1. Raymond Montgomery Raikes was a British theatre producer, director and broadcaster.
12 Facts About Raymond Raikes
1. 2.
Raymond Raikes was particularly known for his productions of classic dramas for BBC Radio's "World Theatre" and "National Theatre of the Air" series, which pioneered the use of stereophonic sound in radio drama broadcasts.
3.
Charles Raymond Raikes was of independent means and landed gentry background, a descendant of the newspaper proprietor Robert Raymond Raikes the Elder and a cousin of Alice Elgar, wife of the composer Edward Elgar.
4.
Raymond Raikes was educated at Lambrook, Uppingham School and Exeter College, Oxford.
5.
Raymond Raikes went on to become a producer and director for the BBC Third Programme, where his output included 17 Shakespeare plays, the Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus; The Wasps and Lysistrata by Aristophanes; and The Bacchae, Medea and Hippolytus by Euripides.
6.
Raymond Raikes produced the first radio production of Menander's Dyskolos, several year after a complete manuscript of the play was discovered in Egypt in 1952.
7.
Raymond Raikes introduced British radio audiences to less frequently performed Elizabethan and Jacobean dramas, Restoration comedies, and works by 20th century authors such as Robert Graves and Jean Anouilh.
8.
Raymond Raikes had a large personal library and for many years served as chairman on the library committee of the Garrick Club.
9.
Raymond Raikes died in his sleep at his home in Bromley, Kent at the age of 88.
10.
Raymond Raikes' papers, including scripts, production papers and correspondence, were acquired by the BBC Written Archives Centre in 2003.
11.
Raymond Raikes was buried at West Norwood Cemetery where his headstone which he shares with his father and grandfather features closing theatrical curtains.
12.
Raymond Raikes married Wendy Howard in 1939; they had one daughter.