Readings from the Pavilion End

Bill Ricquier
  • 0.0 (0)
  • ARTS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Readings from the Pavilion End

Readings of poetry, prose and thoughts on cricket by Bill Ricquier.

  1. OCT 28

    S2 Ep 7: Charles Augustus Fortescue by Hilaire Belloc

    Today is Monday, where some might begin with fresh resolve to start the week doing things right. We might take inspiration from the subject of today's poem, Charles Augustus Fortescue. Mutton fat for supper, anyone? Carpe diem cras – seize the day tomorrow.  Find the poem here.

    2 min
  2. S2 Ep 6: Joe Root: England’s Greatest Batter?

    OCT 19

    S2 Ep 6: Joe Root: England’s Greatest Batter?

    In this episode, Bill writes from the Pavilion End. Listen to his case for why Joe Root might just be England's greatest batter. Find the full essay on the blog: https://billpavilionend.com/joe-root-englands-greatest-batter/

    13 min

  3. OCT 14

    S2 Ep 5: Fifteen Million Plastic Bags by Adrian Mitchell

    Mitchell was a journalist, playwright and protest poet committed to Nuclear Disarmament. The subject of this poem are the vast reserves of body bags stored up in anticipation during the Cold War for millions of fatalities. Angela Carter described him, a “joyous, acrid and demotic tumbling lyricist Pied Piper determinedly singing us away from catastrophe.” Find the poem here.

    2 min

  4. SEP 29

    S2 Ep 4: To Autumn by John Keats

    This sensuous poem is the final work in Keats's '1819 odesto' - recall the Nightingale from Season 1, Episode 5. The abundance of autumnal harvests is set against an undercurrent of unease and transience. Notice how the florid descriptions of nature is set against the formal rhetoric associated with odes.This also poem marks the poet's own autumn as he succumbed to tuberculosis in 1821 at just 25.

    4 min

  5. SEP 23

    S2 Ep 3: Life by Anna Laetitia Barbauld

    We are nearing the end of September - alas! Today's poem is an extract that reminds us of how mysterious life is. The opening lines of the poem, not narrated in this episode is 'Animula, vagula, blandula' or, 'Charming little soul, hastening away' purportedly attributed to a dying Emperor Hadrian.  Read the full poem and a commentary here.

    2 min

  6. SEP 2

    S2 Ep 2: September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden

    Today's poem is a dense and complex work written at the beginning of WWII. Composed of 99 lines, it addresses the bleakness of war and violence, ancient and modern, and responds to the threat of annihilation through an eerily tidy structure. A poem that Auden would try (and fail) to revise, describing it as "infected with an incurable dishonesty", it nonetheless continues to resonate 85 years later.

    5 min

  7. AUG 31

    S2 Ep1: A conversation with Imran Khwaja, Deputy Chair of the International Cricket Council

    We begin season 2 with a chat from the Pavilion End from the insightful Imran Khwaja (International Cricket Council). We have a wide ranging discussion, beginning from his love for cricket to issues like the effects of inequality of membership statuses on elite performance, and musings on the future of test cricket. Enjoy!

    25 min

  8. AUG 18

    Ep 14: We are such stuff As dreams are made on.. Prospero's soliloquy, The Tempest, Act 4 by William Shakespeare

    Prospero addresses Ferdinand and Miranda's after their wedding masque. The temporary revelry of the masque is compared to the fleetingness of life. It is commonly interpreted as an autobiographical reflection on the temporality of Shakespeare's own theatrical career as, based on scholarship, the play was his last solely conceived play. Find the text and a short commentary here.

    2 min
See All (20)

About

Readings of poetry, prose and thoughts on cricket by Bill Ricquier.

Information

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada