Showing results by narrator "Paul Scofield" in All Categories

In London, Little Nell lives in The Old Curiosity Shop with her grandfather, who has a weakness for gambling. Hoping to mend his finances, the old man borrows money from Quilp, a moneylender and swindler. After losing that money as well, the grandfather flees to the country with Nell in a desperate attempt to escape the clutches of Quilp, who has designs on Nell and believes that the grandfather is secretly a rich miser. Out of devotion to Nell, Kit Nubbles, the shop's errand boy, pursues the pair and in the process earning the wrath of Quilp.

A Russian museum curator with a special interest in the paintings of Adolph Hitler acquires a painting of a public building that included a modification completed in 1952: the artist - Adolf Hitler. A prominent historian is mysteriously killed while in the final stages of research for his latest book: A biography of Adolf Hitler. An American architect preparing a book on the architecture of the Third Reich discovers plans for a seventh bunker—its actual construction undocumented, its location unspecified. All pieces of an emerging puzzle whose solution will reveal the Seventh Secret.

These six supernatural tales, each recounted in its entirety, say as much about the morbid humor and fascination of the English people as they do about Dickens' own joy at spinning a good yarn. This collection of short stories is performed by Academy Award winner Paul Scofield, whose career firmly established him as one of Britain's most distinguished actors.

Paul Scofield evokes all the warmth and laughter of the unlikely adventures of the immortal Samuel Pickwick and the other members of the Pickwick Club - Tracy Tupman, Nathaniel Winkle and Augustus Snodgrass. Helped by Sam Weller, Pickwick's faithful manservant, the Pickwickians bumble through hilarious romantic misadventures and other twists of plot, encountering such characters as the tricky Job Trotter, his quick-witted master Alfred Jingle and the greedy Mr Stiggins along the way.

Murder, a bitter love triangle and a mysterious inheritance. In the last of Dickens's completed novels, the power of money ultimately motivates both character and action. One night Hexam, who makes his living pulling bodies from the Thames, pulls out a body bearing the identification of John Harmon, heir to the fortune of a 'dust-collector'. In fact, Harmon has swapped clothes and identities with a sailor, John Rokesmith.

Heloise and her allies are marching on the Imperial Capital. The villagers, the Kipti, and the Red Lords are united only in their loyalty to Heloise, though dissenting voices are many and they are loud. The unstable alliance faces internal conflicts and external strife, yet they’re united in their common goal. But when the first of the devils start pouring through a rent in the veil between worlds, Heloise must strike a bargain with an unlikely ally, or doom her people to death and her world to ruin.

Nearly two centuries after The Pickwick Papers first appeared in 1837, listeners continue to enjoy the vigorous humor and heartwarming optimism of Dickens' first great literary achievement. Actor Paul Scofield evokes all the warmth and laughter of the unlikely adventures of the immortal Samuel Pickwick, Esq., and the other members of the Pickwick Club. Abetted by Pickwick's faithful manservant, Sam Weller, the Pickwickians bumble through hilarious misadventures, romantic escapades, and other twists of plot, encountering many delightfully Dickensian characters along the way.

Perhaps the finest novel of nineteenth-century England, Bleak House embodies artful narrative, an engaging cast of characters, biting satire, and a detailed depiction of Victorian society. At the height of his creative power in this great work, Dickens pursues two great themes.

Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.

From Edgar Allan Poe—the master of the short story and lyric poem—comes this rare treasury of classics. The outstanding works "A Descent into the Maelstrom," "Annabelle Lee," "Eldorado," "The Bells," and "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall," illustrate Poe's meticulous sense of construction, with signature themes of romance and melancholy that characterized his short and troubled life.

Pip—the orphaned hero of Great Expectations—is one of Charles Dickens's best-loved characters. Young Philip Pirrip—nicknamed Pip—is apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, but an anonymous benefactor changes the boy's future. After he is lifted to what seems a higher station in life, Pip shuns his kind friends and slips into debt. But as he matures, he progresses from thoughtless selfishness to humble industry.

One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays is here performed by The Marlowe Society with Anthony Jacobs, Corin Redgrave, Paul Scofield and many other very fine actors. The story itself follows on from that of Shakespeare’s Richard II (also available in this series) and begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403.

In the squalor of a textile town, successful businessman and arch-pragmatist Thomas Gradgrind, proclaiming that he is a self-made man, teaches his children to suppress their imaginations and embrace hard facts. He arranges the marriage of his daughter Louisa to Josiah Bounderby, an unattractive, boastful manufacturer who is thirty years older her senior, and Gradgrind's son Tom goes to work in Bounderby's bank. But after Tom steals from his employer and Louisa flees the horrors of her marriage, Gradgrind must reconsider his lifelong devotion to facts and utility.

Here are 160 minutes of extracted scenes from Shakespeare’s finest plays, read by a staggering cast. The plays of Shakespeare are fully alive only in performance, and the HarperCollins recordings of the complete plays offer scenes from The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Richard III, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Othello, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. READ BY PAUL SCHOFIELD AND CAST.King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. It is considered one of his greatest works. King Lear descends into madness after wrongly distributing his estate on the strength of flattery. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king.

Oliver's story is full of pathos and excitement, from abandonment in a workhouse to falling in with Fagin's gang in London's murky underworld and his eventual rescue by the kindly Mr. Brownlow, who is able to reveal Oliver's true parentage. This splendid edition of Dickens' most popular novel, carefully adapted for children, is sure to entice a new generation of readers to explore his work.

The novel begins as a man, who we later learn is John Jasper, leaves a London opium den. The next evening, Edwin Drood visits Jasper, his uncle, who is the choirmaster at Cloisterham Cathedral. Edwin confides that he has misgivings about his betrothal to Rosa Bud.

The story deals with the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. David is born in England in about 1820. David's father had died six months before he was born, and seven years later, his mother marries Mr. Edward Murdstone. David is given good reason to dislike his stepfather and has similar feelings for Mr. Murdstone's sister Jane, who moves into the house soon afterwards.

On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a convict in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This incident is crucial: firstly, it gives Pip, who must steal the goods from his sister's house, his first taste of true guilt, and secondly, Pip's kindness warms the convict's heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude.

The welfare of children—a theme of many novels by Charles Dickens—is central to Nicholas Nickleby, the story of a fatherless young man, his mother, and his sister who find themselves at the mercy of a greedy and unscrupulous relative. Nicholas Nickleby is both a vivid indictment of the exploitive, brutal boarding schools of the late 19th century and a celebration of a little family's resilient generosity of spirit. Actor Paul Scofield's performance captures the warmth and charm of this story and its array of colorful characters.