Audiobooks narrated by Alice Roberts

The new book by Sunday Times bestselling author of Ancestors and Buried - the final instalment in Professor Alice Roberts' acclaimed trilogy. In her previous two bestsellers, Professor Alice Roberts powerfully and evocatively revived people of the past through examining their burial rites, bringing a fresh perspective on how they lived. In Crypt, Professor Roberts brings us face to face with individuals who lived and died between ten and five centuries ago. The stories in this book are not comforting tales; there's a focus on pathology, on disease and injury, and the experience of human suffering in the past. We learn of an episode of terrible brutality, when hate speech unleashed a tide of violence against an ethnic minority; of the devastation caused by incurable epidemics sweeping through medieval Europe; of a protracted battle between Church and State for the heart of England - a battle that saw the most famous tomb in the country created and destroyed; and a tumultuous story, forged in the heat of warfare, that takes us out of the Middle Ages into the sixteenth century and the reign of Henry VIII. In the Middle Ages, there's barely a written note for most people's lives. The information we can extract from archaeological human remains represents is an essential tool for understanding our history. Most of these dead will remain anonymous. But, in the thrilling final chapter, Professor Roberts introduces an individual whose life and bones were marked by chronic debilitating disease - and whose name might just be found in history… Beautifully written, vividly drawn, and expertly researched, this is a brilliant and unexpected portrait of modern Britain.

Alice Roberts (Author), Alice Roberts, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Buried: An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain

Funerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality; how they felt about loss; what they believed came next. From Roman cremations and graveside feasts, to deviant burials with heads rearranged, from richly furnished Anglo Saxon graves to the first Christian burial grounds in Wales, Buried provides an alternative history of the first millennium in Britain. As she did with her pre-history of Britain in Ancestors, Professor Alice Roberts combines archaeological finds with cutting-edge DNA research and written history to shed fresh light on how people lived: by examining the stories of the dead.

Alice Roberts (Author), Alice Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Roger Deakin: A BBC Nature Collection: The legendary naturalist on wild swimming and nature, plus a

An anthology of programmes hosted by and about Roger Deakin, the legendary naturalist, introduced by his friend Robert Macfarlane. Author, filmmaker and conservationist Roger Deakin first came to fame with his bestselling book Waterlog, which brought wild swimming into the mainstream and pioneered the 'new nature writing' genre. Published posthumously, his second travelogue, Wildwood, and collected journals, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, were also hailed as classics. The collection is introduced by Robert Macfarlane, a dear friend of Roger Deakin's as well as his literary executor. Deakin's life at Walnut Tree Farm is the subject of the two radio soundscapes that open this collection. In The House, he introduces us to his home of almost 40 years, presenting an atmospheric sound portrait of this ancient, timber-framed Suffolk farmhouse - from the sighing of the wind to the scuttling spiders and the chirpings of the swallows up the chimney. The Garden takes us on a tour of the untamed land surrounding it - with its moat, shepherd's hut and the walnut tree that gave the farm its name - offering us an intimate record of the changing seasons. Cigarette on the Waveney sees Deakin paddling his canoe, Cigarette, from the source of the River Waveney at Redgrave Fen in Suffolk to Geldeston Locks in Norfolk. Recorded over several days and nights, this evocative audio diary charts his journey as he captures the sounds of the waterway and its wildlife. Next, in a 5-part abridged reading of Wildwood by Sean Baker, we journey with Deakin from Suffolk in the spring to the Australian outback, in search of what lies behind humanity's profound connection with wood and trees. A radio tribute to Waterlog follows, as anthropologist and wild swimmer Alice Roberts joins friends and fans of Deakin, including Robert Macfarlane, Sue Clifford and Richard Mabey, to celebrate the book's enduring legacy. And in a pair of travel documentaries, we take two delightful day trips with Roger Deakin. In Ramblings, he takes a walk with presenter Clare Balding around his home patch of Diss in Suffolk, and in On the Beach, he spends a summer day on the Essex coast near Clacton, revisiting one of the places he described so vividly in Waterlog: Jaywick Sands. © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd The House Presented by Roger Deakin Produced by Sarah Blunt First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 February 2004 The Garden Presented by Roger Deakin Produced by Sarah Blunt First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5 December 2005 Cigarette on the Waveney Presented by Roger Deakin Produced by Sarah Blunt First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 July 2005 Wildwood Read by Sean Baker Abridged by Julian Wilkinson Produced by Amber Barnfather First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18-22 June 2007 Waterlog Presented by Alice Roberts Produced by Sarah Blunt With: Sue Clifford, Richard Mabey, Robert Macfarlane, Joe Minihane and Kate Rew First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 May 2019 Ramblings Presented by Clare Balding Produced by Mark Smalley First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 May 2005 On the Beach Presented by Roger Deakin Produced by Jane Greenwood First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 17 November 2003

Roger Deakin (Author), Alice Roberts, Clare Balding, Richard Mabey, Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin (Narrator)

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Ancestors: A prehistory of Britain in seven burials

An extraordinary exploration of the ancestry of Britain through seven burial sites. By using new advances in genetics and taking us through important archaeological discoveries, Professor Alice Roberts helps us better understand life today. 'This is a terrific, timely and transporting book - taking us heart, body and mind beyond history, to the fascinating truth of the prehistoric past and the present' Bettany Hughes We often think of Britain springing from nowhere with the arrival of the Romans. But in Ancestors, pre-eminent archaeologist, broadcaster and academic Professor Alice Roberts explores what we can learn about the very earliest Britons, from burial sites and by using new technology to analyse ancient DNA. Told through seven fascinating burial sites, this groundbreaking prehistory of Britain teaches us more about ourselves and our history: how people came and went and how we came to be on this island. It explores forgotten journeys and memories of migrations long ago, written into genes and preserved in the ground for thousands of years. This is a book about belonging: about walking in ancient places, in the footsteps of the ancestors. It explores our interconnected global ancestry, and the human experience that binds us all together. It's about reaching back in time, to find ourselves, and our place in the world.

Alice Roberts (Author), Alice Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Tamed, written and read by Alice Roberts. The extraordinary story of the species that became our allies.For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors depended on wild plants and animals for survival. They were hunter-gatherers, consummate foraging experts, taking the world as they found it. Then a revolution occurred – our ancestors’ interaction with other species changed. They began to tame them. The human population boomed; civilisation began.In Tamed, Alice Roberts uncovers the deep history of ten familiar species with incredible wild pasts: dogs, apples and wheat; cattle, potatoes and chickens; rice, maize and horses – and, finally, humans.She reveals how becoming part of our world changed these animals and plants, and shows how they became our allies, essential to the survival and success of our own species.Enlightening, wide-ranging and endlessly fascinating, Tamed encompasses thousands of years of history and archaeology alongside cutting-edge genetics and anthropology. Yet it is also a deeply personal journey that changes how we see ourselves and the species on which we have left our mark.'A masterpiece of evocative scientific storytelling.' Brian Cox'The best popular book on broad-sweep history since Guns, Germs and Steel.' Peter ForbesAN ECONOMIST AND MAIL ON SUNDAY 'BOOK OF THE YEAR' 2017

Alice Roberts (Author), Alice Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Alice Roberts