Gordon Griffin has narrated 500 audio books for a range of audio book publishers and RNIB's Talking Book Service. He has been described as a 'true artist of the spoken word'. We discovered why he enjoys it so much.
Tell us how you came to be reading books for RNIB?
I started as an actor. When I trained in the 1960s a career narrating audio books, which is more or less what I have now, would not have been possible as there was no such industry. I did a lot of television and theatre, but the stepping stone that led me to talking books was radio. Of course with radio it doesn't matter what you look like, it's what you sound like that's important and you can be anything as long as the person listening believes it. So as a 23-year-old I was cast as a 16-year-old in the BBC radio drama Mrs Dales Diary and also played a teenage Romeo when I was 34.
You're about to record your 500th book - is this a record?
I understand that nobody's recorded more in Europe. There's one man in America in his 70s who has done more. I do find it extraordinary. Somebody once said to me that I should write down what I've done so I've listed all the titles I've recorded on my website (Gordon Griffin's website)
Do you have a favourite book that you've recorded?
I really identified with Oxygen by Andrew Miller which I recorded for Clipper audio books. It got great reviews and I won some awards. Sue Arnold said in The Guardian that she'd never heard a combination of voice and narrative that worked so well. I'm very lucky as I tend to get to record good books.
You've read a great variety of books. The last book you recorded for RNIB was Bobby Robson's autobiography and you're now working on Crash by JG Ballard.
Yes, coming from the north east Bobby Robson is a bit of a god so I was delighted to record his autobiography. And I also jumped at the chance to record Crash because it was an incredibly controversial book when it was first published in 1973. The reviewers described it as disgusting and pornographic and the film of it was banned. It's a difficult book, very bleak and nightmarish but JG Ballard regarded it as his most important work so I'm pleased to be reading it.
How do you prepare a book for narration?
I believe that preparation is absolutely crucial and I can spend weeks on it. I do all my own research as far as pronunciation and language and anything that needs to be checked - this may involve research with native speakers or going onto You Tube - but it's vital so that when I turn to that first page I know exactly what I'm doing. The question I'm most commonly asked is whether I read the book first and I say, well yes of course I read it first, and second and a third time before recording it.
Do you enter the skin of each of the characters?
Yes, I do. I think that's one of the great things about being in a recording booth with no audience - you are able to concentrate utterly on the book. I tend to get incredibly involved in the story, so much so that if the producer intervenes to ask me something I jump out of my skin! If there are very moving or emotional passages there can be tears streaming down my face, which just wouldn't happen if I were reading it to myself. There's something about the concentrated atmosphere with no distractions that makes the emotions more intense.
What are your favourite books?
I love the fact that someone else decides what I'm going to record. It means that a lot of what I read is not necessarily what I would choose to buy. I don't get a chance to read many books that aren't for work. One of my favourite books, which I didn't actually record, is Captain Corelli's Mandolin - a wonderfully moving and funny book. Of the ones I have recorded (but not for RNIB), I love Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom.
Books narrated by Gordon available from the library:
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Farewell but not goodbye by Bobby Robson (TB 16851)
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My trade by Andrew Marr (TB 16112)
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A moment of madness by Hilary Bonner (TB 13841)
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The secret servant by Gavin Lyall (TB 13856)
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Crash by JG Ballard (TB coming soon)