Opening Lines Podcast
1) On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s ideas changed our understanding of the world perhaps more than those of any other British scholar. His famous voyage on HMS Beagle ended in 1836, and he had developed his findings int...Show More
2) Treasure Island
John Yorke looks at Treasure Island, the great swash-buckling adventure by Robert Louis Stevenson that inspired almost every pirate tale to follow. Stevenson wrote the story to amuse his stepson on a ...Show More
3) Hiroshima
In the months that followed the end of the Second World War, very few people in the West knew the true power of the atomic weaponry that had forced the Japanese surrender. John Hersey’s article Hirosh...Show More
4) The Girls of Slender Means
John Yorke takes a look at The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark. Published in 1963, two years after the success of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, it’s set in the summer of 1945. A group of young...Show More
5) King Lear - Episode Two
John Yorke looks at King Lear, the brutal tragedy that some claim is Shakespeare’s greatest achievement.When Lear, the 80 year old king of ancient Britain, decides that the time has come to divide his...Show More
6) King Lear - Episode One
John Yorke looks at King Lear, the brutal tragedy that some claim is Shakespeare’s greatest achievement.When Lear, the 80 year old king of ancient Britain, decides that the time has come to divide his...Show More
7) Next Season
The series that examines books, plays and stories and how they work. John Yorke looks at the 1968 theatre novel Next Season by Australian writer and director Michael Blakemore. Based on Blakemore’s li...Show More
8) Underfoot in Show Business
The series that examines books, plays and stories and how they work. John Yorke looks at the 1962 theatre memoir Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff. The text is a comic account of Hanff’s atte...Show More
9) Casino Royale
John Yorke looks at Casino Royale, the novel by Ian Fleming that introduced James Bond to the world. First published in 1953, Fleming’s thrilling novel plunges us immediately into the murky underworld...Show More
10) London Belongs to Me
Ian Sansom celebrates the evocative portrait of London on the brink of war that Norman Collins paints in his 1945 novel London Belongs to Me.The book centres around the lives of the inhabitants of 10 ...Show More