Sir David Attenborough’s
Life of Mammals, and his autobiography Life
on Air, were amongst the year’s most
successful titles. Both books also won WHSmith
People’s Choice Book Awards. Volume III
of Simon Schama’s A History of Britain
emulated the previous volumes by being a best-seller,
and BBC Worldwide has commissioned Simon’s
next three titles. The UK’s most successful
cookery author, Delia Smith, had another hit
with Delia’s Vegetarian Collection. And
the UK’s most successful gardener, Alan
Titchmarsh, had a best-seller with How to
be a Gardener 2.
The UK’s leading spoken word publisher,
BBC Audiobooks, consolidated all its businesses
into one company, based in Bath. |
BBC Audiobooks
offers more than 800 trade titles and, for
the library market, more than 3,000 unabridged
titles. All major retail releases now appear
simultaneously on CD.
Some of the best BBC radio talent, such as
Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, appeared on audio.
The year also saw the release of Terry Deary’s
audio versions of two of his best-selling
books in the Horrible Histories series. BBC
Word for Word released its first tranche of
unabridged contemporary titles, including
Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island.
Following the success of the blockbuster films,
the 1991 BBC Radio 4 production of Lord of
the Rings found an unexpected new audience
and achieved excellent sales. |
