Derek Jacobi
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Star of stage, screen and television, and one of only two people to be awarded two Knighthoods, Sir Derek Jacobi is one of Britain's most distinguished actors. 'If you want to be an actor, don't. If you need to be an actor, do.' The world of theatre could not have been further from Derek's childhood: an only child, born in Leytonstone, London. With his father a department store manager and his mother a secretary, his was very much a working-class...
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I Claudius volume 12
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Rome, 54 CE. Claudius marries Agrippinilla, mother of Nero and the deadliest woman in Rome. A prophecy has told him that Nero will be Rome's next ruler. Claudius knowingly seals his fate and that of his own son by naming Nero his heir. He finishes his book and buries a copy to be found centuries later.
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I Claudius volume 7
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Rome, 30-31 CE. The ambitious Sejanus, commander of the guard, has destroyed nearly all of his enemies. Even Tiberius, now living on Capri, is in danger. When he receives a smuggled warning letter, he wonders how to stop Sejanus, who has the guard's loyalty. Caligula makes a suggestion, and the streets of Rome run red with blood.
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I Claudius volume 8
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Rome, 37-38 CE. On his deathbed, Tiberius names Caligula heir to the Roman throne. Caligula promises the people bread and circuses, and a new age of prosperity seems about to begin. Then Caligula falls into a coma, awakens, and proclaims himself a god. He fears just one thing: his unborn son by his own sister..
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I Claudius volume 10
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Rome, 41-43 CE. Under Claudius's rule, the empire's finances are improving. His beautiful wife, Messalina-a marriage arranged by Caligula-bears him two children and urges him to make an alliance with Silanus, governor of Spain. A valued old friend warns Claudius to trust no one.
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I Claudius volume 5
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Rome, 19-20 CE. Tiberius rules Rome with help from Sejanus. When Claudius's popular brother, Germanicus, dies under mysterious circumstances, the Roman people protest. A trial in the Senate is rigged to clear the emperor's name. Witnesses disappear, and Caligula, son of Germanicus, sets fire to the family villa.
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I Claudius volume 4
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Rome, 13-14 CE. After decades of deception, Augustus learns of Livia's plots and writes a new will naming Postumus his heir. Soon after Livia visits the temple of the Vestal Virgins, keepers of the emperor's will, Augustus suffers severe stomach pains. With Livia's hopes finally realized, she sends Sejanus to tie up loose ends.
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I Claudius volume 6
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Rome, 23-29 CE. Tiberius lives only for his perverted pleasures, encouraged by the monstrous young Caligula. Sejanus forces Claudius to marry his sister, solidifying his alliance with the imperial family. Livia, knowing that death is near, confesses her crimes to Claudius and reveals a prophecy claiming that he will be emperor one day.
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I Claudius volume 1
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Rome, 24-9 BCE. Nearing the end of his life and surrounded by spies, Claudius, emperor of Rome, writes his family history. His tale begins during the reign of Augustus, with his treacherous grandmother, Livia, scheming to advance the career of her son, Tiberius. Her machinations prove deadly for many family members, but Tiberius's brother, Drusus, threatens her plans.
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I Claudius volume 11
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Rome, 47-48 CE. While Claudius is away invading Britain, Messalina challenges a leading prostitute to a tournament of sex. She wins, scandalizing Rome, but Claudius remains in the dark. He is compelled to act when a final humiliation endangers his life. Soon after, Claudius learns that the British have made him a god.
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I Claudius volume 2
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Rome, 3-5 CE. With Tiberius in exile, it seems that Livia has lost-but everyone Augustus chooses to succeed him dies inexplicably. Livia forces the emperor to face the truth about his wanton daughter. An omen hints that Claudius-a dull, awkward child with a stutter and a limp-might be more than he appears to be.
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I Claudius volume 3
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Rome, 9 CE. When Livia hears that Tiberius has a new rival, Julia's son Postumus, she quickly moves against him. Before he is banished, Postumus tells Claudius all he knows about Livia. Claudius is advised to keep playing the fool to ensure his safety; he weds in a marriage arranged by Livia.
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I Claudius volume 9
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Rome, 40-41 CE. Now totally mad, Caligula has turned the palace into a brothel, complete with gambling and orgies. His lame old uncle Claudius serves as doorkeeper. With the empire in financial ruin, conspirators plot an assassination. Later, as soldiers loot the palace, Claudius hides behind a curtain.
15) Jail Caesar
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Jail Caesar (aka String Caesar) is a feature film that tells the timeless story of an adolescence shaped by social and political events. It charts a young man's impassioned quest for power, for the meaning of freedom and to know himself, to live his dreams, and achieve his ambitions. The film explores his struggle to survive by becoming a power broker, a manipulator and then a dictator - the genesis of a powerful man, with roots in politics, violence,...
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Horowitz's Holmes volume 1
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It is 1890. A year after Holmes's death, Watson--now in a retirement home--narrates a tale of Sherlockian detection that could tear apart the very fabric of society. The story opens with a train robbery in Boston, and moves to the innocuous setting of Wimbledon.
18) Moriarty
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"Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation...
19) The testaments
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The Handmaid's Tale volume 2
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"In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades. When the van door slammed on Offred's future at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her--freedom, prison or death. With The Testaments, the wait is over. Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story more than fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown,...
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Written in the reign of Vespasian around 70 C.E., Suetonius chronicles the extraordinary careers of many Caesars, including Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero. Covering the great and awful times of Imperial Rome, the stories provide listeners with keen insights not only into the lives of the emperors, but their reigns as well.