"Mark Ball Talks About Books" is a series of half-hour talks on books, given by retired English teacher and genius from Birkenhead Sixth-Form College, Mark Ball. He talks about a variety of books on Saturdays at 8.00-8.30pm; the Sunday repeat is at 11.00-11.30am. He's got an entertaining and informative approach, and is well worth listening to

Forthcoming Topics will Include:

       79, 8th-9th February 2020: Shakespeare's Sonnets (repeat)

191, 1st-2nd February, 2020: Thomas Hardy's "The Return Of The Native"

190, 25th-26th January 2020: Samuel Pepys's Diary

       77, 18th-19th January 2020: John Clare (repeat)

Previous Topics have included:

       76, 11th-12th January 2020: Noel Coward (repeat)

189, 4th-5th January 2020:  The lyrics of Cole Porter

188, 28th-29th December 2019:  Edgar Allan Poe

187, 21st-22nd December 2019: David Jones's "The Anathemata"

186, 14th-15th December 2019: David Mercer (playwright)

185, 7th-8th December 2019:  Peter Levi

184, 30th November - 1st December 2019: Chaucer's "Parliament of Fowles"

183, 23rd-24th November 2019:  Herman Melville's Poetry

182, 16th-17th November 2019:  John Buchan's "The Dancing Floor"

         75, 9th-10th November 2019:  Philip Larkin (repeat)

181, 2nd-3rd November 2019:  Roy Fuller

180, 26th-27th October 2019:  Clive James

179, 19th-20th October 2019:  Simenon (Maigret)

178, 12th-13th October 2019: Kingsley Amis

177, 5th-6th October 2019:  Hiawatha

176, 28th-29th September 2019: George Bernard Shaw

175, 21st-22nd September 2019:  George Seferis

174, 14th-15th September 2019: Joyce Cary

         69, 7th-8th September 2019:  Ted Hughes (repeat)  

         68, 31st August - 1st September 2019:  Patrick Leigh Fermor  (repeat)

         67, 24th-25th August 2019:  Sir Walter Scott (repeat)

173, 17th-18th August 2019: Rainer Maria Rilke

172, 10th-11th August 2019: Brooklyn Bridge (Hart Crane and Arthur Miller)

       73, 3rd-4th August 2019: Seamus Heaney (repeat)

       72, 27th-28th July 2019: Romeo and Juliet (repeat)

171, 20th-21st July 2019: John Braine and Friends

170, 13th-14th July 2019: Three Post-War Plays

169, 6th-7th July 2019:  John Fuller

168, 29th-30th June 2019: Francis Parkman

167, 22nd-23rd June 2109:  Robert Herrick

166, 15th-16th June 2019:  Mrs Gaskell's North And South

165, 8th-9th June 2019: Michelangelo's Poetry

164, 1st-2nd June 2019:  comparing Wordsworth and Yeats

       71,  25th-26th May 2019:  Robert Burns  (repeat)

163, 18th-19th May 2019: "Blood and Thunder" Histories

162, 11th-12th May 2019: Flaubert, "Madame Bovary"

161, 4th-5th May 2019:  Geoffrey Hill's Final Poems

160, 27th-28th April 2019: Shakespeare's Problem Plays

         70, 20th-21st April 2019:  Henrik Ibsen (repeat)

159, 13th-14th April 2019: Robert Graves and Laura Riding

158, 6th-7th April 2019:  John Ruskin

         63,  30th-31st March 2019: Walt Whitman  (repeat)

157, 23rd-24th March 2019: Lytton Strachey

156, 16th-17th March 2019: Geoffrey Household's "Rogue Male"

155, 9th-10th March 2019: Larry McMurtry's Biography of Crazy Horse.

154, 2nd-3rd March 2019: Alexander Pope's "Rape Of The Lock"

153, 23rd-24th February 2019:   Rudyard Kipling's Puck Of Pook's Hill

152, 16th-17th February 2019:  Aeschylus's Agamemnon

       62, 9th-10th February 2019:  62, Ernest Hemingway (repeat)

151, 2nd-3rd February 2019:  Edgar Wallace

150, 26th-27th January 2019:  T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

149, 19th-20th January 2019: Sorley MacLean

148, 12th-13th January 2019: Wallace Stevens

147, 5th-6th January 2019: The Third Man (Greene) and A Perfect Spy (Le Carr'e)

          30th December 2018:  60, Jonathan Swift  (repeat)

146, 22nd-23rd December 2018: Dickens's Christmas book, The Cricket and The Hearth

145, 15th-16th December 2018: Danny Abse

144, 8th-9th December 2018: Zola's Germinal

       1st-2nd December 2018: 57, Jane Austen  (repeat)

143, 24th-25th November 2018: Shakespeare's King John

142, 17th-18th November 2018: William Hazlitt

       10th-11th November 2018: 56, Daniel Defoe  (repeat)

141, 3rd-4th November 2018: William Blake's Jerusalem

140, 27th-28th October 2018: Shakespeare's Wars Of The Roses Plays

139,  20th-21st October 2018:  Edgar Lee Masters and The Spoon River Anthology

138,  13th-14th October 2018:  John Wyndham

137,  6th-7th October 2018:  The Ancient Mariner

136,  29th-30th September 2018:  Venus and Adonis (Ovid, Shakespeare and Ted Hughes)

135,  22nd-23rd September 2018:  Charles Causley

134, 15th-16th September 2018:  Mr Micawber

        8th-9th September 2018:  55, George Eliot (repeat)    

        1st-2nd September 2018:  54, John Milton (repeat)

133, 25th-26th August 2018:  Abelard and Eloise

132, 18th-19th August 2018: John P. Marquand

        11th-12th August 2018:  51, John Buchan (repeat):

131, 4th-5th August 2018: Michel de Montaigne

130, 28th-29th July 2018: Franz Kafka

129, 21st-22nd July 2018: W H Auden

128, 14th-15th July 2018: Lady Chatterley's Lover

127, 7th-8th July 2018: Joan Didion

126, 30th June-1st July 2018: Seven Dark Strangers

125, 23rd-24th June 2018: Larry McMurtry

124, 16th-17th June 2018: Anthony Trollope

         2nd-3rd June 2018: 50, John Keats (repeat)

123,  26th-27th May 2018: Pablo Neruda

122,  19th-20th May 2018: Thomas Mann

121,  12th-13th May 2018: Norman Nicholson

120,  5th-6th May 2018: Fourteenth-Century Poetry

         28th-29th April 2018: 46, Othello  (repeat)

119, 21st-22nd April 2018: Macbeth:

118, 14th-15th April 2018: By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept

       7th-8th April 2018:  45, The Tempest (repeat):

117, 31st March - 1st April 2018: The End Of The Affair (Graham Greene)

116, 24th-25th March 2018: Tristram Shandy

       17th-18th March 2018:  44, Wordsworth  (repeat)

115, 10th-11th March 2018: Elizabeth Bishop

114, 3rd-4th March 2018: Virginia Woolf's "Between The Acts"

        24th-25th February 2018:  43, Mark Twain (repeat)

113, 17th-18th February 2018: Dickens's "Bleak House"

112, 10th-11th February 2018: Allen Tate and Robert Lowell

111, 3rd-4th February 2018: A Winter's Tale

110, 27th-28th January 2018: Herman Melville's "Billy Budd"

109, 20th-21st January 2018: Tony Harrison

108, 13th-14th January 2018: Harold Pinter

107, Twelfth Night, 6th-7th January 2018: Twelfth Night

106, 30th-31st December 2017: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

          23rd-24th December 2017:  12, A Christmas Carol (repeat)

         16th-17th December 2017: 41, Kit Marlowe (repeat)

105, 9th-10th December 2017: John Betjeman

104, 2nd- 3rd December 2017: Daphne Du Maurier and Mary Webb

         25th-26th November 2017: 40, Anton Chekhov (repeat)

103, 18th-19th November 2017: As You Like It

102, 11th-12th November 2017:  Virginia Woolf

          4th-5th November 2017: 39, Emily Dickinson  (repeat)

101, 28th-29th October 2017: Dante and Petrarch

100, 21st-22nd October 2017: Alice In Wonderland

99, 14th-15th October 2017:  Oscar Wilde

98, 7th-8th October 2017: Greek Tragedy

       30th September-1st October 2017:  Hawthorne (repeat)

97, 23rd-24th September 2017: Geoffrey Hill

96, 16th-17th September 2017: The Duchess of Malfi

95, 9th-10th September 2017: A. E. Housman

94, 2nd-3rd September 2017: Schitzler's "La Ronde" and Vienna in c.1900

93, 26th-27th August 2017: Albert Camus

92, 19th-20th August 2017: Piers Plowman

91, 12th-13th August 2017: The Leopard (Lampedusa)

90, 5th-6th August 2017: Nostromo (Joseph Conrad)

89,  29th-30th July 2017:  Wilfred Owen

88,  22nd-23rd July 2017:  Henry James

87,  15th-16th July 2017: Earl of Rochester

86,  8th-9th July 2017: T. H. White

85, 1st-2nd July 2017: R. S. Thomas

84, 24th-25th June 2017: Fyodor Dostoevsky

      17th-18th June 2017: 36, Geoffrey Chaucer (repeat)

83, 10th-11th June 2017: Louis MacNeice

82, 3rd-4th June 2017: Arthur Miller

81, 27th-28th May 2017: C. V. Cavafy

80, 20th-21st May 2017: Beowulf

      13th-14th May 2017: 34, Anthony and Cleopatra (repeat)

      6th-7th May 2017 : 33, T. S. Eliot and the Four Quartets (repeat)

      29th-30th April 2017: 32, Wind In The Willows (repeat)

79, 22nd-23rd April 2017:  Shakespeare's Sonnets

78, 15th-16th April 2017:  Graham Greene and John Ford

77, 8th-9th April 2017: John Clare

76, 1st-2nd April 2017: Noel Coward

75, 23rd-24th March 2017: Philip Larkin

74, 16th-17th March 2017, Dennis Potter and the 5 Marlowes

73, 9th-10th March 2017: Seamus Heaney

72, 2nd-3rd March 2017, Romeo and Juliet

71, 25th-26th February 2017:  Robert Burns

70, 18th-19th February 2017: Henrik Ibsen

69, 11th-12th February 2017: Ted Hughes

68, 4th-5th February 2017: Patrick Leigh-Fermor

67, 28th-29th January 2017: Sir Walter Scott

66, 21st-22nd January 2017: Dickens's "The Signalman"

65, 14th-15th January 2017: Lord Byron

64, 7th-8th January 2017: John Fowles

63, 31st December 2016 - 1st January 2017: Walt Whitman

[24th-25th December 2016, repeat of no.12, A Christmas Carol]

62, 17th-18th December 2016: Ernest Hemingway

61, 10th-11th December 2016: Gerard Manley Hopkins

60, 3rd-4th December 2016: Jonathan Swift

59, 26th-27th November 2016: Willa Cather and Truman Capote

58, 19th-20th November 2016: The Two Noble Kinsmen

57, 12th-13th November 2016: Jane Austen

56, 5th-6th November 2016: Daniel Defoe

55, 29th-30th October 2016: George Eliot

54, 22nd-23rd October 2016: John Milton

53, 15th-16th October 2016: Ford Madox Ford and Evelyn Waugh

52, 8th-9th October 2016: Virgil, Ovid and Catullus

51, 1st-2nd October 2016: John Buchan

50, 24th-25th September 2016: John Keats

49, 17th-18th September 2016: Elizabeth Bowen's "The Heat Of The Day"

48, 10th-11th September 2016: Othello

47, 3rd-4th September 2016: Cormac McCarthy

46, 27th-28th August: Lawrence Durrell

       [20th-21st August 2016: repeat of no.16, Don Quixote]

45, 13th-14th August 2016: Shakespeare's The Tempest

     [6th-7th August 2016: repeat of no.15, W. B. Yeats]

44, 30th-31st July 2016: William Wordsworth

43, 23rd-24th July 2016: Mark Twain

42, 16th-17th July 2016: Malory's Mort d'Arthur

41, 9th-10th July 2016: Christopher Marlowe

40, 2nd-3rd July 2016: Anton Chekhov

39, 25th-26th June 2016: Emily Dickinson

38, 18th-19th June 2016: The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)

37, 11th-12th June 2016: George Herbert

36, 4th-5th June 2016: Geoffrey Chaucer

35, 28th-29th May 2016: Andrew Marvell

34, 21st-22nd May 2016: Anthony And Cleopatra

33, 14th-15th May 2016: T. S. Eliot and "The Four Quartets"

32, 7th-8th May 2016: "Wind In The Willows"

31, 30th April-1st May 2016: Edward Thomas and Adlestrop

30, 23rd-24th April 2016: James Joyce's "Dubliners"

29, 16th-17th April 2016, A Midsummer Night's Dream

28, 9th-10th April 2016: John Donne

27, 2nd-3rd April 2016: Robert Louis Stevenson

26, 26th-27th March 2016: The Great Gatsby

25, 19th-20th March 2016: Ben Jonson

24, 12th-13th March 2016:  Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

23, 5th-6th March 2016:  Dylan Thomas

22, 27th-28th February 2016: D. H. Lawrence

21, 20th-21st February 2016: Kubla Khan

20, 13th-14th February 2016: The Last Of The Mohicans and The Western Genre

19, 6th-7th February 2016: Rudyard Kipling

18, 30th-31st January 2016: Wuthering Heights and The Bronte Sisters

17, 23rd-24th January 2016: Sherlock Holmes and the Detective Genre

16, 16th-17th January 2016: Don Quixote

15, 9th-10th January 2016: W. B. Yeats

14, 2nd-3rd January 2016: Karen Blixen and Orson Welles

13, 26th-27th December 2015: Falstaff

12, 19th-20th December 2015: A Christmas Carol

11, 12th-13th December 2015: War And Peace

10, 5th-6th December 2015: William Blake

9,  28th-29th November 2015: Great Expectations

8,  21st-22nd November 2015: King Lear

7,  14th-15th November 2015:  Thomas Hardy

6,  7th-8th November 2015: John Le Carr'e and the Spy Novel

5,  31st October 2015: Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

4,  24th October 2015: Sir Thomas Wyatt and Wolf Hall

3,  17th October 2015: Herman Melville and Moby Dick

2,  10th October 2015: Hamlet

1,  3rd October 2015:  Joseph Conrad