Give Us A Conch

Conch (noun) a thick heavy spiral shell occasionally bearing long projections of various marine gastropod molluscs of the family Strombidae.

Give Us A Conch (later The Conch Quiz) was a light-hearted natural history quiz that ran on BBC Radio 2 between 1984 and 1987. Teams wrestled with “animal sounds, songs and riddles” in an attempt to win the (virtual) “glittering Conch Shell”.  Given its subject matter it’s perhaps not surprising that it was produced by the Bristol-based Natural History Unit, with programmes recorded at the city’s Watershed Theatre.

Chairing every edition was Paddy Feeny (pictured with conch above), at the time co-chairing Top of the Form and presenter of the World Service sports service Saturday Special. Paddy told the Radio Times: “We’re so surrounded by scientific hardware these days that I get the impression people just can’t hear enough about natural history”. He later confessed that chairing the quiz has “turned me into a real enthusiast. I now read books on the subject just so that I can suggest a few questions.”

The panellists were a mix of zoologists, botanists and so on, and showbiz guests chosen for their particular interest in the subject such as Frank Thornton, Eric Morecambe, Spike Milligan, Bill Oddie, Bernard Cribbins and Andrew Sachs. (They had all previously appeared as guests on Sounds Natural with Derek Jones, episodes of which have been repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra).  Folk that regularly worked for the Natural History Unit also popped up, names such as Derek Jones, Tony Soper and Johnny Morris. For later episodes they split into two teams captained by Pam Ayres (sometimes Don Maclean) and marine biologist Dr Sheila Anderson.  

The questions were set by Kate Tiffin and later Tess Lemmon, both of the Natural History Unit. Kate went on to write natural history books and contribute to the BBC Wildlife magazine. The producers were Melinda Barker (for series one and two) who also produced Radio 4’s The Living World. She later married wildlife film director and producer Alastair Fothergill. Producing series three and four was John Harrison who was with the BBC in Bristol for 18 years from 1973, working mainly on The Living World with Derek Jones

Give Us A Conch ran for 20 episodes in 1984 and 1985 and came back in late 1985 for a further 18 episodes as The Conch Quiz. Other than the last series being aired on the BBC World Service the quiz has never been repeated, so this is a rare opportunity to hear what it was all about. From 1^st January 1985 this is the first programme in series two with Don Maclean, Derek Jones, Sheila Anderson and zoologist Professor Mike Stoddart. The continuity announcer is Jean Challis.

It’s a week later, 8^th January 1985, for the second episode with Pam Ayres, Johnny Morris, Sheila Anderson and Mike Stoddart. The announcer at the end of the recording is Nick Page.

Give Us A Conch series details  

Series 1:  25 January to 28 March 1984 (10 episodes)

Windsor Davies, Andrew Sachs, Pat Morris, Chris Mead, Frank Windsor, David Shepherd, Mike Stoddart, Wilma George, Carol Drinkwater, Derek Jones, Michael Clegg, Sheila Anderson, Bill Oddie, Tony Soper, Penny Anderson, Malcolm Coe, Eric Morecambe, Pam Ayres and David Bellamy

Series 2: 1 January to 5 March 1985 (10)

Don Mclean, Derek Jones, Sheila Anderson, Mike Stoddart, Pam Ayres, Johnny Morris, Tom Baker, Michael Clegg, Judy Geeson, Jeremy Cherfas, Jeffrey Boswell, Frank Thornton and Andrew Sachs

Name changed to The Conch Quiz

Series 3: 25 November 1985 to 13 January 1986 (8)

Don Maclean, Sheila Anderson, Irene Christie, Malcolm Coe, Pam Ayres, Bernard Cribbins, Michael Clegg, Roger Lovegrove, Bill Oddie, Johnny Morris and Joe Henson

Series 4: 24 January to 28 March 1987 (10)

Pam Ayres, Sheila Anderson, Don Maclean, Roger Lovegrove, Johnny Morris, Michael Clegg, Joe Henson, Bernard Cribbins, Peter France, Spike Milligan and Lionel Kelleway

This series was repeated on the BBC World Service August to October 1987 

The answers to the picture quiz are (l-r) a slug, a North American salamander, a furry armadillo

Churchill and the BBC

When Winston Churchill died on 24 January 1965 the BBC went into full obit mode, a special Radio Times supplement printed and plans made to broadcast the state funeral on Saturday 30^th (1) But the relationship between the former Prime Minister and the Corporation had always been problematic to say the least, even during their ‘finest hour’ in World War II.

The antagonism stemmed from, on one hand, Churchill’s belief that the Government should be able to commandeer the BBC to broadcast whatever messages the Government decreed and, on the other, the BBC’s (both as a company and a corporation) battle to retain its hard-won independence. A continuing story of our times, of course. 

During the war Churchill was intent on clipping the wings of the BBC and issued a memo that stated that “the Ministry of Information will take full day-to-day editorial control of the BBC and will be responsible for both initiative and censorship.”  Back in 1933 he told the Commons that “these well-meaning gentlemen of the British Broadcasting Corporation have absolutely no qualification and no claim to represent British public opinion.”

But the first run-in between the politician and the BBC was during the nine-day General Strike of May 1926 when it fell to managing director John Reith to ward off any takeover.

David Low cartoon on the General Strike

The BBC was only dragged into the political mire of the General Strike because the printing of all newspapers, save for The Times, had come to a halt and both the government and the TUC were keen to put forward their side of the argument. The government, under the premiership of Stanley Baldwin, saw the dissemination of news and official communiqués as falling to the BBC and its own hastily produced newspaper, The British Gazette. Meanwhile, the TUC produced The British Worker, the ‘official strike news bulletin’.

Baldwin had given the job of editing The British Gazette to his then Chancellor, Winston Churchill, a former journalist himself, of course, as a war correspondent for a number of newspapers around the turn of the century. Churchill viewed the strike as some form of Bolshevik revolution and was “prepared to resort to extreme measures” to put it down.    

One positive outcome for the BBC was the dropping, albeit temporary, of the requirement to only broadcast evening news bulletins, so as not to adversely affect newspaper circulation. During the strike bulletins went out at 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm and 9.30pm each day. (2) The news, put together by a hastily formed team, was sourced from Reuters and from the Admiralty and many of the bulletins were read by Reith himself, his deputy, Rear-Admiral Charles Carpendale and chief engineer Peter Eckersley. It is claimed that senior management went on air as the announcers sounded ‘nervous’, though announcer Stuart Hibberd claims that is was just due to the increased frequency and length of each bulletin. Reith himself was at the microphone both when the strike was officially announced and when it was called off.     

Whilst Churchill was keen to invoke the emergency provisions on the BBC, this was not the opinion of the majority of the Government, including Baldwin who was more emollient. In a meeting with the Reith, Baldwin and John Davidson (Deputy Chief Civil Commissioner acting as vice-chairman of the Emergency Committee and liaison between the PM, Churchill and the BBC) Reith noted in his diary that the PM “said he entirely agreed with us that it would be far better to leave the BBC with a considerable measure of autonomy and independence. He was most pleasant.”

The General Strike and the battle lines between Churchill and Reith have been explored in three dramas, one for the stage and two radio productions. The most recent radio programme to explore the working relationship between the two men is the 2022 Drama on 3 production Churchill versus Reith. Aware that most of the main protagonists that lock horns are male, writer Mike Harris decided to give Reith’s trusted secretary Isobel Shields (played by Emily Pithon) a voice and make her the narrator, “because secretary’s know everything”. This helps to lend lightness and humour to what would otherwise be a dry subject. There is also focus on Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson, ‘Red Ellen’ (played by Helen O’Hara) who, writing in the Radio Times in late May 1926, accused the BBC of causing “pain and indignation” and that she “felt like asking the Postmaster-General for my licence fee back”. She might well have added #DefundtheBBC! Playing Reith is Tom Goodman-Hill whilst Christian McKay is Churchill. That end sequence with Reith quoting Blake’s Jerusalem is not poetic licence, this did happen on the night of 12^th May, Reith offered thanks to God for ending the strike and, on the BBC’s role said “we hope your confidence in and goodwill to us have not suffered. We have laboured under certain difficulties, the full story of which may be told someday.”

Churchill versus Reith can be found on BBC Sounds here.

Photo credit Manuel Harlan

At London’s Donmar Warehouse in the summer of 2023 there was a production of Jack Thorne’s When Winston Went to War with the Wireless. This starred Adrian Scarborough as Churchill, Stephen Campbell Moore as Reith and, in a piece of gender-blind casting, the late Haydn Gwynne as Baldwin. Much like Churchill versus Reith we get glimpses of the men behind the story in scenes with their respective spouses and mention of Reith’s earlier infatuation with the young Charlie Bowser. It’s mainly set at the BBC’s HQ at Savoy Hill (and an impressive set by all accounts with various sound effects and microphones visible at the back of the stage) with the drama and news bulletins interspersed with variety acts of the day. No recordings exist but you can hear the cast, crew and author speaking about When Winston Went to War with the Wireless on the Donmar Warehouse YouTube channel.

The second radio offering is from the 1990 BBC Radio 4 six-part drama series The Churchill Years written by David Wheeler. The series focused on “six turning points in his career” and in this fourth episode it’s the General Strike. The emphasis is more on events rather than personalities with the story starting with discussions between Baldwin and the mineworkers - “Not a penny off the pay, not a second on the day” – and rallying speeches from the likes of Labour leader Ramsey MacDonald (Hugh Fraser). Churchill is charged with setting up The British Gazette which, in the eyes of the PM “puts him in a corner and stops him doing worse things” whilst Reith has a microphone set up at his Barton Street residence so that he can broadcast at a moment’s notice. Baldwin’s speech for which Reith famously wrote the final words about not compromising for “the safety and security of the British constitution” were broadcast from Reith’s study.

 Amongst the illustrious cast are Nigel Davenport as Baldwin and John Moffatt as Chamberlain. Taking on the role of Reith is the wonderful Graham Crowden (an actor who was just a couple of weeks older than the BBC itself).  Doing his best, if rather distracting, Churchill impression is Daniel Massey. He told the Radio Times “I remember hearing him on the radio during the blackout when I was about 7 or 8 – it was like a vitamin injection”. And on getting the rumbling tones right: “the voice has become a bit of a cliché though Churchill didn’t talk in clichés but in wonderfully rounded sentences that reflected his imagination and vision.

Episode 4 of The Churchill Years titled Class Wars was first broadcast on Wednesday 28 March 1990 and repeated on Sunday 1 April 1990. It was directed by Louise Purslow.

You can hear more about the BBC and the General Strike in Nick Robinson’s series Battle for the Airwaves.   

(1) The funeral was broadcast on BBC1, the Home Service, the Light Programme, the Third Programme and the General Overseas Service. Read more about the BBC tv coverage on the History of the BBC pages. The radio commentary for the funeral service is on the Internet Archive here. 

(2) After the strike the bulletins returned to their normal times for 7pm and 10pm. They were moved forward to 6.30 pm and 9.00 pm in early 1927 when the BBC was now Corporation. News was part of the Talks Department until December 1929 and again between February 1932 and August 1934 when it finally became a separate department under its first editor Professor John Coatman.