On the Road with Penguin Classics
On the Road with Penguin Classics
In January 2021 I launched On the Road with Penguin Classics, the first Penguin Classics podcast. I hosted it for three years and thirty episodes.
In each episode I travelled to a different literary location to discuss a brilliant book in the company of a remarkable reader.
The episodes are all available for free on whichever podcast platform you prefer, perhaps Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Audible.
Here are the details of all thirty episodes.
30. William Blake’s poetry with Philip Pullman
William Blake’s poetry and prose. We visit Sir Philip at home to discuss the poet who has ‘inspired and intoxicated’ him for the last sixty years. In Philip’s book-lined sitting room we discuss Blake’s most loved works: his Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Auguries of Innocence.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
29. Giovanni’s Room with Caryl Phillips
James Baldwin in Paris. On the rain-soaked boulevards, the novelist Caryl Phillips discusses Baldwin's exquisite same-sex love story, drinking in the Cafe de Flore and exploring Saint Germain des Prés. Phillips, who knew James Baldwin, wrote the introduction to the Penguin Modern Classics edition of Giovanni’s Room and an unfilmed screenplay of the novel for Merchant Ivory productions.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
28. John Donne’s poetry with Katharine Rundell
John Donne’s poetry and prose in London. The scholar and children’s author Katherine Rundell traces the life and paradoxical career of John Donne from the street where he was born, through the palaces and colleges where he worked to the cathedral where he preached and now lies buried. In 2022 Rundell won the Baillie-Gifford Prize for her biography of Donne, Super-Infinite.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
27. We Have Always Lived in the Castle with Ruth Franklin
Shirley Jackson in North Bennington, Vermont. Award-winning biographer and substacker Ruth Franklin visits the small village of North Bennington, where Jackson lived for twenty years. We stand in the square where Jackson imagined ‘The Lottery’ and conjure the ghost of Merricat Blackwood as she collects her sinister groceries in Jackson’s last and greatest novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
26. Angela Carter’s Fairy Tales with Marina Warner
Angela Carter’s Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. In Dame Marina Warner’s magical home in North London, the historian and mythographer discusses Perrault’s Tales of Mother Goose and their English translation by Angela Carter, as well as Carter’s own Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. Our wide-ranging conversation covers Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard and Little Red Riding Hood, as well as many other fairy tales.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
25. A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow – Christmas Special
Charles Dickens in London. For this festive Christmas Special, the actor and author Simon Callow joins Henry to summon the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge and follow him around the City of London, starting at Cornhill, taking in Leadenhall Market and meeting all three Spirits of Christmas.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
24. A Clockwork Orange with Jeff Noon and Andrew Biswell
Anthony Burgess in East Sussex. On the 30th anniversary of Burgess’s death, the science fiction author Jeff Noon and the biographer Andrew Biswell travel East Sussex with Henry, visiting the rented flat where Burgess began writing A Clockwork Orange, O my brothers, and the quiet village where he finished it, taking in a pub, a prison, ultra violence, nadsat, brainwashing and Beethoven.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
23. Farewell, My Lovely with Dick Lochte
Raymond Chandler in Santa Monica. As well as The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye, we discuss Farewell, My Lovely, Chandler’s favourite of his own novels, as we walk the noir streets of ‘Bay City’ – or Santa Monica, in Southern California – retracing Philip Marlowe’s footsteps from City Hall to Santa Monica Pier, and chatting about Dick’s hard-boiled and hilarious Chandler tribute, Sleeping Dog.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
22. Frankenstein with Anil Seth and Fiona Sampson
Mary Shelley in Bath. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin finished writing Frankenstein while lodging in Bath and attending lectures on electricity and galvanism. We visit the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution and the recently opened Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein with the neuroscientist Anil Seth (author of Being You) and the poet and biographer Fiona Sampson (In Search of Mary Shelley), discussing Romantic literature, early nineteenth-century science and the mystery of consciousness.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
21. Pride and Prejudice with Monica Ali
Jane Austen in Chawton. The novelist Monica Ali joins Henry to visit Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire, where Austen wrote all of her novels – as well as nearby Chawton House, once owned by Austen’s brother Edward and now home to the Centre for the Study of Early Women’s Writing.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
20. The Haunting of Hill House with Ruth Franklin – Halloween Special
Shirley Jackson in Bennington, Vermont. For this spooky Halloween special, award-winning biographer and substacker Ruth Franklin joins Henry to haunt the eery corridors of the derelict Everett Mansion, the house that may well have inspired the greatest ghost story ever written, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
19. Eliot’s Book of Bookish Lists – Christmas Special
In this bonus episode, Henry introduces Eliot’s Book of Bookish Lists, the perfect stocking-filler for book-lovers. Who had birds called Death, Wigs and Spinach? How do you spell the noise of a door slamming? Whose working title was The Chronic Argonauts? In this eclectic gallimaufry, Henry showcases some of his favourite literary lists: we witness the tragic ends of the Ancient Greek tragedians, learn the name of George Orwell's pet cockerel and rummage through Joan Didion’s travelling bag; we consider the history of literary fart jokes, orbit the Shakespearean moons of Uranus and meet several pigs with wings. From the sublime to the ridiculous – and everything in between – Eliot’s lists, recommendations and nuggets of trivia will delight, inspire and surprise anyone who loves reading.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
18. The Pilgrim’s Progress with Rachel Joyce
John Bunyan in Bedfordshire. The novelist Rachel Joyce joins Henry as they follow in the footsteps of Bunyan’s pilgrim Christian, as he walks from Bedford, or the City of Destruction, to London, the Celestial City. Along the way they visit the Slough of Despond (Elstow), the Palace Beautiful (Houghton House) and Vanity Fair (Ampthill). They start at the Bunyan Meeting House, where they meet John Pestell, and finish at Bunyan’s resting place, Bunhill Fields.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
17. Season of Migration to the North with Leila Aboulela
Tayeb Salih in London. The novelist Leila Aboulela meets Henry in London to discuss Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North, which was voted the most important Arab novel of the 20th century by the Arab Literary Academy in Damascus. The novel is set in both a small village in northern Sudan and various locations in London, the city that Tayeb Salih made his home. Leila and Henry visit Victoria Station, Speaker’s Corner, the London Central Mosque, the Old Bailey and Cleopatra’s Needle.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
16. The Book of Disquiet with Richard Zenith
Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon. The translator and biographer Richard Zenith meets Henry in Lisbon to sift the fragments of Fernando Pessoa’s extraordinary ‘non-book’, The Book of Disquiet. They visit the cafes where Pessoa liked to drink, they meet Clara Riso, director of the Casa Fernando Pessoa, and they walk from the hills of Lisbon to the edge of the River Tagus.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
15. Maurice with Diarmuid Hester
E. M. Forster in Cambridge. The cultural historian Diarmuid Hester joins Henry to explore the streets and colleges of Cambridge before escaping to the greenwood to discuss Maurice by E. M. Forster, his novel of same-sex love that remained unpublished throughout his lifetime. Diarmuid and Henry visit King’s College, where Forster lived both as an undergraduate and an honorary fellow and they visit Madingley Hall and Madingley Dell.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
14. The Hearing Trumpet with Joanna Moorhead
Leonora Carrington in the Ardèche. The journalist and biographer Joanna Moorhead joins Henry in the south of France to discuss her cousin, the surrealist artist and writer Leonora Carrington. They trace Carrington’s life story to Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche, where she lived with the artist Max Ernst, and discuss her spectacular feminist, eco-apocalypse novel The Hearing Trumpet.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
13. Confessions of an English Opium Eater with Will Self
Thomas de Quincey & William S. Burroughs in Soho. The novelist Will Self joins Henry in London to explore the opium dreams and heroin nightmares of Thomas de Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater and William S. Burrough’s Junky. They walk from Oxford Street to Covent Garden, and along the way they also discuss The Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley and Will’s own 2019 drugs memoir, Will.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
12. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Chris Riddell
Lewis Carroll in Oxford. The illustrator and political cartoonist Chris Riddell wanders the streams and streets of Oxford with Henry, visiting the locations that inspired Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. They meet Sophie Hiscock at the Story Museum and visit Christ Church College.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
11. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with Alan Taylor
Muriel Spark in Edinburgh. The journalist Alan Taylor joins the Brodie set on a walk around Edinburgh with Henry. They discuss The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, visiting the site of James Gillespie’s High School (Spark’s alma mater and the model for Marcia Blaine school in the novel), as well as her childhood home on Bruntsfield Place and tracing the route taken by Miss Brodie and her girls across the Meadows and through the Grassmarket, Lawnmarket and the High Street.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
10. Keats’s poetry with Andrew Motion
John Keats in Hampstead. The poet and biographer Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, strolls around the village of Hampstead with Henry. They discuss the short life and luscious poetry of John Keats, walking on the Heath, visiting Leigh Hunt’s house in the Vale of Health and finishing at Wentworth Place (now Keats House), where they meet its principal curator, Rob Shakespeare.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
9. The Blazing World with Michael Bravo
Margaret Cavendish beyond the North Pole. The polar researcher Dr Michael Bravo joins Henry in Cambridge to discuss The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish, the maverick Duchess of Newcastle. Blending fantasy, philosophy and seventeenth-century science, they visit the Polar Museum, the Whipple Museum and Cambridge University Library. They meet Dr Joshua Nall, an expert on the history of science, and Dr Emily Dourish, deputy keeper of rare books.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
8. Ulysses with Anne Fogarty
James Joyce in Dublin. Professor Anne Fogarty joins Henry in Dublin to recreate a day in the life of Leopold Bloom. They discuss Ulysses by James Joyce and visit the Martello Tower where the novel opens, Eccles Street, Davy Byrnes and the National Library. They meet Darina Gallagher, director of the James Joyce Centre, who coordinates the annual Bloomsday celebrations.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
7. Nineteen Eighty-Four with Robert Icke
George Orwell in Airstrip One. The writer and director Robert Icke joins Henry to explore the real-world locations in London that inspired George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Together they tour the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love and Room 101. Robert co-adapted and co-directed the award-winning 2013 stage adaptation 1984, which has played on the West End and Broadway and toured the UK, the USA and Australia.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
6. The Mill on the Floss with Louis de Bernières
George Eliot in Nuneaton. The novelist Louis de Bernières explores the landscape around Nuneaton in Warwickshire, the birthplace of Mary Ann Evans, or George Eliot. They discuss The Mill on the Floss, visiting the Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery and the Griff House Beefeater, which was Eliot’s childhood home and the inspiration for Dorlcote Mill in the novel. They also meet Adam Weaver, land agent of the Arbury Estate, the same position held by Eliot’s father.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
5. The Lonely Londoners with Susheila Nasta
Sam Selvon in Bayswater. The author and editor Susheila Nasta, Selvon’s literary executor, coasts a lime around the Water with Henry. They discuss The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon, visiting Bayswater, Hyde Park and Piccadilly Circus, and discussing the experience of Caribbean migrants in 1950s London. They meet Howard Jeffery, Chairman of the Pepperpot Centre, a community centre for older Caribbean residents in west London.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
4. Tristram Shandy with Frank Cottrell Boyce
Laurence Sterne in Coxwold. The screenwriter and children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the screenplay for A Cock and Bull Story (the 2005 film adaptation of Tristram Shandy), digresses around the little village of Coxwold in North Yorkshire with Henry. They discuss Laurence Sterne’s novel and veer off on various tangents as they meander from St Michael’s Church, where Sterne was perpetual curate, to Shandy Hall, where he wrote most of Tristram Shandy. They meet the curator, Patrick Wildgust, who guides them through the eccentric building.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
3. Mrs Dalloway with Alexandra Harris
Virginia Woolf in Westminster. The biographer Alexandra Harris, author of Romantic Moderns (2010), haunts the streets of Westminster with Henry. They discuss Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, tracing the course of the novel as it unfolds over a single day, visiting Bond Street, Regent’s Park and Tavistock Square. They also meet Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry at King’s College London, a leading authority on shell shock.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
2. The Canterbury Tales with Patience Agbabi
Geoffrey Chaucer in Kent. The poet and performer Patience Agbabi, author of Telling Tales (2014), makes a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury with Henry. They discuss The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer as they travel by train, stopping off at Dartford and Rochester, covering Chaucer’s life and times, poetry and pilgrims, including the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner. In Canterbury they meet David Herd, co-founder of Refugee Tales, an annual public walk that raises awareness around indefinite immigration detention.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible
1. The Woman in White with Olivia Vinall
Wilkie Collins in Cumbria. The actress Olivia Vinall, star of the 2018 BBC adaptation of The Woman in White, explores the Cumbrian coastline with Henry. They discuss Wilkie Collins’s novel and visit the Ship Hotel in Allonby, where Collins stayed with Charles Dickens. They also visit Ewanrigg Hall, the inspiration for Limmeridge House, and meet Doris Riley, author of The Rise and Fall of Ewanrigg Hall, who tells them a haunting ghost story.