Radio Classics

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is an 1820 short story by American author Washington Irving, contained in his collection of 34 essays and short stories titled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Irving wrote the story while living in Birmingham, England. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring popularity, especially during Halloween because of a character known as the Headless Horseman believed to be a Hessian soldier who was decapitated by a cannonball in battle.

The Radio Reading Room Halloween Classics features stories of the season from some of Americana's most revered writers, including the master of the Macabre Edgar Allen Poe 's "The Masque of The Red Death" and "The Raven", Mark Twain's "A Ghost Story", O'Henry's "The Furnished Room" and an adaptation of an old ghost tale "The Ghost with Two White Eyes" by Myron Hieronymous Thomas.

The Pirate Raiders, with the villainous Captain Bardoso in command, are employed by the vicious Captain Ramon to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy caballero, hoping to use her to trap Zorro. Battles on land and sea, flashing swords and booming cannon explode before your very ears in this exciting audio production.

Toby Veck is a humble porter who has lost his faith in humanity. Then high up in a church steeple, where spiders spin their castles in the air, the spirit of the bells appear to take Toby on a New Year's Eve journey where he discovers all he has to be grateful for.

Der Radio BERLIN-OHRENBÄR präsentiert: Eine Spinne in der Zimmerecke, ein Hochwasser, ein Picknick mit der Familie und eine schlimme Erkältung: Ganz alltägliche Begebenheiten werden zum Ausgangspunkt für die vielen Abenteuer, die Milan erlebt. Da wird sein Zimmer zur afrikanischen Steppe voller Zebras, Gnus und Löwen; der Vater ist plötzlich so groß wie ein Kaufhaus; Milan wächst ein gigantischer Pickel und die seltsamen Nasenmenschen kommen zu Besuch; Milan freundet sich mit Fischen und Außerirdischen an.

The adventures of a talking wooden puppet who yearns to become a real boy.

Sir David Jason reads Charles Dickens' magical, much-loved Christmas story. Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean, unpleasant man who dislikes people generally and Christmas especially. But one Christmas Eve, he has a terrifying experience: He sees the ghost of his one-time business partner, Jacob Marley, who is bound in chains and doomed to wander the Earth because of the sins of his past life. Marley warns Scrooge that he is headed for the same dreadful fate: but there is one possible means of escape.

The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures - spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th-century writers, including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Alfred Hitchcock and Dennis Potter, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks.

A 'Woman's Hour' reading by Janet Suzman of Jane Austen's last completed work. When the personable Captain Wentworth reappears in Anne Elliot's life several years after she had been persuaded to break off their engagement, he at first makes no secret of his angry indignation.

Here is the preface to 12 magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates - with unequaled grace and tenderness - the deepest feelings we have.