Showing results by narrator "Christian Rodska" in All Categories

This memoir was recently discovered and appears to have been written in the 1920s by someone who asserts that he was Jack the Ripper. This person is James Willoughby Carnac, and this memoir was written shortly before his death. It is an account of his entire life, including a few short months in 1888 when he became the murderer known to posterity as Jack the Ripper.

Commander Thomas Kydd is eager to play his part in thwarting Bonaparte’s plans for the invasion of England. Joining Admiral Nelson’s command, Kydd and his ship soon find themselves at the heart of the action that leads up to the famous clash of the mighty British and French fleets at Trafalgar.Kydd’s journey takes him from false sightings of the enemy and dramatic chases across the Atlantic, to the bloody annihilation of the enemy during the actual battle, and the heroic aftermath.

Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply? Every year, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien would write to Father Christmas, and the letters they received told wonderful stories of his adventures at the North Pole. These humorous tales are brought to life by Derek Jacobi as Father Christmas, John Moffatt as Polar Bear, and Christian Rodska as Ilbereth the Elf, complete with specially composed music.

Thomas Kydd, a hero of Trafalgar, holds the glory of being Post-Captain of the 32-gun frigate, L'Aurore. A Caribbean posting seems a welcome respite for the war hero, but when more and more merchantmen begin vanishing from the sea, fear starts to spread. Kydd must embark on a dangerous game of espionage in order to destroy this new and terrible danger to the Empire.

The country is in turmoil. With the capital city occupied, half a million refugees are on the march, looking for safety on the frontier, accompanied by Lady Flint's soldiers. But escaping war is never easy, and soon the battle may find them, whether they are prepared or not.

It is 1819, and Captain Adam Bolitho is ordered once again to Freetown in West Africa with secret orders for the senior officer there. The slave trade has been outlawed by many nations, but a hundred thousand slaves are still shipped out annually, the profit for slavers considered worth the risk of interception by the Royal Navy. For Adam, newly married and as fiery as ever, Africa will bring reunions and unexpected allies, and a treachery that wears the mask of friendship, and threatens the very heart of all he loves.

Churchill: A Life follows Winston Churchill from his earliest days to his moments of triumph. Here, the drama and excitement of his story are ever-present. Martin Gilbert gives us a vivid portrait, using Churchill's most personal letters and the recollections of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies, to go behind the scenes of some of the stormiest and most fascinating political events of our time.

Cape Colony is proving a tiresome assignment for Captain Kydd's daring commander-in-chief. Rumours of popular unrest in the Spanish colonies and of a treasure hoard spur him to assemble a makeshift invasion fleet and launch a bold attack on the capital of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate, Buenos Aires. Navigating the treacherous bars and mud flats of the river, the British invasion force lands and wins a battle against improbable odds, taking the capital and the silver. But nothing is as simple as it seems here....

Marcus Didius Falco and his laddish friend Petronius find their local fountain has been blocked - by a gruesomely severed human hand. Soon other body parts are being found in the aqueducts and sewers. Public panic overcomes official indifference, and the Aventine partners are commissioned to investigate. Women are being abducted during festivals, and the next Games are only days away.

Adopest has fallen.... Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing and his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away. With the Kez still bearing down upon them and without clear leadership, the Adran army has turned against itself. Inspector Adamat is drawn into the very heart of this new mutiny with promises of finding his kidnapped son.

England, 1647. Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army has routed the Royalists, and the king, having fled to Scotland, has been ransomed, sent back across the border and imprisoned. It seems the war is over, but there is trouble ahead. Parliament wants to disband the army and install its own militia - an act that looks, to Cromwell's loyal soldiers, like outright betrayal.

With Bonaparte held to a stalemate in Europe, the race to empire is now resumed. Britain's ambitions turn to the Spice Islands, the Dutch East Indies, where Admiral Pellew has been sent to confront the enemy's vastly rich holdings in these tropical islands. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd joins reinforcements to snatch these for the British Crown. The two colonial masters of India and the East Indies face each other in mortal striving for the region—there can be only one victor to hold all the spoils.

Thrilled at his first command, Thomas Kydd must race to bring his ship to battle readiness - he is needed to defend Malta against Barbary corsairs, privateers and the French who are trying to rescue the remnants of their army in the Levant.

Perfect for fans of Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and swashbuckling adventure during the great Age of Sail: To the Eastern Seas is the 22nd novel in Julian Stockwin's acclaimed Thomas Kydd series. With Bonaparte held to a stalemate in Europe, the race to empire is now resumed. Britain's ambitions turn to the Spice Islands, the Dutch East Indies, where Admiral Pellew has been sent to confront the enemy's vastly rich holdings in these tropical islands. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd joins reinforcements to snatch these for the British Crown.

Part One Winston Churchill's superlative account of the prelude to and events of the First World War is a defining work of 20th-century history. With dramatic narrative power Churchill reconstructs the action on the Western and Eastern Fronts, the wars at sea and in the air and the advent of tanks and U-boats.

Scottish author George MacDonald Fraser took the loutish bully from Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown's Schooldays and gave him a new lease of life. Over the course of 12 novels, caddish anti-hero Flashman swashbuckled his way around the British Empire, playing a key role in some of the 19th century’s most significant events.

Captain Vlora is a powder mage in the Adran army. Once the favored, adopted daughter of the field marshal, she is now a pariah amongst those she called her family. Her superior officers would like nothing more than to send her to a far off posting and forget about her, but no one is exempt when there is a war - and powder mages are desperately needed. When a traitorous guard captain goes on the run with information that could harm the war effort, Vlora is sent on his trail.

The greatest naval trial in the Georgian period is underway at Portsmouth with the court-martial of Sir Home Popham, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd's commanding officer in the doomed occupation of Buenos Aires. Kydd has some sympathy for Popham's unauthorised action, but his support for his former commander leaves him athwart some very influential people in the admiralty. With his frigate L'Aurore unfit for sea, Kydd is given a commission that some hope will destroy his career.

Thomas Kydd has dragged himself up in the navy from press-ganged seaman to captain of his own ship. Now he faces disgrace. After offending a general and suffering a personal tragedy, Kydd is sent to guard the Channel Islands. His career in tatters, he then makes a terrible enemy on his own side. When he is brutally betrayed off the Normandy coast, only his old friend, Renzi, is willing to stick by him.

It is two years since Thomas Paine Kydd was spirited away in the night to serve his country aboard the 'Duke William'. Now, with his friend Nicholas Renzi and crew members from the 'Artemis', Tom is a shipwrecked sailor back in the land of his birth.