Cockney comedian Micky Flanagan's debut radio show charts the ups and downs of his life, from Billingsgate fish porter to successful stand-up comic and from Sunblest to panini, tabloids to broadsheets and the street party to the dinner party. Each week's episode focuses on a different decade of Micky's life, and he regales us with autobiographical...

Ronnie Barker stars in four episodes of the comedy sketch show as heard on BBC Radio 4. Here s a further cornucopia of clever comedy, featuring sketches, monologues, poems and songs in this sequential entertainment for radio . Here, the sketches include: a bizarre slice of Shakespeare, a poem for a man with a plan and a forgetful actor. There are a...

Join Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick and Joan Sims as they go beyond Round the Horne. Taking over the mantle of Round the Horne, Stop Messing About carried on the comedy tradition, which reunited Kenneth Williams with both Hugh Paddick and Kenneth's Carry On co-star, Joan Sims. These four episodes include such favourites as crusty old judge Sir Inig...

Award-winning writer Ayeesha Menon's rework of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit is set amongst the Catholic community in modern-day Mumbai. Convinced his relatives are after his money, Martin Chuzzlewit, a wealthy old landlord, has adopted orphan girl Mary as his carer with the understanding she will be housed and fed as long as he lives - but on his dea...

Wolfgang Stoecker is on a mission to explore the cultural meanings of dust. Cologne-based artist Stoecker has collected samples of dust from historic buildings across Europe and beyond. With the help of scientists and an electron-microscope, he has analysed the dust and discovered it contains tiny fossils, particles from the Sahara, pollutants of v...

Tuck into this bean-feast of razzle-dazzle rhymes and tales of tomfoolery! Meet Anna, who decides to view the world upside down. Make the acquaintance of the cat who writes poems. And find out exactly what happens when Mr Delmonico offends the word witch...

Arthur Lowe, Kenneth Connor and Ian Lavender star in four episodes of the radio comedy series set in a sleepy railway station. Featuring Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender from Dads Army, and Kenneth Connor (from the Carry On films), these recordings are among the few remaining episodes available. Goodbye Parsley Sidings (Series 1, Episode 10): Horace He...

A 15-part BBC Radio 4 series exploring the origins of the Post Office, how it became a cherished national institution, and how it adapted to globalisation and commercialisation. It s called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People s Post. Launched in 1516 by Henry VIII, it was intended to support royal communications and bolster intelligence...

A practical audio guide to help listeners improve their assertiveness skills. By the end of the programme they will feel that they have had a personal coaching session and put into practice the tips they have been given. It will be the audio self-help guide to expressing oneself clearly and confidently.

When Fate and a chivalrous impulse combine to saddle Viscount Desford with a friendless, homeless waif in the engaging shape of Cherry Steane, who else should he turn to in such a scrape but his childhood playmate, Henrietta Silverdale? And although they refused to oblige their parents by marrying, they have always been the best of friends. But as...

Set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and Dust Bowl, a family of farmers from Oklahoma head west in search of work, only to discover thousands like them are also on the move. Following a violent altercation with some locals, they head back on the road with their dream of a promised land in tatters. And life is set to get much worse...

Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay and Brian Wilde star in two classic episodes written by Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais. An Evening In: Godber is moved into Fletch's cell, and confides that he finds it tough each time the door bangs shut. Fletch advises him to think of it as a quiet night in, but the trouble is Godber has 698 more...

A wild, dark modern fairytale, set in Damascus. The second in a series of contemporary plays inspired by stories from the Arabian Nights. It is time for Shahrazad to tell another tale to save her life. In this story within a story, we find out that if Joe doesn't find the exclusive to satisfy his ruthless editor, he will lose his job. He finds thre...

The story of Graham Chapman's history with the Monty Python team; how he met and started writing with John Cleese, his rise through the ranks writing The Frost Report, the glory, glory years with the Pythons and his struggle to overcome his considerable drinking demons. And how the collective kindness of Messrs Cleese, Jones, Idle, Palin and Gillia...

Terrified, a young prisoner in the Second World War closes his eyes and pictures himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire. Across the courtyard in a Victorian workhouse, a father too ashamed to acknowledge his son. A skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar; her voice sends shivers through the skull. Soldiers and lover...

It is 1969 and James Bond is about to go solo, recklessly motivated by revenge. A seasoned veteran of the service, 007 is sent to single-handedly stop a civil war in the small West African nation of Zanzarim. Aided by a beautiful accomplice and hindered by the local militia, he undergoes a scarring experience which compels him to ignore M's orders...

Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping next to it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, Raphael's world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It's a bag of clues. It's a bag of hope. It's a bag that will change everything. Soon Raphael an...

When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case. Strike is a war veteran - wounded both physically and psychologically - and his life is in disarray. The case gives...

What do you do when a girlfriend's 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend's 30th? Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating? Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice? Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant? Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood? Is sle...

Readers can discover all the foul facts about the Smashing Saxons, including who got cow pats as Christmas presents, why wearing a pig on your head is lucky and how to make a dead Saxon happy.

How do we know what ancient Athens was like or how the Aztecs lived? This question is fully answered by Archaeology Detectives, which tells the story of how archaeologists in the past two hundred years have gradually deciphered some of the world's most fascinating ancient sites. It takes the reader on the journey from initial discovery of specific...