Showing results by narrator "Duncan" in All Categories

The Secret World is an impressions show with a difference – it shines a light on the imaginary alternative lives of famous folk. Each episode takes place over one day, with stories unfolding and overlapping from morning to night. In these 22 episodes, we hear about the bizarre habits of celebrities from Lady Gaga to Keith Harris and Orville. Al Pacino reveals his alternative life as a balloon twister, Barack Obama becomes a Pearly King; Professor Brian Cox finds himself stalked by various women, including the Queen.

The popular topical comedy show is back with another helping of political vituperation, media mauling and celebrity savaging. So sit back and treat your ears to a bumper helping of superb satirical impressions from Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.

A wonderful selection of 27 short stories about holidays by one of the world's best-loved children's authors, Enid Blyton. School's out! So go on a picnic, visit the seaside or throw coconuts at the fair in this enchanting collection of stories perfect for summer holidays.

Australian vet Autumn Reynolds is a girl gone... not wild exactly, more like lazy. Since her boyfriend abandoned her in New York City for a bunch of improv groupies, she's had two priorities; sucking the nitrous out of whipped cream cans and making sex comics about her mysterious landlord. Blake hates people—and sunlight—with good reason. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself lusting after his upstairs tenant, a sunny people pleaser down on her luck. It turns out his ability to terrify with a single scowl comes with an advantage.

On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga - Greece's former leper colony.

Cassidy has strict rules: she doesn't date locals, she doesn't sleep with men she isn't dating, and she doesn't do anything that might jeopardize her good-girl reputation. But after a run-in with her ex-boyfriend—and a few too many drinks—she's ready to buck those rules and get revenge. Local cowboy Chase "Red" Thompson has never met a rule he didn't love breaking. With a tarnished reputation, brash attitude, and decades-long crush on Cassidy, he's more than willing to go along with her plan: one night together that they'll never talk about again.

In 10 powerful stories, Victoria Hislop takes us through the streets of Athens and into the tree-lined squares of Greek villages. As she evokes their distinct atmosphere, she brings vividly to life a host of unforgettable characters, from a lonesome priest to battling brothers, and from an unwanted stranger to a groom troubled by music and memory. These bittersweet tales of love and loyalty, of separation and reconciliation, captured in Victoria Hislop's unique voice, will stay with you long after you reach the end. Three of these stories appeared previously published in Victoria Hislop's collection, One Cretan Evening.

The subtitle of this wonderful memoir declares its contents: this is 'my life with Harold Pinter', not Lady Antonia Fraser's complete life, and certainly not his. In essence, this is a love story and as with many love stories, the beginning and the end, the first light and the twilight, are dealt with more fully than the high noon in between. The result is a marvellously insightful testimony to modern literature's most celebrated marriage.

Evelyn and Muriel Axon, mother and daughter, lead a haunted existence. Objects of horror to their neighbours, they evade or terrorise any social worker who crosses their path. Inside their house, they pursue a covert persecution of each other, shrinking from the unseen occupants of their spare room. But change is in the air… Every Day is Mother's Day is a merciless comedy of colliding lives: of sex, death, madness, adultery and the social services.

Our first meeting was at a nightclub, and it was something straight out of my most romantic fantasies. My ovaries exploded at the sight of the Russian God. And by God, I mean he was ripped, tall, dark, and deadly attractive. There were enough sparks between us to light up a city. Then an explosion blasted through the nightclub, and we got trapped together for three hours, sharing our most personal details...everything but our names. Two years later, our second meeting is the complete opposite of the first. It's clear Misha Petrov, a Russian enforcer for the bratva, despises me.

The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. After its founding in 509 BCE, the Romans refused to allow a single leader to seize control of the state and grab absolute power. The Roman commitment to cooperative government and peaceful transfers of power was unmatched in the history of the ancient world. But by the year 133 BCE, the republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled.

For the first time, more than 15 years after four boys from London were first thrown together to form what would go on to become one of the most successful and infamous groups of the boyband era, Lee, Antony, Duncan and Simon tell their full, no-holds-barred story in their own inimitable words.

In the summer of 1940, most eyes are focused on the skies above the South of England. The battle for Britain has just begun. But young Evie Lucas has eyes for no-one but a dashing young pilot called Tony. Evie has a glittering career as an artist ahead of her but seems to be wasting her time sketching endless portraits of Tony. She wants his parents to have something to remember him by in case it all goes wrong in the war…

Once a celebrated author of short stories now in his twilight years, Anthony Peardew has spent half his life collecting lost objects, trying to atone for a promise broken many years before. Realising he is running out of time, he leaves his house and all its lost treasures to his assistant Laura, the one person he can trust to fulfil his legacy and reunite the thousands of objects with their rightful owners. But the final wishes of the Keeper of Lost Things have unforeseen repercussions which trigger a most serendipitous series of encounters....

A Question of Trust is vintage Penny Vincenzi: rich with characters, life-changing decisions, glamour, love, desire and conflict. London, 1950s. Tom Knelston is charismatic, working class and driven by ambition, ideals and passion. He is a man to watch. His wife, Alice, shares his vision. It seems they are the perfect match. Then, out of the blue, Tom meets beautiful and unhappily married Diana Southcott, a fashion model. An exciting but dangerous affair is inevitable and potentially damaging to their careers.

In March 2021, an obscure financial technology company called Greensill Capital collapsed, going into administration. As it unravelled, a multibillion-dollar scandal emerged that would shake the very foundations of the British political system, drawing in swiss bankers, global CEOs, and world leaders, including former British Prime Minister, David Cameron. At the centre was an Australian financier named Lex Greensill. Pyramid of Lies charts the meteoric rise and spectacular downfall of Greensill and his company.

When Josephine Tey inherited a remote Suffolk cottage from her godmother, it came full of secrets. There were the infamous Red Barn murders, committed in the grounds a century before, and still casting a shadow over the village. And there was Lucy Kyte, the mysterious beneficiary of her godmother’s will, who no-one in the close-knit village would admit to knowing. Trapped in this isolated community and surrounded by shadows of obsession, abuse and deceit, can Josephine untangle history from present danger and prevent a deadly cycle beginning once again?

As minister of state at the Foreign Office, Alan Duncan was once described as Boris Johnson’s ‘pooper-scooper’. For two years, he deputised for the then foreign secretary, now prime minister. Few are more attuned to Boris’ strengths and weaknesses as a minister and his suitability for high office than the man who helped clear up his mistakes. Riotously candid, these diaries cover the most turbulent period in recent British political history - from the eve of the referendum in 2016 to the UK’s eventual exit from the EU.

FBI agent Ava James has made it her life mission to destroy the disturbing crime network that runs this world. After her best friend, Molly, was taken by traffickers, and her miraculous escape from their clutches. She dedicated her entire life to dismantling their evil wide-reaching web. Unfortunately, it seems there is no end to this enormous global enterprise. One that extends its claws from the nation’s capital to small villages. While Ava is wrapping up the Teagan Reese case, she receives surprising news.

As a high-ranking member of the Devils MC, I’m a marked man. It’s why I push Corey away. But once I taste her, keeping her at arm’s length isn’t an option. It doesn’t matter that she’s ten years younger, or that my name will move to the top of her brother’s hit list. She’s mine. I’m going to keep her—whatever it takes.