One of Britain's best-loved comic actors, Peter Bowles is perhaps most famous for his role as nouveau riche lord of the manor, Richard de Vere, in the hit television comedy To the Manor Born. The show earned itself cult sit-com status when it first aired in the 1970s and 80s and, as the success of the 2007 Christmas special showed, it continues to be hugely popular around the world.Now, in this witty, charming and colourful memoir, Peter Bowles recalls experiences and anecdotes fro...

Born in London, the young Peter moved to Northamptonshire where his father was a chauffeur and butler at the local manor house. Always a show-off, when he joined the local ladies for pantomime, it was hard to get him off stage. From early appearances at the Bristol Old Vic, Peter worked as an actor in the late 1970s and 1980s, starring in television comedies including Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Bounderand Perfect Scoundrels. He has starred in The Prisoner, S...

The 17th Century classic brought to life in a bold new tellingThe Pilgrim's Progress is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and is considered by some to be the first novel written in English. First published in 1678, it has been translated into more than 200 languages and had never been out of print. John Bunyan's seminal work has influenced writers across the centuries from Charlotte Brontë to Enid Bl...

This collection was first published on LP in the 1980s. When Audrey fforbes-Hamilton's husband dies, and she is forced to leave Grantleigh Manor, she takes up residence at the nearby Lodge - from where she can keep a watchful eye on the Manor's new owner, Richard DeVere! Featuring the cast of the TV series, including Penelope Keith as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, Peter Bowles as Richard DeVere and Angela Thorne as Marjory Frobisher. Vintage Beeb: classic albums first available as BBC LPs, now ...

BBC Radio adaptations of Aldous Huxley’s finest works – plus a bonus documentary programme‘Over nine hours’ worth of quality drama… The stories presented in ‘A BBC Radio Collection’ combine to give the listener a taste of Huxley’s versatility as a writer. His vivid imagination always leaves the listener with philosophical ideas to ponder.’ Greg Jameson, Entertainment FocusPhilosopher, pacifist, psychonaut and prophet, Aldo...

1961. Radio producer Hugo is proud of his new science fiction show. Admittedly, the dialogue is somewhat creaky, the two lead actors despise each other, and the sound effects were knocked up in the engineer's kitchen - but it has rocket-ships, hover-cars, robots and Martians. It's the world of the future, where anything can happen: and often does...There's just one problem: nobody's listening. The future's about to be a thing of the past - until government interven...