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Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

• 00:00

  Francis Baines

  Fanfare

  Performer: Performers uncredited

  • HMV 573877 2.

• William Schwenk Gilbert

  The Practical Joker, read by Jim Norton

• 00:02

  Richard Strauss

  Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks) (excerpt)

  Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor)

  • Deutsche Grammophon 410 518 2.

• Alan Garner

  How Robin Good-fellow went in the shape of a fiddler to a wedding, and of the sport that he had there, read by Katherine Parkinson

• 00:07

  P.D.Q. Bach

  The Preachers of Crimetheus (finale) (excerpt)

  Performer: The Greater Hoople Area Off-Season Philharmonic, Walter Bruno (conductor)

  • Telarc CD80210.

• ‘Ern Malley’ (James McAuley and Harold Stewart)

  Culture as Exhibit, read by Jim Norton

• 00:11

  Felix Mendelssohn

  Dance of the Clowns (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

  Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn (conductor)

  • EMI 574 980 2.

• William Shakespeare

  A Midsummer Night’s Dream (extract), read by Katherine Parkinson and Jim Norton

• 00:13

  Henry Purcell

  Scene of the Drunken Poet (The Fairy Queen)

  Performer: Richard Suart (bass), The Sixteen Choir and Orchestra, Harry Christophers (conductor)

  • Collins Classics 70132.

• James Oppenheim

  As to being made a Fool of, read by Katherine Parkinson

• 00:20

  Fritz Kreisler

  Tambourin 'in the style of Leclair'

  Performer: Oscar Shumsky (violin), William Wolfram (piano)

  • ASV CDALH971.

• Angela Carter

  The Witches’ Piper, read by Jim Norton

• 00:25

  Felix Mendelssohn

  Scherzo (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

  Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn (conductor)

  • EMI 574 980 2.

• Geoffrey Chaucer (rendered into modern English by Nevill Coghill)

  The Nun’s Priest’s Tale (Canterbury Tales) (excerpt), read by Katherine Parkinson

• 00:32

  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  Ein musicalischer Spass (A Musical Joke) (finale)

  Performer: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

  • Deutsche Grammophon 419 783 2.

• Horace Smith

  The Jester Condemned to Death, read by Jim Norton

• 00:38

  Nacio Herb Brown & Adolph Green

  Make 'em laugh

  Performer: Donald O’Connor (singer), orchestra uncredited

  • MGM CDP7933002.

• Ogden Nash

  If fun is fun, isn’t that enough?, read by Katherine Parkinson

• 00:42

  Dudley Moore

  Little Miss Britten

  Performer: Dudley Moore (voice and piano)

  • EMI 793 962 2.

• John Clare

  The Lout, read by Katherine Parkinson

• 00:44

  John Lennon & Paul McCartney

  The Fool on the Hill

  Performer: The Beatles

  • Capitol 3824652.

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  The Song of Hiawatha (excerpt), read by Jim Norton

• 00:49

  Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

  Hiawatha's Wedding Feast (excerpt)

  Performer: Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Kenneth Alwyn (conductor)

  • Decca 4734312.

• Joel Chandler Harris, ‘retold’ by FH Pritchard

  How Brer Rabbit was too sharp for Brer Fox (excerpt), read by Jim Norton

• 00:55

  Edvard Grieg

  Småtrold (Puck)

  Performer: Peter Jablonski (piano)

  • Decca 455 6312.

• Alan Garner

  Under the Earth I go, read by Katherine Parkinson

• 00:57

  William Walton

  Comedy Overture 'Scapino'

  Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn (conductor)

  • EMI 747 624 2..

• Anonymous 16th-century German, translated by Carolyn Place

  How Till Eulenspiegel taught a jackass to read an old psalmbook in Erfurt, read by Katherine Parkinson

• 01:08

  Richard Strauss

  Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks) (excerpt)

  Performer: London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (conductor)

  • Deutsche Grammophon 410 518 2.