Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Biographies & Memoirs

Two BBC Radio programmes exploring President John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination on 22 November 1963. In Something Is Terribly Wrong, first broadcast in 2003, Alan Thompson charts the confusion and disbelief after the assassination. He returns to key sites in Dallas, and talks to eyewitnesses including Nellie Connally (ex-First Lady of Texas), Jim Leavelle (ex-Dallas detective), Jim Ewell (ex-Dallas Morning News correspondent), Aubry Rike (ambulance driver/witness).

Listen now to fascinating and remarkable conversations between The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and leading men and women as they discuss big questions about humankind. This collection is a must-listen for anyone looking to explore life beyond the sensational headlines and glossy PR that dominate our world. The interviews delve into what it really means to be human, and each guest has an incredible story that is shared in a deeply personal way.

Lenny Kravitz, a lifelong fan of Curtis Mayfield, celebrates his life and musical achievements in this four-part series. Curtis was a prolific songwriter whose career was cut short following a tragic accident in 1990. He died in 1999, aged only 57. His songs influenced millions and he was an inspiration to musicians including Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin.

Beryl Reid, OBE, (1919-1996) was one of Britain's much-loved comedy actresses. She won a BAFTA for Best Actress and received a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards. In this collection, we hear - in her own words - about other funny women, as well as some of her well-known roles in The Belles of St Trinian's and Smiley's People, and the reaction to her role in The Killing of Sister George.

A celebration of 100 years of outstanding comic performers from music hall, radio, and television. Researched, compiled and presented by Russell Davies, the collection includes a wide range of personalities, from the Crazy Gang to John Cleese and from Tallulah Bankhead to Victoria Wood.

Three dramatic true stories, this is investigative journalism at its very best. In these three gripping series, prominent journalists investigate fascinating human stories, shining a light on history and politics and deepening our understanding of the word we live in.

One morning in September 1957, Philip Larkin receives a very official looking letter which sends him into a spin.

"My first experience of Shakespeare was reading it out in class and none of us understanding it, and we only got it when we saw the Zeffirelli film of Romeo and Juliet and realised - oh it’s a story! Why didn't he say that!" Starting at the recreated globe theatre, Lenny takes a journey of discovery through the plays he's now passionate about to find out why we so often put the bard on a pedestal.

In Blind Man's Bete Noire, Peter White explores some of the things that annoy him most about his blindness. The four programmes include 'The Countryside', 'Holidays', 'Being Introduced to Other Blind People', and 'Going Slowly'. Produced by Cheryl Gabriel.

Sir Derek Jacobi is an award-winning actor who is famous for his many roles on television, film and on stage. He received a Tony Award for his performance as Benedick in the RSC's production of Much Ado About Nothing and is probably most famous for his TV roles in Cadfael and I, Claudius. In this collection, we hear, in his own words, about his influences, his school years and early acting performances, as well as the many roles he has played.

Having been put off Shakespeare by unimaginative schoolteachers, Lenny Henry recently confessed to a late-flowering passion for the plays. Pursuing his new-found enthusiasm, he now gets to grips with how the magic comes to life, watching Sir Peter Hall in rehearsal for a triumphant Measure for Measure and by even trying his own hand at Othello.

Alan Ayckbourn is a multi-award-winning playwright, whose plays have been seen in the West End, on Broadway and worldwide. In this collection we hear—in his own words—about his family and upbringing; on being a writer and director, as well as those who influenced him. He discusses the characters he creates and his time in Scarborough, and also his childhood and his love of theatre. Alan also talks about his relationships—on and off stage—and touches on his personal life.

Cecil Beaton was a portrait and fashion photographer, as well as a diarist and Oscar-winning designer. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive: At Home: Cecil Beaton, broadcast on BBC Radio, 7th May 1957 (featuring Hywel Davies); Face to Face, broadcast on BBC Television, 18th February 1962 (featuring John Freeman); Late Night Line-Up, broadcast on BBC Television, 9th May 1968 (featuring Sheridan Morley); Desert Island Discs, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 26th January 1980 (featuring Roy Plomley).

Broadcaster and current affairs specialist Clare English talks to 12 extraordinary trailblazers. Here are the inspiring stories of politicians and inventors, scientists and surgeons, models, parents, creatives and founders. All, in their own field and in their own way, have broken new ground and changed the world.

Angela Carter's relationship with radio began with an accidental sound effect. She went on to write two docu-dramas, Come Unto These Yellow Sands (about the Victorian painter Richard Dadd) and A Self-Made Man (about Edwardian novelist Ronald Firbank) and re-worked two of her short stories into radio plays. Carter loved radio's technical possibilities: the opportunity to extend the power of the written word, blurring the lines of traditional narrative into 'three-dimensional story-telling'.