You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
The British Library released previously unpublished BBC broadcasts of Evelyn Waugh today, the latest in its series of literary spoken word CDs.
Released to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Waugh's first novel, Decline and Fall, the recordings are also being made available commercially for the first time. They range from the earliest surviving example of Waugh's voice (1938) to a speech given at the Royal Society of Literature in 1963, just three years before his death.
One recording features Waugh in a famously hostile interview for the BBC Home Service series "Frankly Speaking" in which a trio of inquisitors, Charles Wilmot, Jack Davies and Stephen Black, attempt to solicit from Waugh his most illiberal social, cultural and political opinions.
Stephen Cleary, curator of drama and literature at the British Library Sound Archive, said: "These historic BBC broadcasts offer a rare opportunity to hear Waugh, his writing and his acclaimed wit, expressed in his own voice."
The Spoken Word: Evelyn Waugh was published today, and the CD is accompanied by a booklet including introductory essay.