Book of the Week - A Strange Eventful History - Episode 2

Eleanor Bron reads from Michael Holroyd's biography of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving, two greats of the Victorian stage. Henry Irving was born John Brodribb, a sickly child with a pronounced speech impediment and a disappointment to his parents. But after a trip to see Hamlet, he decided that his future lay on the stage. Turning his back on his parents, the determined young man embarked upon the long process of transforming himself into one of the greatest actor-managers in theatrical history.