The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

Westminster, 1922: Parliament learns a new word, 'Broadcasting'. And they LOVE to argue about new words. In this special, our cast of 20 brings to life EVERY broadcasting debate from 1922, no matter how big or small. No editing here. On our specials we outstay our welcome and we dig a little deeper. So approach this episode as if you're tuning into the BBC Parliament channel, only it's a century ago and they're deciding if and how there should be a BBC. Some parts may be an easier listen than others. You may need to tune your ears to their 'old-fashioned Parliament' setting. But listen closely and your ears will be rewarded with never-before-heard insights into how and why we've ended up with today's broadcasting landscape: how the licence fee, protectionism, public service broadcasting, innovation, French weather reports, and so much more all jostled for attention a hundred years ago. MPs' decisions then affect us now. While the engineers and broadcasters were pioneering this new tech, Postmaster-General Frederick Kellaway adopted a strict approach. You'll hear how the chaos of America was to be avoided, but how MPs differed on whether the PMG was taking too firm a line on this fledgeling invention. We have eight debates of varying sizes to bring you - too many for one podcast, so part 2 will pick up the tale. We're grateful to our cast; in this episode you'll hear: Paul Hayes - Sir Douglas Newton Mike Simmonds - Lt Col Murray Paul Stubbs - Mr Kennedy Wayne Clarke - The Speaker of the House James Maidment-Fullard - Mr Malone Andrea Smith - Lt Comm Kenworthy Adam Hawkins - Capt Guest Paul Kerensa - Postmaster-General Mr Kellaway + Sir Henry Norman The text is all courtesy of Hansard; this episode contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 (https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright-parliament/open-parliament-licence/). You'll hear the following moments: The first written mention of 'broadcasting' in Parliament, April 3rd 1922, ten days after Peter Eckersley seized the mic of 2MT Writtle, starting a broadcasting craze in Britain: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1922-04-03/debates/5fa46744-068c-45f7-be31-daef38c64cc6/WirelessTelephony?highlight=broadcasting#contribution-54b7ff39-2321-4503-8114-4a0625d01fc4 May 4th, the first verbal mention of 'broadcasting' in Parliament: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1922/may/04/wireless-messages-broadcasting May 23rd, a fob-off answer while the 'big six' wireless manufacturers meet to thrash it all out, settling on one British broadcasting company: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1922-05-23/debates/f6abd513-b5f3-41e3-902a-0a07404868dd/WirelessBroadcasting  June 16th, a reading of the Wireless Telegraphy and Signalling Bill is seen by some to be a power-grab by the Postmaster-General, but by others as a necessary part of the development broadcasting, something many MPs in the house, like Sir Douglas Newton, were keenly interested in: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1922-06-16/debates/4a1e7b29-0c59-4681-b86f-7acdd98a06e1/WirelessTelegraphyAndSignallingBill?highlight=broadcasting#contribution-71376b97-ca94-4d9d-938b-f6b2a727a4d6   June 28th, Parliament started looking across the Channel for what radio could do next: Weather Reports... https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1922-06-28/debates/d34b1736-e64e-4547-8e75-e6bfcb5bf117/WirelessTelephony(WeatherBulletin)?highlight=broadcasting#contribution-2d1571f4-9a60-45e6-b820-c3ef39ce450b July 26th, the PMG wants to keep British broadcasting British: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1922-07-26/debates/14a1dd4a-2a48-4602-87aa-450aeb2c89e1/WirelessBroadcasting?highlight=broadcasting#contribution-f77d3eb0-a4cc-4db4-8c98-2b6cf61a94e8 Part 2 will pick up the story. Elsewhere in this episode we mention the Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame blog, re May 16th 1922's first Irish singer of the wireless: Isolde O'Farrell. Do have a read of their marvellous blog and support their work. You can support our work at patreon.com/paulkerensa, where you'll currently find our full unedited video interview with Diddy David Hamilton - we'll extract some audio nuggets of David's interview for future podcast episodes, but the full version will only be viewable on Patreon (after all, this is audio, that's video). THANK YOU if you support us there... It helps keep us in web-hosting and research books. We don't turn a profit on this podcast - it's just for the love of it, so thanks for keeping us afloat! For a one-off tip, there's also paypal.me/paulkerensa, and I thank you. We also mention Shaun Jacques' Tell Me A Bit About Yourself podcast (which includes an interview with Paul, host of this podcast) and Jack Shaw's Wrong Term Memory podcast. Have a listen. We're on Twitter and have a Facebook page and a Facebook group. Do join/follow/like. + Subscribe to get all of these podcasts in your podtray. Next time, the Parliamentary debates continue! Please do rate/review us too. It really helps get us out there, and this podcast is just a one-man band, run by me, Paul Kerensa. We're nothing to do with the BBC, BTW, FWIW, ICYMI. Thanks for listening, if you did. And well done. More soon.

A special minisode championing Gertrude Donisthorpe: one of the world's first female broadcasters and arguably Britain's first DJ. Yet she's hardly to be seen in any of the history books. Google her now, go on. What do you find? Radio silence. We mentioned her a couple of episodes ago but didn't even know her first name. So thanks to a tweet from Dr Elizabeth Bruton of the Science Museum, I now know what the history books and the internet at large couldn't tell me. So now I want to tell you. Gertrude Donisthorpe. This one's for you. In 1917, she was spinning discs (of a sort), announcing the hottest tracks (the valve in the radio set was quite hot anyway) and doing shout-outs for her audience (of one, her husband). Later, wireless concerts for local troops increased her (and his) audience. But I think they need a bigger audience yet. No recordings exist from back then, so all you have is my impression - but her words. Also on this episode, a sneak-peek of next episode's Parliamentary reconstruction, plus Alan Pemberton's glossary of our Captain Round episode. If you struggled with any of the old lingo last episode, Alan's here to help - here on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BBCentury/posts/246631957055981  ...which you can of course 'like', or 'join' our Facebook 'group'. We're also on Twitter and on Patreon with extra bonus things, including unedited video interviews with some of our previous guests, who you'll have heard in bitesize audio form on the podcast. Or your tips are always welcome on Paypal, to keep us in books and web-hosting. Thanks if you do! Here's a little blog post I've written about Gertrude Donisthorpe. Why? Because: see bit above about her ungooglability. If she is Britain's first DJ, and one of the first female broadcasters IN THE WORLD, she needs a bit more on the internet about her. + I mention in the episode a 1922-23 booklet written by Captain H Donisthorpe: Wireless at Home - one of the earliest books on radio, a how-to guide written before there was much to listen to. Well I couldn't resist - I found a copy online, and there's a video of me flicking through bits of it here. We're unaffiliated with the BBC - in fact we're just one person, more an I than a we - it's Paul, hello. So your help with this podcast is hugely appreciated. Tell the world! Your ratings and reviewings are most welcome, and subscribe to each episode direct to your podbox. Happy listening!   facebook.com/groups/bbcentury

Listen to the incredible Captain H.J. Round, a pioneering radio engineer who worked alongside Marconi and shaped modern broadcasting, as he delivers his 1952 Armstrong Medal acceptance speech. Discover his remarkable contributions, including radio direction-finding that impacted World War I and the design of early BBC transmitters. Hear tales of his viral test transmissions that kicked off broadcasting in 1920 and a captivating mention of celebrity broadcasts like Dame Nellie Melba's. It's a deep dive into the technical and the historic!

Ending season 1, here's episode 21 to tie up some loose ends, correct some clarifications and clarify some corrections from our previous 20 episodes on the prehistory of the BBC, radio and life as we know it. There's also an exclusive wide-ranging interview with TV presenter (Get Fresh, How 2), podcaster (Gareth Jones on Speed) and science enthusiast Gareth Jones, known for a brief spell on children's TV as Gaz Top. Find more on his podcast via his website, or his clips 'n' films on Youtube.  Next episode we'll begin a run of 'specials' before we embark on season 2. But first on this episode: Back on episode 1, we covered the first radio entertainment programme... but we DIDN'T cover the first radio entertainment in Britain. So we'll meet Lieutenant Crauford on the good shop Andromeda, in 1907. Then in 1917, there's Captain and Mrs Donisthorpe cycling to and fro in a field in Worcester, to check if each other heard them transmit. On episode 16, we talked about the first broadcast comedian Helena Millais... but we DIDN'T cover some of the other turns vying for the crown: Will Hay, M'Lita Dolores, Wilfrid Liddiatt, Peggy Rae (mother of Peter Sellers), Charles Cory, William Parkyn, Herbert Dickeson, Ernie Mayne... We delve into Will Hay's 1922 stage revue Listening In - you can see a silent clip of it here. Ernie Mayne's Wireless on the Brain can be heard on Youtube, and you can hear more of Ernie and other music hall performers on Earl Okin's podcast, ep138 or older episodes here. We also zoom in on who the BBC's first four employees actually were - and how it depends how you define 'employees'. (We reckon the first 9ish were Burrows, Lewis, Jefferies, Anderson, Reith, Edgar, Palmer, Shields, Eckersley...)   Your thoughts are welcome on this and everything broadcasting-history-based - email me with anything, including your AMs (recorded Airwave Memories - a minute or so of you speaking into a Voice Memo with your earliest memories of radio/TV) or FMs (written memories of when you saw broadcasting in action).     We also recommend Mark Heywood's Behind the Spine podcast, especially their recent episode with archivists from Paramount and Zoetrope.   And we mention Cecil A Lewis' 1924 book Broadcasting From Within. It's the earliest book on broadcasting - I'm reading it at the moment... and you can too! Thanks to the fab BBCEng website, it's here for all to read.   We're unaffiliated with the BBC - in fact we're just one person - it's me, Paul, hello.   So to help us spread word of this small project, please do rate/review/rant about it on social media - it's always hugely appreciated and really helps us reach more ears.   If you LOVE the podcast and find some £ in your pocket, paypal.me/paulkerensa helps keep us in books and web-hosting (and the more books we get, the more accurate we'll be!) or patreon.com/paulkerensa also adds extra writing extracts, articles and advance videos from me (not just broadcasting-based, across my other writings too...). I thank you!   Find us on Twitter - and especially our new Facebook group, which is a nice community of sharings and findings, as well as our Facebook page, which is more me telling you when the next episode is here. Subscribe of course, and you'll get the next episode automatically. My mailing list has more on my upcomings, books, TV shows etc. Our clips are either public domain or the BBC's, to whom we doff our caps, and thank them... or we've been unable to track down the rights-holders, but the clips are OOOOOLD, so we believe them to be a-ok. If you disagree and own a clip we've got, we'll gladly remove anything. We're just here to tell a good (hi)story: to inform, educate and entertain.

Join Christmas expert James Cooper, founder of whychristmas.com, as he jingle-bells back to 1922, uncovering the BBC's inaugural festive broadcasts. Discover the first-ever religious broadcast featuring Rev John Mayo, delightful radio plays like 'The Truth About Father Christmas', and laugh along with comedy from Fred Gibson. Listen in as stations across the UK bring holiday cheer with unique broadcasts, including ghost stories and Handel's Messiah, showcasing how Christmas on the radio created a sense of community and joy.

...and the Midlands, as Birmingham and Manchester join the party. We revisit the second day of the BBC: November 15th 1922. Also, how Manchester launched the first BBC children's programmes, how Birmingham had the BBC's first live music, and how London needed to tweak their microphone. All on election day, so just before the first Election Night Special. You'll also hear of the bizarre Birmingham fog that delayed launch - and bizarrer still, how ANOTHER Birmingham fog delayed The Settlers from reaching a studio, 40 years later. From that band, Cindy Kent is our guest, recalling being at the BBC as the Light Programme became Radio 1 in 1967.  You'll also hear playwright David Edgar reading from the memoirs of his grandfather Percy Edgar, the founding manager of Birmingham 5IT. (For the full reading of that, just wait 3 episodes...) From the archives, we've also got the voices of Kenneth Wright and Hugh Bell of 2ZY Manchester, both there on that launch day in 1922. Plus Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker returns with what the printed press thought about this two-day-old upstart... broadcasting. ----- Thanks for supporting the podcast. Your kind donations at ko-fi.com/paulkerensa or patreon.com/paulkerensa have helped fund books, that fuel these episodes, or hosting, that keeps us online. Your ratings/reviewings/sharings are equally welcome. Thanks! Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Paul's mailing list has more on his upcomings, inc. the next series of Not Going Out. Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is in audiobook (Listen free via an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before). If you'd like to order a signed paperback copy, email Paul. You can also use that to send us a 2min audio clip of an Airwave Memory to include on the show. Clips are either public domain or the BBC's, to whom we doff our caps, and thank them. We're unaffiliated with the BBC - we're just here to inform, educate and entertain about its wondrous origins. Happy listening!

"You know, this broadcasting is going to be jolly good fun." ...That adlib ended the very first BBC broadcast, given by Arthur Burrows on November 14th, 1922 - and re-enacted on this special birthday episode.  Yes we've made it! After 17 episodes building up to the big launch, the BBC is on air. This episode lands on the Beeb's 98th birthday - and to celebrate, we've done something that we THINK is a first: a complete reconstruction of the very first BBC broadcast. Well, not a complete reconstruction... because Arthur Burrows read the news bulletin twice, once at a normal speed, and once slow. We've spared you the slow version - because the normal speed was slow enough. Just listen back to it again straight away after, on 0.5x speed setting. We include the precise news items in the right order - weather first, shutdown after 7 minutes - so it's as accurate as can be, thanks to Andrew Barker (who excellently researched and wrote the bulletin), Will Farmer (who gave us the tuning organ and tubular bells, plus the original podcast music) and Tim Wander (who checked for errors and has written many marvellous books about all this). After that re-enactment, we dissect, fill in the gaps, and generally inform, educate and entertain about day 1 of Auntie Beeb. Plus more from the mighty Emperor Rosko. That full 10min re-enactment is also on Youtube here, or an edited, more palatable 2min version is here. Feel free to share, broadcast and do as you wish with them - get the story out there by all means. Speaking of which, Tim Wander's plays, on some earlier parts of broadcasting history, can be watched online here: - The Power Behind the Microphone: A centenary celebration of Dame Nellie Melba's historic broadcast from Chelmsford - Voices over Passchendaele: Peter Eckersley's war years - The Man Behind the Microphone: Peter Eckersley's Writtle/BBC years This podcast continues thanks to your support - it's bought us books that have spawned entire episodes. So thank you if you've visited ko-fi.com/paulkerensa and tipped £3 or more, or patreon.com/paulkerensa and helped us with £5 or more a month (with perks in return). If you've not, you know where they are. We're on Facebook and Twitter with accompanying pics and other details. If you'd rate and review this podcast wherever you found it, that helps others find it too. Thanks! Do subscribe to get future episodes direct to your device. Join Paul's mailing list for more info on his goings-on.  Clips are public domain as far as we know. They're old. We're happy to be corrected on that. We're nothing to do with the BBC - we're just here to talk about their origins and wish them happy birthday. Here's to the next 98!  

We're nearly there! Episode 17 zooms in on the pre-BBC fortnight. You'd have thought everything's in place by now, right? Not quite - just the tiny non-controversial matters of the licence fee and allegations of bias to deal with first. Good job they're all sorted now... We've got archive reminiscences from pioneer Peter Eckersley and the return of Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker, who also gives us an Airwave Memory (email a clip of yours for next season: paul@paulkerensa.com) We mention CenturiesofSound.com - try their 1922 mix for starters. We also mention Tim Wander's search for Melba's voice - read the Times article here. We're on Facebook and Twitter, with lots more supporting pics and links there. Support the show at patreon.com/paulkerensa has regular perks, advance things - not all to do with the podcast, but some. There's also advance writing and videos from Paul. ...or support the show by sharing/rating/reviewing the show. Thanks! Join Paul's mailing list for updates on his writing, gigs, podcasts, videos etc. Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is now in audiobook form. Get it for free via an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before. Thanks to Will Farmer for composing the original music. Archive clips are either public domain or private domain from long enough ago... but if you own a clip, say and we'll remove it. We're just here to inform, educate and entertain. This podcast is in no way affiliated with the BBC. You knew that. We say it every time. Next time, the launch of the BBC! Including a re-enactment of the very first broadcast. It'll land on November 14th, the 98th anniversary of the BBC, so listen on the day of release. The day of the podcast's release, that is, not the day of your release. Although this episode's recorded during a lockdown, so... anyway, happy listening. www.paulkerensa.com

The first drama, the first comedian... Journey with us to October 1922 for the rarely told tale radio's first play (Cyrano de Bergerac, courtesy of Peter Eckersley) and British broadcasting's first comedian. Helena Millais played Cockney character Our Lizzie - and you'll even hear a bit of her act. We'll look at the few before her too - entertainers and storytellers - and those who came after. Cultural historian and comedy writer Alan Stafford is your guide, and his fab books It's Friday, It's Crackerjack and Wilson, Keppel and Betty: Too Naked for the Nazis are available now. Also available is Lorne Clark's book Shareholders of the British Broadcasting Company, plus explore his amazing Early Wireless museum - and he's sent us a marvellous clip of his wax cylinder: recorded in 1890, trumpeter Martin Lanfried plays the bugle he sounded at The Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. Wow. That makes the 1920s sound modern. You'll also hear our regular broadcasting historian Tim Wander, and his fab books include the brilliant From Marconi to Melba. Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and please support the show if you can via ko-fi.com/paulkerensa for one-off £, or patreon.com/paulkerensa for regular perks - including advance writing and things from Paul. Your host Paul Kerensa's mailing list has monthly updates of his writing, gigs, podcasts, etc. Sign up! Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is now in audiobook form. There's an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before - so you can get Hark! for free, then cancel, and pay nowt. Paul's Facebook Live show is at PK's Uplift Live, every Tuesday from 8pm.  Thanks to Will Farmer for composing the original music. Archive clips are either public domain or we don't know whose domain. If you think a clip is yours, apologies/thanks - everything's takedownable. We're unaffiliated with the BBC... ...but Paul is writing a TV drama script (and novel) based on all this, so if you're a drama producer or commissioner... Well don't you look lovely today? Email me. Let's make the BBC history. So to speak.

For ep 15, our story of broadcasting reaches one John Reith, who spots a job advertisement in the Morning Post. He's never heard of broadcasting. But what led him to that point? Revisiting landmark moments of our story so far, we'll trace Reith's unusual, unorthodox, unexpected life. From son of the manse to voice of the nation, via love, friendship, war... and all three of those are somehow mixed up together in Reith's beloved: Charlie. It's quite a story, and we're indebted to Ian McIntyre's The Expense of Glory, Garry Allighan's Sir John Reith, Marista Leishman's My Father: Reith of the BBC and Charles Stuart's edited The Reith Diaries. Most quotations are from the latter. I recommend all four books for a deep-dive into this. Plus an Airwave Memory from Cole Moreton, whose marvellous book is The Light Keeper - also recommended. For pictures, discussion and other bits and pieces, join us on Facebook and Twitter and 'like' or 'follow' or whatever they call it now there. You can support the show via ko-fi.com/paulkerensa for one-off £, or patreon.com/paulkerensa for regular perks - including advance writing and things from Paul. Paul's mailing list is very much joinable, for a monthly update of this, that and the other (writing, gigs, podcasts, etc). As mentioned on the podcast, Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is now in audiobook form. There's an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before - so you can get Hark! for free, then cancel, and pay nowt. (Full disclosure - I get a couple of quids if you click and activate that, even if you only ever do the free trial.) (Oh and another full disclosure - I'm happy to take a few quid from Amazon, but I'd rather not line Jeff Bezos' pockets much further, so if you're going to buy Hark! The Biography of Christmas, this link takes you to Hive, which supports local independent bookshops - or just ask yours direct. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.) Paul's Facebook Live show is PK's Uplift Live, every Tuesday from 8pm. Do join. Occasionally he talks about broadcasting history there too. There's also a quiz, some comedy, and an attempt at normality. Thanks to Will Farmer for composing the original music. Archive clips are either public domain or private domain from so long ago, it's nigh-on-impossible to trace... but if you own a clip and want it removed, we'd be happy to oblige. We're just here to inform, educate and entertain - thanks for helping us do so. (This podcast is not affiliated with the BBC. Unless they'd like it to be. But as it stands, this entire operation is just one bloke shouting into his wardrobe. Thanks for listening. Otherwise it's just the shirts.)