In Auntie’s Secret
Past we learn of the contents of the time capsule in the Broadcasting House
foundation stone, the furore over Prospero and Ariel (“maidens are said to
blush”), the pithy memos of the Programme Review Board, the “surfeit of
sentiment” concerns over Vera Lynn’s Sincerely
Yours, why women commentators were not favoured and whether television viewers
should be called ‘televiewers’ or ‘lookers’.
This programme, broadcast in 1997 to mark the BBC’s 75th
anniversary delves into the Written Archives at Caversham to bring some of the
behind the scenes stories of the Corporation to life. It’s also scattered with
a generous selection of Sound Archive gems.
Presented by Terry Wogan and produced by Bridget Apps, Auntie’s Secret Past went out on BBC
Radio 2 on Sunday 9 November 1997.
On Monday the BBC celebrates 100 years since its first radio
broadcast on 14 November 1922.
Making the opening announcement on station 2LO was Director
of Programmes Arthur Burrows who wrote: “November 14, 1922, was the day chosen
to commence British broadcasting in the official sense. It was the day of the
declaration of polls in connection with the General Election, and the news for
that evening consisted in the main of election results. The next day the
Birmingham station, 5IT, began to operate, and within a week 2ZY had also
joined in the work. The London station continued in my charge (Mr Jeffries
arranging the musical programmes and sharing in the pleasures of the children’s
hour). Birmingham fortunately secured the direction of Mr Percy Edgar, already
well known in the Midlands, and Metropolitan Vickers appointed to the
Manchester station Mr K.A. Wright, a young graduate of Sheffield, who, since
his earliest days with the firm, had shown a keen interest in music and its
propagation by wireless. One cannot look back upon those early days without a
smile.”
To mark the BBC’s centenary I’ve produced this sound montage
100 Years of BBC Radio in 100 History.
Roughly chronological in order it’s my selection of some memorable voices and
programmes designed to show something of the breadth of the radio services. I
hope you enjoy it.
You’ll hear some broadcasters who make more than one
appearance but see if you can spot who appears most often, on seven different
clips throughout the sequence.
Here’s the version with accompanying pictures.
The selection of early clips was, of course, limited by
what’s survived from that period. Most of my audio for the first half century
comes from compilation records issued by the BBC (for their 50th and
75th), documentary programmes about BBC history I’ve recorded over
the last 40+ years and repeats, often on Radio 4 Extra. Those 1920s clips you
here were all recreated for the May 1932 programme The End of Savoy Hill produced by Lance Sieveking. Much of what you
hear from the mid-70s onwards was recorded by me at the time or may come from
recordings kindly donated since starting this blog.
Inevitably as soon as I’d edited the ‘final’ final version I
remembered all the stuff I’d missed out. No “I’m rather worried about Jim” or “Give
‘em the money Barney”, no Noel’s funny phone calls, no reports from foreign
correspondents (other than wartime), the role of the European Service during the Cold War. I could
go on. Summarising local radio or what the BBC calls ‘the Nations’ was
impossible; they all just get seven minutes. The wonderful World Service has
been reduced to two minutes.
I first started work on this project after completing my
BBC90 montage, saving clips away in a separate folder. Most made the cut, some
just didn’t fit or no longer felt appropriate or interesting. Serious editing,
sequence by sequence, started in February and altogether I’ve used nearly 700
different bits of audio (including jingles). I reckon about 20% of material was
also in the BBC90 celebration. Thanks go again to Andy Howells who helped with
some BBC90 material in 2012 and to Aircheck Downloads who tracked down a couple
of DJ jingles for me that appear in one of the Radio 1 sequences.
%20(1)(1).jpg)
