The power of the classics to catch the imagination of a wider public is repeatedly demonstrated by the success of adaptations, whether the focus falls on Jane Austen on film, Mrs Gaskell on television (the popularity of Cranford on British television last year was a total surprise) or on Paradise Lost broadcast by BBC radio. Suddenly, a path appears that leads thousands back to the original words of the author.

Last year this was true of Persuasion in the US, where PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre brought Austen again to the fore, and awakened fresh interest in Juliet Stevenson’s unabridged recording.

And over the Christmas/New Year just gone, the brave BBC Radio 3 decision to broadcast Anton Lesser’s peerless unabridged Naxos AudioBooks recording of Paradise Lost – the 12 Books over 12 days – threw a sharp spotlight on ‘the greatest epic poem in the English language’. Frankly, it was difficult to keep it in stock…

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