Slightly Foxed

Slightly Foxed Editors Gail and Hazel take us between the pages of the magazine, bookmarking articles along the way. Crack the spine of the quarterly to discover T. H. White taking flying lessons, smutty book titles, a passion for romantic ruins, John Berger shadowing a remarkable GP, a rebellious Mitford ‘rescued’ by a destroyer, a night to remember on the Titanic and much more besides. From correcting proofs to welcoming writers with a host of experiences, the story of putting together an issue of enthusiasms unfolds. And in this month’s reading from the archives, a hapless apprentice at the Hogarth Press recounts his disastrous stint with the Woolfs.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 36 minutes; 33 seconds)

Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
- Slightly Foxed Issue 66
- Basil Street Blues, Michael Holroyd: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 29 (6:00)
- England Have My Bones, T. H. White is out of print (6:47)
- Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz (11:04)
- The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb is out of print (13:04)
- No Voice from the Hall, John Harris is out of print (14:33)
- The Family from One End Street, Eve Garnett (15:15)
- A Taste of Paris, Theodora FitzGibbon is out of print (15:33)
- A Fortunate Man, John Berger (19:38)
- Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman novels: Slightly Foxed Cubs (21:15)
- Hons and Rebels, Jessica Mitford: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 52, published 1 September 2020 (21:53)
- A Night to Remember, Walter Lord (23:50)
- A Boy at the Hogarth Press, Richard Kennedy: Plain Foxed Edition (24:55)
- House of Glass, Hadley Freeman (31:47)
- All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr (34:00)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- Underwater Heaven, Margaret Drabble on Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies in Issue 66 (5:45)
- Harvey Learns the Ropes, Andrew Joynes on Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous in Issue 56 (6:24)
- On the Shoulders of Giants, Andrew Joynes on T. H. White, England Have My Bones in Issue 66 (6:30)
- Sarah Crowden on smut: Something for the Weekend in Issue 32 and All in the Mind? in Issue 44 (7:57)
- Unsung Heroes, Alastair Glegg on learning to read at prep school in Issue 60 (9:59)
- Dog’s-eye View, Rebecca Willis on Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog in Issue 65 (11:04)
- In Praise of Pratchett, Amanda Theunissen on Terry Pratchett, Small Gods in Issue 33 (11:33)
- Streets, Streets, Streets, Felicity James on the letters of Charles and Mary Lamb in Issue 65 (13:06)
- These Fragments, Jon Woolcott on John Harris, No Voice from the Hall in Issue 66 (14:33)
- Keeping up Appearances, Kate Tyte on Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street in Issue 66 (15:15)
- Simply Delicious, Clive Unger-Hamilton on Theodora FitzGibbon, A Taste of Paris in Issue 66 (15:33)
- An Early-Flowering Climber, Ursula Buchan on the plant-hunting and garden writings of Reginald Farrer in Issue 66 (16:01)
- A Well-tempered Gardener, Michael Leapman on the garden writings of Christopher Lloyd in Issue 59 (17:00)
- Putting up Useful Shelves, Sue Gee on Richard Kennedy, A Boy at the Hogarth Press in Issue 20 (24:55)

Other Links
- Slightly Foxed Editors’ Diary (0:28)- Sign up to the free Slightly Foxed email newsletter here - Slightly Foxed articles by Christopher Rush (12:46)- Little Toller Books (14:18)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: Dark Hallway, written and performed by Kevin MacLeod courtesy of incompetech.filmmusic.io
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Tim Pears, a writer rooted in the landscape of Devon, takes Slightly Foxed to the West Country. From working at his local library and reading an author a week instead of taking his A Levels to winning the Hawthornden Prize for his first novel, by way of spells as a farm labourer, nursing assistant and night porter, Tim Pears has written eleven novels, watched blacksmiths at work, walked the routes of his characters, balanced research with imagination and chronicled the past as a realist rather than a romantic. We also travel through the magazine’s archives, along the rivers Taw and Torridge, to uncover the man behind Tarka the Otter, and there are the usual recommendations for reading off the beaten track.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 41 minutes; 20 seconds)

Books Mentioned
Please note that while many of these titles by other publishers are available to buy from the Slightly Foxed shop, there may be delays in obtaining them from our distributor. We may also be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna for more information.

Books by Tim Pears
- In the Place of Fallen Leaves (5:18)
- In the Light of Morning is out of print (13:22)- The West Country Trilogy: The Horseman, The Wanderers and The Redeemed (14:14)

Other Books
- Slightly Foxed Issue 66 (1:23)- Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia, Penelope Chetwode (1:29)- The Past Is Myself, Christabel Bielenberg: Plain Foxed Edition (1:50)- The Empress of Ireland, Christopher Robbins: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 51 (2:00)-Tarka the Otter, Henry Williamson (27:15)
- Omer Pasha Latas: Marshal to the Sultan, Ivo Andrić (34:14)
- Lolly Willowes, Sylvia Townsend Warner is out of print (36:14)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- Tarka the Rotter, Jonathan Law on Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter in Issue 35 (27:15)- Surprised by Joy, Jonathan Law on The Diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner in Issue 48 (36:14)

Other Links
- Sign up to the free Slightly Foxed email newsletter here to receive articles from the quarterly, extracts from books, latest releases, event invitations, news from behind the scenes at SF and other bookish content several times a month. View past newsletters

- Tim Pears: A writer and his dog (25:21)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

The great prose stylist of the 20th century, monster, performer? Biographer and literary journalist Selina Hastings and writer and critic Alexander Waugh reveal the many reputations of Evelyn Waugh with the Slightly Foxed editors. From a pathological fear of boredom, hallucinations provoked by doses of bromide and cheques bouncing at the Ritz to his relationships conducted through letters, his genius for sharp satire and love of gossip, the conversation brings to light the darkness and humour of Waugh’s works. And we visit The Loved One’s Whispering Glades in this month’s reading from the magazine’s archives.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 45 minutes; 21 seconds)

Books Mentioned
Please note that while many titles by other publishers are available to buy from the Slightly Foxed shop, we will not be able to order them from our distributor and send them out to readers until the office reopens. We may be able to find second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna for more information.

Books by Evelyn Waugh
- The Sword of Honour trilogy: Men at Arms, Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender (3:14)
- Put out More Flags is out of print (3:53)
- Decline and Fall (11:48)
- Scoop (18:44)
- A Handful of Dust (21:50)
- Brideshead Revisited (22:58)
- The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is out of print (27:09)
- The Loved One (32:35)

Other Books
- The Carey Novels by Ronald Welch, Slightly Foxed Cubs editions (1:46)
- Evelyn Waugh: A Biography, Selina Hastings is out of print (2:40)
- Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family, Alexander Waugh is out of print (2:47)
- A Russian Journal, John Steinbeck with photographs by Robert Capa (40:37)
- The Singapore Grip, J. G. Farrell (41:40)
- Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography, Diana Price is out of print (42:27)
- Zoo Station, David Downing is out of print (44:02)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- The Tortoise of Total War, Anthony Gardner on the Sword of Honour trilogy in Issue 36 (3:14)
- Race of Ghosts, Patrick Denman Flanery on Put out More Flags in Issue 9 (3:53)
- Portrait of the Artist in Middle Age, William Palmer on The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold in Issue 65 (27:09)
- Waugh on the Warpath, Ranjit Bolt on The Loved One in Issue 46 (32:35)

Other Links & Information
- Sign up to the free Slightly Foxed email newsletter here to receive articles from the quarterly, extracts from books, latest releases, event invitations, news from behind the scenes at Foxed HQ and other bookish content several times a month.
- The winner of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2019: Jonathan Phillips for The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin (1:23)
- Alexander Waugh is the general editor of The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh (43 volumes planned), bringing together all of the extant writings and graphic art: novels, biographies, travel writing, short fiction, essays, articles, reportage, reviews, poems, juvenilia, drawings and designs.

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Dame Margaret Drabble joins us at the Slightly Foxed table as we celebrate her life in writing. From taking up her pen in the 1960s as a young mother alone in her kitchen to feeling part of a movement with Nell Dunn, Margaret Forster and Edna O’Brien, to editing The Oxford Companion to English Literature without the help of a computer and eschewing the Booker Prize, Margaret Drabble sees writing as both an illness and a trade, finding black humour in ageing and joy in jigsaw puzzles along the way. And we uncover whatever happened to the elusive novelist Elizabeth Jenkins in this month’s reading from the magazine’s archives.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 44 minutes; 23 seconds)

Books Mentioned

We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.

Margaret Drabble Books Mentioned
Out of print
- A Summer Bird-Cage (5:41)
- Arnold Bennett: A Biography (8:58)
- Angus Wilson: A Biography (9:54)
- The Oxford Companion to English Literature, (ed.) Fifth & Sixth editions (11:13)
- The Radiant Way (15:20)
- A Natural Curiosity (15:20)
In print
- The Millstone (14:10)
- The Needle’s Eye (17:37)
- The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws NB Published 7 May 2020 (21:35)
- The Dark Flood Rises (36:48)

Other Books
- Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, Angus Wilson is out of print (10:28)
- The Tortoise and the Hare and Harriet, Elizabeth Jenkins (28:17)
- The Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton (39:08)
- The Unwomanly Face of War, Svetlana Alexievich (40:26)
- To War with Whitaker, Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 50 (41:55)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- Whatever Happened to Elizabeth Jenkins?, Nigel Andrew on the novels of Elizabeth Jenkins in Issue 60 (28:17)
- Joyce to the Life, Margaret Drabble on Richard Ellman, James Joyce in Issue 49
- Trollope’s Ireland, Margaret Drabble on the Irish novels of Anthony Trollope in Issue 59

Other Links
- The winner of The Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2019: Jonathan Phillips for The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin (1:00)- The Full Digital Archive of Slightly Foxed (26:23)- An Index to Slightly Foxed

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Biographer and academic Jane Ridley and screenwriter and novelist Daisy Goodwin join the Slightly Foxed Editors to reveal the wealth to be found in royal biographies, memoirs and historical novels. From the remarkable diaries of Queen Victoria and the extraordinary life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria to Prince Albert’s cashmere breeches, a cottage meal at Sissinghurst with the Queen Mother, and Edward VII’s many mistresses, the parade of tales about the lives and loves of royal people roams far and wide. And we go on a on a quest for Queen Mary with James Pope-Hennessy in this month’s hunt through the magazine’s archives.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 16 seconds)

Books Mentioned

We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
- Blue Remembered Hills, Rosemary Sutcliff. Plain Foxed Edition published 1 March 2020 (2:15)  - Browse and buy the shortlisted titles for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2019 (2:50)

- Victoria, Daisy Goodwin (4:10)

- Bertie: A Life of Edward VII, Jane Ridley (4:27)- The historical novels of Jean Plaidy are out of print (16:39)

- The Fortune Hunter, Daisy Goodwin (17:18)

- Victoria (Penguin Monarchs series), Jane Ridley (22:49)

- Queen Mary, James Pope-Hennessy (22:46)

- The Quest for Queen Mary, James Pope-Hennessy, Ed. Hugo Vickers (31.02)

- The Honjin Murders, Seishi Yokomizo (33:33)

- Lady in Waiting, Anne Glenconner (34:24)

- The Journals of Kenneth Rose: Volume One 1944-1979 & Volume Two 1979-2014, Ed. D. R. Thorpe (36:04)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- The Purple Moth, Jane Ridley on James Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary in Issue 41 (25:13)

Other Links
- The Petersfield Bookshop (1:30)- The Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize (2:42)- Queen Victoria’s Journals (5:13)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: Nimrod from Enigma Variations by Elgar
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

As we turn the page to a new decade, we’ve made some New Year resolutions. John Mitchinson and Andy Miller of Backlisted Podcast join the Slightly Foxed Editors to bring new life to old books, leading us off the beaten track with wide-ranging reading recommendations. From Frank O’Connor’s letters, Selina Hastings’s lives and Barbara Tuchman’s histories to the poetry of John Berryman, Gayl Jones’s Corregidora and Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, they journey through genres to revive literary curiosity. And in this month’s reading from the magazine’s archives, Richard Platt makes a convincing case for The Quincunx by Charles Palliser, falling under its curse of sleepless nights.   

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 49 seconds) 

Books Mentioned

We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
- To War with Whitaker, Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly. Slightly Foxed Edition No. 50, published 1 March 2020 (1:21)

- The Year of Reading Dangerously, Andy Miller (3:32)

- A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman (6:05)

- Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979-1982 and The Great British Dream Factory, Dominic Sandbrook (8:08)

- Corregidora, Gayl Jones (9:33)

- Independence Day, Richard Ford (12:28)

- The Happiness of Getting it Down Right: Letters of Frank O’Connor and William Maxwell is out of print (14:12)

- A Tale of Love and Darkness, Amos Oz (16:34)

- Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson (18:45)- Selina Hastings has written biographies of Somerset Maugham, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh and Rosamond Lehmann (22:43)

- 77 Dream Songs, John Berryman is out of print (25:32)

- Diving into the Wreck, Adrienne Rich (27:45)

- The Quincunx, Charles Palliser (32:08)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- A World of Words, Annabel Walker on Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness in Issue 37 (16:34)
- Grave Expectations, Richard Platt on Charles Palliser, The Quincunx in Issue 60 (32:08)

Other Links
- The Slightly Foxed mug (now sold out) displayed the quote: ‘Charles Lamb once told Coleridge he was especially fond of books containing traces of buttered muffins.’ Please do get in touch with suggestions for a quote (up to 20 words) for a forthcoming mug design: [email protected] (2:21)
- Backlisted, the literary podcast giving new life to old books, presented by John Mitchinson and Andy Miller (3:22)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: Songs Without Words - No.12 in F Sharp Minor, Op.30 by Felix Mendelssohn
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

What sparks a lifelong love of reading? Francis Spufford, author of The Child that Books Built, and Emily Drabble of the children’s reading charity BookTrust, delve into bookshelves past and present with the Slightly Foxed Editors to understand the alchemy that ignites the spark. From books as seductive objects, the haphazardness of alphabetical organization and disappearing libraries to the joys of cover-to-cover reading and books being doorways to new worlds, the conversation reveals what a passion for reading can bring to our lives. In this month’s dip into the magazine’s archives Ysenda Maxtone Graham gives tried and tested tips for reading aloud, grappling with Tolkien pronunciations along the way, and there’s the usual round-up of recommendations for reading off the beaten track.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 36 minutes; 57 seconds)

Books Mentioned

We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. 
- Golden Hill, Francis Spufford (2:23)

- The Child that Books Built, Francis Spufford (2:50)

- The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien (3:58)- The Jinny books by Patricia Leitch are out of print (4:46)

- Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome (5:36)

- High Rise Mystery, Sharna Jackson (16:35)

- Burglar Bill, Janet & Allan Ahlberg (19:50)

- So Much, Trish Cooke, illus. Helen Oxenbury (20:04)

- The Boy in the Black Suit, Jason Reynolds (32:45)- The Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard (33:27)

- The Gate of Air, James Buchan is out of print (34:16)

- Wave Me Goodbye: Stories of the Second World War, ed. Anne Boston (35:21)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- Laura, Louisa and Me, Daisy Hay on her childhood reading and The Child that Books Built in Issue 31 (2:50)- Three in a Bed, Ysenda Maxtone Graham on reading aloud in Issue 40 (25.18)

Other Links
- BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. They are dedicated to getting children reading, and each year they reach 3.9 million children across the UK with books, resources and support to help develop a love of reading (3:00)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by BachReading music: The Bluff Trail by Chad Crouch, from Album Field Report Vol 1, made available as Creative Commons thanks to www.freemusicarchive.org

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

In the parochial lies the universal, or does it? Join us on a trip to the British countryside as we plough into the matter of nature, landscape and the rural world in literature to find out more. Together with Juliet Blaxland, author of Wainwright Prize shortlisted The Easternmost House, and Jay Armstrong of Elementum Journal, the Slightly Foxed Editors and host Philippa share tales of living on the edge of eroding cliffs, pioneering bird photographers, ancient arboreal giants, guerrilla rewilding and favourite loam and lovechild comfort reads. In this month’s forage through the magazine’s archives, we go down to the Folly Brook to explore a vanishing world with ‘BB’ and his little grey men and, to finish, there are the usual wide-ranging recommendations for books to take your reading off the beaten track.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 52 seconds)

Books MentionedWe may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.  

- Slightly Foxed Issue 64 (2:01)

- The Easternmost House, Juliet Blaxland (4:58)

- Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons (11.13)

- Curlew Moon, Mary Colwell (15:45)

- Food for Free, Richard Mabey (16:14)

- Wilding, Isabella Tree (19:18)

- Addlands, Tom Bullough (21:49)

-  All Among the Barley, Melissa Harrison (22:29)

- The Little Grey Men, BB (31:44)

- Pollard, Laura Beatty is out of print (33:34)

- When the Tree Falls, Jane Clarke (34:40)

- Plot 29, Allan Jenkins (35:09)

- The Outermost House, Henry Beston (36:06)- The House of Elrig & Ring of Bright Water, Gavin Maxwell (36:39)

- Reynolds Stone: A Memoir, Humphry Stone (37:25)

Related Slightly Foxed Articles- Troublesome Ghosts, Paul Evans on Mary Webb, Precious Bane in Issue 10 (10.52)- Poste-Freudian Therapy, Michele Hanson on Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm in Issue 10 (11.13)- Beside the Folly Brook, Helena Drysdale on BB, The Little Grey Men & Down the Bright Stream in Issue 55 (25:40)

Other Links- Elementum Journal: A journal of nature & story (7:16)- Sotheran’s Rare Books and Prints, London (2:58)- The Fox’s Prophecy, a poem by D. W. Nash (36:58)
- The Wainwright Book Prize: Celebrating the best in nature writing

The image for this episode features ‘Vasalisa’s Garden’ by Olivia Lomenech Gill. This artwork appeared on the cover of Slightly Foxed Issue 51

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by BachThe Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Gail, Hazel and host Philippa enter the world of second-hand bookselling with Chris Saunders of Henry Sotheran’s, the world’s oldest antiquarian bookshop. From folios to quartos, half-binding to cockling, foxing to forgery, they tackle trade terminology and share tales of rarities and curiosities. The conversation ranges far and wide in the typical Slightly Foxed manner – from Parisian romances and the libraries of English country houses to outsized ornithological specimens and books of unusual provenance. In this month’s wander through the magazine’s archives Nigel Anthony recounts the tale of a bookseller’s quest for bibliophilic bliss in a sleepy corner of the Cotswolds, and there’s the usual round-up of recommended reading from off the beaten track.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 40 minutes; 36 seconds)

Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.

Going Solo, Roald Dahl (2:00)

The Natural History of Selborne, Gilbert White (4:32)

Slightly Foxed – But Still Desirable, Ronald Searle is out of print (7:27)

The Great Game, Peter Hopkirk is out of print (11:13)

Birds of America, John James Audobon (21:00)

Earthworms and Their Allies, Frank E. Beddard is out of print (32:43)

On Chapel Sands, Laura Cumming (34:47)

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman (35:51)

The Berlin Novels: Mr Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood (36:59)

 As It Was and World Without End, Helen Thomas are out of print (38:22)

Turning a Page, Glyn Frewer on second-hand bookselling in Issue 42 (26:34) Other Links

Sotheran’s Rare Books and Prints, London (3:09)

Gilbert White’s House and Gardens, Hampshire (4:28)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by BachReading music from filmmusic.io
‘Touching Moments Five – Circle’ by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (creativecommons.org)The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Gail, Hazel and host Philippa are transported to Orkney as they explore the life and works of the poet and novelist George Mackay Brown OBE. Together with his biographer Maggie Fergusson and Colin Waters of the Scottish Poetry Library, they bring to light a writer who was at once a solitary soul and a raconteur, a lover and a drinker, a member of the Edinburgh literati yet fame-shy. From the oft-recited ‘Hamnavoe’ to the Booker-nominated ‘Beside the Ocean of Time’ Mackay Brown’s work sings of his island roots, interweaving life and social history with myth and legend. In this month’s travels through the magazine’s archives, Christopher Robbins and Rory Murphy tackle the high falutin literary rap of ‘Finnegans Wake’, and there are the usual wide-ranging recommendations for reading off the beaten track too.

Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 39 minutes; 59 seconds)

Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.

Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman novels: The Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch (1:30)

Slightly Foxed Issue 63 (2:17)

The Scots Kitchen, F. M. McNeill (2:39)

The Balkan Trilogy, Olivia Manning (2:56)

Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers (3:01)

Boy and Going Solo, Roald Dahl (3:13)

Attrib, Eley Williams (5:15)

Cousin Rosamund, the third title in Rebecca West’s Saga of the Century trilogy, is out of print (5:53)

The Outrun, Amy Liptrot (6:04)

George Mackay Brown: The Life, Maggie Fergusson is out of print (7:21)

Greenvoe, George Mackay Brown (19:20)

Following a Lark: Poems, George Mackay Brown is out of print (21:05)

Beside the Ocean of Time, George Mackay Brown (21:15)

Finnegans Wake, James Joyce (24:54)

Jeremy, Hugh Walpole is out of print (33:31)

Slow Horses and Joe Country, Mick Herron (34:57)

Leaving Alexandria, Richard Holloway (36:21)

Noctuary, Niall Campbell (37:28)

Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump, David Shields (37:51)

Porridge and the Shorter Catechism, Morag MacInnes on F. M. McNeill, The Scots Kitchen, Issue 63 (2:36)

Hauntings, Michèle Roberts on Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Issue 63 (3:01)

Sound Nonsense, Christopher Robbins on James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, Issue 22 (25:03)

The Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh (7:23)

Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Farewell to Stromness by Peter Maxwell Davies
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable