BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a reading of the new biography of Evelyn Waugh by Philip Eade in its Book of the Week series. The broadcast will be in 5 episodes starting next Monday, 4 July at 0945a (London time). The abridgement of the book by Libby Spurrier will be read by actor Nicholas Grace who chewed up a good deal of scenery playing Anthony Blanche in the 1981 Granada TV version of Brideshead Revisited. Each 15 minute episode will be broadcast at the same time every morning through Friday 8 July. They may be heard on the internet shortly after each broadcast. The Pier production for Radio 4 is produced and directed by Celia de Wolff. According to the BBC’s announcement:
Waugh’s Estate has released previously unseen letters and there is new personal testimony from those who knew and worked with him. The book spans the whole of Waugh’s life, presenting new details of his difficult relationship with his embarrassingly sentimental father, his love affair with Alastair Graham at Oxford, his disastrous marriage to Evelyn Gardner and its complicated annulment, his dramatic conversion to Roman Catholicism and his chequered wartime career.
The book is published next week in the UK. The US edition will be issued in October.
