Audiobooks narrated by Liam Dale

Mention the names Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy to a cinema-adoring crowd and you’ll get countless reactions in return. A few may scratch their heads. Others may fumble with their ties and grin nervously. If you’re very unlucky, someone will start to cry. But mention the names Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and those reactions will become associated with the characters they know and love. These were the names that made them famous and still conjure up images today. Laurel & Hardy. Popular but not populist. They appealed to the masses; and the masses have kept them in the public eye long after they hung their derby hats on life’s wooden hatstand for the very last time. Clowns, which is essentially what Laurel & Hardy are, have their roots in every form of culture, reaching back further than you can throw a custard pie. Even if you had a custard-pie-throwing machine you’d never hit the very first clown. There are references in the Bible to clowns, and we do know that Greeks and Romans used them as popular forms of entertainment, right through to Court Jesters of yesteryear and Stand-Up comedians of today. Probably the greatest of all ‘English’ clowns, aside from Charlie Chaplin, was a thin, wiry fellow called Dan Leno, who was plying his comedy towards the end of the nineteenth century. This was at a time when Queen Victoria was head of the Royal Family. Stan Laurel cited Leno as one of his major influences and it’s easy to see why. He was a past-master at being a female impersonator and originating the ‘comedy cry’, which was so beloved of Stan Laurel himself. He was also, towards the end of his life and career, partnered with a rather overweight gentleman called Herbert Campbell. They were a roaring success and it’s easy to see echoes of them in the teaming of Laurel & Hardy. Humour is an endless recycling of original ideas, which surely makes it the most environmentally friendly of all art-forms! So, let us look at two of the most successful clowns in more detail. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Their public and private life ran along parallel lines and frequently crossed over. We shall examine the public persona that came alive on the silver screen with the private person that lived in the real world. We begin at the very beginning.

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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Mary Shelley

It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its body. His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! --Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” And thus, Frankenstein’s monster was born. Everyone seems to know the name Frankenstein, whether it is from reading a book, watching a movie, or seeing a theatrical adaptation. Doctor Victor Frankenstein is the central character in the novel of the same name, sharing billing with the eponymous Frankenstein’s Monster, a creature created from different parts of the recently deceased, patched together and brought back to life by the good, yet experimental, Doctor. Frankenstein has become a true icon of horror that will last forever, very much in the same vein, if you will pardon the pun, as that other great, classic blood-sucking horror, Dracula, from the inspired pen of Bram Stoker. But how many people know that author’s name, or for that matter the name of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein’s creator? And, if by some remote chance they do, how many would be able to tell you the amazing story of her life, filled with death, tragedy, love, heartache and much, much more besides. Mary Shelley’s life was as exciting and dramatic as the monster she bestowed upon the world of literature, proving that even in this case, fact truly can be, stranger than fiction.

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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William Wordsworth

There are few amongst us who have not heard of the great romantic poet William Wordsworth, an artist who has for centuries, enchanted his readers with his eloquent verse and magnificent imagery. As a man who revelled in the beauty of nature, his love of the natural world shines through his stirring words, while all the while he attempted to unveil the hidden magic of the countryside. From the beautiful sites of the Lake District where he spent most of his life to the Scottish Lowlands and beyond, Wordsworth created unforgettable images, which would change people’s vision of rural Britain forever. Best known for his poem, “I wandered lonely as a Cloud”, Wordsworth and his host of golden daffodils are part of literature’s heritage but take the time to delve into his autobiographical work The Prelude and the Lyrical Ballads and you will find that there is so much more to this extraordinary individual. Wordsworth was among those who wrote at a time when Europe was in the midst of great turmoil, and as cries of liberty and reform rang out from revolutionary France, the waves of social change would have a profound effect on his life and his work. From the cobbled streets of Paris to the craggy rocks and shining lakes of Cumbria the tale of William Wordsworth is as full of surprises as it is eloquent verse. "Twere long to tell What spring and autumn, what the winter snows, And what the summer shade, what day and night The evening and the morning, what my dreams And what my naked thoughts supplied, to nurse That spirit of religious love in which I walked with nature.

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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The Kings & Queens of Great Britain

Anybody who visits London at the height of the summer will soon realise that the United Kingdom’s capital city attracts sightseers from every far-flung corner of the globe. And what’s on their list of attractions to see? Nine times out of ten it will be Buckingham Palace, often followed by the Tower of London, and since the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, her former residence, Kensington Palace. In an age when the monarchy, British or otherwise, is accused of being an outdated institution, the tourists still flock in their millions to follow in the footsteps of Royalty, both ancient and modern, to see for themselves the places where history was made. When it comes to listing the great Kings and Queens of the past, there are undoubtedly some that are better remembered than others. Richard the Lionheart, Henry the Eighth and King George the third are renowned for very different reasons and when it comes to the ladies, Mary the first, both of them, one of England and one of Scotland, Elizabeth the first and Queen Victoria are as fascinating today as when they were alive. But there are many more characters worthy of investigation that are far less well known. So whether you want a basic who’s, who of the British Monarchy to help you in the next pub quiz, or you’d like to find out how we got from feuding tribes of Ancient Britons to the present day, prepare for a right Royal romp through the history books so that you never need to get your Henrys, Georges, Edwards, Richards, Marys and Williams mixed up again!

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

Audiobook

Royal Scandals and Conspiracies

There are some who would argue that in the 21st Century a monarchy, of any description, is an outdated institution, but paradoxically, it only takes the merest hint of a Royal scandal or conspiracy for the world press to be in hot pursuit of the story. What’s more, any newspaper or magazine fortunate enough to get a Royal exclusive, even in our modern age, is guaranteed to increase circulation dramatically, suggesting that there is as much interest in the monarchy as there has ever been. So how did it all begin? Well, for the British, the answer to that question is quite simply when the first Kings and Queens emerged from the warring tribes of ancient times to wear a crown and sit upon a throne. However they had to do a great deal more than that!

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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[Dutch] - Wereldoorlog 2: 1. De weg naar oorlog

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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[French] - La Seconde Guerre mondiale: 1. Le chemin de la guerre

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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[German] - Zweiter Weltkrieg: 1. Der Weg in den Krieg

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - Segunda Guerra Mundial: 1. El camino a la guerra

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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[Portuguese] - Segunda Guerra Mundial: 1. O Caminho para a Guerra

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

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[Portuguese] - Segunda Guerra Mundial: 2. Linhas de Batalha Traçadas

À medida que o Ano Novo surgia e o povo da Grã-Bretanha enfrentava a adoção do racionamento, todos os olhos se voltaram para o norte até a Escandinávia, onde Adolf Hitler estava se preparando para uma invasão em grande escala. Os ataques de submarinos alemães aumentaram e, em Scapa Flow, um Ataque Aéreo Alemão fez as primeiras vítimas Britânicas.

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

Audiobook

J.K. Rowling: The True Story of the Life of the Great Author and the Birth of Harry Potter

Once upon a time, as all good stories with happy endings begin, a penniless young mother walked the streets of Edinburgh with her beloved baby daughter, hoping to make her fortune. In truth, “fortune” is probably over-exaggerating; enough money to feed and clothe the two of them and put a decent roof over their heads was all this young mother asked, but it was proving to be incredibly difficult. Yet this is no fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson, it’s the true story of one of the most successful women the world has ever known, who in 1990 came up with the idea for a book about an orphaned boy wizard. The boy’s name was Harry Potter, the young woman, JK Rowling, and the rest is history!

Liam Dale (Author), Liam Dale (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Liam Dale