London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne's controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis - a curious, obsessive boy - she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge. On arrival, rumours reach them that the mythical Essex Serpent, once sai...

4 weeks, 5 parts, 1 thrilling story. The penultimate part of the gripping murder mystery from bestselling thriller writer James Patterson, with exclusive extra content. Detective Jenna Murphy is drawn further into the mysteries surrounding the killings at No. 7 and just doesn't know who to trust. With 3 possible suspects in mind she takes matters i...

The bleak expanse of Vangmoor was a dark, forbidding place. One victim had been found there, blonde, her face disfigured, her head shorn close to the scalp - killed without motive or mercy. Then a second woman went missing on the moor, and a sense of utter dread gripped the fifty local men who searched for her. Someone watched them in that treacher...

On 7 November 1974, a nanny named Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to death in a Belgravia basement. A second woman, Veronica, Countess of Lucan, was also attacked. The man named in court as perpetrator of these crimes, Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, disappeared in the early hours of the following morning. The case, solved in the eyes of the...

The events of Pietro Russell's life are told in 26 chapters. From A-Z each chapter is set in a different place and reveals a fragment of his story. As his memories flicker back and forth through time in his search for a resolution to the conflicts of his life, his tory gradually unfolds. . .

Rowan knows he is strange. But dangerous? He didn't mean to scare his sister. In his right mind, he wouldn't hurt a fly. But there's a place he can go where they say they can fix his mind... As the second World War begins, Rowan is diagnosed as schizophrenic and sent away to a hospital where the latest treatments are available. But the treatments a...

Dr. Geoff Bunn presents a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe: the brain, in this major ten-part BBC Radio 4 series. In Episode 2, 'The Blood of The Gladiators', the focus is Ancient Greek scholarship, with Hippocrates' astonishingly prescient belief in the brain as the chief organ of cont...

Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious BBC Radio 4 word game. Paul Merton and Charles Collingwood explain how to remember people's names, and Josie Lawrence and Chris Neill talk about puppy love.

The mastermind behind Apple sheds his low profile and steps forward to tell his story for the first time. Before cell phones that fit in the palm of your hand and slim laptops that fit snugly into briefcases, computers were like strange, alien vending machines. They had cryptic switches, punch cards and pages of encoded output. But in 1975, a young...

Welcome to Clare's world, this is the 5th Series in the Radio 4 comedy based on the long running cartoon strip in the Guardian's Society section.

Perhaps the ultimate in TV comedy madness and absurdity, this cult series, which began in 1969, was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. It was innovative and ground-breaking comedy which inspired many of today's writers and performers. Its sketches, songs and catchphrases are...

Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland - to the Majestic Hotel and to the fiancee he acquired on a rash afternoon's leave three years ago. Despite her many letters, the lady herself proves elusive, and the Major's engagement is short-lived. But he is unable to detach himself from the alluring discomforts of the crumbling hotel. Ensconced in the di...

In this fantastical collection of stories, a king hides a terrible secret under his crown, a marvellous dream inspires an epic journey and a clever girl outwits the king! This collection of three lovely tales from Julia Donaldson are an ideal first step for children embarking on a lifelong journey through the wonders of stories.

One cold spring morning in County Cork, two fishermen find a bundle of rags floating in the Blackwater River. It is the mutilated corpse of a retired music teacher. His hands and feet are bound, and his neck bears the mark of a garrotting wire. The Garda want to wrap this case up before the press get hold of it. But when a second man is found murde...

1807: Though Britain's Navy remains imperious, as succession of battles has seen Napolean victorious on mainland Europe. In an attempt to prevent the French from taking control of Denmark's navy, Captain Thomas Kydd's great friend Nicholas Renzi, now Lord Farndon, is sent on a desperate diplomatic mission to persuade the Danes to give up their flee...

Two true-crime cases from the hit TV series Murder is Forever MURDER, INTERRUPTED. Rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes. But when the bullet misses the mark, Billie Earl and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives . . . MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS. Dee De...

4 weeks, 5 parts, 1 thrilling story. All will be revealed in the final, electrifying part of James Patterson's Murder House. Can Jenna catch the killer before the killer catches her?

The culmination of nearly thirty years of reporting on Donald Trump, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston takes a revealingly close look at the mogul's rise to power and prominence.Covering the long arc of Trump's career, Johnston tells the full story of how a boy from a quiet section of Queens, New York, would become an...

Commander William Monk: in search of justice, he will not stop until he has found the truth. It is a time of progress, with the Empire's interests expanding and the contentious new Suez Canal nearing completion. Many people stand to gain-and to lose-as the world rapidly changes. When a Thames pleasure boat is blown up with the loss of many lives, a...

The Firstborn-the mysterious race of aliens who first became known to science fiction fans as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey-have inhabited legendary science fiction master Sir Arthur C. Clarke's writing for decades. Now, twenty-seven years later, the Firstborn are back. This time, they are pulling no punches. Th...

Clare Balding looks back at the last time that the Olympic Games came to London in 1948. Three years after the end of the Second World War, Britain was still gripped by austerity. Rationing was still in force, severe bomb damage was still much in evidence and no new sports facilities could be built. Visiting athletes were put up in schools and RAF...