Sunday 2 January 2011

THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED NARNIA

Thanks to eagle-eyed Radio Times reader, Sheila, I can tell you that another Sibley programme is getting a BBC Radio 7 repeat today...


The Northern Irish Man in C S Lewis
(not the snappiest title in the history of radio-writing, I admit!) tells the story – or, at least, my version of the story – of the Belfast childhood of children's writer and Christian apologist, C S (for Clive Staples) Lewis, and of the influence that the landscape, legends and people of Northern Ireland had on the creation and depiction of the Land of Narnia.

C S Lewis is played by Geoffrey Palmer and the programme can be heard at 10:15 this morning and, after that, via BBC iPlayer for the next seven days.

If you are a frequent traveller (in your imagination) to those lands that lie between the Lamp-post and the Great Castle at Cair Paravel, you might just enjoy this exploration...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was very nice! Thanks for posting the link.

Anonymous said...

I watched you on Sky Arts the other day in the company of Geoffrey Palmer and Andy Serkis in a documentary about The Screwtape Letters. I have always been fond of GP since his days as Ben, Ria's husband in Butterflies. I loved his programmes about the Compleat Angler. I am looking forward to seeing Andy again in The Hobbit when it is released. He's an amazing actor.

This time of year always makes me think of CS Lewis and Oxford and more importantly proper beer. I live in NE Scotland and find real ales hard to come by. The water is too soft for beer, but good for whisky.

I once had the good fortune to live and work in Headington, so made the pilgrimage to The Kilns where I was given tea in the kitchen, Headington Quarry Church and The Bird and Baby. Last time I was in the city The Trout had turned into a trendy wine bar with a poor choice of beers. It made me so sad and I expect Jack Lewis and Inspector Morse would have had something to say on the matter too.

Happy New Year.

Janet

Brian Sibley said...

Glad you enjoyed it, dragonladych!

Yes, Janet, I heard I was on Sky Arts, but not having it, I missed it! Mind you, I don't need much of an excuse NOT to watch myself on TV! I've always thought I look better on radio!

The Jackson Hobbit will be well worth waiting for especially to enjoy a revival of Serkis' Gollum. It will also be interesting to see how PJ works in all those other TLotR characters!

I stayed at The Kilns once, when giving a a talk on Lewis in Oxford, and slept in the bedroom 'Jack' had used. I gather the 'B&B' is to get a face-lift and I do hope they don't ruin it. Although, I have to admit (despite having written so much about JRRT and CSL) I've never been an 'ale man' – a pipe, yes (before I gave up smoking, twenty years ago), but not the beer...