The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa #108 Mass Telepathy: Re-enacted - A Centenary Dramatisation of a BBC Broadcast
On 12 November 1925, the BBC broadcast one of its most bizarre programmes yet:
'MASS TELEPATHY: An Experiment in Thought Reading in which every Listener will be invited to assist'
On 12 November 2025, we present a dramatic re-enactment, based on newspaper articles of the day, and brought to life with a cast of marvel and a guest radio drama producer.
Appropriately, the one believer on the celebrity panel was the first BBC dramatist - Phyllis Twigg. We first landed on this story on episode 72 of this podcast, exploring her tale, her innovations and her interest in spiritualism.
Alas no one else on the panel took it seriously. Like The Celebrity Traitors of 1925, a bunch of celebs (a Shakespearean actress, a panto star, the BBC's drama critic, the BBC's Director of Education, an MP, and so on) gathered in a fancy hotel with a gothic atmosphere and played a spooky game around a table, with a glass or two of fizzy rosé.
Or is it more Derren Brown: Mind Control?
Either way, the celebrity jury mostly played it for laughs - and enjoyed the hospitality of the Savoy Hotel a little too much. The listeners weren't happy - especially those taking it seriously at home, beaming their thoughts into the ether.
With no recording, we bring it to life for the first time in a century. In exactly a century.
If you enjoy this dramatisation, do let us know (paul at paulkerensa dot com) and/or consider joining us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa - if you like it, and if we can afford to, we'll do more like this, in and amongst our regular episodes - which right now is meant to be telling the tale of November 1923. We'll pick that up next time... For now, we have a centenary drama to bring you! So concentrate your thoughts, open your mind, and open a bottle. They did.
MASS TELEPATHY: RE-ENACTED
THE CAST
Sir Alfred Robbins - Adrian Mackinder
Cecil Lewis - Will de Renzy-Martin
Lady Tree - Helen Lloyd
Zena Dare - Natalie Chisholm
Phyllis Twigg - Carina Saner (playing her own great-grandmother)
Dorothy Warren - Marta da Silva
Lt Commander Kenworthy MP - Will Harrison Wallace
James Agate - Paul Kerensa
J.C. Stobart - Anthony Hewson
Roger Eckersley - Anthony Rudd
Written by Paul Kerensa
Produced/Directed/Edited by Helen Quigley
A Soundliness co-production with the British Broadcasting Century
SOME OF THE GUESSES, AS REPORTED IN THE LONDON DAILY NEWS, 13 NOV 1925, AND OTHER NEWSPAPERS:1. Letter - K:
James Agate IOU
Dorothy Warren, F then G, then K
Lady Tree Z
Miss Zena Dare G
Kenworthy B
2. Day - Saturday:
Four guessed Sunday, one Friday
3. Number - 7:
49-13-300-13-19-33-9400
4. Playing card - Three of Diamonds:
Stobart – 4 of Diamonds. Others failed to follow suit...
5. Shape - Triangle:
Circles or polygons, a shilling (Lady Tree), a rugby ball... and an isosceles triangle (Dorothy Warren)
6. Uncategorised - The Game of Bridge:
Charlie Chaplin? Lamp on the Cenotaph? A banjulele? A white leghorn pullet?
SHOWNOTES:
- Episode 72 of this podcast - from 26mins in - has more on the true tale behind the Mass Telepathy broadcast... if want to know how much is accurate: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2dyrq-1478971
- Prof Tim Crook's article on Phyllis Twigg quotes extensively from newspapers of the day - again if you'd like to read more on the genuine event and how it was reported: https://kulturapress.com/2022/09/24/phyllis-m-twigg-the-bbcs-first-original-radio-dramatist/ (about 2/3rds down the page)
- Soundliness Productions made this dramatisation: https://soundliness.com/
- Original music is by Will Farmer.
- Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - because like the 1925 panel, we can't read your mind: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey
- Paul's latest Substack posts include a history of BBC DGs: https://paulkerensa.substack.com
- Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour.
- This podcast is not made by today's BBC. It's just about the old BBC.
- Please like/share/rate/review this podcast - it all really helps.
- Support us on Patreon (£5/mth - thanks if you do!), for bonus videos, writings, readings etc - it all helps support the podcast, and without that, there's no this. So thanks if you do!
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Next time: Episode 109: Reith invites the PM and the King on the air - and other Directors-General over the century...
More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio