Pop stars were not supposed to get married. When his then girlfriend, Cyn, became pregnant John Lennon reluctantly decided to break the old showbiz rule. Manager Brian Epstein was the unlikely best man and there were numerous no-shows, including Aunt Mimi, most of Cyn's family and the new Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr. There was no photographer so Cynthia did an illustration, complete with the 'ear-splitting' pneumatic drill that drowned out their vows

ESOL Extras

The First Beatles Wedding

Why did the owners of Titanic not provide more lifeboats? Were they breaking the law

Why were there not enough lifeboats on Titanic?

Opening of classic Anthony Hope adventure story (1893) retold for audio. Rudolf Rassendyll, an underemployed London playboy, decides to attend the coronation of his distant cousin, Rudolf Elphberg, in Ruritania.  By a strange quirk of genetics, the two Rudolfs look like identical twins.

The Prisoner of Zenda:  1. Rassendylls and Elphbergs

The first meeting of Holmes and Watson, adapted for audio. With linked learning materials here: https://esolepacks.com/sherlock-holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Doctor Watson Meets Sherlock Holmes

Adapted opening of the classic M.R James ghost story 'Whistle and I'll Come to You". Professor Parkins is about to go to a remote coastal town for a winter holiday. A colleague tells him about a strange chapel ruin. 

Complete adapted text: https://medium.com/ten-minute-tales/whistle-and-i-ll-come-to-you-488f1b1dee64 (aprox 10 min read)
Complete original text: https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/jamesmr-ohwhistle/jamesmr-ohwhistle-00-h.html (aprox 30 min read)
Free teaching resources here: https://www.eslreading.org/ghost/whistle_and_I_will-come.html

Ghost Stories

1. Professor_Parkins

The remarkable story of Dickens and a major train disaster.

Dickens_Train_Disaster

‘Hello! You down there!’

The signalman was standing at the door of his  box, directly below me. I was sure he could hear my voice but he did not look up. Instead, he looked in the opposite direction down the railway line.

From new adaptation of Dickens classic ghost story set on a ‘dark and lonely’ railway line

1. The Signalman  - opening

The narrator climbs down onto the line to join the signalman. "I looked at his staring eyes and gloomy face. A terrible thought came into my mind. Perhaps this was a ghost, not a man!"

2. Strange_meeting

‘You spend many hours watching the line,’ I said. ‘It must be very lonely.’

3. Watching the Line

‘A man was standing by the red light near the tunnel. His left arm was across his face but he was waving his right arm." The Signalman tells his strange tale

4. What troubles me

'There was a terrible accident on this line. They carried the dead and the wounded through the tunnel, sir.

5. A warning?

The final part of The Signalman. ‘The driver here was showing us how it happened. Show the gentleman, Tom.’

6. Third night

Opening of classic Katherine Anne Porter's classic 'very autobiographical' story of a doomed romance during the Spanish flu pandemic. Abridged and adapted for audio - complete (adapted) story free read with link to original text here: https://tinyurl.com/bdhc453x

Pale Horse, Pale Rider

New illustrated adaptation of the Doctor Dolittle stories, based on 
The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) by Hugh Lofting. The stories were originally created for letters Lofting wrote to his children during the First World War.

This episode has Doctor Dolittle accompanying Toggle the Horse at an optician's appointment. Linked to text and worksheet here: https://doctor-dolittle.englishforyounglearners.org/eye_test.html

Doctor Dolittle - Toggle's Eye Test

Classic coming of age tale in a Dublin seaside suburb in 1920. Nancy Gulliver writes her diary on her eighteenth birthday as the world changes around her.

The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnston 1.1 Eighteenth Birthday

All his life George Harrison celebrated his birthday on February 25th. In the 1990s rumours spread of a 'hospital document' proving that this was a mistake.

George Harrison birthday mystery

Part One of Stephen Crane tragi-comic elegy for the old West, adapted for audio. Marshall Jack Potter is returning to his home town with his new bride on a Pullman train. He is anxious about the reception he will receive.

Complete original & adapted text free to download here: https://www.eslreading.org/bride_comes_to_yellow_sky.html

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky - Part 1

Opening of a classic story from The innocence of Father Brown by G.K Chesterton (1911). A cafe customer makes a very surprising proposal in a Camden Town cafe.

Condensed for audio in four parts - total duration around fifteen minutes.  Complete adapted version & link to original all free here: https://medium.com/ten-minute-tales/the-invisible-man-67fdcec84292

The Invisible Man  by G.K Chesterton - Part 1

Angus & Smythe team up to try and find Welkin. At Smythe's flat there is another disturbing message. Angus goes to fetch Father Brown. Smythe stays  in his apartment with his strange mechanical dolls.

Condensed for audio in four parts - total duration around fifteen minutes.  Complete adapted version & link to original all free here: https://medium.com/ten-minute-tales/the-invisible-man-67fdcec84292

The Invisible Man by G.K Chesterton -  Part 3

"One of the greatest short stories ever written" Vladimir Nabokov
The opening of Chekhov's The Lady with the Little Dog (1899), abridged for audio.

Nearly forty Dmitri Gurov has a successful career and a young family. but is bored and dissatisfied. Holidaying alone, he meets a mysterious young woman - 'the lady with the little dog'  

Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation  —  which is divided into four sections. Changes are mostly for length and clarity.

In this section I have changed Gurov's infamous phrase ''an inferior race' to 'an inferior sex', as that is what is meant in context.

Ten Minute Tales

The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 1

A comic story about a bell-ringer with a very unusual method

Ringing Bells - part one

The day of the wedding arrives - and nobody is happy. Ding Dong won’t sing in a dirty bell tower but Vera doesn’t want to climb the 39 steps to clean it.

Ringing Bells - Part 2

“Arsène Lupin is on board your ship.” A telegram to a transatlantic liner alarms passengers sailing first class.

The Arrest Of Arsène Lupin is the opening chapter of Lupin, the Gentleman Thief, by Maurice Leblanc (1907) the first outing for the most famous anti-hero in French literature. 

This version has been adapted for audio shorter than the original but stays close to the spirit of the text. Adapted text free to access here: https://medium.com/ten-minute-tales/arrest-of-arsène-lupin-part-1-4fa63453416f

The Arrest Of Arsène Lupin

Arsène Lupin is somewhere onboard the SS La Provence. But which passenger sailing to New York is really the ‘gentleman thief’? Concluding part of the first Maurice Leblanc Lupin story. Adapted for audio from an early translation of original 1906 French text. 

Link to complete adapted text: https://eslreading.medium.com/arrest-of-arsène-lupin-part-2-17cff6707b69
Complete original text: https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/c00091.html

The Arrest of Arsène Lupin - Part 2

A stranger comes to the Admiral Benbow looking for 'my mate, Bill'. From Chapter II Black Dog Appears & Disappears of  adapted version of Treasure Island - linked to  teaching materials here: https://www.treasureisland.eslreading.org/chapter_2.html

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - Chapter II

Thirteen-year-old Jack Howkins lives with his mother and sick father at the Admiral Benbow in a remote Cornish cove. One day a strange old seaman arrives, dragging an old sea chest behind him.... From Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (adapted for audio). Complete adapted text & audio with links to original text and teaching materials: https://treasureisland.eslreading.org/

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - Chapter I - The Old Sea Dog

Jim and his mother are alone with the dead captain in the Admiral Benbow. While they are searching the sea chest they hear the sound of Blind Pew retruning. Linked to teaching materials here: https://www.treasureisland.eslreading.org/part_one.html

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - Chapter IV: The Seaman's chest

Many years ago I adapted a story we all know.  This is a shortened, simplified version of the opening chapter is based on my text. You won't take long to work out the original source - story here: https://tinyurl.com/4p8ds44n (free five minute read)

The Night Water

Fettes turned towards us. ‘You don’t know how dangerous that man Macfarlane is!’ he said. ‘What I am going to tell you must never leave this room.’

Robert Louis Stevenson's short story The Body Snatcher is based on a 'grave robbing' scandal in 1820s Edinburgh. This version is abridged  and adapted for audio. Links to complete text (original & adapted) audio & activities here: https://www.eslreading.org/the_body_snatcher.html

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson - Part 1

Increasingly obsessed by Anna Sergeyevna, Gurov travels to her hometown under the cover of a supposed business trip to Petersburg. 

Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabokov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written". My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . 

Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna's dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Lady with Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 3

Gurov back in Moscow after Yalta (short extension of Part 2).
Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabakov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written" Vladimir Nabokov
My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna’s dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.


The Lady with Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 2.2

Final part - Anna comes to Moscow. What is the future of her relationship with Gurov?
Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabakov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written" Vladimir Nabokov
My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna Sergeyevna’s dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

The Lady with the Little Dog - Part 4

Ten days before The Sound of Music opens on Broadway Richard Rodgers decides he needs an extra song for Captain Von Trapp. And not just any old tune, but one that that will symbolises the eternal spirit of Austria. He summons a dying Oscar Hammerstein to a Boston hotel room to write their last song together. 

Full script plus additional links and clips free to access here: https://medium.com/song-stories/edelweiss-36047d4ba059

Edelweiss - Song Story

A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces
An airline ticket to romantic places
In 1934 a BBC radio producer awoke on a Sunday morning in urgent need of a new song for a revue going out that evening.  So  "fuelled by coffee & vodka" he bashed out  . This was then set to a new tune by his songwriting partner in the afternoon, broadcast at 7.30 p.m and promptly forgotten about. Two years later the Caribbean singing star 'Hutch' Hutchinson noticed the score sitting on piano in Eric's office... 

These Foolish Things is often included in the mythical American songbook but was written by the British 'Mayfair' partnership of lyricist Eric Maschwitz (writing under the improbable pseudonym Holt Marvell) and composer Jack Strachey. In the 1970s revived for a pop audience by Bryan Ferry.

More about the story of These Foolish Things here: https://medium.com/song-stories/these-foolish-things-remind-me-of-you-b2d00576e836

More songbook stories here: https://medium.com/song-stories
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things remind me of you

Words by Eric Maschwitz,

These Foolish Things  (Remind Me of You) - Song Story

A song called Les Feuilles Mortes (The Dead Leaves) from a bleak French film noir was an unlikely candidate for the Great American Songbook. Then Johnnie Mercer turned those dead leaves to gold.

The Autumn Leaves Song Story

Halloween or All-Hallows-Eve takes place on the night of 31 October in anticipation of All-Hallows-Day (1st November). But where does the word come from? Linked to https://www.englishlanguagefaqs.com/2025/10/five-fun-facts-about-word-halloween.html

Halloween - Word Origin

Three candidates for the shortest sentence in the English language. Linked to this page: https://www.englishlanguagefaqs.com/2016/04/what-is-shortest-complete-sentence-in.html

Shortest Sentence

A surprisingly controversial question. Believers in the Great Hoax suggest that a (supposed) growth spurt in Paul McCartney's mid 20s is proof that Paul left the building before Sergeant Pepper. Others point to camera angles and/or cuban heels. Full (bonkers) story here: https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/who-was-the-tallest-beatle-d37bc917f588

Who was the tallest Beatle?

They started by copying Buddy Holly but then began to experiment. On Rubber Soul the humble capo joined the twelve-string and the sitar in shaping a key LP.

Kieran Mcgovern Reading)

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