Showing results by narrator "Alex Wingfield" in All Categories

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just 20 years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

Since the first ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ issue in 1983, Granta has championed the work of authors who have changed the landscape of British literature. In 1983, featured writers included Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Martin Amis and Pat Barker, among many others. Subsequent editions have highlighted the work of Zadie Smith, Nicola Barker, Ben Okri, Jeanette Winterson and others. In 2023, they will introduce listeners around the world to a cohort of outstanding new British voices.

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

In February 2019, award-winning writer Alex Roddie left his online life behind when he set out to walk 300 miles through the Scottish Highlands, seeking solitude and answers. In leaving the chaos of the internet behind for a month, he hoped to learn how it was truly affecting him - or if he should look elsewhere for the causes of his anxiety. The Farthest Shore is the story of Alex’s solo trek along the remote Cape Wrath Trail.

My name is Nat Davy. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? There was a time when people up and down the land knew my name, though they only ever knew half the story. The year of 1625, it was, when a single shilling changed my life. That shilling got me taken off to London, where they hid me in a pie, of all things, so I could be given as a gift to the new queen of England. They called me the queen’s dwarf, but I was more than that. I was her friend, when she had no one else, and later on, when the people of England turned against their king, it was me who saved her life.

Welcome to Villains Academy—the most prestigious villain school in the ENTIRE land. You will either leave here as a fully formed villain...or in tatters. It's werewolf Bram’s first day at Villains Academy. He really doesn’t feel like a villain at all, but the coveted Villain of the Week trophy is up for grabs, and Bram knows he’ll have to dig deep. With the help of new friends Mona the elf-witch, Bryan the lion, Shelia the ghost and Tony the skeleton, can Bram find his inner badness and become the villain he's always dreamed of being?

Founded in 1864, Wrexham AFC is the oldest club in Wales, with passionate fans and a proud history of giant-killing in the cups. But in recent years, the Red Dragons had fallen on hard times. In 2008, the club dropped out of the Football League - and a long, gruelling quest to escape non-league football began. In 2020, new owners from Hollywood - the actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny - took over. With new leadership, and big signings like strikers Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer, the Dragons began to roar once again.

Meet Hollie Jenson, presenter of the smash-hit docu-series Bad Medicine, which exposes the perils of extreme therapies. Her next target: a new retreat run by wellness guru Ariel Rose, who claims to have discovered the secret to healing pain through her three-day ice rebirth treatment. Acting on a mother's plea to find her son, who vanished soon after his stay, Hollie ventures into the Swiss mountains where the retreat occupies a former observatory in search of the boy and to expose Ariel as the charlatan she believes her to be.

Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like his dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules, and he’s learning how to do lots of things by himself. Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’t prepared for. While she helps guide him every day, she’s also writing notebooks full of advice about the things she hasn’t told Joe yet, things he might forget and answers to questions he hasn’t yet asked.

The Boxing Day hike is meant to bring their nature group together. As the sun sets, a gunshot rings out on the nature reserve. One of the seven is dead. And one of their number killed them.

Hen dreams of becoming a spell tailor, stitching magic into clothing like his beloved Nana. But thanks to new factories, spell tailors are struggling. His Uncle Bertie’s fancy shop has shut down, and when he, Aunt Lucia and stuck-up cousin Connie move in, it’s a disaster for all the family. Then Hen stumbles upon a new kind of stitch—one which causes Nana and Bertie to ban him from sewing. What is the power of the stitch that can sew memories into clothes—and could it be the very thing to save them all?

1916. Returning to the Front after injury, nineteen-year-old Stephen wonders what he’s fighting for. Then he meets Private Danny McCormick, a smart, talented new recruit. From their first meeting, there’s something undeniable between them – something forbidden by both society and the army. Determined to protect Danny, Stephen must face down the ignorance of his superiors as well as the onslaught of German shells and sniper fire. As the summer ticks down to the Battle of the Somme, will Stephen and Danny’s love save them – or condemn them?

Ant Stevenson has many questions, like when did he stop being a virgin? Are there degrees of virginity? And is it different for boys? Especially for boys who like boys? Ant tries to figure out the answers to his questions as he balances his relationships with three very different boys: Charlie, who is both virulently homophobic and yet close friends with Ant; Jack, whose camp behaviour makes him the target of Charlie's rage; and finally Freddie, who just wants Ant to try out for the rugby team.

When a kid is dragged to Central Park in New York on a Saturday (when he could be at home watching the ball game), the last thing he wants is a history lesson from his mom. But then his mother starts telling him a story. A story about the giant structure sitting in right in front of them—Cleopatra’s Needle. It turns out that an enslaved boy and hundreds of other people spent more than six hundred days carving the Needle out of stone and pulling it upright. And another kid’s drawings were used to create the hieroglyphs on its sides.

He might have the lamest superpower ever, but Dylan, aka Iguana Boy, has proven himself worthy enough to be accepted into the superhero collective. Dylan is excited, and his iguanas are hyper. Recipe for success, right? Iguana Boy and his team of iguanas eagerly await their orders to save the world. But CEO of the Superhero Collective Ron Strongman doesn't have time for lowly superheroes. Dylan will have to find his own way to get to the top, or else he will be saving silly cats from trees forever.

Learn something about everything with 13 mind-blowing facts plus a little myth-buster about every topic under (and including) the sun! Everyday objects from cars and skeletons to pianos and chocolate take young listeners on an incredible factual adventure. Did you know that one in every four animals on earth is a beetle? Or that white chocolate isn't technically chocolate? Familiar objects - the Earth, a tiger, an Apollo spacesuit, a scorpion - are exploded to reveal their extraordinary insides.

Dylan has wanted a superpower for as long as he can remember, especially since his brother and sister have got really cool ones. But when his wish finally comes true, Dylan is mightily disappointed. For Dylan has become...Iguana Boy. He can talk to iguanas...rubbish! And when supervillain Celina Shufflebottom kidnaps all the superheroes in London, Dylan must work out how to use his new team of chatty iguanas to save the day. He's going to have to think outside the box (the pizza box) if he's going to become the hero he's always dreamed of. If he's going to make Iguana Boy cool.

Once a year the five original founders of Villains Academy rise from their graves in honour of the Gruesome Games – a school sports day unlike any other, where the aim is to prank and cheat your way to the finish line. Werewolf Bram and his friends the Cereal Killers are determined to win so their names can be written in the Book of Bad, a record of the most wicked villains to grace the school. But when the pranks start getting out of hand and the Book of Bad is stolen, it’s up to Bram and the gang to get to the bottom of the mystery. Will they go down in history for the right reasons?

Jake's class finally has the best teacher in the whole world, Mr Hyde. He doesn't make them clean toilet bowls with toothbrushes, and his lessons are always fun. There is just one teeny, tiny HUGE problem. Mr Hyde transforms into a naughty little creature whenever he becomes upset. It has some amazing abilities, but being well behaved isn't one of them! Jake's class have to use all their ingenuity to hide the creature, so they can keep their brilliant teacher.

A darker force is festering in Enderlain’s underbelly, and Mikira, Ari, Damien, and Reid will need to find a way back to each other — and themselves — before the kingdom is torn apart. Hearts will be broken and new bonds will be forged in this explosive finale to This Dark Descent, where spellbinding fantasy meets Jewish mythology in a cutthroat race for the throne — and Enderlain’s survival.