Socialite and literary pioneer - Anna de Noailles was a bright star in the firmament of the Parisian Belle Époque. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: De László's portrait of Anna de Noailles. Credit: Svintage Archive / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

Andrew Wilton profiles Amanda McKittrick Ros, a late Victorian novelist admired in her day but now largely forgotten. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A typical late Victorian scene. Credit: Dave Rheaume / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

Rana Mitter profiles Tsiang Tingfu, the American-educated diplomat and historian, who sought Chinese national revival on cosmopolitan lines. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Tsiang Tingfu raises his arm to veto a proposal introduced by the Soviet Union to the UN. Credit: SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo…

Lawrence Freedman profiles the Fortune journalist and best-selling author who played a key role in shaping mid-20th century perceptions of strategy and the role of the corporation. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: From left to right: Dorothy McDonald (wife of John, née Eisner), Leon Trotsky and John McDonald in Coyoacan, Mexico, in the 1930s. McDona…

Catherine Ostler profiles Maria Antonia, Electress of Saxony, an artistic polymath who helped re-shape elite culture in the Enlightenment age. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: An 18th-century portrait of Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony, by Peter Jacob Horemans. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo…

Laura Freeman profiles Helen Sutherland, an isolated, austere, and fastidious heiress who dedicated herself to art. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Woman Playing a Piano, by Winifred Nicholson. Her work was championed by Helen Sutherland. Credit: Paul Quezada-Neiman / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

James Barr profiles the debonair and open-faced diplomat, George McGhee, whose shuttle diplomacy helped accelerate Britain's decline as a player in the Middle East. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: President John F. Kennedy (left, in rocking chair) meets the newly-appointed US Ambassador to West Germany, George McGhee. Credit: Gibson Moss / Alamy St…

Dominic Sandbrook profiles Jesse Ventura, the former Navy SEAL and WWE champion who won Minnesota’s governorship in 1999 on an anti-elite ticket. His transition from showbiz to politics was a precursor of the age of Trump – but ’the Body’ was no ordinary populist. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura yells to the crowd a…

James Hardie on the violinist-composer who mixed the sacred and profane in his fantastical music, a lost genius of the 17th century. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A print of Heinrich Biber. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

Vanessa Harding on the God-fearing diarist Nehemiah Wallington whose personality was far removed from the cosmopolitanism of Samuel Pepys, his fast-living contemporary. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: An excerpt from Nehemiah Wallington's diary, dated 1654. Credit: Folger Shakespeare Library.By EI Portraits

Peter Frankopan on the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene who, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to charting the fortunes of her father's empire – etching her legacy as Europe's first female historian. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Anna Komnene, a Byzantine princess and scholar. Credit: history_docu_p…

Gillian Clark on Saint Monica, mother to Augustine of Hippo and lionized by the Latin Church, a women of many names and many more mysteries. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica. Credit:: Carlo Bollo / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

Jenny McCartney on Comte Lanjuinais, who risked his life by defying the Jacobins. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Comte Lanjuinais speaks at a febrile meeting of the National Convention, 1793. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

Armand D'Angour on Aspasia of Miletus, wife of Pericles and friend to philosophers. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: 19th Century lithograph of Aspasia of Miletus. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock PhotoBy EI Portraits

It’s time to finish this mother! Welcome to the last chapter of Around The World In 80 Days. We won’t spoil anything here, other than to say two dogs are dead and no-one seems to care and we’re all excited for the sequel Forsooth & Mudge: The Iceboat Chronicles. After a climactic Book Club, where we also reflect on how our lives have changed during…

The city within a city! That's right, the end is near and this week we head to Westminster, where Phileas Fogg's pals are waiting in the Reform Club to see if he will win his wager. What ensues is one of the most dramatic passages in literary history as the seconds tick down to Fogg's deadline. There's also a taste of Local Life before a classic Co…

Happy Christmas! The hard yards have been put in, the finishing post in sight, as the chaps return one final time for the last four episodes of what has been a long, long, long audio-road.It's yet another belter as Nick tells tales of a merry Loz, Ben hosts a tough quiz made for 7 year olds and crucially, we find out big news for an unusually emoti…

London! The Big Smoke! The Large City! That's right, the guys are back where it all began. Book Club, Local Life and College Contest are all absolute crackers, but what's that faint humming noise? That's the occasional aeroplane flying over Ben's garden shed which was not adequately soundproofed as Ben doesn't own as many shirts as Loz. More of a b…

IT’S ALL GONE WRONG. Fogg’s in the clink and time is running out. He will surely be ruined unless…he escapes! Or he’s let out. He’s just let out. We hear all about Fogg’s release, and an incredible double punch, in Book Club, and then learn about some real prison escapes in an alarming Local Life. If you see Skullcracker, do let the police know. Th…

This week sees the gang return to England in a shed-recorded, barn-stormer of an episode. We're into the thick of the drama now and I shan't give anything away, but just to tease you - exactly what you might predict happens, happens.Meanwhile, Nick and Ben rate The Beatles, while Loz laments his careless treatment of his redundant body parts.…