Andrew Martin

In 1905 railwayman Jim Stringer is driving summer visitors to Blackpool, one of Europe's busiest stations, when he hits a huge millstone on the track. Who wanted to derail the train, and why? As he investigates, his list of suspects just gets longer.

In the summer of 1942, Gyles Mackrell – a decorated First World War pilot and tea plantation overseer, performed a series of heroic rescues in the hellish jungles of Japanese-occupied Burma – with the aid of twenty elephants. Those he saved were all on the point of death from starvation or fever: that summer was spent in a fight against time.

Andrew Martin reflects on Britain's customs attitudes and social and supernatural phenomena in these six BBC Radio series Drawn from Radio 3's The Essay strand and presented by journalist and award-winning author Andrew Martin this beguiling collection brings together his witty Alan Bennett-esque observations on England's disappearing pastimes rituals and beliefs. Yorkshire sees him musing on the county of his birth and upbringing as he considers his 'Tyke' identity and the ancient rivalry between Yorkshire and Lancashire; chews over questions of class in 'God's Own County'; ponders its past and future; and recalls the coastal jaunts of his youth.

In Hanging On Martin celebrates five aspects of British life that are still with us - just as he raises a toast to the boating pond; the ventriloquist's doll; the telephone; the milkman and sex shops. The Lost Hours memorialises the staging posts of the day that are gradually fading away such as elevenses and the cocktail hour; while England Ejects explores the inclinations and habits that no longer seem so vital nowadays including modesty gentility and Sunday church-going. The Further Realm sees Martin contemplating whether he believes in ghosts; reflecting on mediaeval and modern sightings and telling tales of the undead from resonant times of the year. Finally in The Sound and the Fury he discusses the noises that annoy us from piped music to public transport announcements asking 'how do we cope with jarring sounds in our world today and could we live without the daily cacophony?' Quirky and engaging these delightfully entertaining essays will give you a whole new perspective on the modern world - and the world beyond.

On the first day of the Somme enlisted railwayman Jim Stringer lies trapped in a shell hole, smoking cigarette after cigarette under the bullets and the blazing sun. He calculates his chances of survival - even before they departed for France, a member of Jim's unit had been found dead. During the stand-off that follows, Jim and his comrades must operate by night the vitally important trains carrying munitions to the Front, through a ghostly landscape of shattered trees where high explosive and shrapnel shells rain down. Close co-operation and trust are vital. Yet proof piles up of an enemy within, and as a ferocious military policeman pursues his investigation into the original killing, the finger of accusation begins to point towards Jim himself . . .