Billy Budd

A sea classic from the master pen of Herman Melville. Billy Budd, a sailor on a merchantman, is 'pressed' into service on HMS Indomitable during the Napoleonic Wars. He is popular among the crew, but is victimized by a brutal master-at-arms and tragedy becomes inevitable. Published posthumously, Billy Budd was championed by E.M. Forster and has since been recognized as a major work in Melville's oeuvre. Born in 1819 in New York, Herman Melville was an American novelist and short story writer. He worked as a sailor, a teacher, a writer, a lecturer and customs inspector. In 1847 he married Elizabeth Shaw, and they had four children. He died aged 72 in 1891. William Roberts has appeared extensively in TV, film and theatre, varying from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Navy Seals to Martin Chuzzlewit and A View to a Kill. He is also a familiar voice on radio and audiobooks, with numerous dramas and books to his credit.