The Avengers – South Africa:
The Fantasy Game (1972) The Witch’s Tale:
The Truth of Death (3/11/37).

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The Avengers South Africa – The Fantasy Game part 1.

The Avengers Radio Program was produced and transmitted in South Africa between 6th December 1971 and 28th December 1973 It featured adoptions  of scripts first aired on the very successful British T.V. show The Avengers. The show starred Donald Monat as John Steed, and Diane Appleby as Emma Peel. Two top  agents of  the British  secret service. 


The radio show was served up pretty much following the style and tempo established by the  BBC Television series during it’s run  from 1961 to 1969. Just like the television series the South African radio presentation features outlandish, quirky villains, mad scientists and secret organizations .  A little James Bond, a touch of SMERSH and SPECTRE, some Napoleon Solo and Illya  Kuryakin a hint of U.N.C. L.E. and THURSH.

Oh, and just a little Max and 99.

The Avengers

It’s all quite, quite fantastic as Steed and Emma romp through other people’s fantasies to thwart a plot to assassinate the cricket-playing prince of an obscure, oil-laden country. While Steed gets chummy with the prince, Emma is “sold” into his harem to flush out the assassins, who are using the QQF, a “fantasy fulfillment” service, to devise the assassination plot for them.

The Avengers South Africa – The Fantasy Game part 2.

The Avengers South Africa – The Fantasy Game part 3 and the short story The Back Dog by Stephen Crane.

 

The Witch’s Tale – The Truth of Death (37-03-11).

The Witch’s Tale is credited with being the first horror themed radio show in history. This happened in 1931 when writer- director Alonzo Deen Cole somehow convinced WOR (in New York) to try a series devoted entirely to the supernatural. Not really predictably The series became the premier radio program of its day running until 1938 and is fondly remembered by it’s fans to this day.

Only about three dozen episodes survive. According to Dave Siegel’s book The Witch’s Tale, Cole destroyed his recordings when he moved from New York to California. The three dozen or so surviving recordings exist due to the efforts of others. It was just that by 1961 Cole had come to believe that there was no commercial value to the actual radio transcriptions. He did keep bound copies of his 332 scripts which he protected by copy write.

Syndicated by Mutual. The program was hosted by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, who introduced a new story each week.

                  Not Old Nancy!