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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 5

Factual: History

Factual: Travel

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

Episode 5

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North, Episode 5

The smoking slopes of a volcano in Greenland signal journey's end. Read by Sam Dale.

A smoking volcano in Greenland signals journey's end for this quest to uncover traces of the fabled voyages of two 14th century Venetian merchants. Read by 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 and fighting savage natives on distant shores. 


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 to discover what traces remain of these fabled voyages. In this final episode, the quest reaches its furthest point north on the slopes of a smoking volcano in Greenland.


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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