Art audiobooks

The Lobotomists

By: Hugh Levinson

Narrated by: Hugh Levinson

Length: 27 minutes

Abridged: No

This fascinating BBC Radio 4 documentary tells the story of three key figures in the strange history of lobotomy, and for the first time explores the popularity of the operation in the UK.

The story starts in 1935 with a Portuguese doctor called Egas Moniz, who pioneered a radical surgical procedure on the brain which he asserted would relieve... Read more

Effie

By: Suzanne Fagence Cooper

Narrated by: Sophie Ward

Length: 12 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

Effie Gray, a beautiful and intelligent young socialite, rattled the foundations of England's Victorian age. Married at nineteen to John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless, unconsummated union after Ruskin rejected her on their wedding night. On a trip to Scotland she met John Everett Millais,... Read more

Aesop's Fables

By: Aesop

Narrated by: Alison Steadman, Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks,...

Length: 3 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

40 of Aesop's tales, specially adapted for young children. Read by Richard Briers, Jane Horrocks, Jonathan Pryce, Alison Steadman, Richard E. Grant, Lindsay Duncan and Brenda Blethyn. Stories include: The Hare & the Tortoise/The Frogs & the Ox/The Fox & the Crow/The Monkey as King/The Bundle of Sticks/The Gnat & the Lion/The... Read more

Silas Marner (Classic Serial)

By: George Eliot & Richard Cameron

Narrated by: George Costigan & Rebecca Callard

Length: 1 hour 52 minutes

Abridged: No

Outcast from the church, community, and close friends for a crime he did not commit, Silas Marner's trust and faith falls away. A broken, disillusioned man, he builds a new faith, that will never let him down: gold. He weaves his cloths, counts his money, baptises himself with the coins of his new religion. When tragedy strikes again and all his... Read more

Bob Servant Hero Of Dundee

By: Neil Forsyth

Narrated by: Cameron Stewart

Length: 4 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Cyber hero Bob Servant became a cult classic in the best-selling Delete This At Your Peril. Now this much-anticipated sequel tells the life story of one of Scotland's unsung heroes. From his days in the Merchant Navy to his creation of a window-cleaning round and his time as a cheeseburger magnate, Bob Servant has lived life to its fullest. With... Read more

In The Family

By: Sean Grundy

Narrated by: Christine Hall, Colin Hoult, Diane Morgan, Jane...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

After ten years, Peter leaves Gillian for Laura. Distraught, Gillian goes round to Peter's parents to be consoled. They take her in - then things go a little weird. Starring Diane Morgan, Colin Hoult, Janine Duvitski, John Henshaw, Zoe Gardner, Zahra Barri, John Biddle, Tony Marshall, Christine Hall and Sean Grundy. Written by Sean Grundy.... Read more

All the Dark Corners: The Desk

By: Andrew Readman

Narrated by: Graeme Hawley, Karen West, Melissa Jane Sinden,...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Davis Finch is a hack TV writer with aspirations to write a novel. In order to be a real writer he feels he needs a proper desk. The one he buys changes his life. He becomes a success - but at what price? This spooky psychological thriller by Andrew Readman stars Graeme Hawley, Tim McInnerny, Karen West, Greg Wood, Melissa Jane Sinden and... Read more

Johnners At The Beeb

By: Brian Johnston

Narrated by: Barry Johnston

Length: 2 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

Jovial Johnners was the doyen of cricket commentators, as well as a consumer of chocolate cake, a reporter, presenter, quizmaster and much-loved voice at State occasions. For nearly 50 years the ever-affable, always enthusiastic Brian Johnston brought warmth and wit to a wide range of BBC programmes - commentating for Test Match Special and the... Read more

The Al Read Show 3

By: Ronnie Taylor

Narrated by: Al Read

Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

Abridged: No

The third collection of classic sketches from a star of the golden age of radio comedy. With his well-known catchphrases 'Right Monkey' and 'You'll be lucky, I say, you'll be lucky', the immortal Al Read drew on a rich vein of Northern humour to bring us the Johnny know-all, the nagging wife in the kitchen and the horrible little boy in the... Read more

Nicholas Nickleby

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Anna Massey, Full Cast, Ken Camp...

Length: 6 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Left penniless by the death of his father, nineteen-year-old Nicholas Nickleby seeks help, along with his mother and sister, from Uncle Ralph Nickleby. The hard-hearted money lender takes an instant dislike to his nephew and gets rid of the boy by securing him a teaching position at Dotheboys Hall, where the evil Wackford Squeers presides.... Read more

Top of the Rock

By: Warren Littlefield & T. R. Pearson

Narrated by: Bob Balaban

Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, ER, Cheers, Law & Order, Will & Grace…Here is the funny, splashy, irresistible insiders’ account of the greatest era in television history -- told by the actors, writers, directors, producers, and the network executives who made it happen…and watched it all fall apart.

Warren Littlefield was the NBC President... Read more

The Alterer

By: Finlay Welsh

Narrated by: Cal MacAninsh, Finn de Hertog, Liam Brennan & P...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

An atmospheric drama set on the east coast of Scotland in 1791. A watchmaker pours all of his skill and knowledge into making a machine that will alter time and create a different universe; one in which he hopes his desperately ill daughter will be returned to him, fully recovered. Starring Cal MacAninch, Liam Brennan, Pauline Knowles and Finn... Read more

The Middle

By: Amelia Bullmore

Narrated by: Anna Madley, Ben Miles, Emma Cunniffe, Full Cas...

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Clare is the golden middle sister in a family headed by a formidable matriarch, Luca. Clare meets and quickly marries Martin, who falls just as much in love with her fun, sparky family. But Martin makes a mistake and sets in train a series of events which brings the family to its knees. Starring Emma Cunniffe, Ben Miles, Anna Madeley, Eve... Read more

Prayer Mask

By: David Pownall

Narrated by: Akbar Kurtha, Inam Mirza, Jonathan Tafler, Jose...

Length: 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Joseph Fiennes stars as the young Lieutenant Richard Burton who in 1853 disguised himself as an Afghani pilgrim and undertook an expedition to Mecca. His aim was to explore the Holy of Holies. He chronicles this journey fraught with dangers and misadventure. But can he hide his identity from his two young guides? With Akbar Kurtha, Rasmus... Read more

Art of War: Veterans Shred Uniforms

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In 2007, a returning Iraq war veteran, trying to make sense of his experience, cut up his uniform to make paper from its fibers. Five years later, the Combat Paper Project has found a home in New Jersey. Hoping to reconcile the good and the bad of lives spent at war, four veterans reflect on this therapeutic and artistic outlet. Read more

Girl Walks into a Bar . . .

By: Rachel Dratch

Narrated by: Rachel Dratch

Length: 5 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

In this side-splitting memoir, the former Saturday Night Live star recounts the hilarious adventures and unexpected joy of dating and becoming a mother when she least expected it-at the age of forty-four. Anyone who saw an episode of Saturday Night Live between 1999 and 2006 knows Rachel Dratch. She was hilarious! So what happened to her? After... Read more

My Happy Days in Hollywood

By: Garry Marshall

Narrated by: Garry Marshall

Length: 11 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

With the television hits The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy, and movies like The Flamingo Kid, Beaches, Pretty Woman, and The Princess Diaries under his belt, Garry Marshall was among the most successful writers, directors, and producers in America for more than five decades. His work on the small and big... Read more

Art & Fear

By: David Bayles & Ted Orland

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 3 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

What is your art really about? Where is it going? What stands in the way of getting it there?

These are questions that matter, questions that recur at each stage of artistic development—and they are the source for this volume of wonderfully incisive commentary. Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made,... Read more

You Have No Idea

By: Vanessa Williams & Helen Williams

Narrated by: Vanessa Williams & Helen Williams

Length: 7 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

The highly anticipated first book by a widely respected entertainer whose career highlights include The Right Stuff, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and former Miss AmericaWhen Vanessa Williams was growing up, she had a plan: She’d go to college and major in musical theater; afterward she’d get her MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and then... Read more

Dear Theo

By: Vincent van Gogh

Narrated by: Clive Chafer

Length: 21 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Each night, when the hours of painting and drawing were over, Vincent van Gogh put pen to paper and poured out his heart through letters to his beloved brother Theo, his confidant and companion. No thought was too small, no element of his craft too insignificant, no happening too trivial. It was all scrupulously recorded and shared. In these... Read more

What To Do If You're Not Like Everbody Else

By: Andrew Lawrence

Narrated by: Andrew Lawrence

Length: 56 minutes

Abridged: No

The second four-part mini-series of short comedic monologues on BBC Radio 4. Written and performed by stand-up comedian Andrew Lawrence, it takes a light-hearted look at various aspects of conventional living and the pressure we feel to conform to social norms and ideals. In these four episodes, all recorded in front of a live audience, Andrew... Read more

Torchwood Fallout

By: David Llewellyn

Narrated by: Tom Price

Length: 1 hour 2 minutes

Abridged: No

When Yasmin finds a jewelled egg in her grandfather's shed, her first thought is to sell it. Unfortunately, the object is no valuable Faberge antique, but a dangerous weapon from another planet. Worse still, the buyer she finds online is a Russian secret agent working for the Committee for Extraterrestrial Research, who promptly swipes it, kills... Read more

The Bridesmaid / Going Wrong

By: Ruth Rendell

Narrated by: Full Cast, Jamie Glover, Oona Beeson, Peter Win...

Length: 2 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Love and death are the principal players in these two BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations of chilling Ruth Rendell stories. In 'The Bridesmaid', when Philip embarks on an affair with Senta, his sister's bridesmaid, she reminds him of the stone statue he adored as a child. Yet Senta is married, and Philip's overwhelming aversion to violence... Read more

Great Expectations

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Douglas Hodge, Full Cast & Geraldine McEwan

Length: 5 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

When orphan Pip meets the escaped convict Magwitch in an overgrown churchyard on the Kent marshes, little does he know that the incident will change his life forever. Some years later, now apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, Pip falls in love with the beautiful Estella. Her half-crazed and bitter guardian Miss Havisham, however, exerts... Read more