It's Christmas at Camelot and King Arthur won't begin to feast until he has witnessed a marvel of chivalry. A mysterious knight,

green from head to toe, rides in and brings the court's wait to an end with an implausible challenge to the Round Table: he willallow any of the knights to strike him once, with a battle-axe no less, on the condition that he is allowed to return the blow a year hence. At the centre of the story of the challenge and its consequences

is Arthur's brave favourite, Sir Gawain.

This 14th-century poem tells of love and sex, honour and integrity, chivalry and magic, and above all right and wrong.

JR R Tolkien's fluent translation conveys the magic of the original text and is brought to life by the atmospheric reading of

medieval scholar and former member of Monty Python's Flying Circus Terry Jones.