A sweeping history of Athens, telling the three-thousand-year story of the birthplace of Western civilization, from Runciman Award winner Bruce Clark 'A stunning retrospect and beautifully written overview of one of the world's greatest cities' Paul Cartledge 'Courageously grand in scale yet sensitive to the details that make Athens' extraordinary history come alive' Sofka Zinovieff 'Bruce Clark brings an eye for the quirky, human detail, a pithy turn of phrase, and an affection for his subject honed over many decades' Roderick Beaton 'Bruce Clark's enchantingly readable history revealed how little I knew' Literary Review Dominated by the pillars and pediments of the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom, the ancient Greek city of Athens is for many synonymous with civilization itself. Athens: City of Wisdom tells the tale of a city that occupies a unique place in the cultural memory of the West. Each of the book's twenty-one chapters focuses on a critical 'moment' in the city's long history, from the reforms of the lawmaker Solon in the sixth century BCE to the travails of early twenty-first-century Athens, as a rapidly expanding city struggles with the legacy of a global economic crisis. Bruce Clark has a rich and revealing sequence of stories to tell - not only of the familiar golden age of Classical Athens, of the removal from the Acropolis of the Parthenon marbles by agents of the 7th Earl of Elgin in the early nineteenth century, or of the holding of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896; but also of the less feted later years of antiquity, when St Paul preached on the Areopagus and neo Platonists refounded the Academy that Sulla's legions had desecrated. He also delves into Athens' forgotten medieval centuries, unearthing jewels gleaming in the Byzantine twilight, and tales of Christian fortitude and erratic Turkish governance from the four centuries of Ottoman rule that followed. Few places have enjoyed a history so rich in artistic creativity and the making of ideas as Athens; or one so curiously patterned by alternating cycles of turbulence and quietness. Writing with scholarly rigour and undisguised affection, Bruce Clark brings three thousand years of Athenian history vividly to life.

A journey - both historical and contemporary - among the fantastical landscapes, beguiling creatures and isolated tribes of the world's fourth island: Madagascar. An improbable world beckons. We think we know Madagascar but it's too big, too eccentric, and too impenetrable to be truly understood. If it was stretched out across Europe, the islands would reach from London to Algiers, and yet its road network is barely bigger than tiny Jamaica's. There is no evidence of any human life until about 10,000 years ago, and, when eventually people settled, it was migrants from Borneo - 3,700 miles away - who came out on top. As well as visiting every corner of Madagascar, John Gimlette journeys deep into its past in order to better understand how Madagascar became what it is today. Along the way, he meets politicians, sorcerors, gem prospectors, militiamen, rioters, lepers and the descendants of seventeenth-century pirates.

In the 7th and 8th centuries AD, armies inspired by the new religion of Islam burst out of Arabia to subjugate the Levant, southwest Asia, North Africa and the Iberian peninsula. These Arab conquests followed immediately after the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632. By this time, against all the odds, he had managed to unite the feuding tribes of Arabia at the point of his sword. The Muslim conquests lasted until 750, by which time several generations of marauding Arab armies had carved out an Islamic empire (the Umayyad empire, centred on Baghdad) which, in size and population, rivalled that of Rome at its zenith, extending from the shores of the Atlantic in the west to the snow-bounds mountains of Central Asia and the borders of China in the east. In the process they had completely crushed one great empire (the old empire of Byzantium), and hollowed out another (that of the Iranian Sassanids). The Arab Conquests represent one of the greatest feats of arms in history and utterly changed the world. Justin Marozzi, much-praised author of The Man Who Invented History and Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood, tells their story with unfailing narrative verve and deep scholarly authority.

A secret agent resigns, then wakes up to find himself imprisoned in 'The Village' a bizarre community with a cheery veneer, but an underbelly of mystery and threat. All occupants of The Village have numbers instead of names, with our secret agent forced to accept the mantle of Number Six. The authorities running this Village are intent on discovering why Number Six resigned - but it's a secret he steadfastly refuses to divulge. As the drama unfolds, the authorities, in the guise of the sinister Number Two, try ever more ingenious and aggressive means to bend Number Six to their will. All the while, Number Six is intent on two aims: to escape and to find out 'Who is Number One?' For the first time on audio, a dynamic, full-cast revisiting of the one of the most regarded and discussed cult TV shows of all time - The Prisoner! Writer Nicholas Briggs has a long history of script work for Big Finish, including popular Doctor Who stories and many others. His love of The Prisoner goes back to seeing its first broadcast on ITV. The first volume was critically - acclaimed, lauded by both old fans and new listeners. This set contains four one-hour episodes and a Behind-the-Scenes audio documentary starring Mark Elstob as Number Six. CAST: Mark Elstob (Number Six), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Kate Butterworth), Susan Earnshaw (Brenda), Jim Barclay (Control), Barnaby Edwards (Danvers / Shopkeeper), John Heffernan(Thorpe), Sarah Mowat (Janet), Powell (Number 9 / Number 90), Andrew Ryan (Number 52), Nicholas Briggs(Number 99), Jez Fielder (Number 48), Deirdre Mullins(Number 2), Helen Goldwyn (Barmaid / Village Voice / Village Clone / Number 26 / Lunar Controller / Moon Clone / Observation Controller), Michael Cochrane(Number 2).

Number Six is still trapped in `The Village'. Do those who run this place want simply to extract classified information or do they have a darker purpose? Number Six has to believe he will escape. And this time he begins to see a possible way out. But will the price of freedom be too high? 3.2 The Girl Who Was Death. Six finds himself free again, back in London. But how did he get here? An explosion rocks the city and Six must work out who he can trust. Will it be Control, Danvers, Number 43, Kate, Number Teo or Potter? 3.3 The Seltzman Connection. Potter and ZM-73 think that if they go back to the beginning of it all, they’ll be able to solve the mystery of the Village. But can Professor Jacob Seltzman really provide all the answers? 3.4 No One Will Know. From London, to Kandersfeld to the Village… Will an end to it all ever be possible? CAST: Mark Elstob (Number Six), Alicia Ambrose-Bayly (Number 999), Jim Barclay (Control), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Kate Butterworth / Number Two) Richard Dixon (Professor Jacob Seltzman), Barnaby Edwards (Danvers / Shopkeeper / Marcus Gray / Herr Müller), Genevieve Gaunt (Number 43 / Anita), Jennifer Healy (Operations-Controller / Village Voice), Lorelei King (Number Two), Glen McCready (Potter / Sir Clifford Earl), Sarah Mowat (Janet). Other parts played by members of the cast.

A sweeping history of Athens, telling the three-thousand-year story of the birthplace of Western civilization. Even on the most smog-bound of days, the rocky outcrop on which the Acropolis stands is visible above the sprawling roofscape of the Greek capital. Athens presents one of the most recognizable and symbolically freighted panoramas of any of the world's cities: the pillars and pediments of the Parthenon - the temple dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom, that crowns the Acropolis - dominate a city whose name is synonymous for many with civilization itself. It is hard not to feel the hand of history in such a place. The birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy and theatre, Athens' importance cannot be understated. Few cities have enjoyed a history so rich in artistic creativity and the making of ideas; or one so curiously patterned by alternating cycles of turbulence and quietness. From the legal reforms of the lawmaker Solon in the sixth century BCE to the travails of early twenty-first century Athens, as it struggles with the legacy of the economic crises of the 2000s, Clark brings the city's history to life, evoking its cultural richness and political resonance in this epic, kaleidoscopic history.