Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

Simon Sebag Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of prize-winning books that have been published in forty-eight languages. CATHERINE THE GREAT & POTEMKIN was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR won History Book of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards; YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award, the LA Times Book Prize for Biography, the Kreisky Prize and the Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique; JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY won the JBC Book of the Year Prize and the Wenjin Book Prize in China; THE ROMANOVS: 1613-1918 won the Lupicaia del Terriccio Book Prize. He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels: SASHENKA, RED SKY AT NOON and ONE NIGHT IN WINTER, which won the Political Fiction Book of the Year Award. He is also the author of WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD and VOICES OF HISTORY: SPEECHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.

John Nettles was born in St Austell, Cornwall. He studied philosophy and history at Southampton University where he also acted in drama society productions. He was there spotted by an agent who arranged for him to work at the Royal Court theatre - though that did not stop him teaching in London for a while. Before 'Midsomer Murders' he was best known for his role as Sergeant Jim Bergerac, in the long-running television series Bergerac. Other TV appearances. ranging from comedy to serious drama, include A Family at War, Black Beauty, The Liver Birds, Dickens of London and The Merchant of Venice. But he has never forgotten his stage origins, where again his range is unusually wide: he has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, yet plays pantomime most years. Orion Audio invited him to read Stalin because of his magnificent audiobook reading of George Orwell's 1984.