Bob Dylan - one of the most significant and influential cultural figures of the late 20th and early 21st century - was 70 on 24 May 2011. The three stories in Ballads Of Thin Men were commissioned specially to mark the occasion.

Written by Nick Walker

The Savoy Hotel, London, 1965. In the Iolanthe Room, Margaret is holding a meeting to prepare for a memorial function in honour of the recently-deceased Sir Winston Churchill. She uses flash-cards to help her small audience. Staying at the Savoy is 'a chap ... who plays the guitar which is quite nice,' And he's been using flash-cards too ...

Nick Walker is part of Coventry-based mixed media experimentalists Talking Birds whose work has been presented extensively in the UK as well as in Sweden, Ireland, and the USA. He has worked with some of the country's leading new work theatre companies including Stan's Cafe, Insomniac, and Theatre Instituut Nederlands both in the UK and abroad.

He is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories are often featured on BBC Radio 4 including Arnold In A Purple Haze (2009), the 'First King of Mars' stories (2007 - 2010) and the Afternoon Play Life Coach (2010), all of them Sweet Talk productions.

Reader: Sarah Hadland
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4. Show less