Akenfield Now

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Archive on 4: Akenfield Now

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Akenfield Now

How has English rural life changed since Ronald Blythe wrote his bestseller Akenfield?

4 Extra Debut. Anna Davies explores how has English rural life has changed since Ronald Blythe’s 1969 bestseller Akenfield? From 2019.

In 1969, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village became a bestselling book. A film by Peter Hall followed.

This edition of Archive on 4 re-visits the Suffolk village (Charsfield) on which the book was based, with a group of local young people.

They are students of Kesgrave High School who are recording and filming fresh takes on the original in a project called Akenfield Now.

It's led by Dr John Gordon of the University of East Anglia and funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

We also hear from the author of Akenfield, Ronald Blythe, now 96.

With:

Harvey Osborne 
Jan Pedgrift 
Garrow Shand 
Cyril Kindred 
Martin Llewellyn 
Peter Driver 
Steven Brian 

Producer: Nick Carter Miles

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2019.

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