M. R. James - 'Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' (read by Michael Hordern)

[@jeanines_channel3246]

He has an exquisite voice for story telling.

[@miraho1391]

My favourite reading of my favourite story

[@debra91]

I first saw this when I was about 15 . . It to me was and is the scariest and creepiest film I've ever seen as ghost stories go. ..I still watch it to fall asleep to over 35 years later.. ..being older clarifies

[@SavageBites]

Hordern the gold standard in narration. love this one with a passion!

[@mattstrawbridge3856]

I enjoy listening to this story when going to sleep. It’s not boring… it’s nice and eerie and relaxes me.

[@katestent8319]

Same!

[@maryglass3658]

Second listen through. Really pretty great. Thanks.

[@TheRickie41]

Perfection is always a true delight.

[@johnhindes9020]

What a combination MR James and Mr Horden wonderful superb

[@YaxKukMo1426]

I’ve listened to this and other M R James ghost stories at the height of the British Summer when it’s still light after 10pm and they’ve been OK. However listening to Michael Hordern reading this in the week around Christmas when it’s dark for fifteen hours a day and you’re just about to go to bed and there also maybe a howling wind and rain beating against the window which make it a very different experience.

[@loulou7963]

Sounds perfect to me. All that’s needed is a roaring fire 🔥

[@greenman6141]

Yes, perfect for winter reading or listening in the UK. Even as far south as London, with wintery weather, in those weeks either side of the solstice, it barely seems to get light at all. Our main character is experiencing these days. 18 hours of black, broken by a handful of watery grey ones. That's his backdrop while struggling through the winter wind off the North Sea and clambering over those dank barnacled groynes. Other stories, like The Ash Tree, benefit equally from the other end of the calendar. It seems especially horrid to think of the big, wet fat hairy spiders, rushing out of the tree in that late night brightness. The warm summer air, the reason for wanting the bedroom window kept open. I love how hugely the light changes with the seasons in the British Isles. It makes midsummer feel so different than, for example, in America. You really do get the feeling that some deity is merely having a brief nap, she doesn't want to sleep through the things the humans are getting up to in order to celebrate the solstice. Whereas in winter, it does seem that the sun may never come back. I've had visitors from New England once commented "now I know what she meant by In the Deep Midwinter"

[@pikehead1]

My favourite M R James story read by my one of my favourite actors .....absolutely love it and very clear version mate ....thanks for posting it up.

[@andrewmurray5542]

Agreed. It's noticeable when an actor reads a story compared to someone who just reads it - if you see what i mean. Horden's version is so much better; the characters come more to life. Love it.

[@azoutlaw7]

Hey Paul! I don't know how I missed that you uploaded all these mr james stories read by the brilliant Michael Hordern. I just love them. This is one of my favorites. It is flat out scary! Michael Hordern also starred in a film version of this. It was great! Thank you Paul. Kathi 😎🇺🇸

[@patrickdrury1480]

Great story, well read. Much better than any dramatized version. As is usual where the imagination is concerned.

[@lydiamarks8577]

Wonderful & so well read. Thank you 👍

[@doloresaquines]

And Michael Hordern took the lead role in the TV dramatisation of this story. Excellent

[@LaPtiteAnglaise]

Love The Detectorists and its little nod to this story

[@violetOsnow]

So happy to find this reading by Michael Hordern. Thank you.

[@phoebevaughan5095]

Love this narration - a spooky story, but very well written. Rest in Peace Michael Hordern. Edit: Parkins reminds me of Icabod Crane for some reason. Anyone else get the similarity?

[@nicholasgerrish6022]

Not I…. I cannot see any similarity whatsoever.

[@phoebevaughan5095]

@@nicholasgerrish6022 Parkins and Crane are academic people who teach others, they are both scared of ghosts/the supernatural, and too proud to admit it, and then are terrified out of their wits by a ghost/entity. Maybe I'm over-thinking it?

[@johncarlisle621]

probably because they're both bookish types. I've seen a few documentaries about M R James, & several of his stories contain similar type characters. mainly the bachelor academic -as was James-, in the lead role. I think James invested a lot of himself into some of his lead characters, & many people believe that he was a fervent believer in the supernatural, & the stories reveal the only means he had of expressing himself. because of the positions he held in academia, it is believed that he couldn't come out directly and declare his true beliefs, so wrote his wonderful stories that served in part as a catharsis. I'm not sure if you're familiar with his very last short story, which isn't included here, called 'a vignette' ? many Jamesian experts consider it to be semi autobiographical. it is based on an experience he had whilst growing up as a child in Great Livermore, & describes a supernatural encounter he had in a haunted plantation. it wasn't published until after his death, so maybe he felt that he could open up a bit more about his true feelings on the subject. I've listened to many narrators of James's stories, but Michael Hordern is my favourite

[@margielyons6282]

Very good reading. Scary and interesting story.

[@coreolis7]

Who did these excellent illustrations? They are fantastic !

[@Oakleaf700]

Superb narrator.

[@lylepetrov6505]

Really a fine, fine horror story beautifully read.

[@TheTigersbay]

Wonderfully read horror by Mr Paddington himself . Thank you Paul 👍🏻🇬🇧

[@dubbingsync]

I was trying to work out where I knew this guys voice from. Thank you for this comment.

[@TheTigersbay]

No problem 👍🏻🇬🇧

[@lesliehatton1493]

Thank you for posting this.

[@JasonJason210]

So excellently read!

[@oldproji]

A descent into madness or something far more inexplicable? M.R.James always allowed his readers to decide, which made them all the more disturbing.

[@susanbeesley8299]

Marvellous reading XX

[@philnewton3096]

The BBC film of 1967 [monochrome ] was awesome; -Hordern ideally cast - and as I remember, all the more so without any attempt at music background - .

[@robplazzman6049]

I remember it freaking me out as a kid. Left me with a chill of big deserted beaches ever since.

[@raymondgerman6671]

Love this story. The actor playing the Professor has a voice that reminds me of one of my favorite actors: John Williams, the English stage, film and tv actor.

[@philiphaigh5434]

Great stuff Thanks 👌

[@marvwatkins7029]

A useful tool for a sailboat in a calm.

[@jimjohhnston9992]

This is very good Thank you posting

[@foofy3406]

excellent!!

[@Hamza086RSD]

Lately been listening to BBC radio plays of Jeeves and Wooster, with Michael Hordern as Jeeves. plus, one of my fave short films is the 1960s version of this very story - the remake with John Hurt wasn’t quite so good.

[@scottfree2248]

Be careful when you signal you don't know what may answer. 💀

[@LaPtiteAnglaise]

I was waiting for Paddington to make an appearance!

[@michelepiteo7179]

Some say the best ghost story ever written was The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions. He fused the idea of hair and the subtle magnetic field that may exist brilliantly. ha ha...Underground Train systems easily end up haunted as the tunnels lie undisturbed beneath the ground. Here's a sickie so prepare yourselves. Vast bales of hair have to be removed from train tunnels that are accumulated from passsengers who wait on the platforms~ sucked off their sculls when the train pull in I also liked the Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood and The Wine Dark Sea collection by Robert Aickman. The best ghost stories ever written were done by just before,during or after the Edwardian era , there are about half a dozen classic ghost-horror stories generally repeated in anthologies from this era.

[@JasonJason210]

I agree about the era (although LTC Rolt must be an exception). I guess it's when people still believed in ghosts and there were enough old places around to haunt. William Hope Hodgson wrote some interesting ones in his Carnacki series in the early 1900s. Also Lord Dunsany.

[@oldproji]

Yes! It is rare to hear the name of Algernon Blackwood mentioned these days, but he was a fine writer of the ghostly genre. In particular, his The Empty House is one of best ghost stories I have read, although it would be difficult for me to say which ghost story is truly the best ever. They are all amazing, especially those that came out of the 19th century stable.

[@pyewackett5]

Didn't Michael Horden play the professor in the film of the story ? An excellent film

[@startledmoose]

A bit late with an answer to your question but yes, you're right. Michael Horden played Professor Parkins in the late Jonathan Miller's adaptation of this story, which he wrote and directed for the BBC Omnibus strand in the late 60s. The setting was updated to the 1930s and Parkins, as played by Horden, was an older, compared to the character in the story, but still fussy man. It's a superbly creepy version, with an excellent performance by Horden that is heartbreaking come the end.

[@janetcw9808]

@@startledmoose Thank you for the info 👍🏼

[@Johnconno]

He may have done...Why do you ask?

[@unclebiz8976]

I said this before and I'll say it again. Nothing sounds better than a old snooty British guy reading a story or audiobook. This dude would make reading the periodic table sound interesting.

[@sclerismockrey8506]

pearls before swine

[@2msvalkyrie529]

What if it was Raymond Chandler book ?

[@judykeir601]

Have you heard of a short story entitled “”Adam and Eve and pinch Me.” ?? I forget the name of the author but the story is magical. 💙💜💚

[@TheTeacher1020]

Perhaps you mean A. E. Coppard?

[@bittybitty8233]

💚💚💚💚💚💕🙋😸

[@AlexGreeneHypnotist]

Apparently, this year (2019) somebody actually did ...

[@kateking3953]

Unless you're a detectorist, in which case blowing it may bring about shifts in time and events from the past - and maybe a Romano-British gold hoard....

[@suzitagroom2869]

Daughter

[@Johnconno]

The Hotel is a sanatorium for addicts, it's just left unsaid.

[@EleanorPeterson]

I'll probably get banned or censored for mentioning this, but there really should be an 'Oh' at the beginning of the story's title. It may not seem an important omission to modern perceptions, but English has lost much of its nuance in recent years; there's no shame in using the language with precision and respecting an author's intentions. There was a time when school teachers wouldn't stand for such an alteration. 🧐That missing 'Oh' matters because it alters the title's sense and meaning. Once - not long ago, says she with a wry smile - boys (and yes, even girls) were schooled in not just English, German and French, but also Latin and Greek. Understanding how a language worked mattered because it allowed one to daub grammatically-correct graffiti on a wall telling the Romans To Go Home [Life of Brian ref], and made for clearer communication. It imparted an understanding of why words should be used with care. Shortening things for convenience was not an option because the various levels of meaning were changed by it. Alas, the use of texting, Twitter, Google and the 'live chat' sections of KZbin videos has created a generation of people unable to communicate clearly. Not quickly - they can do that - but their no-rules, grammar-free, spell-as-you-like English is often hard to comprehend and lacks subtlety. And things such as a missing 'Oh' go largely unnoticed. So like ROFL m8 whatever 🤣 It's sad to see languages die through changes of usage, although it's those very changes that ensure languages survive. A story's given title, though, shouldn't be subject to change. I think this one was originally part of a poem by Robert Burns, and we've nae business telling HIM what he meant tae say.🤭 Languages evolve in order to survive. Yep. No problem with that. Chaucer's dead, long live English. "Yay!" for language evolution through natural selection. Ironically, Darwin's great book on evolution itself also suffers by the loss of its title's first word. It's frequently called, 'The Origin of Species', which is incorrect. The book is 'On the Origin of Species'. That missing 'On' - which seems so unnecessary to modern minds - transforms the writer's intention, changing the book from a scholarly proposal and discussion of a radical idea supported by empirical facts and evidence into a crude soap-box declamation that Darwin himself would never have made. Bring back the 'Oh'; remember the 'On'. And let's say what we mean.🙂

[@paulgoddard]

Hi Elli P, sorry I missed the "Oh". I know the story should start with an "Oh". I believe we should respect the author's original title and meaning. I'm dyslexic and I believe what happened, I copied the title from the Internet to make sure it was spelt correctly. I'm using my phone at the moment but later today I'll put "Oh" back where it belongs. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. 🙂

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Well said ! Can you imagine.. " for a muse of fire " without the " Oh ! "

[@marknewbold2583]

Grammar is not one set of rules. There are many grammars