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Sailors' Knots

Mark Williams

WW Jacobs

Roy Apps

David Blount

Sailors' Knots: Episode 3: The Head of the Family

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Episode 3

Episode 3: The Head of the Family

The Head of the Family

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Sailors' Knots, The Head of the FamilySearch BBC

In a case of mistaken identity, a sailor becomes part of a family he has never met before.

In a case of mistaken identity, a young sailor becomes part of a family he has never met before. Read by Mark Williams.

Written by W.W. Jacobs. 

Published in 1909, Sailors' Knots is an anthology of comic stories set around London and the Thames Estuary at the turn of the last century. The 'knots' are the various mix-ups that occur between sailors on shore leave and the local residents. The tales are great fun, full of entertaining characters (with names like Silas Winch, Sam Small and Ginger Dick) and often deal with marital spats, misunderstandings, and rascals getting their just rewards.

Mark Williams reads the last in the series when, in a case of mistaken identity, a young sailor becomes part of a family he's never met before.

W.W. Jacobs is best know for his horror story, The Monkey's Paw (1902), but the majority of his writing is comic. He was born in Wapping in 1863, where his father was wharf manager at the South Devon Wharf at Lower East Smithfield, and his early observation of merchant ships and the behaviour of their crews informed his many humorous tales.

Mark Williams is well-known as one of the stars of BBC TV's The Fast Show ("Suits you, sir..!!") and for the role of Ron Weasley's father in the Harry Potter films.

Abridged by Roy Apps

Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

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Comic tales by WW Jacobs about sailors home from the sea

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