I need 9 British-read good quality short stories. Long story

[digitaltoast]

I need 8 or 9 short stories, poems or whatever, well read, preferably in a British accent.
Under 20 minutes, and maybe the kind of thing that might appeal to an older person.

The recording needs to be crisp and clear as it's going to be delivered over... the telephone!

Sounds weird, eh? Intrigued? I'll post a number when the project is up!

And yes, I have trawled the Librivox archives and used the excellent advanced search, but there's just so much stuff out there.
Ideally, I would search by "time: <20 mins, rating: > 3*, reader:British, Language:English".

(Yes, I know there's no ratings system - let's not go there!).

[Rapunzelina]

I don't have any book recommendations, but you could go to the accent table: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Accents_Table , find an accent/reader you like and check their projects, in case they have contributed to short story collections, poem collections, etc

[digitaltoast]

What a top tip! I never knew of that table. It's a shame about the "tops and tails" of the shorter recordings, but I know "them's the rules" - I don't suppose they'd bend to be heard once in the menu and then removed at the track level?

Anyway, you've given me a good start there.

[tovarisch]

Each recording is in the public domain. You can take any part of it and edit it for your own use any way you please.

[digitaltoast]

and edit it for your own use any way you please.

Well I never realised that! I think the right (and sensible) thing to do then would be to introduce the selection with the Librivox disclaimer, then say "<Story name>, read by <Reader>" for each menu selection.
Then just edit out the top and tails of each short track. As the whole point is to bring Librivox and its readers to a wider audience, there's no point hiding where it came from, and I'd certainly want to give readers credit where it's due.

Listening to some now. Still open to suggestions as well though!

[RuthieG]

Are you saying you've never found my list, Jonathan? And you on it, an' all!

https://golding.wordpress.com/home/other-british-readers-on-librivox/

Ruth

[digitaltoast]

I know! I am truly lame. I meant to come back after 6 months or so - it's been about that many years now!

One day...

[Peter Why]

I've gone through my recordings (I keep all of them on my computer), and it's funny how few fit (self-contained stories of twenty minutes or less); I didn't search the poems I've read, which, barring two of Longfellow's, are all less than 20 minutes. As for "well-read", you'll have to decide for yourself.

Here's what I found:

From Grim Tales by Edith Nesbit
section 2 JOHN CHARRINGTON'S WEDDING (17.29)
http://www.archive.org/download/grimtales_py_librivox/grim_tales_02_nesbit_128kb.mp3

'' 3 UNCLE ABRAHAM'S ROMANCE (08.30)
http://www.archive.org/download/grimtales_py_librivox/grim_tales_03_nesbit_128kb.mp3

'' 4 THE MYSTERY OF THE SEMI-DETACHED (8.33)
http://www.archive.org/download/grimtales_py_librivox/grim_tales_04_nesbit_128kb.mp3

From Short Stories 38
Tobermory by Saki (08.36)
http://www.archive.org/download/shortstory38_0907_librivox/shortstory038_tobermory_py.mp3

From coffee break collection 1
The boar-pig by Saki (10.53)
http://www.archive.org/download/coffee_break_collection_001_0909_librivox/coffeebreak001_boarpig_saki_py.mp3

Peter

[RuthieG]

Here are a few suggestions:

Nobody's Story from Some Short Christmas Stories by Dickens 16:36 read by Noel Badrian
http://www.archive.org/download/dickens200_vol2_1202_librivox/200dickensvol2_14_dickens.mp3

No 2 Branch Line - The Engine Driver from Mugby Junction by Dickens read by Andy Minter 20:33
http://www.archive.org/download/dickens200_vol3_1203_librivox/200dickensvol3_01_dickens.mp3

The Man who Would Manage by Jerome K. Jerome read by me 17:38
http://www.archive.org/download/short_story_055_1304_librivox/shortstory055_05_manwhowouldmanage_rg.mp3

Shock Tactics by Saki read by me 14:41
http://www.archive.org/download/short_story_046_1010_librivox/shortstory046_shocktactics_rg.mp3

Any of Graham Redman's readings from https://librivox.org/the-toys-of-peace-by-saki/

Saki's stories are almost invariably of a suitable length for your purposes, as well as being very, very funny.

Ruth

[Peter Why]

I hadn't thought about the links; I've added them to my post. Thanks, Ruth.

Peter

[carteki]

To search the catalog you can get a copy of it from this link http://ekzemplaro.org/librivox/catalog/ (wait about 5 mins for the catalog page to load and then copy the table into Excel for easier sorting.

There is a "length" field, but that would be for the whole book rather than individual collection, but you can also - from the accent table - search for specific readers and then choose books from them.

Kim

[Newgatenovelist]

You could also look by selected authors - some of Kipling's short fiction would suit, as would Dunsany's, though the latter would have to be read by an expat in a country where it's PD.

I make no claims for how well read they are, but my sections have the 'right' accent. I don't think I've read anything that short, though, unless you're willing to accept poems between 10-20 minutes.
-Erin

[SonOfTheExiles]

My accent is unadulterated Australian, which excludes my stuff, but I'm intrigued as to why it's to be played down a telephone line rather than sent down it via a modem as an MP3?

Son of the Exiles

[annise]

Maybe because his target audience doesn't have a modem . There are people who don't have a computer or a smart phone still

Anne

[digitaltoast]

I hadn't thought about the links; I've added them to my post.

Thanks to Peter, Ruth and everyone for suggestions. I have a good collection now - still open to more suggestions though!

To search the catalog you can get a copy of it from this link http://ekzemplaro.org/librivox/catalog/

Oh, that's clever - I like that! I might even fork it, see if I can add some functions, and then do a pull request, as geeks would say.

My accent is unadulterated Australian, which excludes my stuff

Only for this first trial!

but I'm intrigued as to why it's to be played down a telephone line rather than sent down it via a modem as an MP3

Maybe because his target audience doesn't have a modem . There are people who don't have a computer or a smart phone still

Exaaaactly! 2 million people in the UK with sight loss. Nearly half a million registered with their local authority as blind. Age-related macular degeneration is by far the leading cause of blindness in adults, and 75% of the over 65's don't have or use the internet according to the Nominet Foundation. That's a fair few people in that Venn diagram who are old, blind and don't have access to the internet. But EVERYONE has a phone, and I don't know of any UK phone company who don't provide free calls at the weekend so.... while I don't expect the demo line to be jammed, nor do I expect anyone to listen to War and Peace over the phone, I think it would make an interesting tech demo.

Think of it like the Radio 4 Long Wave of audiobook provision!

Incidentally, does anyone in the UK remember in the 1970s, when Johnny Morris read children's bedtime stories for the Post Office? Children could dial 150 and hear a different story over the telephone each week.

Anyway, I was hoping to give out the demo number tonight, but give me a day or two more!