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News of Paul Temple (BBC Audio) | 
 enlarge | Author: Francis Durbridge
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £6.63
You Save: £6.36 (49%)
New (20) Used (1) from £6.63
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 4589
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
ISBN: 1405676965
EAN: 9781405676960
ASIN: 1405676965
Publication Date: November 13, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 By Timothy! January 7, 2009
Wynne Kelly (Coventry, UK)
As a youngster I remember listening avidly to Paul Temple on the radio. I loved the strangeness of a wife called Steve and the fact that he never seemed to do any work except drive around in a sports car solving crimes and talking in a post voice.
Well, has Paul Temple stood up to the test of time? In a word, no.... I have to agree that Anthony Head reads it magnificently (but did wonder how he managed to get through it without bursting out laughing). News of Paul Temple is very much a period piece. The plot has more holes than a colander and most of the characters are unbelievable.
However, I can't say I didn't enjoy this blast from the past. It was fun while it lasted but didn't whet my appetite for more.
Very Enjoyable January 5, 2009
M. R. Jones (Plymouth, UK)
I never used to enjoy audio books. I always found that the portrayal by the actor(s) is never the way I picture them, and this plays on my mind throughout the story so I am unable to enjoy it.
Lets just say that as time has gone by, my attitude is changing.
And as my first audio book, this didn't disappoint me in the slightest. I found it gripping and highly enjoyable.
Anthony Head does an admirable job telling the story, although I couldn't help but chuckle every time he performed a female character.
The recording itself is extremely well done, and sounds fantastic. Just what you should expect from a BBC production.
I think I will have to get the others now. Temple is just too tempting!
Send for News of Paul Temple January 5, 2009
Andromeda Descendent (Tarn Vedra)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'd never heard of Paul Temple before, but there are too few detectives from this time period that I do know, so after finding out that Anthony Head was reading it (as well as being a great actor, I also know him to be a superb narrator), I eagerly gave it a go.
To say it's old fashioned would be to miss the point, as the story is contemporary to its 1930s setting, but Agatha Christie stories are old fashioned too and just as this forms a large part of the charm for Poirot, so it does with Paul Temple and Francis Durbridge's other characters. The only thing that grated on me was the "by Timothy!" exclamations and some similar unnatural dialogue of the type you only get in old films and less old spoofs. Quite unlike Agatha Christie books however, the plot of "News of Paul Temple" is pleasingly concise in its pool of possible suspects. You can listen to this audiobook on a long trip without getting too confused - it's not taxing stuff, and that's in its favour because with an audiobook it's much more hassle to rewind and hear plot points again than it is with the paper version.
I must admit, I've never heard of a woman being called Steve before - was this common in the 1930s? Steve's role is that of the dutiful wife in whom Temple can confide (every fictional detective needs a confidant) but she doesn't flinch from danger or need to be wrapped in cotton wool, and I interpreted more of her character from this than from her actual dialogue. Where a modern author may have made her a more equal character to her husband, Francis Durbridge can be forgiven on the basis that the gender balance of important characters, in this story at least, is more or less 50:50.
The novel is abridged, and that's good because it keeps running time to a reasonable length, but I think I would have preferred it to have been abridged a bit more so as to allow room for Anthony Head to take a breath every now and then. At times he does seem to be very consciously reading against the clock. But it takes a good actor to pull off an audiobook convincingly, and AH manages to make every character sound different and certainly imbues the dated phraseology within the book with an immediacy that makes it sound a lot less dusty than it might have done in a lesser narrator's hands.
Although I didn't find the central mystery too taxing, I enjoyed the story a lot more than I initially expected, and I would happily sit through another. Audiobooks cost a lot more than regular books though, so perhaps next time there's a sale on.
Light hearted enjoyment January 5, 2009
Suzanne Moore (England)
I've never listened or read any Paul Temple novels and picked this on a whim. It was quite addicitve although Paul Temple is a little bit of a know it all that might bug me after a while I did enjoy this audio cd. Read by Anthony Head who has a lovely voice to listen to. He managed to give each character their own voice so it was easy to follow.
One thing I didn't get was the cd cover until after I had listened to the whole story then it made sense.
If you like a good old fashioned period spy thriller this is definitely for you.
who is Z 4? January 3, 2009
Paul Tapner (poole dorset england)
Paul Temple. One time journalist, now successful crime writer and playwright. married to former colleague steve, he and his wife are also detectives.
A hugely well known character in the crime fiction field once upon a time, paul temple appeared first on the radio in the 1930's, then in novels, and later on bbc tv. Not as well remembered now as he should be, as thanks to the regrettable old bbc policy of junking old programmes not a lot of his past exploits on radio and tv survive.
but now, thanks to bbc audiobooks, some of the novels can be enjoyed once again in the form of talking books. This is an adbridged version of the novel news of paul temple. I've never read the original so I can't be sure how much had to be cut but I had no problem following it, so the abridging doesnt harm a thing.
this is a classic detective story set in the 30's, and very much in the style of the time, with characters and setting well in keeping with the period. And there's a pleasantly delightful charm to the whole thing thanks to that. Paul Temple and steve visit a small village in scotland, and get involved with an international spy ring, and the hunt for it's leader. a mysterious figure known only as Z4.
Actor anthony head reads the book. In addition to having a superb voice that is very nice to listen to, he also provides different voices for each character, and is very good at doing this. everyone has their own distinctive way of speaking and you never have any trouble telling who's talking. and his attempts at doing female voices are fine.
the complete thing runs for roughly two and a quarter hours, and is spread over two cd's, divided into tracks for ease of access. each track has a different title on the menu which is a quote from a scene in it. the inlay gives a good bit of information about anthony head, the original paul temple series, and francis durbridge, the creator of the character.
They don't write them like this anymore. a good detective yarn, and a very enjoyable listen
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