Nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. It's the Depression Era and Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. There he meets the freaks, grifters, and misfits that populate this world. He introduces us to Marlena, beautiful star of the...

Well-known actress Penelope Wilton reads this classic fairy tale from Hans Christian Andersen, specially adapted for young children. In this much-loved story, a princess must rescue her brothers from the spell cast by a wicked queen.

Featuring: The Moriaty Murder Mystery, King Solomon's Mines, The œ1,000,000 Penny and The Vanishing Room. Anarchic, ground-breaking and hilariously inventive, The Goon Show re-shaped comedy and set new standards in the genre. The mix of brilliant wordplay, mental slapstick and surreal clowning ensures the popularity of Spike Milligan, Peter S...

PART 1-THE PARENTS: Jennifer and Peter Whitelock arrive in Japan to help find their daughter's murderer. Frustrated with the progress of the police investigation, Peter puts his trust in TV producer Norio Ito, who promises to champion their cause on his popular "news and entertainment" show, while Jennifer tries to discover what her daughter's life...

'The past is like a foreign country. Nice to visit, but you really wouldn't want to live there.' In 2003, Rebecca Whitaker died in a road accident. Her husband Mark is still grieving. He receives a battered envelope, posted eight years ago, containing a set of instructions with a simple message: 'You can save her.' As Mark is given the chance to sa...

The fourth and final episode, Propriety, Plants, Grandparents, and Growing Your Own, of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series, All of the Planets Wonders, in which award-winning comedian Josie Long attempts to better herself through learning from reference books, with help from Irish comedian Maeve Higgins. Originally broadcast 11 March 2009 and repeated o...

In 1920s London the Doctor and Rose find themselves caught up in the hunt for a mysterious murderer. But not everyone or everything is what they seem. Secrets lie behind locked doors and inhuman killers roam the streets. Who is the Painted Lady and why is she so interested in the Doctor? How can a cat return from the dead? Can anyone be trusted to...

Peter returns home to poverty in Newcastle, from active service in Northern Ireland. He has been horribly injured, and his relationship with his wife and friends deteriorates. His status as the outsider allows him to see the corruption of everyday existence, but he is unable to salvage any dignity from his situation. Gristle is based on Ernst Tolle...

Jimmy Spud is Newcastle's only trainee angel, determined to solve cosmic mysteries and save his father from the grip of lung cancer.

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Louise Ramsden, based on Seaneen Molloy's blog The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive, her account of learning to live and love with bipolar disorder. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 8 May 2009. Facing life as a newly-diagnosed manic depressive, Seaneen fears that Rob has become more nurse than boyfriend, and b...

Perivale, 1983. A column of smoke rises from the blazing ruins of a forgotten, decaying mansion. Perivale, 1883. In the sleepy village of Greenford Parva, Gabriel Chase is by far the most imposing edifice. The villagers shun the grim house, but the owner, the reclusive and controversial naturalist Josiah Samuel Smith, receives occasional visitors....

This ten-part history of mathematics reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force behind modern science. He explores...

The first 25 episodes from the landmark BBC Radio series. Martin Sixsmith brings his firsthand experience of reporting from Russia to this fascinating narrative, witnessing the critical moment when the Soviet Union finally lost its grip on power. Power struggles have a constant presence in his story, from the Mongol hordes that invaded in the 13th...

Jenny Seagrove and Nigel Havers star in this BBC Radio 2 production of Noel Coward's classic tale of forbidden love. Laura Jesson is a happily married woman until a chance encounter in a train station caf‚ draws her to Dr Alec Harvey. Literally bumping into each other brings temptation, danger and guilt into their lives, and a doomed love aff...

The second instalment of Jeeves and Wooster's bally adventures is chock-full of unabridged stories to bring a sparkle to even the dimmest eye. Martin Jarvis is on top form as usual, voicing superbly the many colourful characters, including the hapless and ever-romantic Bingo Little. From money-making schemes involving placing wagers on vicars to po...

Part of the P. G. Wodehouse Blandings series. When a valuable scarab belonging to an American millionaire is absent-mindedly stolen by Lord Emsworth, young writers Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine are tasked with infiltrating Blandings Castle to retrieve it. Meanwhile, vacuous Freddie Threepwood worries that some compromising letters may scupper his...

As well as Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster, these unabridged stories also feature many regular favourites, including Tuppy Glossop, Bingo Little, Bobbie Wickham, Aunt Dahlia, Aunt Agatha and Sir Roderick Glossop. All voiced masterfully by veteran Wodehouse reader Martin Jarvis.

A political discussion piece, this story sees political canvassers in Ireland discussing the merits of their candidates and the advantages and pitfalls of their positions, including whether or not they are to be paid. Also concerned with allegiances and tensions between nationalists and loyalists, this story from 'Dubliners' is historically interes...

A foolhardy mouse named Mervyn with great faith in his own courage and invincibility, sets off to antagonize the household cat, Pouncetta. His family and friends fear the worst and lament his untimely demise, they may be surprised by the strange turn of events, facilitated in part to a perhaps unduly paranoid feline...

Helen Johns reads some fascinating early writings by Jane Austen from the fictionalised A Collection of Letters. A prolific letter writer herself, in this collection we see how the budding writer is experimenting, and starting to explore the medium as a literary convention.

Childhood adventures that are fun for all the family. Poor Catherine Onslow! Everybody was either part of a group or had a best friend except Catherine. The first in a series of 4 unabridged audiobooks for girls aged 6 - 9 set at Woodside School.