Showing results by narrator "Nicholas" in All Categories

The Tardis takes the Doctor and Turlough to the London of 1702, where a mysterious highwayman roams the streets, a local occultist has made contact with the dead and gentlemen of fashion are disappearing, only to find themselves in a chamber whose walls weep blood.... The time travellers become enmeshed in the hideous plan of Sir Nikolas Valentine, a gambler at the mysterious Diabola Club who always seems to have a winning hand.... Written by Mark Gatiss. Directed by Nicholas Briggs.

The Post-Impressionist artist and writer Paul Gauguin led an extraordinary, troubled and restlessly itinerant life; he came late to painting and spent most of his last decade in the Pacific islands of Tahiti and the Marquesas, where he produced paintings loosely based on Polynesian tradition that heralded the emergence of primitivism and would exert a profound influence on modernist artists from Picasso and Matisse to Jackson Pollock. But his art, despite its growing popularity following Gauguin’s death in 1903, has provoked mixed responses.

Fear and dread fill Matt Walker's veins as he returns to his West London apartment. He promised himself things would be different this time, yet here he was again—haunted by the same demons and sins of his past. Before long, Lisa and baby George join him in the idyllic village they so hoped would be their fresh start. But all is not as it seems; shadows lurk behind closed doors and Matt is convinced he is being watched. Then Lisa makes a discovery which throws her life into turmoil, her world spinning out of control. Little does she know how far-reaching its consequences will be.

Full-cast radio adaptations of two classic mysteries by the writer of The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux was one of the pioneers of the detective story, alongside Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allen Poe. Best known for The Phantom of the Opera, he also wrote a series of crime novels featuring...

Birdsong in a Time of Silence is the story of a man rediscovering his passion for birdsong and nature. Narrated against the backdrop of the current pandemic, the book opens by acknowledging the new awareness of birds and birdsong that was made possible by the coincidence of spring and the experience of lockdown. Starting with a portrait of the blackbird - most prominent and articulate of the early spring singers - the book proceeds through 10 chapters to explore how birds sing, the variety of singing birds and more.

Fear is humanity's greatest enemy. The Cyberman can free us from it. The Cybermen.... The great civilisation we could have been...if we'd taken another path. A purer path. The Scorpius strategy is now in full operation. There will be victory in Orion.... Written and directed by Nicholas Briggs.

One word binds us all: geography. We are all geographers, human beings who care about the places we think of as 'home' - our habitat. And yet we have lost touch with the connection between our actions and the state of the planet that we all share. We need a new myth, a new narrative that...

An ongoing, episodic "prose comic" from which the pictures are summoned by the magic of words, Goon Squad is set in an alternate version of modern-day Manchester. Its biggest divergence from the real city is that it - along with most other large urban centers - has a team of superheroes to protect it against unusual threats with which the conventional forces of law and order would have problems. Goon Squad: Year One offers three action-packed volumes in a single collection.

50 Things to Know About Throwing a Kid’s Birthday Party, by Tina Wither, offers an approach to organizing a child’s birthday party that is practical and helpful in many different ways.

Zen was uniquely suited to the Samurai of Japan. The high moral principles of Buddhism, when adopted and adapted by the Japanese warriors who became the Samurai, created an austere philosophy of singular beauty and depth. Its characteristic requirements of strict control over body and mind was exemplified by ancient warrior monks whose serene countenance, even in the face of certain death, made them much admired even by their foes.

The incredible—and improbable—story of how an English eccentric saved Japan’s beloved cherry blossoms from extinction. Collingwood Ingram—known as “Cherry” for his defining passion—was born in 1880 and lived until he was a hundred, witnessing a fraught century of conflict and...

Ulrich von Bek, a facet of The Eternal Champion, makes a deal with the devil in this exciting adventure story from one of the greatest authors of our time. This is the story of Ulrich von Bek, a cynical mercenary who sells his skills as a soldier in the wars taking place all over Europe. After...

If the first six months of running the Smugglers Tavern had been a baptism of fire, the subsequent years were about as much fun as bobbing for apples in a vat of acid. Having swapped the tin roof of a cold British fish market for the sunny skies of a Spanish holiday island, Joe and Joy succeeded in thwarting the first wave of attacks from bungling bureaucrats, bewildered holidaymakers, and their own spectacular ineptitude. What they didn't realize was that their enemies were regrouping. Not only that, but those enemies had made camp a lot closer to home.

John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Thomas Carew, and Henry Vaughan: these were some of the 17th-century writers who devised a new form of poetry full of wit, intellect and grace, which we now call Metaphysical poetry. They wrote about their deepest religious feelings and their carnal pleasures in a way that was radically new and challenging to their readers. Their work was largely misunderstood or ignored for two centuries, until 20th-century critics rediscovered it, finding in it a deep originality and a willingness to experiment.

In defense of her honor, innocent Leda Etoile has burned all her bridges and taken refuge in her tiny attic room in a shabby boarding house in London. But her last safe haven is invaded when she wakes to find a man hidden in the dark - a man with golden hair and the face of a fallen angel, who moves in the night like a shadow. Will he be her savior, or her ruin? Samuel Gerard draws her inexorably into the richest circles of aristocratic England. But even as Leda falls in love with a man she can never have, she must keep his secrets.

Alby Brook and Gordon Pellan are following the best information they have to locate Suz in Dalek-infested space. But what is it the Daleks want with her? On the slave planet Guria, Alby discovers Suz is already gaining a reputation as something of an angel of mercy. Could it be that she is now working for the Daleks? But as Suz and Kalendorf travel from planet to planet, a murmur of defiance is growing.... Death to the Daleks! Death to the Daleks! Written & directed by Nicholas Briggs.

Counterfeiters, spies, murderers...and Isaac Newton must use his brilliant mind to defeat them all in this pair of full-cast historical crime dramas. In Master of the Mint, a new figure of justice is walking the streets of 17th-century London—Isaac Newton, scientific genius. After thirty years as a Cambridge academic, Newton takes up a new post at the Royal Mint in the Tower of London. In Nemesis, Isaac Newton must contend not only with opponents to his currency plans, but also with a French secret agent who is aiding the theft of England's entire supply of silver.

Xenophon was a Greek who admired and studied with Socrates. He marched with the Spartans and later was exiled from Athens. He wrote about the history of his times, the sayings of Socrates and about life in Greece. Edward Bysshe translated Xenophone's work in 1702. This translation has continued to have an excellent reputation. In this work Xenophon discusses the views of life taught by Socrates.

Ancient Egypt: The Glory of the Pharaohs tells us about civilization under the pharaohs, of mysterious statues and tombs, incredible obelisks, and the Sphinx. In this selection, the ancient Egyptian kingdom is brought to life in a way that fuels the listener’s imagination, teaching and entertaining in equal measure.

'Perhaps, thought Meredith, he would get away with this after all. No one, surely, would be crazy enough to keep going after him in this weather.' When the hunt for a missing man turns up a body in a forest in Northern England, Detective Jack Harris investigates. The man's links to known criminals raise suspicion, especially as one of the names is that of a notorious villain. But Harris' obsession with bringing Danny Radford to justice might distract him from the facts....