Showing results by narrator "Stephen Thorne" in All Categories

Drawing from the nascent field of biophysical economics, Anthill Economics puts forth a radical new way of thinking: as 21st-century citizens, the global economy truly is our human ecosystem. It is where raw materials are sourced, goods are supplied, energy is converted, and capital is exchanged. Shouldn't it stand to reason that the same principles that affect animal ecosystems similarly apply to our - albeit more complex - human ecosystem, too? This book provides a more complete understanding of human commerce shaped by the rules of nature and laws of physics.

Dr. Watson is called upon late at night by a female friend of his wife whose husband has been absent for several days. Frantic with worry, she seeks help in fetching him home from an opium den. Watson finds his friend Sherlock Holmes in the den, disguised as an old man, trying to extract information about a new case from the addicts therein.

In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sherlock Holmes and Watson come to the aid of Helen Stoner, who has reason to fear her life is being threatened by her abusive stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott. Her sister, who died two years before, spoke of a "speckled band" right before she died in mysterious circumstances. To solve the mystery of the "speckled band", Holmes and Watson stake out Miss Stoner's room and make a momentous discovery. The eighth of the 12 stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle considered it the best of the Holmes stories.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

A train bound for a mysterious destination stops in the middle of a meadow. As the hours pass and the cause of the delay remains unknown, we meet the various passengers. There is a priest, a former president, a lonely waitress, an elderly couple, and a young orphan boy, each pondering the significance of the journey thrust upon them and what awaits them at their destination. Will they find order? Loneliness? Love?

In the race to become multitasking superhumans, we've lost touch with the actual root of where all these valuable skills are found. This audio gives you the training you need to set yourself apart from others and to advance to the next stage in your employment, whether you are just starting out or need to reinvigorate your career. Some of the best business minds at work today identify the principles of productivity and elevating your career.

In "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", Inspector Lestrade summons Sherlock Holmes to a community in Herefordshire, where a local landowner has been murdered outdoors. The deceased's estranged son is strongly implicated. Holmes, employing his trusty magnifying glass quickly determines that a mysterious third man may be responsible for the crime, unraveling a thread involving a secret criminal past, thwarted love, and blackmail.

When Joseph Barkeley receives a call enlisting his services to authenticate the original draft of Bram Stoker's Dracula, he is intrigued. Ignoring the warnings from friends and family, he agrees to return to his childhood home of Romania. And hand-deliver the manuscript to a mysterious buyer. Once there Joseph discovers a truth more terrifying than he could ever have imagined. One that threatens to reignite a centuries-old family feud and bring down mankind with it. And Stoker’s manuscript holds the key to ending this fatal conflict once and for all.

He is a sergeant-major in the SAS. His task is to snatch a defecting Russian star-wars scientist from Stockholm. She is the she-wolf. Leader of a crack Spetsnaz pack. Her job is to get the scientist back. Dead or alive. Their paths have crossed before. Now the score has to be settled. In between is the scientist, ruthlessly manipulated by both sides, torn between loyalty to his country and the love of a woman.

Sixteen classic stories.

Minerva Parkinson has just received distressing news: she's dying. Though she and her husband Henry have been married for many years, their marriage has grown listless, and she therefore chooses to keep her dire prognosis to herself. With the hopes of leaving Henry with fond memories of her, she buys a houseboat to fulfill his dream of a riverboat trip, and they set off down the Missouri River. Things are looking good until they meet two strangers, a young woman named Nora and a mysterious man named Mr. Mortimer, who possesses knowledge beyond the worldly realm.

Sherlock Holmes reappears in London after a three-year absence, shocking Dr. Watson, who believed his good friend had been killed in a confrontation with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Holmes is compelled to outwit the “second most dangerous man in London” who has a good reason to hope for Holmes’ demise.

Roger is a writer of children's books, and all he wants is a quiet life. But when his wife, Julia, has to stay in hospital, Roger has to deal with his own complications: his difficult mother-in-law, her companion, Otto, and pressures from the publisher about the work he may or may not be about to hand in. It should be easy enough for a grown man to cope at home alone, but no one wants to make it simple for him, whether it's battles to get into Julia's visiting hours or temptations Roger never expected to face at his age.

A young London engineer, contracted to service a hydraulic press at a country house, discovers that the owner is using the machine for illegal purposes. After confronting the owner, the engineer narrowly escapes death and loses a thumb when the owner turns on him. Sherlock Holmes deduces the actual use of the machine and sets off to bring the evildoers to justice.

Natasha Pyne, Stephen Thorne and Gemma Saunders star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatization.

A collection of gorgeous stories from Quentin Blake and John Yeoman. Including: 'The Bear's Winter House', 'Beatrice and Vanessa', 'The Heron and the Crane', 'Mouse Trouble', 'Mr Nodd's Ark', 'Rumbelow's Dance', 'Sixes and Sevens', 'Up With Birds', 'The Wild Washerwomen', 'The Young' and 'Performing Horse'.

Julius Hutch has planned to spend his retirement years 'pottering' and worrying about his bills, but wakes one morning to discover a foreign merchant bank has put four million pounds into his account—and won't take it back. So Julius, a humble man, sets out to spend the money helping other people, and wooing Pauline, the local bank teller. Up against an enormous banking corporation and an unsavoury property developer, Julius soon discovers that rather than being crushed by these financial giants as he would have been in the past, he is rendered rather more delightfully impervious.

In The Five Orange Pips, a young Sussex gentleman named John Openshaw tells the strange story of his uncle Elias Openshaw, who came back to England after living in the United States as a planter in Florida and serving as a colonel in the Confederate Army. His uncle begins receiving threatening letters inscribed “KKK” and including five orange pips. He is killed shortly thereafter. The job of unraveling this sordid transatlantic mystery falls to Holmes and his trusty companion, Dr. Watson.

The Red-Headed League is the second of the 12 stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1892. In it, Jabez Wilson, a flame-haired London pawnbroker, comes to consult Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Some weeks before, Wilson responded to a newspaper want ad offering highly paid work to only redheaded male applicants.

In "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", Violet Hunter asks Sherlock Holmes whether she should accept a job with very strange conditions. She has been offered £120 per year as a governess, but only if she will cut her long hair short. This is only one of many peculiar conditions to which she must agree. The employer, Jephro Rucastle, seems pleasant enough, yet Miss Hunter obviously has her suspicions. After a fortnight, Miss Hunter beseeches Holmes to come and see her in Winchester, as the situation has become even stranger. This is the last of the 12 stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.