Sign In Join Now
User Accessibility
  • Increase Font

  • Invert Colours

Search for a Book Browse Books Menu
The History Boys Cover Play Sample

Sample may contain unsuitable content.

Stream / Download

Audiobook streaming provided by:

OverDrive Logo

Share this book:

The History Boys

AuthorAlan Bennett

NarratorFull Cast

Duration2h 29m

CategoriesAdult Fiction, Plays and Dramatisations

Key StageA Level

PublisherBBC

VersionUnabridged

  Save to Wish List
  Add to Favourites List

Alan Bennett's new, award-winning play as heard on BBC Radio 3 features the National Theatre cast. Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison and Frances de la Tour star. At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright sixth-formers is getting out, starting university - and starting life. At the heart of 'The History Boys' are four characters, each with contrasting outlooks on teaching and school: Hector, an eccentric English teacher with no interest in exams; Irwin, a young supply teacher who sees history as `entertainment'; Mrs Lintott, a traditionalist, who teaches `history, not histrionics'; and a Headmaster obsessed with results. Winner of the Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Show Awards for Best New Play.

0 (0 Reviews)
0
0
0
0
0

Related Titles

Hymn Cover

Hymn

Author: Alan Bennett

Hymn

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

Duration 50m

To mark their thirtieth anniversary, the Medici String Quartet asked composer George Fenton and writer Alan Bennett to collaborate on a piece for performance at the Harrogate International Festival. The result was 'Hymn', a meditative piece, in which Bennett looks at the part which music played in his childhood. George Fenton's score, which accompa...

View Book
Talking Heads Cover

Talking Heads

Author: Alan Bennett

Talking Heads

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Various

Duration 3h 15m

Performed by the author and five of Britain's leading actresses, Alan Bennett's tales are full of quirky, insightful detail and wry observation. This audiobook contains the following monologues: 'A Chip in the Sugar' with Alan Bennett; 'A Lady of Letters' with Patricia Routledge; 'Bed Among the Lentils' with Anna Massey; 'Soldiering On' with Stepha...

View Book
Alan and Thora Cover

Alan and Thora

Author: Alan Bennett

Alan and Thora

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett, Thora Hird

Duration 2h

Until the time of her death in 2003, actress Thora Hird worked regularly with the playwright Alan Bennett. In this audiobook, Bennett recalls his work and friendship with Thora, and introduces three examples of their collaboration.

View Book
Smut Cover

Smut

Author: Alan Bennett

Smut

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

Duration 3h 52m

Two unexpected tales written and read by the bestselling author of 'The Uncommon Reader', 'Untold Stories' and 'The History Boys'. In 'The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson', Mrs. Donaldson is a conventional middle-class woman beached on the shores of widowhood after a marriage that had been much like many others: happy to begin with, then satisfactory a...

View Book
The Diaries Cover

The Diaries

Author: Alan Bennett

The Diaries

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

SeriesAlan Bennet's Untold Stories, Book 2

Duration 2h 34m

Untold Stories, Alan Bennett's first major collection of prose since his bestselling Writing Home, brings together the finest and funniest of his writing over the last ten years. Part 2: The Diaries Alan Bennett's diaries from 1997-2004 are an erudite collection of witty yet poignant recollections told in his own unique voice. Whether appreciating...

View Book
Triple Bill Cover

Triple Bill

Author: Alan Bennett

Triple Bill

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Full Cast

Duration 1h 12m

Three classic Alan Bennett adaptations, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and released on CD for the first time.

View Book
Alan Bennett's On the Margin Cover

Alan Bennett's On the Margin

Author: Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett's On the Margin

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

Duration 47m

On the Margin was a six part BBC 2 TV British satirical comedy sketch show written and performed by Alan Bennett and a regular cast including John "Strictly Come Dancing" Sergeant. produced by Sydney Lotterby of Yes Minister and Porridge fame. Each instalment featured a mixture of sketches (some foreshadowing Bennett's subsequent television dramas,...

View Book
Four Stories Cover

Four Stories

Author: Alan Bennett

Four Stories

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

Duration 8h

Alan Bennett, master storyteller, reads four of his highly-acclaimed stories. The Lady in the Van - An eccentric old lady and her van are told to move on by the council, but a kind homeowner invites her to live in his garden. In this bizarre tale, the homeowner is Alan Bennett and the woman stays for fifteen years. As heard on BBC Radio 4, this edi...

View Book
Common Assault Cover

Common Assault

Author: Alan Bennett

Common Assault

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

SeriesAlan Bennet's Untold Stories, Book 4

Duration 2h 24m

lan Bennett reads three further chapters from Untold Stories, his major collection of new writings. Untold Stories, Alan Bennett's first major collection of prose since his bestselling Writing Home, brings together the finest and funniest of his writing over the last ten years. After Untold Stories: Part 1: Stories, Part 2: The Diaries and Part 3:...

View Book
Forty Years On Cover

Forty Years On

Author: Alan Bennett

Forty Years On

Author Alan Bennett

Narrator Alan Bennett

Duration 1h 44m

Alan Bennett stars in a new production of his own acclaimed satrical comedy, thirty years after its original West End debut. The Headmaster has been at Albion House for fifty years, man and boy. Now he is retiring and takes part in the end-of-year entertainment for the last time. Entitled Speak For England, Arthur, it weaves together a multi-genera...

View Book