victorian era, Sheridan Le Fanu is renowned for his chilling tales of mystery and horror. His pioneering lesbian vampire novella Carmilla was a major influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula, and spawned numerous film adaptations including Hammer Horror's Karnstein Trilogy. Opening this anthology is a dramatisation of that classic tale, starring Anne-Marie Duff as Laura, the lonely girl living in a solitary Austrian castle, who strikes up a dangerous friendship with the mysterious, bewitching Carmilla. It is followed by Ian MacDiarmid's reading of 'Schalken the Painter', the eerie story of a 17th Century Flemish artist in love with his master's daughter. Le Fanu's suspenseful Gothic thriller, Uncle Silas, about a young heiress placed under the guardianship of her father's disgraced brother, is dramatised with a full cast including Teresa Gallagher, George Cole, Joan Sims and Dorothy Tutin. Also featured is The Le Fanu Ballads, a supernatural portmanteau drama bridging Le Fanu's era and our world today. Based on the short stories 'The Watcher', 'Madam Crowl's Ghost', 'Schalken the Painter' and 'Mr Justice Harbottle', and set in a basement nightclub in Dublin, it stars Paul Chahidi, Haydn Gwynne and Jonathan Forbes. One unabridged readings conclude our collection. In 'The Ghost and the Bonesetter', read by Sean Barrett, a terrified house-sitter receives an unusual request from the tyrannical spirit of a local squire. Cast and credits Written by Sheridan Le Fanu First published 1838 ('The Ghost and the Bonesetter'), 1839 ('Schalken the Painter'), 1847 ('The Watcher'), 1864 (Uncle Silas), 1871 ('Madam Crowl's Ghost'), 1872 (Carmilla, 'Mr Justice Harbottle') Carmilla Cast: Anne-Marie Duff, Brana Bajic, David Warner, Celia Imrie, Jacqueline Pearce, Nigel Anthony, Roger May, Kenneth Cranham Dramatised by Don McCamphill. Produced by Lawrence Jackson First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5 June 2003 Schalken the Painter Read by Ian McDiarmid. Produced by Lawrence Jackson First broadcast BBC Radio 7, 29-30 May 2006 Uncle Silas Cast: Teresa Gallagher, Graham Crowden, Dorothy Tutin, Joan Sims, Kathleen Byron, Tessa Worsley, John Hartley, Jonathan Keeble, Roger May, Geoffrey Whitehead, Stephen Critchlow, George Cole, Jane Whittenshaw, George A Cooper, Becky Hindley, Pauline Letts, David Collings, John Evitts, Linda Regan, Joan Littlewood Dramatised by Alan Drury. Directed by Enyd Williams First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8-22 October 1995 The Le Fanu Ballads Cast: Paul Chahidi, Haydn Gwynne, Jonathan Forbes, Ruth Everett, Matthew Durkan, Alexandra Hannant, Rebecca Crankshaw, Chris Jack, Michael Begley, Neil McCaul. Sheridan Le Fanu's ghost stories adapted by Neil Brand Directed by Tracey Neale. Music composed and played by Neil Brand, with 'Nuala's Ballad' sung by Ruth Everett First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 17 April 2022 The Ghost and the Bonesetter Read by Sean Barrett. Produced by Gemma Jenkins First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 September 2001 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Sheridan Le Fanu (Author), Anne-Marie Duff, Celia Imrie, David Warner, Full Cast, Hadyn Gwynne, Joan Sims, Paul Chahidi, Roger May, Teresa Gallagher (Narrator)

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DS Manson: Three BBC Radio 4 crime thrillers

Three detective thrillers set in the Met's Missing Persons Bureau After shooting a teenage boy in an undercover operation, DS Sue Manson is taken off the front line and transferred to a desk job in Missing Persons. But no sooner has she arrived than she's in the thick of the action once more, tasked with tracking down a trio of twisted criminals... Fractions of Zero - When a desperate father begs DS Manson to find his daughter, the sole clue is a cryptogram on the back of a missing persons notice. Once unravelled, the code turns out to be a riddle that leads them to the location of a dead girl. More ciphers follow, and more victims - all seemingly selected at random - and Sue realises that she's dealing with a serial killer obsessed with numbers. Can she work out his system before he strikes again? Final Sacrament - After three people disappear for no apparent reason, DS Manson finds herself on the hunt for another serial killer. Her only leads are the cardboard triangles left at the victims' homes along with traces of a deadly toxin, and a series of macabre snaps sent to a South London priest. Father Raphoe believes the photographs are mimicking a series of religious paintings by Renaissance artist Nicolas Poussin. But who is targeting Raphoe's parishioners, and why? Fragments of Amy - Back from maternity leave, Sue Manson tackles the case of a missing heiress, Amy Muggeridge, abducted on her way back from a party. When a CD arrives containing a ransom message and a riddle, Manson seeks help from Amy's twin, Angela, who seems to have a psychic connection with her sister. Under hypnosis, she provides a vital clue to the kidnapper's identity - but is it too late to save Amy? Created by novelist Bill Murphy, one of the writers of Radio 4's Baldi, these gripping detective dramas star Susan Lynch and Annie Farr as Sue Manson. Fractions of Zero Sue Manson - Susan Lynch James Ellstrom - Philip Glenister Dr Fred Johnson - Clive Merrison Insp. Phillips - David Bannerman Mags Langan - Alison Pettitt Lee Horsley - David Holt Supt. - Nigel Anthony Directed by Tanya Nash First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5-9 August 2002 Final Sacrament Sue Manson - Annie Farr DS Brian Torrey - Patrick Robinson Insp. Phillips - David Thome Mags Langan - Alison Pettit Raymond/Andrew - Tom George Elizabeth/Receptionist - Jennifer Hill Fr. Raphoe - Des McAleer Directed by Tanya Nash First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19-23 April 2004 Fragments of Amy Sue Manson - Susan Lynch Insp. Phillips - Ron Cook Mags Langan - Gillian Kearney Plummer - Eddie Marsan Leila Muggeridge - Alexander Mathie Researcher/Telfor/Priest - Roger May DS Brian Torrey - Rhashan Stone Amy/Angela - Fuschia Sumner Noreen Manson - Frances Tomelty Dr Fred Johnson - David Warner Produced by Lawrence Jackson First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23-27 October 2006 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Bill Murphy (Author), Alison Pettitt, David Warner, Eddie Marsan, Frances Tomelty, Philip Glenister, Roger May, Ron Cook, Susan Lynch (Narrator)

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Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the Post-War Country House

Brought to you by Penguin. As the sun set slowly on the British Empire in the years after the Second World War, the nation's stately homes were in crisis. Tottering under the weight of rising taxes and a growing sense that they had no place in twentieth-century Britain, hundreds of ancestral piles were dismantled and demolished. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that so many of these great houses survived, as dukes and duchesses clung desperately to their ancestral seats and tenants' balls gave way to rock concerts, safari parks and day trippers. From the Rolling Stones rocking Longleat to Christine Keeler rocking Cliveden, Noble Ambitions takes us on a lively tour of these crumbling halls of power, as a rakish, raffish, aristocratic Swinging London collided with traditional rural values. Capturing the spirit of the age, Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of Britain in an era of monumental social change. © Adrian Tinniswood 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Adrian Tinniswood (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the English Country House After World War II

A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history-from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.

Adrian Tinniswood (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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Forget Strategy. Get Results.: Radical Management Attitudes That Will Deliver Outstanding Success

Michael Tobin, OBE, former CEO of leading IT company TelecityGroup, is more likely to throw his team to the sharks (literally) than put them on a training seminar. Controversial, thought-provoking and entertaining, Forget Strategy. Get Results outlines Michael's unconventional approaches to management and shares the lessons hes learned along the way. With TelecityGroups share price up by 1000% over the last ten years, this is a management approach that delivers results. The book will give practical applications for the core characteristics that underpin the philosophy Michaeal applies personally every day, and which he instills in the people who work with him. Michael's ideas inspire not only his management teams but the entire staff to stand, as he puts it, on ungrounded ground. To encourage his teams to break old patterns of thinking, he took them to Scotland to swim with sharks. So they could learn to field tough press enquiries he had staff abducted and interrogated on a trip to Tallinn. When a company merger brought together bitter business rivals he forced the warring parties to share one bed in an ice hotel so the only way they could get through the cold of the night was to huddle together and keep each other warm. The book is divided into 11 areas of management that can really make a difference on delivering results: 1) Fearlessness I learnt early on in my life not to have regrets, to face the future whatever it was going to be, to make tough decisions by getting on and doing it. 2) Freedom I believe people should be given the responsibility to be independent. Freedom comes from responsibility. 3) Flexibility This is the time to ride the wave of change without being dragged under by the weight of old-school thinking. 4) Failure I am not afraid of failure. I am afraid of not being loved. 5) Faith I dont use analytics to make decisions, only my gut feeling and intuition. I use the analytics to monitor my decision along the way. Stats can tell you anything you want to know. 6) Fortune I dont believe in strategy. Its an outmoded concept. I say plan for the vision and never make a decision until the moment you have to. Success is a journey, not a destination. 7) Fortitude I try never to judge other people by my own capabilities because I know my own capabilities have changed over time. 8) Focus This is a pressing business problem: how to manage people with hypertext scatterbrains: to do that you need to create knowledge space around values, articulate those values and your vision, and then rely on people to manage themselves. 9) Fun I completely agree with Napoleon Bonaparte: in victory we deserve champagne; in defeat we need it. 10) Flashpoint Often the problem is that we dont realise something is a problem until it comes and hits us in the back of our head. 11) Future The ground around us is shifting. For some the future is a frightening place. I disagree. I see and relish a future of immense possibility.

Michael Tobin (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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Get Things Done: What Stops Smart People Achieving More and How You Can Change

Whats Stopping You Getting Things Done? Whatever the cause, many people spend their lives in a cycle of enthusiasm and endeavour followed by setbacks and cynicism. The result is procrastination, low attainment and frustrated ambitions. By looking back and helping us understand how and why we developed our ineffective habits, Robert Kelsey shows in order to break this cycle we need to unravel our chaotic minds. Kelsey states that disorganization is not innate or inevitable and we can learn processes that allow for effective personal progress. We can get control of our time. And we can manage tasks. We simply need to recognise that we are the problem (not our parents or peers, nor the complexity of modern living and certainly not our genes) and then set ourselves up for efficiency. And if we turn that process into a habit we can develop a highly-effective, future-oriented, routine. Whats Stopping You Getting Things Done? analyses time management problems in order to aid focus and concentration. It examines planning and process, and discovers ways for overcoming barriers or roadblocks (including big-tasklists) and tackles specific areas of our lives where disorganisation can be most disabling. And finally there is the payoff how we can use our new-found efficiency to generate and execute ideas, be more creative and develop strong leadership skills? Of course, this can go deeper: helping us cope with stress and anxiety (two symptoms of the cluttered mind). Yet we must also recognise and accept the limits of organisation. We cannot gain full control in an essentially-uncontrollable world. Such a pursuit will only frustrate us further. Once we have mastered time and task management, however, and brought control to the areas we can influence, our fear of the uncontrollable is likely to recede. Whats Stopping You Getting Things Done? is emotional ergonomics for the organisationally-challenged individual at home, at work, with themselves, and with others. Contents Introduction my own personal chaos Part 1: The Unproductive Mind Part 2: Tools and Resources Part 3: Getting things done Part 4: Other People Conclusion: Its all chaos The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People

Robert Kelsey (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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The Hero's Way: Walking with Garibaldi from Rome to Ravenna

Brought to you by Penguin. Bestselling author of Italian Ways Tim Parks follows the hair-raising journey of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, 250-miles on foot from Rome to Ravenna, to look at Italy past and present. In the summer of 1849, Garibaldi, legendary hero of guerrilla wars in South America and future architect of a united Italy, was finally forced to concede defeat in his defence of a revolutionary Roman republic. After holding the besieged city for four long months, it was clear that only surrender could prevent slaughter and destruction at the hands of a huge French army. But Garibaldi was determined to turn defeat into moral victory. On the evening of 2 July, riding alongside his heavily pregnant wife Anita, he led 4,000 men out of the city to continue the struggle for national independence elsewhere. Hounded by both French and Austrian armies, they crossed the mountainous Appenines and after endless skirmishes and adventures arrived in Ravenna on 2 August with just 250 survivours. The group commandeered fishing boats on the Adriatic coast in an attempt to reach the revolutionary republic of Venice, but were intercepted by the Austrian navy. Anita was seriously ill. Garibaldi's companions split up. Most were rounded up and executed, but the hero himself escaped, travelling back across Italy in disguise until he could finally embark from Genova, first for Africa, then the USA. Ten years later, his revolutionary campaign in Sicily would be the catalyst that brought about the unification of Italy. With his partner Eleonora, Tim Parks follows their arduous journey in the summer of 2019, in a fascinating portrait of Italy past and present. © Tim Parks 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Tim Parks (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome

Brought to you by Penguin. Robin Lane Fox's The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome is a comprehensive and enthralling introduction to Ancient civilization. The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome dominated the world for centuries and continue to intrigue and enlighten us with their inventions, whether philosophy, politics, theatre, athletics, celebrity, science or the pleasures of horse racing. Robin Lane Fox's spellbinding history, spans almost a thousand years of change from the foundation of the world's first democracy in Athens to the Roman Republic and the Empire under Hadrian. Bringing great figures such as Homer, Socrates, Cicero, Alexander, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Augustus and the first Christian martyrs to life, exploring freedom, justice and luxury, this wonderfully exciting tour brings the turbulent histories of Greece and Rome together in a masterly study. 'Epic in the true sense' The Times Books of the Year 'He writes supremely well ... a keen eye for the telling detail and powerful example ... the humanity of the exercise shines through ... compulsory, and compulsive, reading' Peter Jones, Sunday Telegraph © Robin Lane Fox 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Robin Lane Fox (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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The George Orwell Fiction Collection: 1984; Animal Farm; Burmese Days; Coming Up For Air; Keep the A

This audiobook includes unabridged recordings of George Orwell's 5 great novels: 1984; Animal Farm; Burmese Days; Coming Up For Air; and Keep the Aspidistra Flying. 1984: Winston Smith begins to rebel against Big Brother's totalitarian control and falls in love with fellow worker, Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal. Animal Farm: Revolution is afoot for the animals at Manor Farm, and Mr Jones must pay the price. Burmese Days: John Flory, a white timber-merchant in 1920s Burma, sets out to untangle societal conventions and help Dr Veraswami save his reputation. Coming up for Air: In search of a simpler life, George Bowling escapes London and an impending sense of war to return to his childhood village. Keep the Aspidistra Flying: Gordon Comstock quits his advertising job to pursue the creative life in opposition to 'the money god'. Only his ever-faithful Rosemary can rouse him from the stupor and challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life. Full chapter listing: - Chapters 2 to 27: 1984 - Chapters 28 to 39: Animal Farm - Chapters 40 to 66: Burmese Days - Chapters 67 to 91: Coming up for Air - Chapters 92 to 105: Keep the Aspidistra Flying

George Orwell (Author), Hugh Kermode, Jonathan Oliver, Leighton Pugh, Roger May (Narrator)

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Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying is George Orwell's savagely satirical portrait of the literary life and is based loosely on his own experiences of writing life and working at Westrope’s Bookshop in Hampstead. London, 1936. Gordon Comstock has declared war on the money god; and Gordon is losing the war. Nearly 30 and 'rather moth-eaten already,' a poet whose one small book of verse has fallen 'flatter than any pancake,' Gordon rejects money-worship and a steady job in advertising for the pursuit of creativity. But poverty soon bites, and with it his creative spirit disappears. Only his ever-faithful Rosemary can rouse him from the stupor and challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life. Punctuated with autobiographical detail, Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a tragically comic account of one man’s struggle to escape from a materialistic life.

George Orwell (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Roger May