April 15, 2019

6: Well-Written Lives

38 minutes

Gail, Hazel, Jennie and host Philippa are joined at the table by eminent biographer Adam Sisman to discuss the delicate business of delving into the lives of others – warts and all or, sometimes, all warts no all. The actor Nigel Anthony lends his voice to Edward Lear’s surreal verbal contortions, unearthing the deep sorrow that hid beneath the nonsense.

The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 6 seconds)

Books Mentioned

Eric Newby, Love and War in the Apennines will be published as a Slightly Foxed Edition in clothbound hardback on 1 June. Now available to pre-order (1:50)

Adam Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper: The Biography, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (8:30)

Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler (8:42)

Adam Sisman, John le Carré: The Biography is available from Bloomsbury (9:32)

Adam Sisman, The Professor and the Parson is published on 9 May, and will be available to order in the Summer 2019 Readers’ Catalogue and on the Slightly Foxed website (12:32)

Adam Sisman, Boswell’s Presumptuous Task, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (14:16)

Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy. This Slightly Foxed Edition is also available in a bundle with Sebastian Faulks, The Fatal Englishman (17:11)

Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (19:24)

Kingsley Amis, The Green Man, on which an article by William Palmer appears in Slightly Foxed Issue 20 (27:58)

My Grandfather & Father, Dear Father, by Denis Constanduros are available in a single edition or in a special Last Call Bundle together with the last copies of our earliest available limited-edition, The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley (28.25)

Bart van Es, The Cut Out Girl (29:30)

Tim Pears, The West Country Trilogy: The Horseman, The Wanderers and The Redeemed (31:00)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations

Adam Sisman’s article on Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler is published in Slightly Foxed Issue 61 (8:44)

William Palmer’s article on Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer was published in Slightly Foxed Issue 56 (19:24)

Read an extract from Chapter VIII of My Grandfather & Father, Dear Father by Denis Constanduros (28:41)

Other Links

Bart van Es won the 2018 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize for The Cut Out Girl. The award party was held at Maggs Bros. Ltd (2:31)

The Slightly Foxed 2019 Readers’ Day will be held on Saturday 2 November at The Art Workers Guild in Bloomsbury, London. Tickets will go on sale late May/early June, to Slightly Foxed magazine subscribers only. From £60 for a day ticket (3:44)

The Slightly Foxed Spring 2019 Readers’ Catalogue is available to view and download. The Summer Catalogue will be available on 1 June (18:16)

Nigel Anthony stars in a Jarvis & Ayres Production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal for BBC Radio 3, released soon (25:55)

Music & Sound Effects

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach Archive reading music: Erik Satie, Gymnopedie No 3 played by Kevin MacLeod, thanks to www.freemusicarchive.org

The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

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