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Julian May

Front Row: Eddie Izzard, Wilko Johnson and novelist Benjamin Markovits

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13/06/2018

Eddie Izzard, Wilko Johnson and novelist Benjamin Markovits

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Eddie Izzard, Wilko Johnson and novelist Benjamin Markovits

Comedian Eddie Izzard talks about why he is reading all of Dickens' novels aloud.

Arts news, interviews and reviews. Eddie Izzard reveals why he is reading all of Dickens' novels aloud and Wilko Johnson talks about his first album since his recovery from cancer.

After discovering that he was almost exactly 150 years younger than Charles Dickens, comedian Eddie Izzard set himself the task of reading all of Dickens' works aloud. The first to be turned into an audiobook is Great Expectations. The stand-up discusses his love of Dickens and the unique challenges that come with reading the author's work. 

Guitarist and singer Wilko Johnson is about to release Blow Your Mind, his first album of new material in 30 years, and the first since recovering from a mayor life-saving operation to remove a large cancerous tumour in 2014. Johnson looks back over the four years of his recovery, and performs some of his distinctive R&B.

In A Weekend in New York, the latest novel by Benjamin Markovits, very little happens, but a great deal is revealed about the Essingers, a large close-knit family who are at their yearly get-together and the city of New York itself. Markovits discuses his motivation for the book and explains his desire to follow in the tradition of Philip Roth and Henry James. 

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Julian May.

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

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