Showing results by narrator "Mark Elstob" in All Categories

Stephen takes the listener from his earliest school days when it became clear he was academically bright, especially in math, attending prep school, winning a scholarship to major public school Uppingham where he won math prizes and, aged 16, passed 3 S (scholarship) levels. By then he had decided to be a bookie. He attended an interview for Cambridge University only because it was on his bicycle route to Newmarket races!

Is it possible for books to dream? For books to dream within books? Is there a literary subterranea that would facilitate ingress and exit points through these dreams? These are some of the questions posed by David Keenan's masterly fifth novel, Monument Maker, an epic romance of eternal summer...

Despite its many crises, especially in Western Europe, there are still 1.2 billion Catholics in the world and the Church remains a powerful, controversial and defiantly archaic institution. After the French Revolution and the democratic rebellions of 1848, the Church retreated, especially under Pius IX, into a fortress of unreason, denouncing almost every aspect of modern life, including liberalism and socialism. In Losing a Kingdom, Gaining the World, Dr. Ambrogio A. Caiani narrates the epic, fascinating, entertaining and horrifying history of the Roman Catholic Church.

A practical handbook examining how established businesses can use their unique advantages to fight back and win in a digital arena too often dominated by tech start-ups, disruptors and unicorns. The big tech companies (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft) have had an enormous impact on our everyday lives. A new wave of start-ups in the tech sector has dominated the press and swallowed up huge amounts of investment. But what about those established companies in the traditional parts of the world’s economies, from energy, industrial and consumer goods to travel and health?

Dive into the sharp and insightful mind of Charles Dickens with The Selected Journalism & Essays, a collection that showcases his unparalleled skill as a social critic, journalist, and essayist. From his early writings on urban poverty to his passionate commentary on politics, crime, and education, Dickens’ sharp observations remain as relevant today as they were in Victorian England.

Mr Pooter is a man of modest ambitions, content with his ordinary life. Yet he always seems to be troubled by disagreeable tradesmen, impertinent young office clerks and wayward friends, not to mention his devil-may-care son Lupin with his unsuitable choice of bride. In the bumbling, absurd, yet endearing figure of Pooter, the Grossmiths created an immortal comic character and a superb satire on the snobberies of middle-class suburbia.

The only Latin art of war to survive, Vegetius’ Epitome was for long a part of the medieval prince’s military education. The core of his proposals, the maintenance of a professional standing army, was revolutionary for medieval Europe, while his theory of deterrence through strength remains the foundation of modern Western defence policy.

The Cambridgeshire hamlet of Jude’s Ferry is a lonely, forgotten spot. Requisitioned decades earlier by the Ministry of Defence for military training, one of its few claims to fame is that in its entire thousand-year history, it never recorded a single crime. But when a Territorial Army exercise is held amongst the ruins, a skeleton is found hanging in a bricked-up cellar, a noose round the neck. It seems that the ghostly village may hide many secrets and local newspaper reporter Philip Dryden is soon on the case.

In 1977 a group of scientists, artists and writers gathered in a house in Ithaca, New York to work on the most important mixtape ever conceived. It wasn’t from one person to another - it was from Earth to the cosmos. When NASA sent Voyagers 1 and 2 on a grand tour of the outer planets, they knew the ultimate fate of these plucky probes would be to drift forever in the unimaginable void of interstellar space. 

Brought to you by Penguin. The complexity of mathematics - its abstract rules and obscure symbols - can seem very distant from the everyday. There are those things that are real and present, it is supposed, and then there are mathematical concepts: creations of our mind, mysterious tools for...

On 28 November 1911, a retired showman died violently at his home in North London. Known to the world as Lord George Sanger, he was once the biggest name in show business, and was venerated as a national institution. The death of Britain's wealthiest showman read like a popular crime thriller: a merciless killer, a famous victim, a desperate manhunt and a dramatic denouement few could have anticipated. But for over a century, questions have persisted about the murder.

Soldiers Don't Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the psyche. As he investigates the roots of what we now know as PTSD, Charles Glass brings historical bearing to how we must consider war's ravaging effects on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come to terms with even the darkest of times.

An unsettling horror novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author, for fans of Stephen King, Catriona Ward and Chuck Wendig Your worst nightmare is about to come true… When an overnight camping trip in the woods on Halloween night goes wrong, and a girl ends up dead with what looks like...

Charles Dickens: The Travel Collection contains all of Charles Dickens' major published travelogues. Journeying through Italy, America, France, and London, we get a glimpse into nineteenth century European and American culture, as well as a deeper insight into Dickens and his life. Also included here are 12 stories from Sketches by Boz which detail London life during Dickens' life, showcasing his uncanny ability to capture the best and worst of life, and giving us an unparalleled insight into mid-century London.

The Definitive Strategy Collection brings together six of the most influential writings on strategy of all time. From ancient Greece and China to Machiavelli and Carl von Clausewitz's modern masterpiece, On War, this collection spans continents and eras to bring you the greatest wisdom and philosophy on the strategy and philosophy of conflict.

Despite considerable concerns throughout England, the transition of the House of Tudor to the House of Stewart, from Elizabeth to James I (reigned 1603-1625) proved untroubled, not least because the queen left the country in ‘flourishing circumstances'. The new monarch moved to London and, despite being James VI of Scotland, made it his home for the next two decades. Unsurprisingly, his early distribution of honours benefitted more Scots figures than English, and coloured the nature of his English court, though he prudently left most of the main offices in the hands of Elizabeth's ministers.

As bodies continue to fall and the past bleeds into the present, Dr Alan Twist must confront a killer no one can see and a crime that defies logic. Three young ladies are thrown into raging waters, seemingly pushed by an invisible hand. Six years later, when a famous actor is flung from his...

Andrew Lauder is one of British record business's most significant and highly influential figures but outside the music industry few people will probably know his name. He's always retained a fan's perspective which, combined with an exceptional knowledge of music, meant he was at ease around musicians and never happier than spending time with them. During the later '60s and throughout the '70s in particular (working at the legendary United Artists), he had a knack of being one step ahead of the next trend.

1296 AD: the whole of Western Europe trembles on the brink of war. South of the Pyrenees, the Christian and Moorish kingdoms fight and scheme against each for control of Hispania. To the north, the rival kings of England and France feverishly enlist allies as they battle for supremacy on the Continent. Even as the armies clash, spies and double agents fight their own bloody war in the shadows. From the safety of old age, En Pascal of Valencia recalls his own exploits in this brutal and treacherous era. 

Bloomsbury presents The White Fortress by Boyd and Beth Morrison, read by Mark Elstob. The thrilling new historical adventure in the Tales of the Lawless Land series set in 1350s Europe, from New York Times bestselling author Boyd Morrison and expert medievalist Beth Morrison. Croatia, 1351...