All of us here at Silksoundbooks would like to wish a very happy birthday to our audio book star reader Terence Stamp who is celebrating his birthday today, the 22nd July.

Terence was born in Bow, London in 1939 and has starred in so many movies it is hard to keep track, although his first career was in advertising. Since his screen debut in 1962 in Billy Budd he has starred in well over 60 movies.

Although he is often seen as one of the great icons of the swinging sixties in London, with many high profile romances with film stars and super models , Terence has always had a very strong spiritual side. He spent several years in India meditating and studying the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

The Silksoundbooks audio book, Perfect Brilliant Stillness written by David Carse has been a best seller since it was first recorded. Terence brings his own charm and understanding to this highly influential work and it was a joy for us to work with him on the recording.

From all of us here at Silksoundbooks – Happy Birthday Terence !

Happy birthday from all of us here at Silksoundbooks to our star audio book reader Virginia McKenna who is celebrating her birthday today. Virginia was born in London in 1931 and trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama, working extensively in both the theatre and films throughout the 1950s.

It was the 1956 film A Town Like Alice that shot her to fame and earned her the BAFTA for Best Actress. In 1958 the film of the life of the Second World war spy Violet Szabo, Carve Her Name with Pride established her as a mainstay of the British film industry.

She is probably most well known for her role as Joy Adamson in the 1966 film Born Free which led her to become a formidable activist in the world of animal rights and habitat protection. She established, along with her husband and co-star Bill Travers, the Born Free Foundation, an umbrella orgainsation covering her many campaigns. In 2004 these services to wildlife along with her services to the arts, were recognised as she was made an OBE, or to give it its proper title, an officer of the Order of The British Empire.

Virginia's unabridged audio book, The Secret Garden written by Frances Hodgson Burnett is available to download from silksoundbooks.com

The entire Silksoundbooks team wish you a happy birthday Virginia.

Today, all of us here at Silksoundbooks would like to wish a really big Happy Birthday to our star audiobook reader Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey was born in London on June 4, 1927. Following a brief career in business, he discovered his acting talent in amateur theater, becoming first a stage manager and then eventually a full-time performer. Like so many other outstanding British actors, he studied and acted in the great works of Shakespeare. His role as Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream is well known to viewers of BBC Shakespeare productions.

But Geoffrey is probably most widely known for his long and vastly successful screen partnership with Dame Judi Dench in the BBC series As Time Goes By, and has had a long and successful career on British TV in hit comedies such as The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin and Butterflies. Thanks to his wonderfully expressive and resonant voice, Geoffrey is also in great demand for commercial voiceover work.

Geoffrey is one of the most popular readers at Silksoundbooks. His two unabridged audio books - The Diary of a Nobody and Father and Son - as well as his cameo appearance in Evelina are available as audio book downloads from Silksoundbooks.com

Happy Birthday Geoffrey!

On this day, the 2nd of June in 1840,the writer Thomas Hardy was born in the village of Higher Bockhampton near the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England. He was the first of four children in the family of Jemima and Thomas Hardy Senior, who was a builder and stonemason. His birthplace, built by his great grandfather, is now a museum owned by the National Trust.

Young Thomas was given to quieter childhood pursuits, often spending time alone wandering the countryside, exploring the flora and fauna, gaining a profound connection with nature and the familiar sights and sounds of his rural home county. His mother had a great influence on his imagination, entertaining him with stories and songs, many of which would later inspire his Wessex tales.

During his lifetime he wrote almost a thousand published poems and fourteen published novels including Tess of the D’Urbervilles and my absolute favourite Far From the Madding Crowd, which was made into an unforgettable movie starring our very own audiobook performers Julie Christie and Terence Stamp.

One of Hardy's best loved novels is The Return of the Native brought to you as an unabridged Silksoundbooks audiobook by the well known actor Oliver Cotton.

Enjoy!

On the 27th May in 1867 this rather dashing chap was born in Hanley, Staffordshire in England. Arnold Bennett started life working for his father, a solicitor, as a general assistant and rent collector, but it was not a happy occupation. Arnold left his father's practice at the age of 21 and went to live in London.

After winning a literary competition in Tit-Bits magazine in 1889 he was encouraged to take up journalism full time. Whilst working as the assistant editor on the periodical Woman he discovered it was difficult to find decent writing for the magazine so he wrote some for it himself. It was an immediate hit and his next endeavour became the hugely successful Grand Hotel Babylon.

He then devoted himself entirely to writing and began the Clayhanger series of novels, wryly describing life in the Potteries towns in which he had grown up. In 1903 he moved to Paris where he married and continued to write prolifically becoming the most acclaimed British writer in America since Charles Dickens.

The Card, read for Silksoundbooks by the highly acclaimed English actor Stephen Tompkinson is a wonderful novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911. It tells the story Henry Machin and his rise from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley - a fictitious town based on the potteries towns near to where Bennett grew up. With tricks of confidence and talent, he makes his way up the social ladder with all the benefits and pitfalls that brings. His antics are regarded with affection and admiration, as shown by the book's final chapter:
'What a card!' said one, laughing joyously. 'He's a rare 'un, no mistake.'
'Of course, this'll make him more popular than ever,' said another. 'We've never had a man to touch him for that.'
'And yet,' demanded Councillor Barlow,'what's he done? Has he ever done a day's work in his life? What great cause is he identified with?'
'He's identified,' said the speaker, 'with the great cause of cheering us all up!'

So - if you are in need of a bit of cheering up yourself, download The Card from Silksoundbooks!!

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