Great voices on Radio 4extra

[Nick Armstrong]

Some wonderful voices from the past (for the most part) can be heard over the last week on Radio 4 extra:

On Saturday afternoon (today, 25.10.14), two Sherlock Holmes adventures (the first one is introduced by Conan Doyle's son Adrian):


The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Stars Cedric Hardwicke as Sherlock Holmes and Finlay Currie as Dr Watson.

First heard on the BBC Home Service in May 1945.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jl84

The Final Problem

John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Orson Welles star in the great detective's encounter at the Reichenbach Falls.

John Gielgud plays Sherlock Holmes with Ralph Richardson as Dr Watson. In the series, Holmes brother - Mycroft - was played by Gielgud's brother, Val.

Co-produced with the American Broadcasting Company, the influence of the US producers meant the inclusion of high-ranking American actors, including Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty.

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1954

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007znn3

And then each day last week at various times, the inimitable gravel of Philip Madoc's voice in a Cadfael story - dramatised by this Forum's very own Bert Coules


CADFAEL
Dead Man's Ransom

Ellis Peters' medieval thriller with Philip Madoc; narrated by Michael Kitchen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007k23t

Worth listens, all of them.

[french frank]

Fed up with trying to recapture Cali's technicolour. Or Technicolor.

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Co-produced with the American Broadcasting Company, the influence of the US producers meant the inclusion of high-ranking American actors, including Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty.[/COLOR="#0000FF"]

Was he a full professor or just a lecturer? They're all called 'professor' in the US

[COLOR="#0000FF"]And then each day last week at various times, the inimitable gravel of Philip Madoc's voice in a Cadfael story - dramatised by this Forum's very own Bert Coules
[/COLOR="#0000FF"]]

Never read a Cadfael novel. Are they good?

[vinteuil]

Was he a full professor or just a lecturer? They're all called 'professor' in the US

... but Moriarty was not an American : he was probably English or Irish. It is surmised his University Chair was at Durham -

"He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise upon the binomial theorem which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it, he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him. But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London. He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organiser of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city... "

—Holmes, in 'The Final Problem'

[french frank]

... but Moriarty was not an American : he was probably English or Irish. It is surmised his University Chair was at Durham -

I suppose it depends on how Orson Welles played it. I can imagine he would make a good Irishman?

[amateur51]

I suppose it depends on how Orson Welles played it. I can imagine he would make a good Irishman?

"make a good Irish man" do what?

[mercia]

ten minutes of Keating on Moriarty this Saturday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0080rwc

[Nick Armstrong]

I suppose it depends on how Orson Welles played it. I can imagine he would make a good Irishman?

It was sort of English with a vague Celtic twang, sometimes a tad Irish, sometimes a distinct hint of the Philip Madocs in fact!

[Nick Armstrong]

Radio 4 this time....

More delightfully voiced Conan Doyle - Ian McKellen making a marvellous job of reading "The Valley of Fear" on R4 as the 22.45 'Book at Bedtime' all last week and this week: so five on iPlayer at this point, and five more to come. Great reading, imho (and a story I don't know!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nrqsr

[Lat-Literal]

Kenneth Horne - it's a voice that locates.

[Lat-Literal]

Having dipped into various programmes very briefly recently, there is a "we are cool" language that appears to creep into everything. Gardeners' Question Time and inevitably the Radio 3 breakfast "show" are two of the worst culprits. And I do think women are more likely to go along those lines than men. That is because the men are generally speaking in modern political or corporate phraseology - "listen", "look", "so" and the defensive party line all of which are even worse. Five minutes of "Today" on Shoreham was more than enough thank you very much. Where are we? Obsessive 24 hour coverage is overload which leads to "over-think". I accept that. Having done so, I can say that in each case, it isn't the absence of authenticity that is the problem but the complete lack of soul. Cool is, of course, great in the right context but that context is never trendy or it shouldn't be if it is to convince. Where it can't be achieved I want to hear people sounding like people. I feel we are now at the crazy point where when that is all they do, they are the great voices. Lowe, Le Mesurier, Scales, Briers - I chose those this morning on the grounds that what were once good 20th Century voices are, if not now exceptional, voices that don't grate.

[johncorrigan]

I feel we are now at the crazy point where when that is all they do, they are the great voices. Lowe, Le Mesurier, Scales, Briers - I chose those this morning on the grounds that what were once good 20th Century voices are, if not now exceptional, voices that don't grate.

I like Michael Rosen's voice, L-L - it may be a hangover from my son's childhood as we had a couple of favourite tapes of MR reading some of his stories. Now whenever he comes on the radio I want to listen to him - perhaps it is the sound of genuine enthusiasm that I hear. I also like Kirsty's Desert Island Discs - she's got a voice I enjoy listening to. I will not start the list of hated voices...I'd be here all morning.

[Lat-Literal]

I like Michael Rosen's voice, L-L - it may be a hangover from my son's childhood as we had a couple of favourite tapes of MR reading some of his stories. Now whenever he comes on the radio I want to listen to him - perhaps it is the sound of genuine enthusiasm that I hear. I also like Kirsty's Desert Island Discs - she's got a voice I enjoy listening to. I will not start the list of hated voices...I'd be here all morning.

Michael Rosen didn't rate my poem in the Proms Poetry competition, hence he comes with a points deduction, but on the plus side he is one of just four bigwigs who have responded directly to my posts on forums. See also Alyn, Annie and Charlie. MAK did too but in a roundabout way. Kirsty isn't Sue Lawley which is obviously a good thing.

[jean]

...but on the plus side he is one of just four bigwigs who have responded directly to my posts on forums...

The old days of the Radio 4 Word of Mouth messageboard, was that?

He was splendily active on there. Good times!

[Serial_Apologist]

I like Michael Rosen's voice, L-L - it may be a hangover from my son's childhood as we had a couple of favourite tapes of MR reading some of his stories. Now whenever he comes on the radio I want to listen to him - perhaps it is the sound of genuine enthusiasm that I hear. I also like Kirsty's Desert Island Discs - she's got a voice I enjoy listening to. I will not start the list of hated voices...I'd be here all morning.

Good selection - I'm with you there, JC.

[Lat-Literal]

The old days of the Radio 4 Word of Mouth messageboard, was that?

He was splendily active on there. Good times!

Hello Jean.

Thank you for that memory. Yes - I think it was there.

Lat-Literal