The Teahouse Detective by Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy
BBC Radio 4: Afternoon Play
Among Orczy's detective characters is the 'Old Man in the Corner', who solved mysteries in thirty-eight stories, without leaving his chair, like professor Van Dusen or later Nero Wolfe. The first collection of the Old Man stories, 'The Case of Miss Elliott', was published in 1905. This nondescript armchair detective spends much of his life in the corner of a London teashop. A young reporter brings him details of crimes which baffle the police. Although The Old Man does not hide his upper class attitudes, he sometimes feels sympathy for the criminals. In the 1970s the character appeared in the Thames TV series 'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes', when the case of 'The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway' was dramatised.
Bernard Hepton ............. The Man in the Corner
Suzanne Burden ...................... Polly Burton
Other parts by members of the cast except where stated
Dramatised by Michael Butt.
Directed by John Taylor (except "London mystery")
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Pilot
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Mysteries of the London Underground - 1 - `The Metropolitan Line Murder' (Wednesday 12th November 1997 @ 2:15pm)
Only the strange man at the corner table in the ABC can solve the mystery of the terrible events that befell Polly's friend on the Metropolitan Line train one afternoon in 1907.
Based on story originally published in'The Royal Magazine' July 1901 (nv) as 'The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway'
Jessica Turner .............................. Mary
Jonathan Tafler ........................ Hazelteen
Other parts were played by Struan Rodger, Donald Douglas, Michael Cochrane, John Hartley, and Ruth Sillers.
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Series 1
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1) 'The York Mystery' (Monday 14th May 1998 @ 2:15pm)
In a London ABC Cornerhouse in the twenties, few would guess that ragged old man sitting over a cup of warm tea and a doughnut is Britain's most astute detective, or that he is on the brink of solving the country's most scandalous and intriguing murder mystery of Charles Lavender.
Dramatised from Orczy's story first published in the May 1902 editon of 'The Royal Magazine' and later, as one of the short stories in the 1909 book "The Old Man in the Corner".
Richard Derrington ........ Lord Arthur Skelmerton
Lucy Tregia ............... Lady Arthur Skelmerton
Other parts were played by Ruth Sillers, Ian Masters, John Hartley, Cameron Stewart, and Keith Drinkel.
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2) 'The Metropolitan Line Murder' (Thursday 10th December 1998 @ 2:15pm)
Journalist Polly visits the enigmatic man at the ABC corner table to resolve a murder mystery and a personal tragedy, but finds his methods almost too devastating.
See pilot for details.
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3) 'The Body in the Barge' (Thursday 17th December 1998 @ 2:15pm)
When a rotting body is found on a potato barge on the Thames, a blackmail victim appears to have the motive - but the truth is more complex and sinister.
Dramatised from Orczy's very first 'Man in the Corner' short story published in 'The Royal Magazine' May 1901 as 'The Fenchurch Street Mystery'
John Benfield .................. Francis Smethurst
Eve Cuff ............................ Mrs. Kershaw
Other parts were played by Ruth Sillers, Michael Cochrane, Jeff Nettle and Ian Brooker.
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4) 'The de Genneville Peerage' (Thursday 24th December 1998 @ 2:15pm)
Polly is shattered by an appalling murder, but the man in the corner's efforts to shed light on the mystery meet with her furious resistance.
Dramatised from Orczy's 1909 collection of short stories 'The Old Man in the Corner'.
Michael Maloney ........................... Robert
Other parts were played by Ruth Sillers, Cameron Stewart, Michael Cochrane, Stephen Thorne and Eve Cuff.
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Series 2
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5) 'The Dublin Mystery' (Wednesday 31st May 2000 @ 2:15pm)
A dying Dublin businessman appears to have settled his will, but revenge wreaks havoc in the family.
Dramatised from Orczy's story first published in the September 1902 editon of 'The Royal Magazine' and later, as one of the short stories in the 1909 book "The Old Man in the Corner".
Lorcan Cranitch ......................... Percival
Harry Towb ............................... Brookes
Norman Rodway ......................... Weatherett
Daniel Flynn .............................. Murray
Geraldine Fitzgerald ....................... Molly
Becky Hindley ............................ Gillian
Noel Slatery ................................ Neil
Tom Flaraleigh .......................... Mulligan
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6) 'The Edinburgh Mystery' (Wednesday 7th June 2000 @ 2:15pm)
When an attractive woman is hired to take care of Lady Donaldson's ingenuous son, events lead to betrayal and murder.
Dramatised from Orczy's 1909 collection of short stories 'The Old Man in the Corner'.
Elspeth Grey ...................... Lady Donaldson
Jack Tarlton ............................... David
Frances Grey ............................... Edith
Jennifer Piercey ......................... Tremlet
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7) 'The Brighton Mystery' (Wednesday 14th June 2000 @ 2:15pm)
An American heiress begins to get blackmail letters from the husband she thought was dead.
Danny Webb ............................... Francis
Barbara Barnes ......................... Elizabeth
Christian Rodska ......................... Skinner
Dramatised from Orczy's story first published in a 1902 monthly editon of 'The Royal Magazine' and later, as one of the short stories in the 1909 book "The Old Man in the Corner".
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8) 'The London Mystery' (Wednesday 21st June 2000 @ 2:15pm)
The mysterious man in the corner helps Polly when a gambler accused of murder seems to have the perfect alibi.
Alan Cox ............................. John Ashley
Rupert Penry-Jones ............. Walter Heatherald
Michael Tudor Barnes .............. Edward LaTeage
Stephen Thorne ................ Sir Andrew Laidlaw
Jonathan Keeble ...................... Toby Tucker
Ian Brooker .................... Constable Funnell
Directed by Celia de Wolff.
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The Old Man in the Corner (1909)
The Fenchurch Street Mystery
The Robbery in Phillimore Terrace
The York Mystery
The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway
The Liverpool Mystery
The Edinburgh Mystery
The Theft at the English Prorident Bank
The Dublin Mystery
An Unparalleled Outrage
The Regent's Park Murder
The De Genneville Peerage
The Mysterious Death in Pearcy Street
Whilst returning home from the theatre one foggy afternoon in 1901, Baroness Orczy was struck by just how mysterious London suddenly appeared, and this eerie atmosphere inspired her to write a series of mystery stories featuring a character known only as 'The Old Man in the Corner'. The Old Man solves mysteries by careful deduction, never once leaving his corner table in an ABC teashop. He is a vivid character, and the stories - which again were published in The Royal Magazine - constitute a fine, early example of the armchair detective genre. The first of them, 'The Fenchurch Street Mystery' appeared in the May 1901 issue of 'The Royal', and it was followed in successive months by five more stories. There were three further series, which were published in the magazine in 1902, 1904 and 1924-25 respectively.
The stories were collected in three volumes:
'The Case of Miss Elliott' (1905)
'The Old Man in the Corner' (1909), superbly illustrated by HM Brock
'Unravelled Knots' (1926), the title of which refers to The Old Man's habit of tying and untying a length of string as he ponders each new conundrum.
Nine of the thirteen stories in this final volume had earlier been published by the American firm of Doran & Co in five booklets:
'The Old Man in the Corner Unravels...' (1923)
'The Mystery of the Khaki Tunic' (1923)
'The Mystery of the Pearl Necklace' / 'The Tragedy in Bishop's Road' (1924)
'The Mystery of the Russian Prince' / 'The Mystery of Dog's Tooth Cliff' (1924)
'The Mystery of the White Carnation' / 'The Montmartre Hat' (1925)
'The Fulton Gardens Mystery' / 'The Moorland Tragedy' (1925)
Today, the three British collections are much sought-after by crime and mystery aficionados, especially 'The Old Man in the Corner'. This now sells for up to £150 in very good condition, compared to an upper limit of £100 and £75 for the other two. In 1980, Dover issued an excellent paperback collection, simply entitled 'The Old Man in the Corner', which contained twelve of the stories, as well as a fascinating introduction by E. F. Bleiler.
I realize that this set has been posted already. We have 2 schools of thought in our membership and a possible third. The first is the space conscous collector who reduce thier collections to the smallest possible bitrate where they can still discern the words. The other post of this set embodies that shcool with a bitrate of 40. The second shcool of thought is that the better the bitrate the better the sound and prescence of the piece. The thirdis that of myself who will download anything interesting and if a better copy shows up the old will be replaced. This post falls into 2 out of 3 with a bitrate of 128.
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Replies
Brilliant Rick! Thank you!
I knew of these, and I also knew they starred Bernard Hepton - who is simply one of my favourite radio actors - but I'd never heard them. I happened to catch one of them (The Brighton Mystery) on Radio 7 the other day and I loved it.
Incidentally, I'm with sound quality merchants when it comes to what is available. If something I like is available in lower bitrate only I'll gladly accept and appreciate it. But for me (and many others here), radio drama is special - and if something is available in fm quality sound, it can make it even more special! That's my take on it!
David
Bump