Sandy

Myer in the preface clearly writes, The Tudors is not a book of Scholarship. If it does anything, it does inform some readers that movies and TV drama are artistic devices that do not portray known history.

As I followed the audio, I did ask myself why the Tudors do appeal to a lot of people, even 500 years after their strutting and fretting across the European stage.

There was a lot going on at the time and as many of us are not multilingual we tend to follow what was written in English.

These are the days still of men in armour on horseback, jousting and lots of bludgeoning and sword thrusts. There are castles and dungeons, treachery and greed. Later there are pirates on the high seas and gold and more gold coming from Central and South America.
The Reformation is just kicking off and the Saint Bartholmew's Day massacre waiting to happen. The Turks are looking and moving into west.

While Elizabeth 1 may have had very bad breath and had killed faithful friend and enemy alike she did survive for a long time through this turmoil. And well, Henry was a king and wanted a son. I suppose his desires were transparent. Other monarch's in other countries used poisin and 'chance accidents'. The Tudors did ruin and kill a lot of people. As Rulers I wonder how much has really changed to this day. Cynical?

Thomas Moore has the last word before he is executed. A warning to us all.

The story jumps around a bit, and there seems to be little point writing in that way. At times there are interesting digressions. Robyn Sachs read well

If you are really interested, Penn's "Winter King" is also on Audible and about Henry's dad.
And he really was a nasty piece of work.

The Publishers Summary is misleading. Without being a spoiler....

There had been a leak of information in a Minister's Dept. 'R and D' found the leak and advised the PM. The Minister is wanting a scalp from 'R and D' because he had not found the leak and has been made a fool in the eyes of the PM.

Meanwhile a secret service dept has a spy in with the Soviets and can not disclose the information they have as it would put their agent in jeapody. A plot is hatched to get 'R and D's' David Audley.
Both high ranking KGB are coming to the UK and Panin has requested a meeting with Audley. Panin has his own game already in motion. Where does Zarubin fit in to the picture?

So this story involves the jealousy between UK Security Services as well as politician's ego and, Spy vs Spy. It gets even more complex as the story is told through the experiences of Tom (Sir Thomas) who is Audley's appointed minder .

It is very well read by Dan Morgan and a good listen.

Personally. I find Josh Kaufman's voice as narrator a tad grating. And because I am interested in what he is saying, I stay alert and push through my irritation. It does however make for slow listening (even though he is speaking rapidly).

In this preview, I have had a couple of 'sacred cows' in relation to learning put out to pasture, and, that surprised me. Will I remember them? Yes.

Josh also demonstrates some excellent teaching skills.

The book is in my wish list and I wjll be putting his directions from thls preview into practice to put his direction and myself to the test. 20 hours is a 'can do', a challenge, could be fun and has an expectation of a real benefit.

Now, what do I want to tackle first?...hmmm

then this is an interesting listen.

Davina Porter even when not at her best is still good as a narrator.

I leaned more about Mary Queen of Scots and found her an interesting personality, especially as she grew up in Valois France ( I think).

The reasons for Queen Elizabeth not doing more for the French Protestants was given some description. The other aspect I found well covered was how Elizabeth engaged the English people as distinct from Aristocracy.

If you do not know much and want to learn more about this extraordinary woman, this is a good place to start, to 'flesh her out' more before getting deeper into her great achievements as a Monarch.

“There is humour which for the cheerful friends we got, and for the thinking parties there is a plot”

Taking some time in Devon, Fen meets up with the Vicar and the Major at a time when a few peculiar murders are done. A journalist joins the trio and together they, like everyone elce in town, talk about who might have 'done it'..
In amongst the Church Fete, Anti Hunting protests,. misbehaving power lines, a gift of a pigs head to make brawn and promiscuous people, the plot unfolds.
Scatterings of Donish quotes from often obscure authors and creative observations are here in plenty. ( 'as insubstantial as ectoplasm at a séance').

Tongue in cheek as usual, this is a delightful listen so well narrated by Phillip Bird.

The following is the order of writing/publishing (not all available yet from Audible)

The Case Of the Gilded Fly..(1944)
Holy Disorders
The Moving Toyshop
Swan Song
Love Lies Bleeding
Buried for Pleasure
Frequent Hearses
The Long Divorce
Beware of the Trains
The Glimpses of the Moon (1977)
Fen Country (posthumously)

While I enjoy all these 'tongue in cheek' stories, the older ones are better. They are well read by Phillip Bird who sometimes reminds me of 'the book' in Douglas Adam's 'Hitch Hikers Guide', especially when towns (and railway stations) are described. It seems at least one of Crispen;s stories was inspiration for a Dr Who TV show. Even The Doctor reminds me a little of Fen. Food for thought.

The quotes from various authors send me into 'search mode' as I try to track them down.

The earlier Fen is a bit over the top with his self importance.and in this story his solving the crime in 3 minutes and leaving the police to figure it out over the rest of the book is such an example.

Good listening and much more fun than many of his contempories.

John Tring is to be congratulated for his efforts in giving his Grandfather a new 'voice'.
This is an accessable account that reflects Guard's jounalistic approach, rather than a dry piece of academic history.

My own opinion is the narrator fails to do justice to the text in so important a work.
Where a even a slight pause to indicate a new paragraih or chapter would seem appropriate, the narrative continues. This is most noticeable when there is a shift from actual description of an event to a broader change in activity. For me this did detract from the account. Perhaps this is an editing problem.

I also expect that a considerable amount of material has been omitted, which may be available through UP 's own archives.
Harold Guard's astute observations of events as he actually experienced them is complimented by his similar well reasoned comments regarding some of the high profile people he came in contact with during his postings.
What I most appreciated though was the immediacy of Guard's accounts of events as they were occuring and his reporting style. The descripion of his activity and time as the Japanese pushed through Malaya and Singapore fell, was more poignant for his restraint. This is also true of his reports and observations in New Guinea and Northern and Central Australia.
A small pdf with photos and maps would be a great asset. This is especially so for the aircraft the Air Forces were flying .

I do highly recommend this and suggest also looking at a hard copy.

this is better after knowing more about the series. Try 'The Labyrinth Makers' or 'The Hour of the Donkey'.

Post Korean War and very much the Cold War. The USSR have really infiltrated the British Intellegence. France is making a mess in Algeria and does have a strong grassroots Communist Party.
Fred Clinton is using a double agent to get crucial hard copy evidence of USSR thinking during the Hungarian Uprising and the Suez conflict which also reveals another highly placed double agent. While both the French and British know of the USSR thinking, the US does not and, it was an election year!

Its complicated.

The double agent used to call Aubrey back to the fold is having his own crisis. His ruminations and plans take up a lot of time as the plot slowly unwinds. He desperately wants out of the mess he is in. Hence this is not a good book to enter the series. It is slow and it helps if you know a little of what was happening in the world at the time it is set.

Think John Buchan rather than John LeCarre, and very possibly a romantic version of actual events. Price had a few mates in the Intelligence. So.... 'interesting'.

A few minor quirks with the narration and generally well read by Tim Goodman
The story does move between past and present and a couple of times where there was no break it became a 'huh?' moment. Nothing that really mattered too much as the gist quickly became obvious.

A light enjoyable story. Well yes there are murders or odd accidents. Some good quips from Arthur and enjoyable repartee. It was fun to revist "Orpheus in the Underworld" by Offenbach, which was being rehearsed while peculiar sudden deaths occurred. I actually downloaded a medley from the Operetta to remind me of some of the cheeky tunes..Christopher Fowler's writing was evocative as well as giving the atmosphere of London's streets noirish shadows and fog.

The solution to the deaths/murders was a little contrived and "no" it did not really spoil the listen overall.

Beautifully written, delightfully understated, with a gentle humour Joshua Slocum recounts his great adventure.

The days of sail are being replaced by steam and one man rebuilds a small small sailing ship and sails alone around the world. Throughout he honours his sloop The Spray and recounts her charm in calm and tempest alike.

While a few have indeed followed his lead, this is a great listen to a book recounting the voyage completed before 1900.

Just awesome

written in 1989, this is the last book.

Character development being more Price's style, we meet a much older David Audley who has been called back to Europe. With two of his protegee as subordinates he is sent to locate an ex R and D person who seems to hold some vital information.

"The Hour of the Donkey", introduces Audley's father and alludes to R and D during WW11. "A New Kind of War" brings David Audley into focus, at the end of WW11.

R&D is a little like a Think Tank that is placed above MI5 and MI6 and Special Branch.
However it is still the situation that the full story is not given to it's Field Workers. And David has to call on some old contacts as things go belly up.