Argo Records (UK)
The company at this time recorded dramatised versions of Alice in Wonderland (1958) and Through the Looking-Glass, both directed by Douglas Cleverdon and both starring Jane Asher in the title role, with actors Tony Church, Norman Shelley, and Carleton Hobbs, with Margaretta Scott as the narrator;[2] and The Wind in the Willows (1960), adapted and produced by Toby Robertson, with Richard Goolden as Mole, Frank Duncan as Rat, Tony Church as Badger, and Norman Shelley as Toad, with Patrick Wymark as the narrator.A series of recordings of steam locomotives (then in the early stages of being phased out in the UK) was masterminded by the film sound recordist and mixer Peter Handford, selling up to 30–40,000 copies per year under the name Transacord.A small cluster of folk artists joined the label around this time, including Tom Paley (with his New Deal String Band), the Druids, the Clutha, the Songwainers, and the Garret Singers.In 1974, they produced an abridged, dramatic version of The Hobbit, read by Nicol Williamson,[4] and released the soundtrack to the film Tarka the Otter (1979), which featured Peter Ustinov's narration and David Fanshawe's music score.After more than 20 years of dormancy, Decca announced that it revived Argo in July 2020 after partnering with HarperCollins's imprint William Collins to release certain spoken word recordings, recently unearthed from the label's archives, digitally for the first time.