PLP (mono) and ZPL (stereo) ‘spoken word’ series (1970-78)
Lots of mid-price (28s 6d) reissues from the fifties and sixties (original issue numbers given in brackets), including "The English Poets from Chaucer to Yeats" series. New (to Argo) releases too – Welsh poets, some old English and Chaucer, and the biographical series People Past and Present (re-releases from the Philips mid-price Fourfront label).
Not clear for lots of them what year they were re-issued (Argo often only put the original release date on the disc), but most of them were in 1970 and 1971.
| Issue no | Artist | Title | Year |
| PLP 1001 (RG 401) |
Coghill, Davis, Burrow | Chaucer – Canterbury Tales Prologue | 1970 |
| PLP 1002 (RG 466) |
John Burrow, Nevill Coghill, Lena Davis, Norman Davis |
Chaucer – Nun’s Priest’s Tale |
1970 |
| ZPL 1003 ZPL 1004 |
Watson, Scales, Marquand, Brewer, Orr. Dir. Rylands. British Council | Chaucer – Troilus and Criseyde | 1971 |
| ZPL 1005- ZPL 1006 |
Pasco, King, Bonnamy, Bowie, Morrish, Duncan, Orr, Rylands. Trans Coghill. Dir Rylands. British Council and OUP | Langland – Visions from Piers Plowman | 1971 |
| PLP 1007 ZPL 1007 |
Freda Dowie, Duncan McIntyre | The Scots Chaucerians – Poems – Robert Henryson and William Dunbar | 1972 |
| ZPL 1008 | Bonnamy, King, McIntyre, Stride | English Poets – John Skelton and Early Lyric | 1971 |
| PLP 1009 (RG 484) |
Ashcroft, Holm, Johnson, Stride | Elizabethan and Jacobean Lyrics | 1970 |
| PLP 1010 (RG 485) |
Holm, Johnson, Rylands, Stride | Elizabethan Sonneteers and Edmund Spenser | 1970 |
| PLP 1011 (RG 488) |
Church, Scales, Scott, Squire, Watson | Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queen (excerpts) | 1970 |
| PLP 1012 (RG 403) |
Johnson, Orr, Squire | John Donne – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1013 (RG 486) |
Ashcroft, Holm, Johnson, Orr, Stride | 16th-17th Century Poets – Campion, Johnson and Herrick | 1970 |
| PLP 1014 (RG 404) |
Stride, Watson, Bonnamy, Holmes, Orr, Church, Squire, Marquand | The Metaphysical Poets – Religious | 1970? |
| RG 1015 (RG 427) |
Stride, Watson, Bonnamy, Holmes, Orr, Church, Squire, Marquand | The Metaphysical Poets – Secular | 1970? |
| PLP 1016 (RG 433) |
Devlin, Squire, Watson | John Milton – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1017 (RG 431) |
Church, Redgrave, McCarthy | John Milton – Paradise Lost Book 1 | 1970 |
| PLP 1018 (RG 432) |
Church, Redgrave, Devlin, Rylands, Wymark, McCarthy, Orr, Burrell | John Milton – Paradise Lost – Book 2 | 1970 |
| PLP 1019 (RG 463) |
Church, Johnson, Scales, Duncan, Redgrave, dir Rylands | John Milton – Paradise Lost Books 3 and 4 (abridged) | 1970 |
| PLP 1020 (RG 464) |
Church, Redgrave, Watson, Johnson, Scales, Hordern, Marquand, Croucher | John Milton – Paradise Lost Books 5-6 | 1970 |
| PLP 1021 (RG 508) |
Church, Redgrave, Johnson, Scales | John Milton – Paradise Lost Books 7-8 | 1970 |
| PLP 1022 (RG 509) |
Church, Redgrave, Hordern, Marquand, Johnson, Scales, Squire | John Milton – Paradise Lost Books 9-10, 12 | 1970 |
| PLP 1023 (RG 510) |
Holm, McCarthy, Neville. Dir Rylands. In assoc British Council | John Milton – Paradise Regained (excerpts) | 1970? |
| PLP 1024- PLP 1025 (RG 544- |
Jefford, Squire, Watson, Garland, Holm, Rawlings, Church, McCarthy | John Milton – Comus (complete) John Milton – Samson Agonistes (excerpts) |
1970 |
| ZLP 1027 | Devlin, Pasco, King, Dowie. Dir Rylands | John Dryden – Poems | 1971 |
| PLP 1028 | Bebb, Squire, Stride | English Poets – Restoration and Augustan Verse | 1972 |
| PLP 1029 (RG 343) |
Adrian, Duncan, Michell, Rylands | Alexander Pope – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1030 (RG 373) |
Ashcroft, Rylands | Alexander Pope – The Rape of the Lock | 1970 |
| PLP 1031 | Neville, Rylands, Bebb, Squire | English Poets – Gray and Collins | 1972 |
| PLP 1032 | Neville, Rylands, Squire | Poems by Johnson, Goldsmith and Cowper | 1972 |
| PLP 1033 | Holm, Rose, Woolf | George Crabbe – Poems | 1972 |
| PLP 1034 | Glover, McIntyre, Isla Blair | Robert Burns – Poems | 1972 |
| PLP 1035 (RG 428) |
Bates, Bonnamy, Devlin, Johnson, Marquand, Orr | William Blake – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1036 (RG 345) |
Bates, Church, Godfrey, Hordern, Orr | William Wordsworth – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1037 (RG 347) |
Bates, Church, Godfrey, Hordern, Orr | William Wordsworth – Poems vol 2 | 1970 |
| PLP 1038 (RG 429) |
Orr, Squire | William Wordsworth – The Prelude (excerpts) | 1970 |
| PLP 1039 (RG 438) |
Burton, Neville, Hardy, Bonnamy, Devlin | Samuel Taylor Coleridge – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | 1970 |
| PLP 1040 (RG 344) |
Orr, Duncan, Johnson | Lord Byron – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1041 (RG 374) |
Ashcroft, Johnson | Lord Byron – Don Juan | 1970 |
| PLP 1042 (RG 380) |
Garland, Marquand, Watson | Percy Bysshe Shelley – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1043 (RG 431) |
Church, Godfrey, Johnson, Scott, Watson | John Keats – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1044 (RG 580) |
Balcon, Dowie, Holm, Watson | Early Victorians – Clare, E. Bronte, C. Bronte, A. Bronte, E.B. Browning, Meredith | 1970 |
| PLP 1045 (RG 342) |
Church, Duncan, McCarthy, Scott, Watson | Alfred Tennyson – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1046 | Duncan, Hordern, King | Alfred Tennyson – Poems 2 | 1970 |
| PLP 1047 (RG 346) |
Bates, McCarthy, Adrian, Duncan | Robert Browning – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1048 | Bates, McCarthy, Adrian, Duncan | Robert Browning – Poems 2 | 1970 |
| PLP 1049 (RG 521) |
Goring, Holm, Jacobi | Arnold, Clough and Fitzgerald | 1970 |
| PLP 1050 (RG 534) |
Orr, Robson, Watson | The Pre-Raphaelites – D.G. Rosetti, Swinburne, C. Rosetti Morris | 1970 |
| PLP 1051 (RG 579) |
Jefford, Pasco, Ryland, Redgrave | Gerard Manley Hopkins | 1970 |
| PLP 1052 (RG 588) |
Duncan, Holm, King | Late Victorians – Wilde, Thomson, Dowson, Johnson, Stevenson, M. Coleridge, Bridges, F. Thompson, Housman | 1970 |
| PLP 1053 (RG 581) |
Holm, Pasco, Jefford | Thomas Hardy – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1054 (RG 582) |
Holm, Pasco, Jefford, King | Thomas Hardy – Poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1055 | Johnson, Wymark, Bates. Dir Rylands. British Council and OUP | Rudyard Kipling – Poems | 1971 |
| PLP 1056 (RG 449) |
Curran, O’Sullivan, Norton, Manahan | William Butler Yeats – Poems | 1970 |
| ZPL 1057 | Trans Crossley-Holland, with Duncan, King, Orr, Rylands, Scales, Watson | Beowulf – excerpts read in modern English | 1970 |
| ZPL 1058 | Duncan, King, Rylands, Scales, Orr, Watson | The Battle of Maldon and other Old English poems | 1970 |
| PLP 1059 | Robert Donat | Romantic and Twentieth Century Poems | |
| PLP 1060 (RG 29) |
Burton, Griffiths, Macniece, Williams | Homage to Dylan Thomas | ?? |
| PLP 1061 (RG 88) |
Stephen Spender | Stephen Spender – reads a selection of his poems | ?? |
| PLP 1062 (RG 184) |
W.H. Auden | W.H. Auden – reads a selection of his poems | ?? |
| PLP 1063 (RG 191) |
Robert Graves | Robert Graves – reads selected poems | ?? |
| PLP 1064 (RG 192) |
Robert Donat | Favourite Poems read at home | ?? |
| PLP 1065 (RG 196) |
Louis MacNiece | Louis MacNiece reads selected poems | ?? |
| PLP 1066 (RG 224) |
John Masefield | A Fox’s Day | ?? |
| PLP 1067 (RG 225) |
John Betjeman | John Betjeman – reads a selection of his poems | ?? |
| PLP 1068 (RG 230) |
John Masefield | John Masefield – The Fortune of the Sea and The Wanderer’s Image | ?? |
| PLP 1069 (RG 273) |
John Betjeman | John Betjeman – a selection from Summoned by Bells | ?? |
| PLP 1070 (RG 319) |
Hubert Gregg | Jerome K. Jerome – Three Men in a Boat | ?? |
| PLP 1071 (RG 338) |
Brock Peters, Gordon Heath, Vinette Carroll, Cleo Laine. Dir Harley J Usill | Beyond the Blues – American Negro Poetry | ?? |
| PLP 1072 (RG 360) |
The Barrow Poets | The Barrow Poets – present an entertainment of poetry and music | ?? |
| PLP 1073 (RG 384) |
Royal Shakespeare Company | Now What is Love? – anthology of love poems | ?? |
| PLP 1074 (RG 385) |
Balcon, Burden, Hordern, C. Day Lewis, Stride, Watson, Frederick Woods | What Passing Bell – Poetry and prose of World War I | ?? |
| PLP 1075 | Johnson, Harold Owen, Church, Duncan | Wilfred Owen – Poems and Letters Siegfried Sassoon |
?? |
| PLP 1077- PLP 1080 (RG 414- RG 417) |
Various artists including Pat Shuldham Shaw, Esme Lewis, Choir of Hamsptead Garden Suburb School, Spike Milligan, Prunella Scales etc | Rhyme and Rhythm – poems and songs for children (4 vols) | 1972 |
| PLP 1081 (RG 451) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 1 – James Reeves, David Jones, William Plomer, C. Day Lewis | ?? |
| PLP 1082 (RG 452) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 2 – Norman Nicholson, Stevie Smith, W.R. Rodgers, Vernon Watkins, Edward Lowbury | ?? |
| PLP 1083 (RG 453) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 3 – John Heath-Stubbs, Thomas Blackburn, Laurnece Whistler, John Press, Julian Ennis | ?? |
| PLP 1084 (RG 454) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 4 – Tony Connor, Thomas Kinsella, Elizabeth Jennings, Peter Redgrove | ?? |
| PLP 1085 (RG 455) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 5 – Ted Hughes, Peter Porter, Thom Gunn, Sylvia Plath | ?? |
| PLP 1086 (RG 456) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 6 – Nineteen Poets – John Ardin, Michael Baldwin, Taner Baybars, Patricia Beer, George Mackay Brown, John Fuller, Michael Harnett, Hamish Henderson, David Holbrook, James Liddy, George MacBeth, Christopher Middleton, Adrian Mitchell, Ruth Pitter, Herbert Read, Edward Thomas, Anthony Thwaite, Rosemary Tonks, David Wevill | ?? |
| PLP 1087 (RG 517) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 7 – John Betjeman, Robert Graves, Stephen Spender, Kathleen Raine, W.H. Auden, Basil Bunting, William Empson, Patric Dickinson, R.S. Thomas, Hilary Corke | ?? |
| PLP 1088 (RG 518) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 8 – Philip Larkin, Roy Fuller, Laurie Lee, Charles Causley, Ken Smith, Jon Stallworthy, Dom Moraes, Geoffrey Hill, Charles Tomlinson, Jon Silkin | ?? |
| PLP 1089 (RG 519) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 9 – Hugh MacDiarmid, Sydney Goodsir Smith, Norman MacCaig, Ian Crichton Smith, Austin Clarke, Louis MacNeice, and Seamus Heaney | ?? |
| PLP 1090 (RG 583) |
Various poets read their own works | The Poet Speaks Vol 10 – Edmund Blunden, Andrew Young, Edwin Muir, Geoffrey Grigson, John Wain, Dannie Abse, George Barker, W.S. Graham, Christopher Logue, Edward Lucie-Smith, Edward Brathwaite, B.S. Johnson | ?? |
| PLP 1091 (RG 468) |
Various Artists. Dir Barry Cassin and Noel MacMahon, music by Gerard Victory. | W.B. Yeats – Noh Plays Vol 1 – At the Hawk’s Well,The Dreaming of the Bones | |
| PLP 1092 (RG 469) |
Various Artists. Dir Barry Cassin and Noel MacMahon, music by Gerard Victory. | W.B. Yeats – Noh Plays Vol 2 -The Cat and the Moon, Resurrection | |
| PLP 1093 (RG 520) |
David Michael Jones | David Michael Jones – The Anathemata, In Parenthesis, The Hunt | |
| ZPL 1094- ZPL 1107 (ZDA 50- ZDA 63) |
Various Artists | Poetry and Song Vols 1-14 | ?? |
| PLP 1108 (RG 10) |
Robert Speaight | T.S. Eliot – The Waste Land | ?? |
| PLP 1109 (RG 11) |
Robert Speaight | T.S. Eliot – Four Quartets | ?? |
| PLP 1110 PLP 1111 (DA 101 DA 102) |
Edward Brathwaite | Edward Brathwaite – Rights of Passage | 1971 |
| PLP 1112- PLP 1117 |
Various Artists, assoc Penguin Education and Decca Educational service | Voices (anthology of music, poetry, song and sounds) | 1971? |
| PLP 1119 (DA 38) |
Cdr A.B. Campbell, Cdr R.T. Gould, Philip Guedalla, Sir Julian Huxley, Lady Barbara Ward Jackson, Prof C.E.M. Joad, Donald McCullough, Sir Harold Nicolson, Sir Malcolm Sarget. Recorded with coop of BBC Radio Enterprises | The Brains Trust | 1971 |
| PLP 1120 (DA 1) |
Various Artists (excerpts from RG series) | Scenes from Shakespeare – The Tragedies Vol 1 | |
| PLP 1121 | |||
| PLP 1122 (DA2) |
Various Artists (excerpts from RG series) | Scenes from Shakespeare – The Comedies Vol 1 | |
| PLP 1123 (DA 3) |
Various Artists (excerpts from RG series) | Scenes from Shakespeare – The Histories Vol 1 | |
| PLP 1124 (DA 87) |
Ruth and Clive Sansom | Clive Sansom – The Witness | |
| PLP 1138 (RG 279) |
Noel Coward, Peter Ustinov, Harold Pinter, Albert Finney etc | Talking About Theatre | 1971 |
| PLP 1140 (RG 100) |
Documentary of birth of Harley Usill’s son – Dr Grantly Dick Read | Natural Childbirth | 1971 |
| PLP 1143 (DA 103) |
Herbert Read, Yvonne Bonnamy, Peter Orr | Herbert Read – Echoes of My Life | 1971 |
| PLP 1152 (RG 153) |
E.M. Forster | E.M. Forster – What I believe/The Road from Colonus | 1971 |
| PLP 1153 (RG 27) |
Cecil Day Lewis | Virgil – The Georgics | 1971 |
| ZPL 1154 | Various Artists (Scofield, Neville, McCowen, Porter, Massey, Lister, Plummer, Tutin), with the St George’s Canzona. Prod and dir by George Murcell | The Elizabethan Appeal | 1971 |
| PLP 1155- PLP 1156 |
Various Artists. In assoc. with Welsh Arts Council | Poets of Wales – Welsh Poets reading their own works (Dannie Abse, Leslie Norris, Raymond Garlick, John Ormond) | 1971 |
| ZPL 1157 | Sybil Thorndike | People Past and Present – Ellen Terry | 1971 |
| ZPL 1158 | Robert Harris, Jeremy Clyde, Rachel Kempson | People Past and Present – The Duke of Wellington | 1971 |
| ZPL 1159 | Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Pasco | People Past and Present – Queen Victoria | 1971 |
| ZPL 1161- ZPL 1162 |
Merchant, Gregg, Westbrook | People Past and Present – Mary Queen of Scots | 1971? |
| ZPL 1163 | Devised and presented by Charles Lewson | People Past and Present – Edward Lear | 1971? |
| ZPL 1164 | Balcon, Cecil Day Lewis, Woolf. Rec. live at National Portrait Gallery | People Past and Present – Thomas Hardy | 1972 |
| ZPL 1165 | Carleton Hobbs, Robert Spencer | People Past and Present – Samuel Pepys | |
| ZPL 1166 | Edward Woodward, devised and presented by Patrick Garland. Live recording at National Portrait Gallery | People Past and Present – John Clare | 1972 |
| ZPL 1167 | Carleton Hobbs, William Squire, Robert Spencer, devised by Douglas Clevedon | People Past and Present – John Donne | 1973 |
| ZPL 1168 | Dorothy Reynolds, Angus Mackay | People Past and Present – Jane Austen | 1972? |
| PLP 1180 | David Jones | Poets of Wales – David Jones, Poems ready by the author | 1973 |
| PLP 1181 | Squire, Bebb, Bonnamy | Poets of Wales – Idris Davies | 1973 |
| PLP 1182 | John Arlott, Valentine Dyall, Robin Holmes, Russell Napier, Michael Parkinson | Cricket – The Sovran King of Sports – Anthology of Poetry and Verse | 1972 |
| PLP 1183 | Edward Brathwaite | Edward Brathwaite – Masks | 1973 |
| PLP 1184 PLP 1185 |
Edward Brathwaite | Edward Brathwaite – Islands (2 LPs) | 1974 |
| PLP 1186 | Sybil Throndike, JohnCasson, Jane Casson, arranged John Carroll. Recorded live at Shaw Theatre, Camden April 72 | An Evening with Sybil Thorndike – Poetry and prose reading | 1973 |
| PLP 1187 (partly RG 452) |
C. Day Lewis | Cecil Day Lewis – Poems | 1973 |
| PLP 1188 (* partly RG 452) |
Adrian Mitchell, Stevie Smith | Adrian Mitchell – Poems Stevie Smith – Poems* |
1974 |
| PLP 1189 | Bryn Griffiths, Bryan Walters | The Stones Remember Bryn Griffiths – Poems Bryan Walters – Poems |
1973? |
| ZLP 1190 | Brian Patten & Roger McGough | McGough – Poems Patten – Poems |
1975 |
| PLP 1191 (* partly RG 454) |
Tony Connor, Norman Nicholson | Tony Connor – Poems* Norman Nicholson – Poems |
1974 |
| ZPL 1192 (* partly RG 456) |
Pasco, Houston, Leigh-Hunt, Helen Thomas (Welsh Arts Council, British Council) | Poets of Wales – Edward Thomas – Poems |
1974 |
| PLP 1193 (part from RG 185) |
W.H. Auden | W.H. Auden – Poems* | 1974 |
| PLP 1194 | Adrien Henri, Hugo Williams | British Poets of Our Time – Henri, Williams | 1975 |
| ZPL 1195 | Johnson, Watson, Scales, Spencer, Angeloglou, dev Ian Scott Kilvert | So Late Into the Night – a study of Lord Byron through his poetry and prose | 1974 |
| ZPL 1196- ZPL 1199 |
Nicol Williamson, Bob Stewart (music) prod Harley Usill | J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit (abridged) | 1975 |
| PLP 1201 | ?? | Poets of Wales – Roland Mathias et al | |
| PLP 1202 | Philip Larkin (assoc Arts Council of GB) | British Poets of our Time – Philip Larkin – High Windows | 1975 |
| PLP 1203 | Thom Gunn | British Poets of our Time – Thom Gunn |
1975 |
| PLP 1204 | Peter Redgrove, Peter Porter | British Poets of our Time – Peter Redgrove and Peter Porter |
1975 |
| PLP 1205 | Roy Fuller, Vernon Scannell | British Poets of Our Time – Roy Fuller, Vernon Scannell | 1975 |
| PLP 1206 | Alec Guinness | British Poets of our Time – T.S. Eliot |
1975 |
| ZPL 1208- ZPL 1210 |
Bebb, Duncan, Orr, McCarthy, Scales, Spencer. Dir Brewer. Assoc British Council. | Chaucer – The Knight’s Tale | 1976 |
| ZPL 1211 | Duncan, Orr, McCarthy, Spencer, Scales, Bebb. Dir Derek Brewer. Assoc British Council | Chaucer – The Pardoner’s Tale | 1976 |
| ZPL 1212- ZPL 1213 |
Scales, Bebb | Chaucer – The Wyves Tale of Bathe | 1978 |
Folkcatalogue's Blog 
I’m not sure where this fits:
MORE GRIMM’S FAIRYTALES (1985) Argo 4147154
2 audio cassettes British Library National Sound Archive
Call #: 1CA0018092
Grimm’s Fairytales read by several actors. Scofield reads The Little Farmer, Four Accomplished Brothers, and Queen Bee. Other readers are Joy Parker, Timothy West and Geraldine Newman.
Can we only dream these will be released on CD? I did have numerous LPs in this series but they disappeared with the passage of Time.
Who knows? Would be nice to think Decca/Universal might see some value in them, but I doubt it