In recent weeks I’ve been listening to audio dramas on BBC Radio 4. Besides The Once and Future King (which I blogged about at length), there was also Good Omens, based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel about the childhood of the Antichrist, and War and Peace, based on the Tolstoy novel. (MyContinue reading “The History of Titus Groan”
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The Once and Future King: The Lengthening Shadow
Enter Mordred. For the first four hours of Brian Sibley’s adaptation of T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, Mordred, Arthur’s bastard and incestuous son, has loomed over the proceedings as, on the night before the battle of Camlann, Arthur reminisces with Merlyn about his reign. He has always been an off-stage presence while ArthurContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Lengthening Shadow”
The Once and Future King: The Ill-Made Knight
ARTHUR So… you’re saying you can’t escape what’s going to happen to you when you meet Nimue. MERLYN There’s a thing about time and space which the philosopher Einstein is going to find out about. Some people call it destiny. ARTHUR Then if everything that happens is preordained, what is the point in trying toContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Ill-Made Knight”
The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness
While listening to “The Queen of Air and Darkness,” the third episode of Brian Sibley’s adaptation of T.H. White’s The Once and Future King for BBC Radio 4 for a third time, something I had overlooked or had passed over me came to the fore and I had an unexpected insight. Am I an atheistContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness”
The Once and Future King: The Sword in the Stone
“I realize it’s hard to believe, but the great dream you and Lancelot once shared won’t ever die. One day, like the phoenix, it will rise again.” — Merlyn A little more than a week ago I wrote about the first episode of Brian Sibley’s adapation of T.H. White’s The Once andContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Sword in the Stone”
The Once and Future King: The Coming of Merlyn
Last weekend, BBC Radio 4 began a six-part adaptation of T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, his famous Arthurian novel quartet. A few years ago, I wrote about Disney’s adaptation of The Sword in the Stone, a film I loved as a child and wasn’t quite as enchanted by as an adult. The newContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Coming of Merlyn”