Shows / The H. G. Wells Library
The H. G. Wells Library
A curious library stands open at the edge of time. Here, the worlds of H. G. Wells are not merely remembered but awakened, their voices carried once more across the invisible ether. The H. G. Wells Library presents complete readings of tales that peer into futures yet unborn, confront the machinery of progress, and question the destiny of humankind itself. From silent laboratories to distant planets, each episode invites the listener to wander as both observer and traveller, discovering…
Episodes
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Fourth - The Widow Smith Moves to London Parts 1 and 2
In which the narrator recounts the sombre occasion of his father’s funeral, reflecting mournfully on the customs and family strife that shadow the event. Amid…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Fourth - The Widow Smith Moves to London Parts 3 and 4
In which a reflective narrator gently unfolds his youthful impressions of the vast and multifarious city of London, capturing its mingled squalor and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Third - Misfortunes Come Upon the Smith Family Parts 5 and 6
In which the tender farewell of a young girl, full of hope and secrets, gives way to a household gripped by bewilderment and dread as she disappears into the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Second - The Beginning of the Dream Parts 5 and 6
In which a young boy accompanies his father on Sunday walks over the Downs, learning from his father's thoughtful reflections on Providence, the instinct of…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Third - Misfortunes Come Upon the Smith Family Parts 1 and 2
In which the narrator recounts the sudden upheaval that befell his family, when misfortune struck like a tempest in their fragile world of economic uncertainty…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Third - Misfortunes Come Upon the Smith Family Parts 3 and 4
In which a modest household struggles under the weight of poverty and social constraints, and the sister, Fanny, emerges as a restless and yearning spirit…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Second - The Beginning of the Dream Parts 1 and 2
In which a child’s earliest memories unfold amid the tumultuous surroundings of a nascent urban district shadowed by military camps and the humdrum of a modest…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Chapter the Second - The Beginning of the Dream Parts 3 and 4
In which a young mind reflects upon the early lessons of religious practice and ritual, grappling with prayers learned before understanding and the solemn yet…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Dream Part I How Harry Mortimer Smith was made Chapter the First The Excursion
In which Sarnac and Sunray, companions of congenial intellect and heart, seek respite amid serene lakes and mountains, encountering a motley company whose…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 11 Parts 1-3
In which the fragile edifice of early twentieth-century civilisation unravels with astonishing speed under the incendiary strain of aerial warfare, revealing…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 11 Parts 4 & 5
In which Bert Smallways returns to a ravaged England, wandering through a countryside where the remnants of civilisation mingle uneasily with the grim…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Epilogue
In which an elderly gardener named Tom Smallways guides his young nephew through the desolate ruins of a once-thriving London suburb, recounting the vanished…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 10 Parts 1 & 2
In which a hesitant gentleman undertakes his maiden voyage on a curious Asiatic flying-machine, experiencing the wild and jolting ascent into the air above the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 10 Parts 3-5
In which a wayfarer named Bert recounts his extraordinary wanderings amid a world unravelled by war and finds himself entwined with a resolute band determined…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 9 Parts 8-10
In which a solitary and conflicted soul manoeuvres cautiously on Goat Island, balancing hunger and suspicion while observing and confronting two determined…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 9 Parts 4-7
In which a weary Englishman, marooned on a battered island by the thundering falls, encounters two battle-worn German officers and navigates a tense…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 8 Parts 3-5
In which the observer witnesses the transformation of Niagara city into a military aeronautic park amidst the chaos of an unfolding aerial conflict, noting the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 9 Parts 1-3
In which Bert, stranded on a shattered island amid the ruins of a colossal aerial battle, confronts the desolation of war and the unsettling presence of death…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 7 Part 7
In which a forlorn band, beset by hardship and the ravages of a great conflict, endures bleak days amidst the wilderness of Labrador while feverishly setting…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 7 Parts 4-6
In which a shattered airship drifts helplessly over a wild northern landscape, its crew weary yet rallied by the fierce spirit of their indomitable Prince, who…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 8 Parts 1 & 2
In which the awakening world is plunged into a sudden, universal war conducted from the skies, where airships and flying-machines replace fleets and armies…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 6 Parts 4-6
In which a weary observer witnesses the ruinous aftermath of aerial bombardment upon New York, perceiving the city’s tumult and stubborn defiance amidst the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 7 Parts 1-3
In which the first aerial battle above Manhattan unfolds amid thunder and storm, as weary German airships are surprised by a sudden American attack…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 6 Parts 1-3
In which the grand and bustling metropolis of New York, a marvel of the scientific commercial age, receives the sudden and startling visitation of war amidst…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 5 Part 4
In which the vast and silent German air-fleet hovers ominously above a fierce naval engagement, their colossal airships observing and directing the confused…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 5 Parts 1-3
In which the airship Vaterland drifts above a great naval battle raging unseen upon the North Atlantic, while Bert Smallways listens to Kurt’s learned and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 5 Parts 5 & 6
In which the weary observer Bert Smallways witnesses a fierce and bewildering aerial battle that marks the twilight of the great ironclad warships, now…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 4 Parts 1 & 2
In which the complex and restless spirit of early twentieth-century patriotism is vividly illustrated through the eyes of Bert Smallways, revealing a world…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 4 Parts 3-5
In which an unassuming man finds himself unexpectedly aboard a colossal German airship en route to America, bewildered by the strange and powerful machinery…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 4 Parts 6-9
In which a certain Mr. Smallways finds himself in the curious and shadowy confidence of German officials aboard a formidable airship, negotiating terms for a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 2 Parts 3-5
In which two downhearted young men, having faced ruin and despondency, devise a quaint and whimsical scheme of seaside entertainment to lift their spirits and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 3 Parts 4 & 5
In which a solitary balloonist, adrift over a detailed Germanic landscape, discovers secret plans hidden in his clothing and attempts an ill-fated descent…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 3 Parts 1-3
In which a most ordinary man, lifted high in a silent balloon, finds himself at once removed from the clamour and constraints of his narrow world, enveloped by…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 1 Parts 4-6
In which the murmurs of secret flying machines stir the imagination of Bert Smallways, just as Mr. Butteridge astonishes the nation with a spectacular and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 1 Parts 1-3
In which the inexorable tide of Progress sweeps through the modest world of the Smallways family, marked by the advent of bicycles, motor vehicles, and curious…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The War in the Air Chapter 2 Parts 1 & 2
In which the small business of Grubb & Smallways, plagued by accidents and misfortune, struggles to maintain a bicycle hire shop amidst the bustling and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - How I Died
In which the narrator reflects with a curious blend of gravity and wry amusement on the experience of confronting his own premature death, considering the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - From an Observatory
In which the quiet stillness of a midwinter night offers a contemplative vantage from an observatory, revealing the delicate interplay of moonlight and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Mode in Monuments
In which a contemplative stroll through Highgate Cemetery reveals a crowded panorama of freshly adorned monuments, marked less by individuality than by the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Amateur Nature-Lover
In which an earnest urban amateur ventures into the autumn-kissed English countryside around Epsom and Sutton, attempting to capture the vivid hues and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Pleasure of Quarrelling
In which the author muses upon the underestimated virtue of quarrelling as a necessary and invigorating activity for the human spirit, lamenting the modern…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Book of Essays Dedicatory
In which a writer reflects with gentle amusement on the curious and varied art of composing dedications, gathering a lively assortment of them that both amuse…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Through a Microscope
In which a gentleman new to the wonders of the microscope embarks upon a curious exploration of the teeming life within a mere drop of water, observing…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Bagarrow
In which a curious and somewhat irksome man named Bagarrow is meticulously examined through the lens of his peculiar virtues and relentless zeal for enforcing…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Coal-Scuttle
In which the gentle Euphemia wages a quiet but relentless battle against the ungainly and ill-mannered coal-scuttle that mars her carefully arranged domestic…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Concerning Chess
In which the curious and paradoxical nature of chess is explored as both a captivating pastime and a cruel mental obsession that consumes the player’s peace of…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Of the Art of Staying at the Seaside
In which the delicate art of truly staying at the seaside is explored, revealing it as a refined discipline of contemplative stillness and self-forgetfulness…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Bleak March in Epping Forest
In which two curious souls venture into Epping Forest during the bleakness of early March, discovering a somber landscape of leafless trees, muddy paths, and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Theory of Quotation
In which the nature and practice of quotation in literature are examined with a wry eye, revealing the incongruities and paradoxes inherent in repeating…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Parkes Museum
In which an elusive museum of hygiene nestled in a forgotten London street is revealed through a whimsical exploration of its dusty exhibits, from hermetically…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Writing of Essays
In which the art of essay writing is revealed as a delightfully simple and informal pastime, dependent chiefly on the choice of pen, ink, and paper, and the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Of a Book Unwritten
In which a scholarly meditation contemplates the vast unwritten volumes of human evolution and destiny, envisioning future men with diminished bodies, enlarged…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Extinction of Man
In which the author contemplates the fragile tenure of mankind upon the earth, drawing comparisons with extinct dominant species of the past and considering…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - For Freedom of Spelling
In which the author reflects upon the curious rigidity of English orthography, musing on its origins, social significance, and the curious moral weight it has…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Incidental Thoughts on a Bald Head
In which the narrator attends a peculiar Sunday meeting advocating temperance and hygiene, observing the assembled company of sceptics and reflecting on the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Euphemia’s New Entertainment
In which Euphemia devises a novel post-dinner amusement of modelling with clay, intended to warm even the most reserved of company through a gentle, absorbing…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - Dunstone’s Dear Lady
In which a quiet and industrious man named Dunstone finds unexpected solace and transformation through his marriage to a delicate governess whose gradual…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Book of Curses
In which Professor Gargoyle, a learned collector of curses, reflects upon the rich and vanishing art of swearing across diverse cultures and epochs, noting its…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Shopman
In which a contemplative gentleman grapples with the vexations of purchasing gloves, reflecting on the peculiar dance of shopkeeper and customer marked by…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Certain Personal Matters - The Veteran Cricketer
In which an old cricketer, sidelined by sciatica and embittered by the decline of the sport’s noble traditions, presides over village matches with a stern and…