Oh, What a Lovely Century
One Man's Marvellous Adventures in Love, War and High Society
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Oh, What a Lovely Century
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Narrated by:
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Callum Scott Howells
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Hugh Skinner
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Simon Callow
About this listen
Read by Callum Scott Howells (It's a Sin), Hugh Skinner (W1A, Fleabag, Mamma Mia 2) and Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, Outlander).
For fear of growing up like his stiff upper-lipped Uncle Dick, Roderic Fenwick Owen (1921-2011) survived Eton, Oxford and the Second World War to become a travel writer, experiencing the varied wonders of the 20th century's people and places in that guise. Frequently finding himself party to crucial historical events (including experiencing Nazi Germany in 1939 and the Pentagon during the Cold War Years), his life featured a stellar cast of characters from Eisenhower and Jackson Pollock to Christopher Lee and Sean Connery.
At the heart of Roddy's writing adventures lay his search for love, even if just for the night. He fell head over heels for, and married, a Polynesian princess while beach combing in Tahiti - but when a dazzling trip to 1950s New York opened his eyes to the fact he was more attracted to men than women, he was forced to continue his quest for his soulmate under threat of danger. This was at a time when the police were prosecuting and imprisoning more gay men than ever before, including some of his friends.
Lyrical, witty and at times jaw-droppingly unbelievable, Oh, What a Lovely Century is both a highly personal memoir and a marvellous obituary of an ever-changing and now lost world - that was frequently the best of times, and sometimes the worst.
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Critic reviews
"A completely extraordinary autobiography. One that reads like the most outlandish, beguiling fiction but that is - amazingly - all true." (William Boyd, Sunday Times best-selling author)
"A wonderful journey through 20th-century history. I thoroughly enjoyed it." (Lady Anne Glenconner, author of Lady in Waiting)
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Horrible Reading
- By Teddy hall on 03-27-20
By: Anne Glenconner
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A Suitable Boy (Dramatised)
- By: Vikram Seth
- Narrated by: Ayesha Dharker, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 348
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 284
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Story4 out of 5 stars 278
A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the twentieth century. The story unfolds through four middle class families: the Mehras, Kappoors, Khans, and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with.
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2 out of 5 stars
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would prefer unabridged naration
- By Tamshine on 07-07-11
By: Vikram Seth
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Spare
- By: Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex
- Narrated by: Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 70,972
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 65,517
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Story5 out of 5 stars 65,309
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Gutterball!
- By Jimmyjoejangles on 01-10-23
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The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 617
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 535
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Story4 out of 5 stars 530
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
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Fall
- The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain's Most Notorious Media Baron
- By: John Preston
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
In February 1991, Robert Maxwell triumphantly sailed into Manhattan harbor on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, to buy the ailing New York Daily News. Taxi drivers stopped their cabs to shake his hand, children asked for his autograph, and patrons of the hottest restaurant in Manhattan gave him a standing ovation while he dined. Ten months later, Maxwell disappeared off that same yacht in the middle of the night and was later found dead in the water. As John Preston reveals in this revealing biography, Maxwell’s death was as mysterious as his remarkable life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Don't make men like this anymore
- By Sylvia on 04-06-21
By: John Preston
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Three Men in a Boat (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Jerome K. Jerome
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4 out of 5 stars 34
In 1889, satirist Jerome K. Jerome fully intended to write a serious travel guide when he and his two best friends embarked on a boating trip up the river Thames to Oxford. But his musings on landmarks and local history were soon hijacked by his own digressive, waggish voice. And so, what began as a peaceful and edifying two-week exploration soon floated upriver into farce - aided, quite naturally, by a portly ration of cheese, some very bad weather, and a dog named Montmorency.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hilarious and lovable!!
- By Erika C. on 03-23-21
By: Jerome K. Jerome
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A Bend in the River
- By: V. S. Naipaul
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 574
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
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Story4 out of 5 stars 388
In this incandescent novel, V.S. Naipaul takes us deeply into the life of one man, an Indian who, uprooted by the bloody tides of Third World history, has come to live in an isolated town at the bend of a great river in a newly independent African nation. Naipaul gives us the most convincing and disturbing vision yet of what happens in a place caught between the dangerously alluring modern world and its own tenacious past and traditions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful, insightful, troubling
- By Lawrence on 01-15-05
By: V. S. Naipaul
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Katherine Wentworth
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Lesley Mackie
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 117
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
Married at 19, Katherine had four years of happiness with her beloved Gerald. When he dies, she is left on her own to bring up a stepson, Simon, and her own little twins. She has known what it is to be loved and cherished, and without Gerald, all she wants is independence, and the freedom to bring up his children as he would have liked. When an unexpected letter arrives for Simon, offering him a very different life, Katherine is concerned that he makes the right choice.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love grows in Edinburgh!
- By Jerri C on 06-01-13
By: D. E. Stevenson
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Summer
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Juliette Burton
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story5 out of 5 stars 65
Here is the exciting culmination of Ali Smith's celebrated Seasonal Quartet, a series of stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected (as the seasons are), wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories.
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5 out of 5 stars
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terrific book, beautifully read.
- By Sasha on 02-07-21
By: Ali Smith
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Maurice
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Peter Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 987
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 990
'Ah for darkness...not the darkness of a house which coops up a man among furniture, but the darkness where he can be free!' Maurice Hall knows he must choose between living life in the shadows or denying himself a chance at love and fulfilment. Aware of his attraction to the same sex, in a time where it was considered unlawful and immoral to have homosexual desires, Maurice must decide whether to battle or submit to a prejudiced 20th-century English society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Finally!!! It's past time!
- By Christopher P. on 11-18-10
By: E. M. Forster
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The Enchanted April
- By: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
To Those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine. Small medieaval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let Furnished for the month of April. This small advertisement sparks something long dormant in the reluctant hearts of two downcast London women - the possibility of happiness.
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5 out of 5 stars
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My absolute favorite book.
- By JKJanson on 06-19-18
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Brodmaw Bay
- By: F.G. Cottam
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Story4 out of 5 stars 88
Brodmaw Bay seems to be the perfect refuge for James Greer and his family. When his son is the victim of a brutal mugging, Greer wants to leave London - the sooner the better - for the charming old-fashioned fishing port he has just discovered. But was finding Brodmaw Bay more than a happy accident? What is the connection between the village and his beautiful wife? When his friendly new neighbours say they'd welcome some new blood - in a village where the same families seem to have lived for generations - are they telling the whole truth?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not Quite The Equal Of Its Promise
- By Flavius Krakdaddius on 08-23-12
By: F.G. Cottam
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The Diary of a Provincial Lady
- By: E. M. Delafield
- Narrated by: Georgina Sutton
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 106
'Lady B. stays to tea. (Mem.: Bread-and-butter too thick. Speak to Ethel.) We talk some more about bulbs, the Dutch School of Painting, our Vicar's wife, sciatica, and All Quiet on the Western Front. (Query: is it possible to cultivate the art of conversation when living in the country all the year round?)' If the question suggests a qualified answer, there is no doubt that the art of diary writing is alive and well and very, very funny in Devonshire in the 1920s. At least in the hands of E. M. Delafield.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Pleasant and witty
- By Debbie Kirk on 10-09-18
By: E. M. Delafield
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House of Trelawney
- By: Hannah Rothschild
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
The seat of the Trelawney family for over 700 years, Trelawney Castle was once the jewel of the Cornish coast. Each successive Earl spent with abandon, turning the house and grounds into a sprawling, extravagant palimpsest of wings, turrets, and follies. But as the centuries passed the Earls of Trelawney, their ambition dulled by generations of pampered living, failed to develop other skills.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Really fun read
- By Ruthi on 04-12-20
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Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All
- A New Zealand Story
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 56
Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All is the story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand, told partly as a history of the complex and bloody period of contact between Europeans and the Maoris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and partly as the story of Christina Thompson's marriage to a Maori man.
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5 out of 5 stars
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a beautiful story
- By Pumpkin99 on 12-24-22
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The Voyage Out
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 97
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
The Voyage Out is Virginia Woolf's haunting tale about a naïve young woman's sea voyage from London to a small resort on the South American coast. In symbolic, lyrical, and intoxicating prose, her outward journey begins to mirror her internal voyage into adulthood as she searches for her personal identity, grapples with love, and learns how to face life intellectually and emotionally. Its wit and exquisiteness, and its profound depth and insight into humanity, will capture the imagination of the listener.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Lovely
- By Edith on 05-24-19
By: Virginia Woolf