Aristocratic Slumber

A reading of Oscar Wilde's short novella Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, first published in 1887.

At a fashionable London soirée, Lord Arthur Savile is told by a cheiromantist that he is destined to commit murder. Convinced that fate must be obeyed, he resolves to settle the matter before embarking upon marriage and the comfortable life that awaits him.

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A reading of Saki's enchanting and mischievous short story The Lumber Room, first published in 1914.

Nicholas is a small boy with a vivid imagination and a healthy distrust of grown-up authority. When his aunt attempts to punish him, he finds himself drawn towards the forbidden wonders of the lumber room, where a world of extraordinary beauty awaits him.

A delightful tale of childhood imagination, adult hypocrisy, and the quiet triumph of a child's inner world over the dullness of conventional discipline.

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A reading of Saki's delightfully mischievous short story The Unrest-Cure, first published in 1910.

Clovis Sangrail has devised a novel remedy for the ennui of the wealthy: a little excitement, a touch of danger, and perhaps a healthy dose of terror. When he proposes his cure to the bored and comfortable, the results are rather more dramatic than anyone might have anticipated.

A wickedly entertaining comedy of manners, in which Saki turns his sharp wit upon the languor, privilege, and self-satisfaction of Edwardian society.

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A reading of Saki's celebrated short story Tobermory, first published in 1911.

At a country house gathering, Mr Appin succeeds in teaching his host's cat, Tobermory, to speak. What initially appears to be a remarkable scientific achievement soon becomes a rather serious social problem—for Tobermory has been listening rather more attentively to his human companions than they had realised.

A brilliantly malicious comedy of manners from Saki, in which the conventions of polite society begin to unravel with the arrival of one extraordinarily indiscreet cat.

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A reading of P. G. Wodehouse's delightful golfing tale The Clicking of Cuthbert, first published in 1922.

A quintessentially Wodehousian tale of romance, golf, eccentric characters, and the absurdities of the English upper classes.

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A reading of Saki's wickedly amusing short story Mrs. Packletide's Tiger, first published in 1911.

Mrs. Packletide is determined to shoot a tiger—not for sport, exactly, but for the social triumph that will follow. Yet beneath the surface of her carefully arranged expedition lies a rivalry considerably more dangerous than the tiger itself.

Saki's razor-sharp satire skewers social ambition, vanity, and the peculiar competitiveness of polite society.

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