The War of the Worlds

In 1898 H.G. Wells published War of the Worlds as a novel ... a novel that has inspired a number of movies, TV shows, comic books, radio dramas and even a musical. Talking Books presented a special documentary on The War of the Worlds, listening to the Orson Welles broadcast that panicked America, looking at War of the Worlds on film and in print, plus, Jeff Wayne discusses his musical version.

Short Story Radio

 Talking Books 1st Birthday

When the Talking Books show passed it's first birthday we put together a special show looking back at some of the books featured over the past 12 months. Listen out for clips and interviews from Michael Palin, hear about the ascent of Rum Doodle, listen out for a few of our celebrity narrators and there's another chance to hear the very first story from Insight Radio's Talking Books. Here's what Elizabeth Mahoney in the Guardian had to say about this show ...

"Listening to Insight Radio, Europe's first radio station for blind and partially-sighted listeners, you realise what pointless fluff so much other radio is. This is broadcasting that helps, sustains and even changes lives, making a virtue of radio's lack of visuals.

The station's excellent Talking Books programme, presented by Robert Kirkwood, yesterday celebrated the history of books on audio at the RNIB, which began in 1935 with a novel each by Agatha Christie and Joseph Conrad. The Talking Books service now has 41,000 members and is, said one listener, "the best thing the RNIB has ever done".

Ian Turner, development manager for the service, gave a lively history of how technology and tastes have changed. In 1960, shellac LPs were replaced by books on tape cassette. It wasn't exactly slick technology. At the end of each track, he explained, "you had to push your finger into a little hole, push a little spring-loaded metal clip and change track". These days, with members aged six to 100, talking books include more contemporary writers, though Catherine Cookson is still the most popular. The recipe for happy listeners, said Turner, is as it was in 1935: "Good-quality recordings, good- quality narration."