Showing results by narrator "Nicholas Boulton" in All Categories

He's a duke. He's a mathematical genius. He can't talk and he's locked in a lunatic asylum. Only a modest Quaker girl can reach him, but when she helps him to escape, she's swept into his glittering aristocratic world, her life torn apart by his desperate attempt to save himself.

The Essential Englishman is a fascinating portrait that seeks to define at least some of the Englishman's attitudes, to celebrate his successes, admire his strengths, to glance with understanding at his weaknesses and also to reflect the way that others see him. The archetypal Englishman, it seems, adores animals yet has a passion for fox hunting; he has founded empires but has an inherent mistrust for anything foreign; he is suspicious of government yet trusts his (unwritten) Constitution implicitly.

In Moscow an unknown author approaches a publisher (the narrator), asking him to read and publish his manuscript. The narrator agrees to read it before the author returns three months later. At the heart of the story in the manuscript is a love triangle and themes of corruption, concealed love, and fatal jealousy. When one of the central characters is discovered dead, the narrative becomes a murder-mystery as the search for the culprit begins. 

Brahms is one of the best loved yet most controversial of all the Romantics. Almost uniquely, his works have never suffered the slightest period of eclipse. Profoundly emotional yet governed by an iron discipline, the music, like the man, is a fascinating, entertaining, often deeply moving blend of opposites. He had a gift for friendship and a capacity for love far beyond the ordinary, yet no man could be ruder or more hurtful.

Grigori Aleksandrovich Pechorin is an enigma: arrogant, cocky, melancholic, brave, cynic, romantic, loner, socialite, soldier, free soul, and yet, victim of the world, he eludes definition and remains a mystery to those who know him. Just who is he? And what does he hope to achieve? Evolving from first person to third person, and then into a diary, A Hero of Our Time takes on a variety of forms to interrogate Pechorin's cryptic character and his unusual philosophy, providing breathtaking descriptions of the Caucasus along the way.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the most astonishing child prodigy in the history of music, is felt by many people to be the greatest composer who ever lived. Dominated and shaped by a highly intelligent but frustrated and ambitious father, his story sees the development of a unique genius, from precocious and often endearing childhood to liberated fulfillment, unexpected poverty, and a tragically early death. Generously illustrated by Mozart’s music, from his fifth to his final year, this portrait-in-sound reveals a fascinating yet elusive character, drawing richly on the words of the composer himself and those who knew him.

Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. The reasons for its continued popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius.

Dumas' novel became one of the great love stories from its first publication in 1848. The title role of the consumptive heroine and her ultimate sacrifice inspired actresses from Sarah Bernhardt to Greta Garbo and led Giuseppe Verdi to write La traviata. In the hands of Nicholas Boulton, the story of passion and conflict is as fresh and moving as when it was first written. 

M'lady's name is Shadowless, cos she's the fastest ship in the sky. And she ain't no everyday airship, she's an aethership, meaning she don't need engines nor turbines nor nowt but an aethermancer and the stars t' guide her. When luckless Dil falls half-dead onto the deck of the skyship Shadowless, he joins an outlaw crew haunted by visions of maelstrom. Driven by a ruthless captain, guided by a pilot with madness in her eyes, they hunt the power that holds up the clouds. Until it turns - to hunt them.

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.

Lord Gideon Birch, wounded former naval Captain and freshly minted Viscount, has a colorful history as a renowned lover of women. But a decade at war has transformed this sensual rake, and what he wants now is only to live a life on his own terms. And so, he comes to the quietest village in England, searching for serenity and instead, encounters an astonishingly enthralling pair of green eyes that unsettle his carefully constructed world.

A fallen angel, bound for a thousand years, breaks free with plans of his own. He aligns with Korah, the most dangerous rebel on Earth. When royal cousins Josiah and Peter discover the truth, Josiah, the heir, must flee, while Peter is left behind with his homicidal father and the evil entity lurking in the shadows. Caught in a web of supernatural danger and intrigue, the two princes plot revolution as their kingdom plunges into rebellion and war.

Daphnis and Chloe is a gem from the pen of the otherwise unknown second-century CE Greek writer Longus. It is the only work of his to survive, and little is known of him. Though perhaps overshadowed by the Roman magnificence of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (dating from a century earlier), Longus’ story entranced the choreographer Michel Fokine, who persuaded the French composer Maurice Ravel to write music for a ballet on the love story as part of the Ballets Russes’ season in Paris in 1912. Ravel, inspired, produced one of the most ravishing scores of the Impressionist period. 

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.

Written by Matthew Solon. This play tells the story of the tense negotiation that followed the 2010 general election, which led to the country's first post-war coalition. Based on interviews with those who were at the meetings, political journalists and on published material - and using actors to play all the key characters - this is a compelling account of those five momentous days in May.

They said the dead can't hurt you.... They were wrong. The House on Cold Hill is a chilling and suspenseful ghost story from the multimillion-copy best-selling author of Dead Simple, Peter James. Moving from the heart of Brighton and Hove to the Sussex countryside is a big undertaking for Ollie and Caro Harcourt and their 12-year-old daughter, Jade. But when they view Cold Hill House - a huge, dilapidated Georgian mansion - Ollie is filled with excitement.

Tim, Meredith and Harry are three sassy, 30 something traders who, tired of making money for someone else, combine to launch a new hedge fund. But it doesn't take long before they get seriously above themselves, losing a small fortune and making some pretty heavy enemies in the City markets.

Evie, a phenomenally bright but socially marginalised fifteen year-old, has had it with Western Civilization. Self-educated in the ideas of the Luddites, Mao and T.E. Lawrence, she wants to launch a mission against technology and the damage she believes it has wrought on the human race. She's taken a look at human history and decided it's time things changed. For good. But can she get her mobile-addicted classmates to join with her? Written by Philip de Gouveia.

A BBC Radio 4 bittersweet romantic drama by award-winning writer Lou Ramsden, starring Kathryn Hunt and Nicholas Boulton, originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 15 April 2011. Hazel (Kathryn Hunt) spends her life describing plays for visually impaired people. But when she starts to describe the real world to her new friend Davy (Nicholas Boulton), is she giving an accurate picture of the world around her?

In the Name of the Family - as Blood and Beauty did before - holds up a mirror to a turbulent moment of history, sweeping aside the myths to bring alive the real Borgia family; complicated, brutal, passionate and glorious. Here is a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia's doomed years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolo Machiavelli.