On the Road with Penguin Classics

George Orwell in Airstrip One. The writer and director Robert Icke joins Henry to explore the real-world locations in London that inspired George Orwell’s  Nineteen Eighty-Four . Together they tour the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love and Room 101. Robert co-adapted and co-directed the award-winning 2013 stage adaptation 1984 , which has played on the West End and Broadway and toured t...

On the Road with Penguin Classics is a literary podcast that takes a stroll around the world's favourite books. In each episode, author Henry Eliot travels to a different literary location to explore a brilliant book in the company of remarkable readers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Eliot in Nuneaton. The novelist Louis de Bernières explores the landscape around Nuneaton in Warwickshire, the birthplace of Mary Ann Evans, or George Eliot. They discuss The Mill on the Floss , visiting the Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery and the Griff House Beefeater, which was Eliot's childhood home and the inspiration for Dorlcote Mill in the novel. They also meet Adam Weaver, land agen...

Sam Selvon in Bayswater. The author and editor Susheila Nasta, Selvon’s literary executor, coasts a lime around the Water with Henry. They discuss The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon, visiting Bayswater, Hyde Park and Piccadilly Circus, and discussing the experience of Caribbean migrants in 1950s London. They meet Howard Jeffery, Chairman of the Pepperpot Centre, a community centre for older Caribb...

Laurence Sterne in Coxwold. The screenwriter and children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the screenplay for A Cock and Bull Story (the 2005 film adaptation of Tristram Shandy ), digresses around the little village of Coxwold in North Yorkshire with Henry. They discuss Laurence Sterne’s novel and veer off on various tangents as they meander from St Michael’s Church, where Sterne was perpe...

Virginia Woolf in Westminster. The biographer Alexandra Harris, author of Romantic Moderns (2010), haunts the streets of Westminster with Henry. They discuss Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, tracing the course of the novel as it unfolds over a single day, visiting Bond Street, Regent’s Park and Tavistock Square. They also meet Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry at King...

Geoffrey Chaucer in Kent. The poet and performer Patience Agbabi, author of Telling Tales (2014), makes a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury with Henry. They discuss The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer as they travel by train, stopping off at Dartford and Rochester, covering Chaucer’s life and times, poetry and pilgrims, including the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner...

Wilkie Collins in Cumbria. The actress Olivia Vinall, star of the 2018 BBC adaptation of The Woman in White , explores the Cumbrian coastline with Henry. They discuss Wilkie Collins’s novel and visit the Ship Hotel in Allonby, where Collins stayed with Charles Dickens. They also visit Ewanrigg Hall, the inspiration for Limmeridge House, and meet Doris Riley, author of The Rise and Fall of Ewanrigg...

On the Road with Penguin Classics is a new literary podcast that takes a stroll around the world's favourite books. In each episode, author and editor Henry Eliot travels to a different literary location to explore a brilliant book in the company of remarkable readers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.