Saturday 8 November 2014

WHITER THAN WHITE


There's more to T H White's The Once and Future King than at first meets the eye... 

The bulky, 800-page book that you will find in most bookshops is, in fact, five books written across more than twenty years and only published in their entirety forty years after the author first started writing his epic...

I tell the saga of the making of the saga here – on the BBC Radio 4 Blog.

11 comments:

tradgardmastare said...

Brian,
Just finished listening to the first part of your adaption and really enjoyed listening to it.
Alan

Brian Sibley said...

Thank you, Alan. :)

Sheila said...

Definitely a grand job, Brian. We're off to a cracking start ...

John Vernon Lord said...

I was delighted to listen to this yesterday Brian. Congratulations on a very fine beginning. It is so clever how you sifted a complex storyline so smoothly. Really looking forward to listening to the rest of this extraordinary book, which I read more than 50 years ago. You have brought it to life. Thank you.
All the best
John

Brian Sibley said...

Thanks Sheila and John!

M.H. Bierhup said...

I am loving your adaption! I've been waiting for BBC Radio to do "The Once & Future King" ever since I read the book in high school. But I have to ask, do you have any idea when the BBC wil release as an audiobook, or is that something out of your control?

Brian Sibley said...

Regrettably, I'm afraid it won't be released as an audio book because the BBC do not have the necessary copyrights to do that...

Brian Sibley said...

But thank you for liking the production! :)

M.H. Bierhup said...

Copyright law, blah! (Does it have to with how the rights are spread out-Disney's Sword in the Stone, and Lerner and Lowe's Camelot?) But I won't let that spoil my enjoyment of the production. =)

Brian Sibley said...

Well, the fact is Disney and Lerner and Loewe purchased rights in White's book which gives them rights in what else can be done. Without the co-operation of the Disney company and the estates of Messers L & L, this series could never have happened. However, the rights granted to the BBC do not extend beyond the initial broadcasts. Sorry...

M.H. Bierhup said...

So that's why there's never been any other adaptions until your dramatization. But it was worth the wait.