Last week I said I would compile a list of recommendations you could purchase for elocution public speaking accent softening audio learning, from Audible (Amazon’s Audio Books).

This is a really pleasurable way of improving your elocution or acheive accent softening whilst listening to some great drama..

Here are my two favourite productions so far: first broadcast on Radio 4 and now available via Audible.

 And incase you don’t think two ideas are very much there is here is 56.5 hours of listening to excellent elocution here!

Happy Listening and have a lovely week, pleasantly learning to soften your accent, hear proper pronunciation,  assimilating excellent elocution and thereby improving your public speaking..

So that you can easily recognize the particular productions I am asking you to purchase: I have copied and pasted the descriptions as is written on Audible

The Cazalets

Written by: Elizabeth Howard, Sarah Daniels, Lin Coghlan
Narrated by: Penelope Wilton and acted by a full cast
Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
Unabridged Audiobook

Penelope Wilton narrates BBC Radio 4’s epic dramatisation of the treasured family saga Elizabeth Jane Howard’s five book chronicle of the upper-middle class. The Cazalet family story begins in 1938, as siblings Hugh, Edward, Rupert and Rachel join together for another family holiday at Home Place, their house in the Sussex countryside. During the course of:  The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off and All Change; the progress of their lives, and those of their children, will be charted.

As their stories unfolds we gain a vivid insight into the lives, hopes, and loves of three generations during the Second Word War and beyond.
Dramatised by Sarah Daniels and Lin Coghlan, and with a large cast of actors across all five books, this remarkable radio event adds a new dimension to Elizabeth Jane Howard’s extraordinary chronicles.

The first four Cazalet novels sold over a million copies, with the fifth being published in 2013, shortly before the author’s death.

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The Barchester Chronicles

I have put the chronicles  in the right order in which to listen to them: again, to help you buy the right productions, as there have been several over the years, I have copied and pasted the descriptions on Audible of the right ones. Look for the ones released in 2015 & the names of Maggie Steed & Tim Pigott-Smith

Series 1: The Barchester Chronicles

The wonderful lavish BBC Radio 4, full-cast dramatisation of Anthony Trollope’s much-loved novels. Anthony Trollope’s much-loved series of witty and gently satirical stories of provincial life, The Barchester Chronicles, are set in the fictional town of Barchester and the surrounding county of Barsetshire

Series 2: The Barchester Chronicles: The Warden
Narrated by: Maggie Steed starring Tim Pigott-Smith & full cast,
Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
Publisher: BBC Worldwide Ltd
The Warden, the gentle Mr Harding, finds his peaceful life disrupted when his would-be son-in-law, John Bold, calls into question the large income he receives as warden of Barchester Alms House.

Series 3:  The Barchester Chronicles: Barchester Towers (Dramatised)
Narrated by: Maggie Steed starring Tim Pigott-Smith &full cast,
Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
In Barchester Towers, the cathedral town of Barchester, is changing again with the arrival of a new Bishop, his wife and Chaplain from London throwing all Barchester into disarray.

Series 3: The Barchester Chronicles: Dr Thorne
Narrated by: Maggie Steed starring Iain Glen & full cast
Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
In Dr Thorne, young Frank Gresham, the heir to the aristocratic Greshambury estate, expresses his desire to marry Mary, her uncle, Dr Thorne, realises that the secret he has concealed for so long can no longer stay secret.

Series 4: The Barchester Chronicles: Framley Parsonage
Narrated by: Maggie Steed starring Pip Carter and full cast
Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
In Framley Parsonage, Mark Robarts, the young vicar of Framley, cannot resist the lure of celebrity beyond his own village. But he’s to risk everything in his ambitious pursuits, including his devoted wife and children and his sister’s happiness.

Series 5: The Barchester Chronicles: The Small House at Allington
Narrated by: Maggie Steed starring Tim Pigott-Smith & Full Cast,
Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins

The Small House at Allington is the fifth of six books and dramatisations, following on from The Warden, Barchester Towers, Dr Thorne and Framley Parsonage.The Small House at Allington is the fifth of six books and dramatisations, following on from The Warden, Barchester Towers, Dr Thorne and Framley Parsonage.

Series 6:  The Barchester Chronicles: The Last Chronicle of Barset
Narrated by: Maggie Steed, starring Tim Pigott-Smith and full cast,
Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins

The Last Chronicle of Barset is the last of six books and dramatisations, following on from The Warden, Barchester Towers, Dr Thorne, Framley Parsonage & The Small House at Allington.

 

So enjoy, this is definitely one of the most pleasant ways to learn excellent English elocution!