Many of you will be familiar with the voice of Garrick Hagon who narrates fast-moving novels by authors such as Ed McBain, Lee Child and Stephen King amongst others. Garrick was raised in Canada, and has a great talent for reading and directing audio books.
He is also known for his roles in Star Wars and Dr Who, as well as playing the husband of Debbie Aldridge in the Archers on BBC Radio 4. Kim Normanton caught up with him.
How long have you been reading for RNIB Talking Books?
Maybe 15 years or more. I added up all the books I've read, which include some that weren't for RNIB and I think I'm on my 171st book.
And what made you decide to stay?
I like it and I consider it both instructional for me, because I read so many books that actually teach me something, but also I feel I'm doing a job that I like for people who may like to listen to it. Actors don't work every day of the year and in between jobs it's awfully nice to be able to keep the machine oiled by reading.
And how do you go about preparing a book for narration?
First of all I read it. Secondly while I'm reading it, I mark it. I mark characters with letters. I know some actors who bring pictures they have cut out of magazines that give them a physical image of the character. You pick up clues as you're reading about the character, whether he speaks fast, slow, high or low, or his accent, and you try and make notes so that you remember that character throughout the book.
You've been the voice for a lot of thrillers and detective novels by Lee Child, Ed McBain and Stephen King. Did you choose those because you like the fast moving pace or did they choose you somehow?
They always choose me. They're not books I would choose. For some reason I'm doing Alex Cross books - Alex Cross is a black detective in Washington and I wouldn't be an obvious choice but I enjoy them.
I enjoy the books I read because they're well written generally, but sometimes they can be quite gruesome. Ed McBain's books are terrifically well written and not so graphically violent and with Stephen King I like the psychosis; the disturbed characters that he presents are fascinating.
Then there are some like Tom Clancy which are just a real slog to get through. There's one I read called The bear and the dragon which must have involved every Chinese, Russian and American military man in the world, oh what a book!
What are the most memorable books you've narrated?
The one I've enjoyed most is Huckleberry Finn, because it's so wonderfully evocative of that period and the dialect that Mark Twain gives you is so beautifully rendered in the text. The characters are so huge and colourful and it's funny, it's sad, it's got everything, it's just such a great work and you could read passages again and again - they're just delightful.
I also narrated John Updike's essays in a book called Odd jobs and I remember going to meet him, at a talk at the National Theatre. I lined up and he signed the book I told him I'd read for RNIB and he wrote, "To Garrick, the only person in the world besides myself who has read every single word of Odd jobs" because I'd read all the acknowledgements and the footnotes and everything.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and you could only take five books, what would you take?
I'd take Huck Finn, Shakespeare; I'd take a whole volume of Shakespeare. I'd probably take a James Thurber, as I love his humour. And for serious works I love Ian McEwan, I think he is a beautiful writer, a wonderful craftsman. And finally I should take Robertson Davies just for a touch of Canada.
Claire McLaughlin, one of our talking book fans, would like to know what you read for pleasure
I'm reading Ian McEwan's Solar. I don't read a lot out of the saddle as it were - I haven't got the time to. It's terrible because either I'm directing something like another book that I have to know very thoroughly to direct another actor reading it, or I'm reading one myself for RNIB or somewhere else, or I'm preparing for some other job, it's a terrible quandary!
Is there anything you'd like to say to listeners?
These audio images are very strong and they're very powerful because they are also very personal. I'm very pleased that you've asked me, and I'm pleased that you've told me that some enjoy what we do because we don't often get feedback and I love it! I love to know that there are people enjoying what we do.