Great Lives - Series 27 - 2. Oscar Wilde
- Favourite Add as
-
Link to this
Copy the URL and paste into your emails or Tweets, or post on your favourite sites.
Will Self nominates Oscar Wilde. He and Matthew are joined by Franny Moyle, author of a biography of Oscar Wilde's wife. Actor Simon Russell Beale reads Wilde's De Profundis.
Oscar Wilde, author of The Importance of Being Earnest and The Ballad of Reading Gaol, is proposed by Will Self, a writer once described as a 'high powered satirical weapon'.
In 1895, and at the height of his success, Wilde began libel proceedings against the Marquess of Queensberry, sparking a disastrous sequence of trials, prison, exile and disgrace. A century later Oscar Wilde is often listed as one of the wittiest Britons who ever lived, but this was a life that ended in tragedy and early death. Joining Will Self and Matthew Parris in the studio is Franny Moyle, author of a biography of Oscar Wilde's wife, Constance, an often overlooked character in Wilde's life. The programme features actor Simon Russell Beale's reading of De Profundis - From The Depths.
The producer is Miles Warde.
- Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 11:00PM Fri, 13 Apr 2012
- Available until 12:00AM Thu, 1 Jan 2099
- First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4:30PM Tue, 10 Apr 2012
- Categories
- Duration 30 minutes
