The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

The genesis of music on the BBC for episode 74...  On 30 April 1923, celebrated conductor Percy Pitt joins the BBC as Musical Advisor/Director/Controller (his job keeps changing), bringing new scope and scale to the nation's favourite music provider. Symphonies! Dance bands! A violinist who's refused a taxi cos the driver doesn't like what he's heard! In 1955, Johnny Beerling joins the BBC in a world of Housewive's Choice and needle time. In 1967, Johnny journeys to the pirate ships then helps bring Tony Blackburn to the airwaves for the launch of Radio 1. Johnny tells us all about it in part 1 of an exclusive interview. And in 1969, Alec Reid is a studio manager when a talented young band have a brush with the Beeb - the genesis of Genesis. Oh, and a little thing called the Moon landing. Plus, what was the first song on the BBC, back in November 1922? We have answers. Several. Happy listening! SHOWNOTES: We're nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about the old BBCompany, and not made by the present-day BBCorporation. Hear the full unedited 53min Johnny Beerling interview on patreon.com/paulkerensa (uploading very shortly - if it's not there, check back!). It's £5/mth for extra audio, video + writings - cancel whenever you like (I'll never know!). Johnny Beerling's book is Radio 1: The Inside Scene. Alec Reid's ghostly tales can be found here in audiobook form. Paul's book Auntie and Uncles is out at some point: Paulkerensa.com/book Music is by Will Farmer Rate/review us where you found this podcast? Paul's tour on old radio: Paulkerensa.com/tour Share this episode by all means. Online, offline, anywhere! Thanks. NEXT EPISODE: Nearing the end of 'season 5' (though season 6 will follow straight after) will be a special on the centenary of the Radio Times. Stay subscribed: podfollow.com/bbcentury or wherever you get podcasts. Thanks for listening! paulkerensa.com/oldradio 

Episode 73: Comedy tonight! And comedy back then, particularly 26 April 1923... It's a royal wedding so the BBC celebrate in style, with a gala concert, sponsored by Harrods (yes, sponsorship on the BBC!), given by The Co-Optimists, the legendary interwar comedy troupe. The cast includes Stanley Holloway (later of My Fair Lady) and, weirdly, the ex of the prince getting married. Whoops. We also explore a landmark pre-BBC broadcast by The Co-Optimists, in the summer of 1921. It's London's first broadcast, and pretty much the only legal broadcast of 1921. We'll explain why, and you'll hear them in full flow. Plus, for those who prefer their comedy more recent, we've got comedy writers James Cary and Simon Dunn, as well as Hi-De-Hi's Jeffrey Holland, telling us about later BBC comedy from The Goons to Bottom, via Steptoe, Dad's Army and Roy Clarke's ovens. It's a lot to pack in, so it's a longer episode than we usually go for, but we trust you'll be entertained, or at least informed about being entertained, or educated about being informed about being entertained...   SHOWNOTES: Simon Dunn's books include Proctology: A Bottom Examination. James Cary's books include The Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer. Paul Kerensa's books include Hark! The Biography of Christmas - also available as an audiobook. Hear The Co-Optimists via this Youtube channel. Alan Stafford's article on John Henry and the first BBC topical comedy.  A photo of 'Listening to the Gala Concert at Harrods' (thanks Andrew Barker!) - 26 April 1923. A photo of the Beaver Hut, Strand (the site of the later Bush House) - Summer 1921. Sidney Nicholson's wedding anthem - Beloved Let Us Love One Another - hosted by the English Heritage Music Series at University of Minnesota. We are nothing to do with the BBC - this is a solo independent operation. Support us at Patreon.com/paulkerensa - £5/mth gets you videos galore. Paul's on tour this Sept/Oct with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio - paulkerensa.com/tour. Music by Will Farmer. Subscribe, Rate, Review, Thanks! NEXT TIME: Music! With Percy Pitt in 1923 and ex Radio 1 boss Johnny Beerling in the present day, reflecting on 1967+. paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Britain's first writer for radio was Phyllis M Twigg. An unusual name, and yet... she seemed to pretty much vanish after her debut broadcast play, 'The Truth About Father Christmas' on 24th December 1922. So much so, that the official record - in history books, on various BBC sites, in broadcasting legend - wrongly credits Richard Hughes' A Comedy of Danger in 1924 as the first original radioplay. So is it because Twigg was writing for children? Or because her script didn't survive? Or because she's female? All and more? On episode 72, our timeline brings us to 23rd April 1923 - Shakespeare's birthday - so as good a time as any to glance back, and forwards, to set the record straight about this forgotten female pioneer.  Her pen name unlocks a whole new side to her, proving that far from vanish into the ether, she gave broadcast more children's stories, a bizarre paranormal experiment, and somehow also became the world's first TV cook! Plus there are cookbooks for children, porcelain cats and novelty lampshades. Wow. Somehow Phyllis Twigg/Moira Meighn is therefore the ancestor of Dennis Potter, Jamie Oliver, Angelica Bell and Derren Brown. She's one of a kind - in fact she's about four of a kind. Her tale's not fully been told till now, and we've gathered pretty much everyone who knows it onto this podcast. Hear from Professor Tim Crook, Emeritus Professor of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London - he's gathered biographical information, sheet music, cookbooks and wonderful insights into this double pioneer. Peter Grimaldi, Phyllis Twigg's grandson, brings tales from the archive that he's only recently discovered. (Watch the full video of Peter's interview with us here on Youtube: https://youtu.be/WpkGH88IHfc) Dr Andrea Smith of the University of Suffolk joins us too to anchor us back in our April 1923 timeline, with scenes from Shakespeare on-air for the bard's birthday. Thanks to the Twigg family for sharing her story with us, and especially to Prof Tim Crook for sharing his research and linking us with Peter Grimaldi. Thanks too to Robert Seatter and John Escolme of the BBC History and Heritage Department, for being so open and hospitable to hearing Twigg's tale... ...Now you can hear it too! It's quite a story - and perhaps for the first time on this podcast, we're discovering something new about something old. While the script of The Truth About Father Christmas remains lost, we do now have the short story that Twigg adapted it into... Anyone for a retro-adaptation back into a radioplay again? I think this tale needs telling further. But let's start with this podcast...   SHOWNOTES: Tim's comprehensive blog post about Twigg/Meighn is a treasure trove of info about her career. The Truth About Father Christmas - the short story from the 1925 anthology The 'Normous Sunday Story Book (copyright remains with Twigg's family) The photo of the BBC's Mass Telepathy Experiment, 12 Nov 1925, inc. Phyllis Twigg. The 1941 Ministry of Information film featuring Moira Meighn is Bampton Shows the Way - thanks Tim for finding it! TIm's new book is Writing Audio Drama, published by Routledge. We're nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about the old BBCompany, and not made by the present-day BBCorporation. Music by Will Farmer Support us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa Rate/review us where you found this podcast? Paul's tour on old radio: Paulkerensa.com/tour  Paul's novel Auntie and Uncles - out soon: Paulkerensa.com/book Thanks for listening. Share this episode by all means. Online, offline, over a garden fence, on the phone to an old pal, whomever. NEXT EPISODE: We've had drama, time for some comedy! April 1923 on the BBC: Comedians, at Harrods. Stay subscribed: podfollow.com/bbcentury or wherever you get podcasts Pip pip pip pip pip piiiiiiiiiip

Sometimes we get nerdy. Sometimes we get very nerdy. This episode is one of those where media meets politics meets history - and we're giving you all the nit-picking details, because if we don't, who will?! We only pass this way once... ...And by 'this way', I mean April 16th-24th 1923. On our previous episode, the five-month-old BBC was almost on its last legs, facing battles from the press (the Express) and the government (a feisty Postmaster General who doesn't feel generous with the licence fee). Now episode 71 sees the BBC discussed in the House of Commons, as two debates introduce the Sykes Inquiry, and see MPs debate, debase, defend and potentially defund the BBC. (A reminder: this was 1923, not 2023.)  To bring this to life, we've revisited the Hansard parliamentary record of precisely what was said, and reunited (or recruited) our Podcast Parliamentary Players. So you'll hear: Neil Jackson - Mr Ammon Alexander Perkins - Lt Col Moore-Brabazon Lou Sutcliffe, David Monteath, Paul Hayes, Fay Roberts, Tom Chivers - Postmaster General Sir William Joynson-Hicks (aka Jix) Shaun Jacques - Sir William Bull, Mr Pringle Gordon Bathgate - Ramsay Macdonald, Sir Douglas Newton Steve Smallwood - Captain Benn Jamie Medhurst - Captain Berkeley Carol Carman - Mr Jones Andrew Barker - Mystery Speaker Wayne Clarke - Mr Speaker, J.H. Whitley ...and apologies if I've missed anyone out! It's quite possible.   If you'd like to follow along (why would you?), the text of the two debates are here: April 19th 1923: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1923-04-19/debates/8b3a8bd2-60c2-4c76-9e51-27c86098693f/BroadcastingLicences?highlight=experimental#contribution-276dc9d5-9f73-4623-867f-57e71dd74a1e   April 24th 1923: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1923-04-24/debates/9eb32788-f7a5-4f00-b2e5-a3207e5713bf/WirelessBroadcasting?highlight=experimental#contribution-7d5744c5-1c76-49d8-848e-858b0f275df7   OTHER LINKS: The text of Peter Eckersley's on-air engineering talk (thanks to Andrew Barker): https://www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury/posts/624629565774834/ (Join our Facebook group!) The 1938 Radio Times I mentioned, that I was kindly sent: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury/posts/788427186061737/ This episode contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v.3.0 Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about the old BBCompany, and not made by the present-day BBCorporation. Apologies we were going to feature Dr Martin Cooper - but the debates over-ran! Soon, Martin, with apologies. Meanwhile, buy his book: https://amzn.to/44eSXIM Music by Will Farmer Support us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa Rate/review us where you found this podcast? Paul's tour on old radio: Paulkerensa.com/tour      Thanks for listening, if you do. This one's a bit heavy! NEXT TIME: The first radio dramatist - The Truth about Phyllis Twigg paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Episode 70 is a biggie. In April 1923, the five-month-old BBC faced a two-pronged attack. The Daily Express ran an anti-BBC campaign, with front page stories questioning its existence, and even offering to take over broadcasting themselves. Over the course of one week, the Express applied to the government for a broadcast licence (and were turned down). Meanwhile the Postmaster General's chance encounter with Reith in the street brought to a head 'the licence problem'. Reith wanted more £ for the BBC; the govt wanted more £ for themselves. It's a hundred years' war that's still raging, so it's the ideal episode to bring in Prof Patrick Barwise and Peter York, authors of The War Against the BBC: How an Unprecedented Combination of Hostile Forces is Destroying Britain's Greatest Cultural Institution... And Why You Should Care. Their insight in 2023's BBC battles tell us of right-wing press ('SMET': Sun, Mail, Express, Telegraph), now joined by GB News and Talk TV, plus think tanks galore doing down Auntie Beeb. This is all coupled with cuts in funding that is starting to affect output, from local radio to orchestras to the merged news channel. April 5th-15th 1923 is perhaps just the beginning then... Buy Patrick Barwise and Peter's York book The War Against the BBC: https://amzn.to/3qX6bLB Read their article for Prospect Magazine: 'We have bad news for the right-wing BBC haters: most of the public just don't agree with you.' https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/60479/attention-bbc-haters-the-public-arent-behind-you See Paul Kerensa on tour with 'An Evening of (Very) Old Radio': www.paulkerensa.com/tour More info on Paul's forthcoming novel Auntie and Uncles: www.paulkerensa.com/book Original music is by Will Farmer. Broadcasts more than 50 years old are generally out of copyright. Any BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Thanks for supporting on www.patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do - videos and writings await you there. Or one-off tips are much appreciated too! www.ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. Do rate and review us - 5 stars would be lovely, thanks! We're here to inform, educate and entertain - though as ever we are nothing to do with the present-day BBC. We're just talking about them, not made by them. Next time... Episode 71 - Today in Parliament: The BBC Debates of April 1923, plus Dr Martin Cooper on radio in popular culture. www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin...   Episode 69 of our deep dive into British broadcasting's back-story brings us to 5th April 1923, and the hiring of Ella Fitzgerald (not that one), to organise and centralise Children's Hour.   That leads us to a packed episode with both academic insight and tales from those who were there, whether listening or programme-making.   We have more guests than you could fit on Auntie Bronwen's magic carpet - including authors and academics: Dr Amy Holdsworth (author of On Living with Television) Dr Kate Murphy (author of Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Women at the BBC) Graham Stewart (author of Scotland On Air) Programme-makers and listeners: Nick Wilson (producer, Wide Awake Club) Chris Jarvis (presenter, Show Me Show Me) David Jervis (grandson of Capt H.J. Round) Andrew Barker (Newspaper Detective) Charles Huff (producer, The Great Egg Race) And early uncles and aunts:  Uncle Arthur (Burrows) Uncle (A.E.) Thompson Auntie Bronwen (Davies) Auntie Cyclone (Kathleen Garscadden) Dinko, the Foreman of the Pixies (Reginald Jordan) Uncle Humpty Dumpty (Kenneth Wright) We cover programmes including Children's Hour, Watch with Mother, Playschool, Wide Awake Club, Sooty, Teletubbies, In the Night Garden, Old Jack's Boat, Bedtime Hour, and many more.     FURTHER READING, LINKS ETC: On Living with Television by Dr Amy Holdsworth is available here: https://amzn.to/3C3wt0F Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Woman at the BBC by Dr Kate Murphy is available here: https://amzn.to/3BX12oR  Scotland On Air by Graham Stewart will be out later this year. Details here: https://wiki.scotlandonair.com/wiki/Main_Page Read more of Arthur Corbett-Smith's 1924 notes on Children's Hour on Dr Zara Healy's brilliant blog post: https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbchistoryresearch/entries/cf4a5612-fdd9-47ec-88c8-a576e4bf7bd0 (we hope to have her on the podcast soon!) Listen to my CBeebies Radio series Granny Anne's Joke World, starring Maureen Lipman, written by me - 8 episodes are here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/curations/radio-granny-annes-joke-world My new book, out some time, is Auntie and Uncles: The Bizarre Birth of the BBC - details here: https://paulkerensa.com/book My live tour, 'An Evening of (Very) Early Radio' (or sometimes it's an afternoon...) visits Guildford, Romsey, Chelmsford, Kettering, Turnham Green and maybe more (it's very bookable, portable, and affordable!) - details here: https://paulkerensa.com/tour Original music is by Will Farmer. A reminder that this podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about them, not via them. Broadcasts more than 50 years old are generally out of copyright. Any BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Thanks for supporting on patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do - videos and writings await you there. Or one-off tips are much appreciated too! ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. Support us for free by sharing this podcast. Or rating + reviewing where you found us. The more stars, the better... It helps our (ready for a terrible word?) discoverability. Cheers! Next time: The Press vs BBC vs Govt: 1923 and 2023 - with Prof Patrick Barwise and Peter York. Be afraid, be very afraid... https://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Episode 68 and STILL in March 1923 - March 26th to be precise, as Major Arthur Corbett-Smith is hired to be the 5th Cardiff station director in about as many weeks. It's not going well there... ...Corbett-Smith to the rescue? Trouble is, he's a little divisive. Some say he's the greatest gift to broadcasting (well, he does - he wrote his memoir in the third person), others say he's best out of the BBC (Reith, some newspaper correspondents). Listen - make your own mind up. To help you decide, two fab guests - Shakespeare-on-the-air expert DR ANDREA SMITH of the University of Suffolk (as Corbett-Smith aimed to be first to broadcast all his complete works) and GARETH GWYNN (writer of sitcom The Ministry of Happiness, all about Corbett-Smith and Cardiff 5WA). Plus the first National Anthem on the BBC... the first time signals... and an early Newcastle station director so popular that when he moved to Bournemouth, Geordies bought more powerful radio sets just to hear him from the south coast. Enjoy! Original music is by Will Farmer. A reminder that this podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about them, not via them.  Broadcasts more than 50 years old are generally out of copyright. Any BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Thanks for supporting on patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do - videos and writings await you there. Or one-off tips are much appreciated too! ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. Support us for free by sharing this podcast. Or rating + reviewing where you found us. The more stars, the better... It helps our (ready for a terrible word?) discoverability. Cheers! https://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Episode 67 is a special: A Brief History of Coronation Broadcasts (or Broadcast Coronations) How the BBC has brought two such ceremonies to the air, as they (and others) now tackle a third, for King Charles III. We'll tell you all about the two previous on-air crownings, of George VI and Elizabeth II, both on radio and TV - but first we'll go back to the four monarchs before them: Queen Victoria's (1938) used a certain technological advancement to bring more eyes than ever before to a coronation procession. Edward VII's (1902) had a film made of it, though a simulation using actors. (Had director Georges Méliès got his way, it would have included Queen Victoria's ghost!). Edward's wife Princess Alexandra had a few links to broadcasting too. Watch Georges Méliès' film The Coronation of Edward VII (1902): https://youtu.be/ME6z810Zre8 George V's (1911) was filmed for newsreel. That newsreel footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8SoUPxIkZ8  Edward VIII's (1937) was planned then canned after his (broadcast) abdication. George VI's (1937) took the same coronation day, same plans, changed the name etched onto the crown (I think that's how they do it), and his state occasion made it to radio and TV: the first broadcast coronation. We'll meet the engineer who taught him to conquer his stammer for the microphone, but had to sleep in Westminster Abbey. And learn how many (or how few) cameras were available to use. You probably have more in your house right now... BBC radio's coronation broadcast - Stuart Hibberd, John Snagge etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWPE4GIp9kE - thanks to Random Radio Jottings blog BBC website inc making-of film: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/birth-of-tv/two-coronations/ George VI's coronation speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfD14kL2XAk Elizabeth II's (1953) was "the OB of all OBs", aka "C-Day". Hear from Richard Dimbleby, John Snagge... and learn why we should toast him at hymn 9 (don't worry - there aren't that many)  The complete ceremony, televised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NTjasbmgw Coronation Day Across the World, courtesy of Random Radio Jottings/Andy Walmsley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jg4uK2DGFA BBC website on Elizabeth II's coronation, inc behind-the-scenes film: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/june/coronation-of-queen-elizabeth-ii/ Charles III's (2023): Well that's not history enough yet for our liking... Here's a nice guide to the televised coronation, past and present: https://news.sky.com/story/the-kings-coronation-will-be-televised-and-much-more-how-ways-to-watch-have-changed-since-the-queen-was-crowned-12848891 === Like this episode? Do share it. Or rate and review us. Or chip in on patreon.com/paulkerensa (or ko-fi.com/paulkerensa) to help fund like this. Thanks! === This podcast is nothing whatsoever to do with the BBC. We believe the clips used are no longer in copyright due to age. It is possible that some somehow retain BBC or Crown copyright, in which case the content belongs to them, and certainly not us. It's all here purely to inform, educate and entertain. For more on this deep dive project into broadcasting's back-story, see paulkerensa.com/oldradio, including details of the live show and novel. Subscribe to get each episode when it lands. NEXT TIME: Major Arthur Corbett-Smith - Reith's maverick rival of 1923. Please stand for the National Anthem. paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Here is the news. And the weather. And the SOS messages... Our timeline continues into late March 1923 - which means that as well as news, we now have daily weather forecasts on the early BBC. It's just in time for the end of the Ideal Home Exhibition - selling radio to the masses, and oh look how useful it is. Also that month, SOS messages began in Birmingham: brief broadcasts trying to reach relatives of those critically ill, or missing persons, or even missing pelicans. Joining us to talk about yesterday's news is former news editor at Pebble Mill, Breakfast News and many more BBC news programmes MAURICE BLISSON. To talk about today's BBC news, and the war against it, we have Prof PATRICK BARWISE and Peter York (see their book below - and hear more of them in 3 episodes' time), and on the SOS origins of broadcasting, Prof GABRIELE BALBI. Plus other on-air quirks and remnants from March 1923, such as the first broadcast from a church, the first educational broadcasts, and Peter Eckersley telling us not to oscillate. Episode 66 is packed as ever then... Next time: meet Arthur Corbett-Smith, the unorthodox Cardiff station director.   SHOWNOTES: Listen to Radio 4 documentary 'And Now An Urgent SOS Message' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRI8DO8QAwg Buy Patrick Barwise and Peter York's book The War Against the BBC - https://amzn.to/40axAp8 Read Patrick Barwise and Peter York's article in Prospect Magazine - https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/60479/we-have-bad-news-for-the-right-wing-bbc-haters-most-of-the-public-just-dont-agree-with-you Original music is by Will Farmer. A reminder that this podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about them, not via them.  Broadcasts more than 50 years old are generally out of copyright. Any BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Thanks for supporting on patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do - videos and writings await you there. Or one-off tips are much appreciated too! ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. Support us for free by sharing this podcast. Or rating + reviewing where you found us. The more stars, the better... It helps our (ready for a terrible word?) discoverability. Cheers! https://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Episode 65 welcomes the BBC's only ever Sound Archivist (the title changed a few times), Simon Rooks. For 33 years he was lost in the archives and now he's found his way out, he's here to tell us the way. This episode is more interview than usual, including a whizzthrough 100 years of the BBC Sound Archive - from no recordings to the first recordings, Lance Sieveking's re-enactments and Leslie Baily's archive gathering, Marie Slocombe and Lynton Fletcher's channelling of Marie Kondo, location actuality recordings, the first retake and recording from a WW2 bombing mission... and that's all just in the first two decades! Simon guides us all the way through to BBC7 and the present day - if you love old radio, it's a fascinating insight. Thanks Simon - and thanks to you and the team for looking after it for all these years. Elsewhere, our timeline of British broadcasting's origin story continues, covering March 16th-26th 1923 - which happens to include the first BBC music library under Frank Hook. And the archive is off... So as we traverse the early tale of the Beeb, this is the perfect episode to go deeper into the tale of the archive than you've probably ever gone before (I should add we're mostly talking about the Sound Archive here. As for the Written Archives, the Television Archive - one day...)  Plus one of my favourite stories about the early BBC, involving an Archbishop, a bit of Schubert and All-Request Monday. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did putting it together. Happy listening! SHOWNOTES: LOTS of extra things you could listen to if you hunger for more... Hear the Radio 4 Archive Hour that Simon made with Sean Street on the first Sound Archives Librarian Marie Slocombe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/archive-hour--marie-slocombe-and-the-bbc-sound-archive/zvrf7nb Simon mentions this 1942 programme, 'You Have Been Listening to a Recording' featuring Lynton Fletcher and Marie Slocombe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/you-have-been-listening-to-a-recording--part-3/znsm47h Hear even more of Lynton Fletcher on this 1941 literary lunch talk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/foyles-literary-luncheon--the-bbc-recorded-programmes-department/z72kf4j Hear an extended interview with Marie Slocombe here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/marie-slocombe--sound-archives-librarian-1937-1972/zr4vmfr  The London Sound Survey is quite something - the late Ian Rawes curated it, from BBC discs including the first location recordings. See the dates down the left, and have a listen to the everyday 1930s: https://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/radio_actuality_recordings A reminder that this podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about them, not with their permission. And in fact the BBC we're talking about isn't today's BBC - it's the British Broadcasting Company. The Corporation is not behind this in any way. It's a one-man operation - so thanks for supporting on patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do. Or one-off tips if you prefer are much appreciated too! ko-fi.com/paulkerensa.  But the free way to support us is to share this podcast with others. Help it grow by helping others find us. That will keep us going as long as... well maybe not quite as long as the BBC's archives, but we can make a start. Original music by Will Farmer. Archive material is so old it’s generally out of copyright. BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Thanks for listening. Do rate/review if you like, if you like it. And subscribe so that you get future episodes, including... NEXT TIME: News, the first daily weather and SOS broadcasts in late March 1923 - with more great guests. https://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio