The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

Welcome to season 6 of The British Broadcasting Century Podcast - and our 82nd episode. Back in our podcast timeline, telling the moment-by-moment origin story of British broadcasting, we reach a bittersweet moment: the BBC moves out of its first studios, the temporary studio on the top floor of Marconi House. We pay tribute with a look at the Beeb's final day at MH, 30 April 1923 - a broadcast promoting Women's Hour (by a man) and Hawaiian guitar music (hear it here!). And we spend much of the episode re-examining Auntie's first day at Marconi House - indeed BBC Day 1 - as I've just discovered a 1942 memoir from Arthur Burrows, first voice of the BBC. And he says some things I've never read anywhere else before. Was there music on the BBC's first day? He thinks so... ..but we don't! And by 'we', I mean our invited guests: Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker and The Great Collector Dr Steve Arnold. We look at the evidence, from newspapers to the archives to best guesses, and try to piece together the jigsaw of the BBC's first 3 days. Also some more recent BBC memories, as Radio 2 leaves Wogan House, Paul reflects on his memories of broadcasting from there - and working briefly with Steve Wright - a tribute to the great DJ, now Jockin' in the Big Show in the sky.   SHOWNOTES: This is an independent podcast, nothing to do with the BBC or anyone else for that matter. Original music by Will Farmer. BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Al rights reserved. Huge thanks to the BBC Written Archive Centre for help and permission regarding the memoir in this episode - and to the Burrows family... if you're out there, I'd love to say hi! Listen to the Burrows memoir without interruption here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/audio-first-bbc-96829718 Some Patreon links for patrons only (do join! £5/mth, cancel whenever)... Steve Wright - a video of my waffling away about him a little aimlessly, and walking between Broadcasting House and Wogan House: https://www.patreon.com/posts/vid-steve-wright-98460958?cid=129996334 I mention on the podcasat a Patreon video of my walk around (the outside of) Savoy Hill: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-vid-savoy-75950901 ...and the walk from Magnet House (first BBC HQ) to Marconi House (first studio): https://www.patreon.com/posts/magnet-house-to-68777192 ...Interested in joining a live actual walking tour around those first BBC landmarks? I'm thinking of running one, early 2024. Email paul at paulkerensa dot com for details of when. My Radio 2 Pause for Thought in tribute to Steve Wright: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hbpwgr Paul Gambaccini's moving tribute to Steve Wright/Wogan House: https://twitter.com/airchecks/status/1759491760827351416 I also mention my son's Minecraft version of Marconi House. It's got quite a few inaccuracies - but it was made by a 10-year-old with little-to-no knowledge of the Marconi House history - just access to a few plans. So admire the effort if not the accuracy! It's here, if you'd like: https://youtu.be/TatzKmF1z3k Details of Paul's tour of An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at www.paulkerensa.com/tour Find us on Facebook or Twitter, or Ex-Twitter. Join us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa, from £5/mth, and get written updates and videos. Your ratings/reviewings of this podcast REALLY help get the podcast noticed. It's solo-run, so thanks! Next time: We've closed Marconi House, so let's open Savoy Hill! More info on this radio history project at:  paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Pip pip pip pip pip piiiiiiiiip! Is that the time? It must be 100 years (to the day, as I release this episode) since six baby pips were born onto the airwaves.  As the Greenwich Time Signal - aka The Pips - turns 100, we look back at their origin story, thanks to horologist Frank Hope-Jones and also his overlooked contribution to broadcasting itself. Plus Big Ben's bongs, heard by Manchester listeners days before London's listeners. We explain how... but also why Manchester's time signal was often a little approximate, thanks to too many double doors.  SHOWNOTES: Original music by Will Farmer. Thanks to our Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker. Voices include: Harold Bishop, Peter Eckersley, Sir Noel Ashbridge, Kenneth Wright, Frank Hope-Jones... and probably more. We try to only use recordings out of copyright. If you have been affected by rights issues involved in this, do let me know. Everything's editable.  This is an independent podcast, nothing to do with the BBC or anyone else for that matter. I mention Charlie Connelly's excellent podcast about 100 years of the Shipping Forecase. Hear here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8423037-100-years-of-the-shipping-forecast Details of Paul's tour of An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at www.paulkerensa.com/tour Find us on Facebook or Twitter, or Ex-Twitter. Join us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa, from £5/mth, and get written updates and videos. Your ratings/reviewings of this podcast REALLY help get the podcast noticed. It's solo-run, so thanks! Next time: Season 6 continues with a celebration of Marconi House - its last day as a BBC studio, and its first. More info on this radio history project at:  paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Welcome to 2023's Christmas special/2024's Epiphany special. (Come on, what podcast doesn't have an Epiphany special?) It's all just a chance to turn episode 80 into a re-enactment of this remarkable untold tale of Britain's first religious broadcast. Contrary to what some records say, it wasn't the BBC who began religious broadcasting in Britain - it was lone Peckham pioneer preacher Dr James Ebenezer Boon, on 30 July 1922. Thankfully he wrote everything down - from the words of his sermon to the gramophone record hymns he played, to the feedback received from listeners, to his thoughts on the opportunities of future religious broadcasting. We'll also tell you about America's first religious broadcast (1921) and the first non-radio religious broadcasts - via the Electrophone (in the 1890s!). And we'll propel forward to look at the BBC's first church service on 6th January 1924 (and why it wasn't quite the first after all), with its centenary round about now-ish. We discover too the BBC's first Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist broadcasters. Have a guess now roughly when each debuted on air? Then find out in this episode. (It was surprisingly early...) Whether your religion is religion or radio, I'm sure you'll enjoy this episode. It's different to others we've done, as at its centre is a full re-enactment, so expect a 15min sermon, and hymns - sung along to by the live audience (including several religious broadcasters of note) at Christ Church Evangelical, McDermott Road, Peckham. This was Dr Boon's church, that he wired up back in summer 1922, then left to broadcast INTO it from five miles away - but reaching Coventry and the east coast (who offered to send in a collection, bless 'em). Huge thanks to Christ Church Evangelical, especially Adrian Holloway, for allowing us access (I even went to see the roof, where Dr Boon put his aerial!) for that rare thing - recreating a landmark broadcast where it occurred. Thanks too to Dr Jim Harris and Andy Mabbett for their help in bringing the story to life. Branden Braganza and Riley King recorded it (a video will appear on Youtube soon - details here when that happens). Will Farmer composed the original music. Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC. Make sure you've also heard our other episode spinning through a century of 'God on the air' - episode 60: A History of Religious Broadcasting. And if you'd like to read along to the sermon, or read Boon's full notes, you can, on Wikisource. (Thanks Andy Mabbett) Thanks for listening. More info on this project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio, and find me on tour with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at paulkerensa.com/tour. Or book it for your place? Support the show on patreon.com/paulkerensa - where videos and writings await for you £5/mth (cancel whenever, I'll never know). It all helps support the podcast. Or support it for free by sharing on your social medias, or with your pals and acquaintances. Bless you for listening.   NEXT TIME: Season 6 begins! With the BBC leaving Marconi House for Savoy Hill. More re-enactments are coming...  

Episode 79 is our second special of three authors - whose books you may wish to put on your Christmas wish list - especially if you're fans of Doctor Who, religion on radio, and/or ye olde Radio 1.  Last time we had three doctors; this time our first guest is definitely someone who's seen The Three Doctors... PAUL HAYES' book is Pull to Open: 1962-1963: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Whohttps://tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/pull-to-open-1962-1963 AMANDA HANCOX's book is Sunday: A History of Religious Affairs through 50 Years of Conversations and Controversieshttps://amzn.to/3TlSz8Q DAVID HAMILTON's books are The Golden Days of Radio One and Commercial Radio Dazehttp://ashwaterpress.co.uk/DavidHamiltonbooks.html BEN BAKER's book is The Dreams We Had As Children: Children's ITV and Mehttps://linktr.ee/BenBakerBooks PAUL KERENSA's book is Hark! The Biography of Christmas - in paperback and audiobookhttps://amzn.to/486DrA6 You'll also hear BBC Radio Sussex/Surrey's (now Kent's as well) Mark Carter - who to my knowledge doesn't have a book (yet) but is, in David Hamilton's words "a great radio man". Original music by Will Farmer. This is an independent podcast, nothing to do with the BBC or anyone else for that matter. Details of Paul's tour of An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at www.paulkerensa.com/tour Find us on Facebook or Twitter, or Ex-Twitter. Join us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa, from £5/mth, and get written updates and videos. Your ratings/reviewings of this podcast, or shouting from the rooftops, are most welcome. It's run by just one person, with zero advertising or PR, so that's where you step in! I'll measure you up for a sandwich-board, yeah? Thanks! Next time: our Christmas/Epiphany special will be the FULL re-enactment of Britain's First Religious Broadcast from July 1922. A rarely-known story - you'll sometimes see the BBC credited as first religious broadcaster, 24 Dec 1922. But no, there was one preacher who five months earlier... More next time! Religious or not, if you like radio, you'll love this tale. Merry Nearly Christmas, or if you're reading this in the rest of year, a simple hello will suffice. Hello. paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

You need more books in your life. So here are three authors to shout about theirs and enthuse about their research.    This time we have three academics. (Next time we'll have three presenters/producers, covering music radio, Radio 4’s Sunday and Doctor Who...)   But this is a different episode of The Three Doctors. And they are…    DR CAROLYN BIRDSALL, Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam + author of Radiophilia (Bloomsbury, 2023): https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/radiophilia-9781501374968/ She tells us about the love of radio, 'wireless-itis', and the early days of radio fandom.   DR MARTIN COOPER, Assistant Subject Leader Emeritus at the University of Huddersfield + author of Radio's Legacy in Popular Culture: The Sounds of British Broadcasting over the Decades (Bloomsbury, 2023): https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/radios-legacy-in-popular-culture-9781501388231/ He tells us about some of the books, films and songs that feature radio, from Death at Broadcasting House fo James Joyce to Bob the Builder.   DR JOSH SHEPPERD, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder + author of Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting (University of Illinois Press, 2023): https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780252087257 He tells us about the origin story of education & public radio in the US, from the first WWI university broadcasts to ex-BBC emigre Charles Siepmann (who worked under BBC Talks Director Hilda Matheson in the 1920s - it all links back...).     In telling these tales chronologically, we mix and match between these three wise doctors. So expect a story of rural reach, radio hams and Professor Branestawm as we dovetail in and out of our experts. It's a bit like retuning and cruising up and down that dial...    Original music by Will Farmer. This is an independent podcast, nothing to do with the BBC or anyone else for that matter. Details of Paul's tour of An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at www.paulkerensa.com/tour Find us on Facebook or Twitter, or Ex-Twitter. Join us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa, from £5/mth, and get written updates and videos... ...such as this video (free for all) - in which I read my 1923 copy of the Radio Times, exactly 100 years on from when it was on news-stands: https://youtu.be/kbtEhWg7fUY?si=h6nQToLhaVlkIQxY If you can rate/review the podcast nicely somewhere, maybe where you get podcasts normally, I'll be hugely appreciative. This is a one-man band of a show, so your amplification of it is the only thing getting it out there. THANKS! Next time? Three more authors. Then it's our Christmas special: The First Religious Broadcast: Re-staged where it began. Stay tuned. paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

Episode 77 is a surprise pop-up episode, with nuggets spanning 1920, 1922 and 1980, from the mid-Atlantic to Glasgow, and from music to horse-racing. We had a few too many tales to tell, so couldn't wait. We're meant to be on a break. Whoops.  Like our previous 'Loose Ends' episode, we've a few threads to pull on: The tale of Arthur Burrows on SS Victorian, breaking records and playing records in July 1920 - an eyewitness account, from 'Wireless at Sea: The First Fifty Years' by H.E. Hancock. Read along here if you like: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Technology/Technology-Early-Radio/Wireless-at-Sea-Hancock-1950.pdf (p.110) An interview between Frank Clive Milligan and his father Andrew Milligan about Andrew's father Frank Milligan, the pioneer behind 5MG from October 1922. Thanks Eddie Bohan for the link-up! Read Eddie's great blog about Frank Milligan here: https://ibhof.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-irishman-who-shaped-scottish-radio.html. We told of Frank Milligan/5MG on episode 48: https://pod.fo/e/12bf51 My findings at the BBC Written Archives Centre in Caversham - and thanks to them as ever! Including some 'new' info from Burrows' reminiscence, about whether day 1 of the BBC had music. Bob Richardson, prop rescuer extraordinaire, on some of a Tardis and the horse racing hexagonal drum. Info on The First Religious Broadcast: Re-staged where it began, in Peckham. If you're reading this before 10 Nov 2023, come and see! It's free. tiny.cc/1st-rb We're nothing to do with the BBC, y'hear? Original music is by Will Farmer. Join us on Facebook or Twitter. Join us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa to support the show for £5/mth. Get audio/video/writings in return. Join soon and get an old book in the post too! More soon. Next time: Authors' special. Aren't they? paulkerensa.com/oldradio 

Episode 76:  On RT centenary day itself, part 2 of our back-story of back issues, as Radio Times turns 100. Catch part 1 if you haven't already: https://pod.fo/e/1f20d1 - there we journeyed from 1923 to 1991, when the monopoly was ended and the British government opened up the TV listings market. In part 2, we're joined again by today's Radio Times co-editor Shem Law and RT enthusiast, collector, historian and BBC Genome contributor Dr Steve Arnold - plus the author of The Radio Times Story Tony Currie. How come part 2 covers just a few decades then? Well, Shem Law told us aplenty about RT present and future too. It's a real treat that certainly made me re-assess the state of the industry in a number of ways: from what we consume, to how we choose what to consume, to how we hear about what we choose what to consume. With me? Great. Listen on. Listen in. If it's on Radio Times, it's in this episode.   SHOWNOTES: Steve Arnold's website: radiotimesarchive.com  The Radio Times Story by Tony Currie: https://amzn.to/3t0TCQc The Radio Times Cover Story book, edited by Shem Law & co: https://amzn.to/3ES4YZv The Gift of a Radio by Justin Webb: https://amzn.to/45c3GDo Paul Kerensa's books: https://amzn.to/3LEGOWd We are nothing to do with the BBC - this is a solo independent operation. Support us at Patreon.com/paulkerensa - £5/mth gets you extra video, audio & writings. Paul's on tour this with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio AND The First Religious Broadcast: Re-Staged - come see: paulkerensa.com/tour. Music by Will Farmer, apart from Radio Times by Henry Hall. Subscribe, Rate, Review, Thanks! NEXT TIME: We'll be having a break for a month or so, partly to delineate the seasons (partly to do more researching). Up next, an authors' special, navigating approx 150 years of wireless, radio, TV and more via half a dozen or so notable writers and academics with books that you-yes-you can buy, read, and grow your brain. Thanks for listening (in). And happy centenary, Radio Times! paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Happy 100th to (The) Radio Times!  (The 'the' vanished in 1937)  Britain's favourite magazine is a century old this very week, at time of recording. So it's a bumper edition - not dissimilar to the fat two-weeker that lands on your doorstep or falls off supermarket shelves due to weight and gravity every festive season. This is a two-parter, paying tribute to a century of the 'Official Organ of the British Broadcasting Company' as it was once subtitled. If it's on, it's in, and it's in this podcast.  Part 1 brings us from 1923-1991 - with two tour guides: Shem Law is one of today's two Radio Times editors, and he invited me to RT HQ for a chat, a cuppa, and a browse of his favourite covers. (See link below for a link to our Facebook page, to see the covers he picks at as favourites - or least favourite). Dr Steve Arnold is a RT enthusiast, collector and broadcast historian. If it's on Radio Times history, it's in his brain.  Also this episode, Radio 4's Justin Webb on his grandfather Leonard Crocombe - the first RT editor. Or was he? Steve Arnold has more on that.  This is only part 1. Part 2 will follow in a couple of days, with more from Shem and Steve as well as Tony Currie, author of The Radio Times Story.  SHOWNOTES: The pics of those covers, and other visual talking points (the WW2 map, my oldest RT etc): https://www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury/posts/828907702013685/ Steve Arnold's website: radiotimesarchive.com  The Radio Times Story by Tony Currie: https://amzn.to/3t0TCQc The Radio Times Cover Story book, edited by Shem Law & co: https://amzn.to/3ES4YZv The Gift of a Radio by Justin Webb: https://amzn.to/45c3GDo Paul Kerensa's books: https://amzn.to/3LEGOWd 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 Autumn with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio AND The First Religious Broadcast: Re-Staged - paulkerensa.com/tour. Music by Will Farmer. Subscribe, Rate, Review, Thanks! NEXT TIME: Part two of the Radio Times back story! paulkerensa.com/oldradio

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