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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Book of the Week: Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North

Book of the Week: Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North: Episode 2

Factual: History

Factual: Travel

Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North, Episode 2

A journey to the Faroe Islands in the wake of two 14th century Venetian merchants.

The author's search for evidence to prove the truth behind the fabled 14th century voyages of two Venetian merchants takes him to the Faroe Islands. The reader is Sam Dale.

By Andrea di Robilant.


Read by Sam Dale.


In the fourteenth century, so the story goes, two merchant brothers set out from Venice on a journey through the rough seas of the North Atlantic, encountering warrior princes, fighting savage natives and, just possibly, reaching the New World a full century before Columbus. 


Their adventures - printed as a small book and beautifully detailed map in 1558 by an enthusiastic ancestor - were celebrated throughout Europe until, in 1835, the story was denounced as a 'tissue of lies' and the Zens faded into oblivion.


Intrigued by the myth, the writer Andrea di Robilant set out on a personal quest to see what traces remain of these fabled voyages. In this episode, he arrives in the Faroe Islands: a scattering of volcanic islands half-way between Shetland and Iceland where echoes of its vibrant past as a busy maritime hub still resonate.


Abridged by Laurence Wareing.


Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The quest to discover the truth about two Venetian merchants' 14th century travels

Andrea di Robilant's quest for traces of the fabled voyages of two Venetian merchants in the 14th century

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Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North

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