Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Casanova - Ian Kelly

Category: Autobiography & Biographies, Radio Productions
Language: English
Keywords: BBC

Written by Ian Kelly
Read by Benedict Cumberbatch
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Abridged

Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
Release date: 21-05-2015
Publisher: BBC Audio

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Ian Kelly’s biography of one of the most beguiling and controversial individuals of any age.

In this fascinating biography of the notorious libertine, Ian Kelly draws on documents by Casanova, his friends, and his lovers (male and female) in order to bring fresh insights to the man’s life and world. The sights and smells of 18th-century Europe are brought keenly to life, as are the colourful incidents of Casanova’s life.

As a young cleric, he embarked upon a scandalous affair with a married woman, fleeing eventually to Constantinople. He created a stir at the French court of King Louis XV, began intrigues in London that led him to a soaking in the Thames, and sought to meet Catherine the Great at a ball in St Petersburg.

His own memoirs ensured his lasting fame and changed the way we think and write about ourselves and about sex.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Star Trek Into Darkness) is the reader of this abridged edition, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.