Do you have just under 9 hours to spare?

July 23, 2015 by Lucy

Do you fancy listening to Emperor Palpatine being Satan? Sure you do!

This is one of the better Youtube audio books available, a lot of these free audio books are voiced by people with bunged up noses, recording from their bathrooms, but this was first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1992, hence the way it is in 41 parts, each book-ended with crazy dramatic music.

Satan is Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious, that’s Ian McDiarmid. Looking creepy here –

And in desperate need of some lip balm and a good night cream here –

And Satan is the best part in Paradise Lost, so we get to hear a lot of him. This version is ever-so-slightly abridged, the vast majority of it is here. Milton had a habit of referencing literary works that were obscure in his day, let alone ours. I have read the whole poem, and I listened to this at the same time, and nothing I read extra was crucial, or in fact, interesting.

Adam is played by Linus Roache, or, Batman’s dad/King Ecbert in Vikings, as well as being in loads of other stuff. There are worse way to imbibe an understanding of Paradise Lost, than in 41 brief bedtimes.

Adam, off to the theatre with Eve.

Lying to Ragnar Lothbrok… that’s not wise.

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