The History of Titus Groan

As this interview with Jeremy Mortimer suggests in his BBC blog, Brian Sibley is "a bit of a legend in radio". How fortunate for Mervyn Peake then, that Brian has had a long association with Gormenghast and that he was commissioned by the BBC to write a new radio adaptation of Gormenghast and Titus Awakes to celebrate the centenary of Peake's birth.

Brian was a friend of Maeve Gilmore's and would visit her at the time of writing Titus Awakes to discuss its progress. He was therefore also the ideal person to write the introduction to her book, which is being published today. This also informed his choice as to how to write (for a second time) a radio serial of the Titus books as this one combines Peake's work with his wife's.

It will be fascinating to hear how he does that when the first part is broadcast tomorrow (Sunday 10th July) at 3.00 pm on Radio 4. (To be repeated on the following Saturdays).

Brian is delighted with the production. The cast includes some well-known faces as well as some dynamic young people who Brian feels will soon join them at the top of their profession. The photographs above are by Islay Bell-Webb.

There is more about the production on Brian's own blog.

And a Facebook 'event' page for the series here.

Alison Eldred

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188282447887732
http://briansibleysblog.blogspot.com/