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Tributes as audiobook pioneer Baldwyn dies aged 98
Richard Baldwyn, whose spoken world label Listen for Pleasure introduced audiobooks to the UK market, has passed away at the age of 98.
Baldwyn died peacefully at his Berkshire home last month, surrounded by family.
An RAF veteran, Goldfish Club member and West End actor, he wrote radio plays for the BBC after the war, before becoming a director of Paul Hamlyn’s Books for Pleasure, now Octopus Books.
In 1965 he co-founded Music for Pleasure, a record label dedicated to bringing classical music to the high street at an affordable price.
Later, he was also responsible for setting up Listen for Pleasure, bringing audiobooks to the public. He directed almost 100 of these on LP and cassette tape, involving big name stars such as David Niven, Richard Briers, Judi Dench, Tim Piggott-Smith, Prunella Scales, Helena Bonham-Carter, Kenneth Williams, James Mason and Princess Anne.
In December 1980, he released an unlikely chart-topping single on Music for Pleasure — a recording of Stockport's St Winifred‚Äôs School Choir singing “There‚Äôs No One Quite Like Grandma”.
His daughter Charlotte Rice said: "Dad was a wonderful family man who was loved by many. Whilst always maintaining involvement and interest in his family’s adventures and achievements, he also enjoyed great friendships with people from different cultures, politics, faiths and age, seeing the differences as adding value in variety, colour and hearty discussion to his own life.
"He was a prolific letter writer and was most passionate about the importance of the written word whether it be in letters and diaries for future generations to have as tangible contact with their past, or in the form of his beloved books. These were Dad’s sanctuary until the last few days of his life and will bring great comfort to us as we remember him with piles of his books on his desk, by his bed, and by his chair."
He is survived by Tony and Jenny, children from his marriage to Peggy (née Barker), his second wife Kim (née De Cuevas) and their daughter Charlotte, and by six grandchildren and three step-grandchildren.
