Friday, April 3, 2026

A Podcast For Easter - Are The Cheesemakers Really Blessed?

Actually, he meant everyone involved in the manufacture of dairy products – but did you know how cartography & archaeology make this such a brilliant many-layered joke?  And which film-director cast his own mother as the Virgin Mary? 

Fellow Cumbrian author Ken Powell & I explore these questions and the very best Easter-themed fiction and film in the latest edition of our podcast For Whom The Bell Tools –

https://youtu.be/jNjtcHt0yJ4?si=jE3sYpvzqonMONrP

We look at authors as diverse as Athony Burgess, Nikos Kazantsakis and AL Kennedy – and delve into the works of film-makers such as Scorsese, Pasolini & Zeffirelli.  And of course we also talk about historical detective fiction The Judas Case.

And there’s also a wide hinterland of Easter-themes fiction and film.  You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out more, but once you’ve done so, here are some links to the works we discuss – and quite a few that got away, but will no doubt be the subject of future editions –

Fiction for Easter:

MAN OF NAZARETH – ANTHONY BURGESS, MCGRAW GILL 1979

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Man-Nazareth-Burgess-Anthony-McGraw-Hill-Companies/31763490409/bd

THE KINGDOM OF THE WICKED – ANTHONY BURGESS, ARBOR, 1985

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdom-Wicked-Abacus-Anthony-Burgess/dp/0349104395

THE LAST TEMPTATION – NIKOS KAZANTSAKIS, SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1998 – GK ORIGINAL 1960 (POSTHUMOUS)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Temptation-Nikos-Kazantzakis/dp/0571178561

PARADISE – AL KENNEDY, VINTAGE, 2005

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paradise-L-Kennedy/dp/0099433494

BEHOLD THE MAN – MICHAEL MOORCOCK, SF MASTEROWKRS, 1999

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1857988485

& of course:

THE JUDAS CASE – NICHOLAS GRAHAM, BOOK GUILD, 2022

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Judas-Case-Nicholas-Graham/dp/191512252X

&

https://bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/historical/the-judas-case

And here are some that got away -

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST – JOSE SARAMAGO, TRANS GIOVANNI PONTIERO, 1994

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gospel-According-Jesus-Christ-Panther/dp/1860466842

THE LIAR’S GOSPEL – NAOMI ALDERMAN, VIKING, 2012

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liars-Gospel-author-Baileys-Fiction/dp/0670919918

THE SHADOW OF THE GALILEAN – GERD THIESSEN, trans JOHN BOWDEN, SCM PRESS, 1987

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Galilean-Classics-Gerd-Theissen-ebook/dp/B005IGDEL8

THE GOSPEL OF CORAX – PAUL PARK, HARCOURT BRACE, 1996

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gospel-Corax-Paul-Park/dp/0156005174

BEN HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST – LEW WALLACE, 1880

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ben-Wordsworth-Classics-Lewis-Wallace/dp/1853262838

THE TESTAMENT OF MARY, COLM TOIBIN, VIKING, 2012

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Testament-Mary-Colm-T%C3%B3ib%C3%ADn/dp/0241962978

ROBERT GRAVES – KING JESUS,   

https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Jesus-Penguin-Modern-Classics-ebook/dp/B00666V52Y

THE MASTER AND MARGARITA – MIKHAIL BULGAKOV, 1966-73, VINTAGE CLASSICS 2010, TRANS MICHAEL GLENNY

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-Margarita-Vintage-Classics/dp/0099540940

THE HUMAN CHRIST – CHARLOTTE ALLAN, THE FREE PRESS, 1998

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Human-Christ-Search-Historical-Jesus/dp/0745942350

 

And some Easter Bank holiday epics:

JESUS OF NAZARETH – FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI (1977)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B00IB7KCOI

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST – MEL GIBSON

https://www.netflix.com/watch/60031422

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST – MARTIN SCORSESE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0DN8C61SM

BEN HUR – WILLIAM WYLER

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0CWDKBNQQ

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR – NORMAN JEWISON, 1973

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B00FZ8JZBC

(BONUS: Script by Greatest Living Cumbrian Melvyn Bragg)

 THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD – GEORGE STEVENS, 1965

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0CKT2D23B

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW – PIER PAOLO PASOLINI

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0DNV8SXS3

LA RICOTTA – PIER PAOLO PASOLINI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8tOMYGWWo

And of course -

MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN, 1979

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0DJBBL2MN

A very happy Easter to you all.

A Podcast For Easter - Are The Cheesemakers Really Blessed?

Actually, he meant everyone involved in the manufacture of dairy products – but did you know how cartography & archaeology make this suc...