MY LIFE & TIMES...
THE SHORT VERSION
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My interpretation of Dickens' "ghost story of Christmas" received two previous amateur outings, staged by The Lansbury Players who also took on my epic dramatisation of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Other shows include To Sea in a Sieve, a musical drama, based on the life and writings of the nonsense poet Edward Lear, created with composer Dave Hewson and performed at the Edinburgh Festival and at the Westminster Theatre in London with myself in the title-role and Polly March as Everyone Else!
Alphabeasts was a light-hearted musical entertainment drawn from the verses of that modern master of nonsense verse, Dick King-Smith, and staged at the King’s Head, London, with Sue Bloomfield and myself performing the songs, accompanied by composer, Dave Hewson.
There were more high jinx in England Our England, a revue created and performed with Polly March and Tony Miall to inaugurate the St James Theatre in Valetta, Malta; while, on a rather more sombre note, The Autumn People was a concert work on the theme of the dark carnival written for narrator, singers and musicians (once again with a score by Dave Hewson), premiered at The British Music Information Centre.
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The series still lives on, twenty-five years later, as CD and cassette collections and, rather wonderfully, has achieved the status of a radio classic.
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However, it was to be my two 90-minute radio plays based on Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan and Gormenghast starring Sting, Freddie Jones, Bernard Hepton, David Warner, Eleanor Bron, Judy Parfitt, Maurice Denham and Sheila Hancock that won me a prestigious Sony Gold Radio Award.
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Other dramatisations and serials include include two seasons of Tales of the Bizarre based on the stories of my friend, Ray Bradbury; James Thurber’s The Wonderful O; J B Priestley’s The Thirty-First of June; Laurens Van Der Post’s The Night of the New Moon and E T A Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse-King.
I've had the privilege of working with some amazing actors including Jack Dee in Roald Dahl’s much-loved Danny, the Champion of the World, Wendy Hiller in P L Travers’ The Fox at the Manger; Jean Anderson in Frank Baker’s Miss Hargreaves; Patricia Routledge in Lucy M. Boston’s The Children of Green Knowe; Michael York and Simon Ward in Jeffrey Archer’s A Matter of Honour and Anton Rodgers, Alec McCowen and Anna Massey in my version of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.
And, while I'm name-dropping, I might mention that scripts for radio revues and entertainments have been performed by Thora Hird, Penelope Keith, Dora Bryan, Peter Goodwright, Una Stubbs, Leslie Phillips, Jeremy Lloyd, Beryl Reid and others.
My dozens of radio features have ranged across a wide diversity of subjects from the history of the weekend to an account of the "naughty 'nineties" and from Middle-earth to LEGOland.
Among my many documentary series for radio have been the BBC’s millennium history of the movies, A Century of Cinema, co-presented with David Puttnam; a celebration of film music, The Sound of Movies; a tribute to Judy Garland, No Place Like Home; a history of the Disney Studio, 'Aint No Mickey Mouse Business; , To Be It’s Magic!; and the story of soap-operas, To be Continued...
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In addition to writing for radio, I began to be heard on radio: firstly as a reviewer and then one of the regular presenters of the BBC's legendary arts programme, Kaleidoscope. I have also presented BBC TV's First Light, Radio 4's film programme, Talking Pictures, and the World Service arts show, Meridian; as well as hosting the film and theatrical quizzes Screen Test and Break a Leg. And, in addition to all of that, I have contributed to such shows as Night Waves, The Green Room, The Afternoon Shift and occasionally provide entertainment reviews to Radio 2's Sunday Supplement.
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Other books include Shadowlands - The True Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman; (heard last year on BBC Radio 2, read by the late Ian Richardson); The Land of Narnia; The Book of Guinness Advertising; A Christmas Carol - The Unsung Story; The Thomas The Tank Engine Man - The Story of the Reverend Awdry and His Really Useful Engines and Three Cheers for Pooh!
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My latest book (to be published by Lion in March) is 50 Favourite Bible Stories, illustrated by Stephen Waterhouse and narrated on three CDs by chosen by Cliff Richard as part of his celebration of fifty years in show-biz.
Read my feature on the making of the BBC Radio's The Lord of the Rings: The Ring Goes Ever On
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