The Best of Radio Litopia

In the quiet Jura region of France, a physician goes completely haywire in a series of crimes that are hard for his friends and acquaintances to grasp. But then their grasp loosens further. And disappears altogether. Because the man at the centre, the man they thought they knew, turns out to be a dangerous and violent stranger. And now I know what it feels like to write a Dateline teaser. Non-fiction.

Hartmann and Fibitch arrived in England as refugees on the Kindertransport and then they had had wives and children and those children had families and – what was the point of this story again? Served (saved?) with a side of Sebald (how can you not) plus the flavour of Rushforth, which is the name of an author.

The real life murder mystery of a CBS reporter is foreground and backdrop for a modern day high school student trying to figure out why the wrong man was put down. Also a love story. Salonic.

His origins were humble; a working-class boy from a small military town in  northern Sweden, not far from the Arctic Circle. Today, he is one of the most  influential figures in the world of literature, because Peter Englund is  Permanent Secretary to the Swedish Academy, the body that awards the Nobel Prize  in Literature.

What with Benedict Cumberbatch’s radical new television interpretation of  Sherlock Holmes, and the recent big-screen Guy Ritchie / Robert Downey / Jude  Law action movies, the Baker Street seven per-center is enjoying a major revival  of interest.

How appropriate, then, that the master scriptwriter of the entire Holmes  canon should join us for tonight's Litopia After Dark.  Bert Coules is  nearly as legendary as his protagonist in Holmesian circles.  He’s a man who’s  had more experience of Sherlock Holmes than almost anyone else, apart from Conan  Doyle.  Not only was he head writer on the BBC’s project to dramatise the entire  Holmes canon, but he then went on to write The Further Adventures of  Sherlock Holmes – original plots based on passing references from Conan  Doyle’s oeuvre.

Bert has also adapted several Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael novels,  starring Philip Madoc as Cadfael, and has dramatised works by Ian Rankin, Val  McDermid, Isaac Asimov and other best-selling genre authors.

Whether you're a Holmes fan, an aspiring scriptwriter, or simply interested  in great drama, you'll love this show - pass it on to your friends!

When we asked John Simopoulos, Founding Fellow and Dean of Degrees at St  Catherine’s College, Oxford, to read Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient  Mariner last year, we had an overwhelming response from listeners wanting to  hear more from him.

Music in the  programme is available for purchase from magnatune.com

It's our last discussion for a while with John Simopoulos and again, we're  focusing on our series entitled Books That Matter. Galsworthy and Proust? Not  worthy to hold a candle to today's featured author, Mahfouz - says John. Naguib  Mahfouz was an Egyptian novelist who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature,  and is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature.  The trilogy of books - Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street - are  collectively titled the Cairo Trilogy, an immense monumental work of 1,500 pages  or so - "and every character in them is repulsive," says John, "but do read it -  if you've got the stomach for it!".

Tonight's show is a real-life thriller: featuring espionage, double-dealing,  murder and even a dash of Hollywood. And a British ambassador who sees things he  shouldn't - and decides to tell the world. Sounds like the plot of a movie?  Craig  Murray's amazing story has already been optioned by producers - if  you can't wait to see the big-screen version, you can hear him on Litopia After  Dark - you'll be riveted!

From The Two Ronnies to Blackadder…from Benny Hill to Marty  Feldman… the golden years of British television comedy produced some of the  funniest shows and larger-than-life characters the world has ever seen.

Garry’s guest tonight COLIN EDMONDS has  dominated British television comedy writing for four decades – and he knew them  all… the stars, the monsters, the legends and the lunatics!

If names such as Les Dawson, Lilly Savage, Paul Daniels, Julian Clary,  Barbara Windsor and – of course – Bob Monkhouse – evoke fond memories… then  you’re going to love tonight’s show!

Of course, the tradition of bawdy British comedy goes right back to the world  of the music hall… from which Colin draws his inspiration for his new novel,  Steam,  Smoke & Mirrors: with insights and extracts from the secret journals of  Professor Artemus More PhD (Cantab) FRS.  Set in a Steampunk vision  of Victorian Britain Steam, Smoke & Mirrors is “Victorian  science fiction”, says Colin: “It’s so sexy! Men in top hats and women in  thigh-length boots! Steampunk is on a roll!”

"I wanted to know what went on -what really went on - inside  Viacom/CBS... about the collaboration between very big business and very big  government." So says television legend Dan Rather in this  special edition of The Debriefer. "I knew that a lot had gone on behind  the scenes [in CBS News] that wasn't right. As a reporter, I tried to dig into  that story."

The scandal that Dan and his team at CBS had unearthed concerned no less a  person than George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States. At the time  of the Viet Nam war, Bush's father had used his influence to get him a posting  in the Texas Air National Guard, thus ensuing he would never risk active service  in the battlefield. "That's a fact", says Dan. "The president didn't deny it:  he's never denied it."

Even more scandalously, after being posted to this "champagne unit" for the  sons of privileged and well-connected people, Bush countermanded orders and  disappeared for a year! "[Those facts] were true when we reported them", says  Dan. "And they're true now."

Listen to this Debriefer special as Dan tells us what happened next to him  and his team: it will shock you. If you enjoyed this show, buy Dan's new book,  Rather  Outspoken: My Life in the News, just out from Grand Central  Publishing.