There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.From their pens to your your ears. 01 - 3 Stories - Success At What Cost02 - How Much Land Does A Man Need by Leo Tolstoy03 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy04 - A Sucessful Rehearsal by Anthony Hope
Rudolf Rassendyll, a carefree young man, doing all he can to avoid settling down in life, suddenly finds himself in the centre of royal intrigue in which he must play a role that will test all of his bravery and resolve. However his biggest test comes when the choice is between true love and duty.
The classic romantic adventure, much imitated but never bettered, beautifully narrated with verve and imagination by Simon Hester
In Hollywood's Golden Age stars were everywhere. As well as entertaining us in the local movie theatre many of them came to our home, our very own living room. Here they would perform radio versions of big-name films. Screen Directors Guild Assignment was famous for the lavish use of stars in their productions. Listen now and find out why it really was just like having your very own film studio in your living room.
In Hollywood's Golden Age stars were everywhere. As well as entertaining us in the local movie theatre many of them came to our home, our very own living room. Here they would perform radio versions of big-name films. Screen Directors Guild was famous for the lavish use of stars in their productions. Listen now and find out why it really was just like having your very own film studio in your living room.
How it fell out that Count Antonio, a man of high lineage, forsook the service of his Prince, disdained the obligation of his rank, set law at naught, and did what seemed indeed in his own eyes to be good but was held by many to be nothing other than the work of a rebel and a brigand. Yet, although it is by these names that men often speak of him, they love his memory; and I also, Ambrose the Franciscan, having gathered diligently all that I could come by in the archives of the city or from the lips of aged folk, have learned to love it in some sort. A tale that lovers must read in pride and sorrow, and, if this be not too high a hope, that princes may study for profit and for warning. Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope, was an English novelist and playwright. Although he was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels, he is remembered best for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898).
Anthony Hope's swashbuckling classic tale of adventure and romance: Ruritania, a beautiful kingdom in the mountains between Germany and Austria, is in the midst of a power struggle. On one side is the alcoholic lay-about crown prince, Rudolf-popular with the upper class and army-and on the other is his half-brother, Michael, who has the love of the common people. The struggle reaches a new fervor at Rudolf's coronation, when Michael kidnaps his brother and takes him to the Castle of Zenda. Now the only thing in the way of Black Michael's plan is a confused distant cousin in England. But a man named Rudolf Rassendyll could ruin Michael's plan. Rassendyll bears a striking resemblance to the kidnapped king Rudolf. After the king's disappearance, Rassendyll poses as the sovereign in order to maintain order-and finds that it is up to him to find the rightful ruler.
The short stories written during and about World War I are often over shadowed by the excellent verse of the War Poets.Yet the short story is perhaps their equal in other ways. Within these succinct little time capsules of words are captured ideas, attitudes, feelings and life that are expressed in a few pages just as movingly, imaginatively and tellingly as in any other form.Some of these stories will be familiar but some may not. From Virginia Woolf to Katharine Mansfield and John Buchan to C. E. Montague various writing styles try to make sense of this world at war.Some may do so directly and some obliquely. Some speak of class others of the masses but all reveal their author's intent and their mastery of war and its effects and consequences upon the human condition as told through their words.
London. A candidate for global capital. Centre of an Empire. The swift-beating heart of culture. A sprawling metropolis of life's rich tapestry. And a bewildering Escher cityscape of overlapping and colliding forces. People, streets, buildings interweaving and interchanging. And our eminent writers have the talent and focus to reveal the story that lies beneath the words.
Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope was an English novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels.
The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel. When an evil prince plots to steal the Ruritanian throne and kidnaps his elder brother, a look-alike is persuaded to stand in for the rightful king. English nobleman Rudolph Rassendyll must successfully impersonate the monarch, assist in the prisoner's liberation from the Castle of Zenda — and come to terms with his growing attraction to Princess Flavia, the king's betrothed, who remains unaware of his true identity.
A favorite of adventure lovers of all ages, Anthony Hope's gripping story spawned legions of imitations and inspired the literary genre known as the Ruritanian romance. Repeatedly adapted for stage and screen, this classic continues to enchant audiences with its tales of derring-do.
The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his coronation must go forward. An English gentleman on holiday who fortuitously resembles the monarch, is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an attempt to save the situation. The books were extremely popular and inspired a new genre of Ruritanian romance, including the Graustark novels by George Barr McCutcheon.
Rupert of Hentzau is a sequel by Anthony Hope to The Prisoner of Zenda, written in 1895, but not published until 1898. This story commences three years after the conclusion of Zenda, and deals with the same fictional country somewhere in Germanic Middle Europe, the kingdom of Ruritania.
Anthony Hope was constrained to return to the fictional land of Ruritania by an appreciative public who wanted more swashbuckling and derring –do from the hero Rudolph and more Machiavellian mustache twirling from the suave villain Rupert. The author came up with a literary construction which ensured he would never again have to visit fictional Ruritania -but nothing he subsequently wrote appealed as much as the two Zenda stories. In the sequel it is the loyal courtier Fritz von Tarlenheim who recounts this story of a dastardly plot made upon Queen Flavias honour and again the Royal Elphberg line is threatened. Colonel Sapt and all the stalwarts are there apart from the thuggish Black Michael-and good riddance to him!It’s a great love story with lots of action and devious deception by both the good and the bad. Listen and enjoy a marvelous tale full of intrigue, romance and incomparable adventure.
