The King and the Cotswold Shepherd

Ninety years ago on Christmas Day 1934, King George V was at Sandringham House preparing to make his broadcast to Britain and the Empire. Just before three o’clock his message was introduced not by a BBC announcer or the director-general Sir John Reith, but by a Cotswold shepherd by the name of Walton Handy.

The King had delivered his first Christmas Day message in 1932 in a broadcast heard not just in the UK on the National and Regional Programmes but around the world on the recently opened Empire Service (now the World Service). That Royal Message to the Empire was preceded by an hour of ‘greetings to and from British citizens wherever they may be’ in a feature called All the World Over. This format was repeated in 1933 in a programme titled Absent Friends, with listeners advised that ‘this broadcast will be considerably more interesting if they have an atlas ready before it begins.’ 

For Christmas Day 1935 producer Lawrence Gilliam devised Empire Exchange. But there was a radical departure from the previous round-ups  in which items from overseas were from ‘anonymous broadcasting or Government officials’, This time ‘the sound pictures or informal messages’ were from ‘ordinary individuals or commentaries describing events actually in progress at the time of the broadcast’.

The Ilmington locals that took part in the Christmas Day broadcast.
Walton Handy is pictured with his shepherd's crook and dog Sam.
Standing beside him is Spenser Flower.
(Credit: Ilmington Images)

For Empire Exchange the programme started at 1.55 with the bells of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, followed by bells from Bombay, Wellington, Ottawa, Armagh and then St Paul’s. At 2.00 after the Big Ben chimes there was the technical challenge of link-ups starting with Mr A Patterson, a superintendent of the milk supply in Wellington, New Zealand followed by Canada, Australia, India, some Chelsea pensioners, Ireland, South Africa, Glasgow, Southern Rhodesia and Liverpool. After a final port of call, to a Xhosa settlement in South Africa, attention swung to ‘a quiet village in the heart of England – to the Manor House of Ilmington, Warwickshire.

What was to happen next was previewed in the local Stratford-upon-Avon Herald (21 December 1934):

A great compliment has been paid to Ilmington—and Warwickshire—by reason of the fact that the village is to take part in the Empire broadcast on Christmas Day. It is the only English place to be so honoured in a broadcast which the BBC estimate will be heard by several hundred million people. The Ilmington programme is intended to provide a peaceful English background for the King's speech after the necessarily disjointed items from the various parts of the Empire. The arrangements have been entrusted to Mr. Spenser Flower, who, as our readers will recollect, scored an undoubted success on the occasion of Ilmington’s first broadcast in the early part of the year. The broadcast from Ilmington will open with some introductory remarks and messages to the Empire, after which an old Christmas carol will be sung. Mr. Spenser Flower will then introduce an old shepherd (Mr. Walton Handy), who will speak. Then will come an old harvest song, after which Ilmington, representing the Empire, will send a loyal message to the King. The King will then speak, and immediately afterwards Ilmington will sing the first three lines of an Empire National Anthem, which will be taken up in turn (three lines each) by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, &c., the finale being sung by a full choir in London. This is a wonderful technical feat which must be a source of great worry to the BBC engineers responsible for the timing. The Ilmington broadcast will occupy only six or seven minutes. Special lines have been laid and apparatus installed at the Old Tithe Barn at Ilmington Manor, from which the broadcast will be given.

Sure enough, just before 3pm Walton Handy’s voice was heard across the Empire as he proclaimed “in the name of Ilmington, Merry Christmas to you all. And in the name of the Empire, God bless our gracious King”’ The King’s broadcast followed immediately without a further announcement. Here's that part of Empire Exchange:

Major Spenser Flower (a member of the Stratford-based Flowers brewing family) was the Squire of Ilmington Manor. Writing to the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald he seemed well pleased with the day’s events:

May I ask you to extend to me the courtesy of your columns to express my gratitude to everyone of my Christmas Day Empire Broadcasting party for the wonderful help they gave me in a not too easy undertaking. To get simplicity into a programme is not necessarily simple. I could not have made a success of this item in the Empire broadcast without a good deal of rehearsal and the loyal co-operation of the party. Of many kind and congratulatory messages I have received is one from the London BBC, in which they ask me to convey ‘their heartfelt thanks to all for a truly magnificent programme.’ I have received a telegram from as far away as New Zealand, where we were apparently very clearly heard. Mr. Walton Handy has rightly and deservedly received widespread notice, and I am deeply grateful to him; but the minor members of the party, viz., the bell-ringers and the carol singers, also contributed to the success of the programme. The following are their names :— Mrs. Bessie Faulkner, Miss Gwennie Smith, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. Robotham, Mr. George Hands, Mr. Venables, Mr. Cook, Mr. Cook, Jr., Mr. Boswell, and Mr. Mayo. The actual arrangements were a little nerve racking, as, owing to the Empire programme running late, cuts had to be made up to the last moment, including a complete carol.— Yours, &c.,

Why was Ilmington chosen by the BBC for that Empire Exchange? As that first newspaper article says this wasn’t the first broadcast from the village that year, so it is possible that the technical issues of broadcasting from that location and the availability of the Manor House were addressed in that earlier transmission. It also seems likely that Flower himself may have been influential in negotiating the return visit. Aside from his brewing interests he was an amateur actor, public speaker, Rotarian, president of the local Conservative Association, governor of the Stratford-upon-Avon Memorial Theatre, an electrical engineer and member of the I.E.E.   

Sam Bennett pictured in the Radio Times
for the Ilmington Meets the Microphone 
programme

That earlier broadcast was Ilmington Meets the Microphone heard on the Midland Regional Programme on 2 June. It was part of a series intended to give a glimpse into the life of villagers in various parts of the country. Acting as compère was the Squire himself Spenser Flower with ‘local colour’ provided by villagers. Those locals included Samuel Bennett – who performed in his attire of smock, bells, ribbon-trimmed hat and white breeches – who’s ‘fiddling, singing or recounting numerous anecdotes...provided rare entertainment”. There was singing from the duet of Mrs Bennett and Mrs Faulkner and the Terry family of hand-bell ringers.

The Radio Times billing set the scene: 

The village of Ilmington lies to the west of the Stratford-Oxford main road. Ilmington is in Warwickshire. An attempt was recently made to have it transferred from Warwickshire to Gloucestershire. The story goes that at the height of the controversy, a resident was asked which he preferred, and plumped for Warwickshire ' because it's so mortal cold on top of they Glahstersheer hills '. It has an interesting old church, and fine old manor-house. Simon de Montfort , who was killed at the Battle of Evesham, lived there; several of the de Montforts were Rectors. The manor-house is now the residence of Mr. Spenser Flower, who compères this village feature. Inhabitants will describe the life of the village, and the talk will be broken up with music and snatches of song.

Back to that 1934 Christmas Day transmission, for behind the picture of bucolic charm trouble was brewing (no pun intended). What the above reports don’t mention is that the handover to the King was originally supposed to have been performed by the village’s oldest inhabitant, 95 year old Richard Long. But, as the Daily Express reported three days after the broadcast, Long had been dropped because his photograph had appeared in the newspaper before Christmas (see article above). Spenser Flower is quoted as saying that the ban was imposed on the instructions of the BBC ‘as an undertaking was said to have been given on behalf of the villagers that no detail of the broadcast would be divulged.’ However, the BBC stated that Mr Long had been unable to broadcast as he was ‘bed-ridden’. There was further village unrest as Sam Bennett, already something of a local celebrity and described in the report as the local ‘fruiterer, bramble merchant and fiddler’ [Note 1] was also excluded and wrote to Flower “It was my broadcasting party, and you threw me out”, to which the Squire replied “If you want a fight, I can fight too”. There are no reports of aggro on the village green so presumably some kind of peace was restored.   

Walton Handy and Sam pictured in 1940

There is, however, a heart-warming postscript to this story. In his Christmas Day message Walton Handy had mentioned his brother Josh who’d emigrated to New Zealand in 1907. He asked that if his brother happened to be listening to write to him as he’d not heard from him for many years and had lost his address.  By the following February Walton had that letter from Josh in Papakura, Auckland. The Daily News reported: “We were sitting round the radio,” wrote Josh, “as we knew Ilmington was going to broadcast, but never dreamed it was you. When you began I said to my wife, ‘That’s our Walt,’ but she ridiculed me. As you went on it proved I was right. To hear you 12,000 miles away gave me the biggest thrill of my life.”

The story doesn’t end there. On Christmas Day 1939 Laurence Gilliam was yet again charged with producing the pre-Royal message programme The Empire’s Greeting and billed in the Radio Times under Christmas in the British Isles is ‘a Shepherd in the Cotswolds’. Yes, it’s our old friend Walton Handy who yet again took the honour of greeting the King, this time George VI. Such was Walton’s fame that theatre impresario George Black offered him an engagement to appear at a London music hall, an invitation that he declined. Walton Handy died in January 1951 aged 81.

The story of the 1934 broadcast from Ilmington was told in a 2020 drama Voices Out of the Air produced by the Stratford-based Run Home Productions and broadcast on BBC CWR on 23 December 2020. Written by Mark Carey it tells the story through the eyes of a young radio engineer and some of the scenes were recorded at Ilmington Manor and St Mary’s Church. You can read about this drama on Run Home website and hear the full recording here.

Note 1: Supposedly his notepaper was headed ‘Badger Killer and Bramble Merchant’. His expertise in folk music and dance meant he was already well known not just in the UK but also in the States. In 1928 he accepted an invitation from Henry Ford, no less, to visit the USA. Bennett was also a parish councillor.

Note 2: There were three BBC broadcasts from Ilmington in 1934. With the equipment already in place for the Christmas Day programme The Burford-based Westhall Singers were on air from the Tithe Barn at the Manor House for part of Carol Contrasts on the Midland Regional service on Christmas Eve.    

Note 3: Richard Long died in October 1935 aged 97. Spenser Flower died just a week after the declaration of World War II on 12 September 1939, He was 62. Sam Bennett enjoyed considerable success as a fiddle player even appearing on In Town Tonight. He died in February 1951 aged 86. A programme about his life was broadcast in the Midland region on 15 February 1952. Ilmington Manor remains in the Flower family and the gardens are regularly open to the public. The bells of St Mary’s church can be heard on BBC Sounds if you search under Bells on Sunday. 

Loudly proclaim with one accord

 

The sound of church bells ringing out on Christmas morning was part of the radio landscape (on BBC national radio) for just over four decades.  The peal of bells from British churches and cathedrals were featured in a short programme (10 to 20 minutes) on the Home Service and then Radio 4 between 1943 and 1986. For the almost half that time they were introduced by Robert Hudson (commentator mainly for cricket and numerous royal events) but earlier sequences were linked by staff announcers or former staff announcers.

From Christmas Day 1960 comes this recording of Christmas Bells. It’s another tape recorded at the time by Eric Bartington and re-discovered recently in New Zealand by Gerard de Roo. The first minute or so is missing but the bells included here are from Sheffield Cathedral, Ottery St. Mary Parish Church in Devon (pictured above), Parish Church of St. Patrick Ballymena in Co. Antrim, Parish Church of St. Mary Hampton in Middlesex, Birmingham Cathedral, St. Cuthbert's Church Edinburgh, Parish Church of St. Mary Swansea and, as was often the tradition on this broadcasts, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Introducing the bells is Stuart Hibberd (above), the former announcer best remembered for some of his important pre-war and wartime announcements. He retired from the BBC in 1951 but continued to present the weekly series The Silver Lining – talks designed to provide “comfort and cheer for all in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity” – until 1964.       

Church picture credit thanks to Sandra Wright at https://www.otterystmary.info/

Step Back in Time

I guess we'd all rather forget 2020 so in this post I'm going back a little further for the annual reviews.

To kick off, just 30 years ago it's the annual wrap-up of the news as seen through the eyes of the Week Ending team. It was a year dominated by the end of the Thatcher administration and the Gulf War. Taking part are Sally Grace, David Tate, Bill Wallis and Jon Glover. Also featured in the repeated sketches are Russell Davies, Royce Mills, Chris Emmett, John Baddeley, Neil Caple, Ian Ashpitel and Alistair McGowan. Year Ending was first broadcast on 28 December 1990.   

Quote...Unquote is now in its 44th year and for the few years always had a Christmas special. The edition I've unearthed is from Christmas Day 1980 with the panel of P.D. James, Dick Vosburgh, Brian Johnston and Sue McGregor. As usual Nigel Rees is posing the questions. Reading the quotations is veteran announcer Ronald Fletcher.     

Booked for Christmas

Booked for Christmas

Looking for present ideas for the radio enthusiast in your life or wanting to drop hints to your loved ones about what to buy you this Christmas, then here are some book suggestions published in the last few months.

A number of radio personalities have taken the opportunity of Covid-19 lockdown to finish their autobiographies and these have caught my eye.

Hey Hi Hello: Five Decades of Pop Culture from Britain's First Female DJ by Annie Nightingale

The queen of Radio 1 celebrated fifty years on the station this year. Here she tells us about her 60s forays into journalism and broadcasting, her break into Radio 1 and the stars and musicians she's met along the way, from the Beatles to Billie Eilish.

Last month Annie spoke to Nick Grimshaw about her career and favourite music. She speaks to Zoe Ball on Radio 2 later this month.

Voiceover Man by Peter Dickson

Self-confessed "announcer guy, voice of God, gob on a stick, vocal prostitute" offers this frank and funny review of his radio and voiceover career.

Here's Peter talking to  Jenny Kleeman and Luke Jones on Times Radio in September.

Kid Jensen: For the Record by David Jensen

From Jensen's Dimensions and the Rhythm Pals to the Network Chart and the Flashback 40 the Kid has been on the radio for five decades. More recently David has been battling with Parkinson's disease and a share of the proceeds from each sale will go the Parkinson's UK.  Available from Little Wing Books.

The Kid spoke to Steve Wright this week.

Commercial Radio Daze by David Hamilton

David has already written about his time on the nation's favourite in The Golden Days of Radio One and this latest volume takes the story further and recalls some of the dozens of other stations that Diddy has appeared on. Initially only available for Kindle its now out as a paperback from Ashwater Press.  

Earlier this year David spoke to Alan Jarvie about his book. 

Re-Run the Fun: My Life as Pat Sharp by Pat Sharp

Don't be misled into thinking that this is Pat's autobiography, it only bears a passing resemblance to what actually happened purporting to be an 'untrue' book.  

Last month Pat, by the sounds of it sitting in his bathroom, spoke to Chris Moyles on Radio X.

Life's What You Make It by Phillip Schofield

Although better known for the Broom Cupboard and This Morning the Schofe was on the radio in New Zealand and enjoyed a four year stint on Radio 1 (1988-92) including achieving his ambition of hosting the roadshow from Newquay where he'd grown up and watched the show as a teenager.  

Phillip spoke to Chris Moyles in October.

Utterly Brilliant!:My Life's Journey by Timmy Mallett

Before the madness of TV-am's Wacaday, Timmy on the Tranny had started on BBC Radio Oxford then Centre Radio and up to Piccadilly. One-time helper on Timmy's show at Piccadilly Chris Evans (Nobby Nolevel) spoke to Timmy on his Virgin Radio show back in January. Interview on YouTube here.

Other books from radio folk published this year include:

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along: Shout Less. Listen More by Iain Dale

The Prime Ministers: 55 Leaders, 55 Authors, 300 Years of History by Iain Dale

How Not To Be Wrong: The Art of Changing Your Mind by James O'Brien

Finally, if you don't already have a copy then please consider:

Radio Secrets and Radio Moments both by David Lloyd

Walking Backwards for Christmas

You have to hand it to Father Christmas, he's really has got the work-life balance in his favour. One, admittedly knackering, day visiting all the children in world and the rest of the year to put his feet up. Or so it would seem.  

In this interview with Father Christmas, not heard for over 50 years, we get to hear that when he's not organising the gifts for the kiddies ("axes, pistols, do-it-yourself murder kits") or doing battle with traffic wardens when he has to park the reindeer, then he is, in fact, a BBC commissionaire - "the one that stands outside and doesn't open the door for you."

Posing the questions to the man himself is BBC reporter Greville Havenhand in this extract which probably comes from an edition of Radio Newsreel, though I can't date it with any precision.

If you think that Father Christmas sounds a little like Spike Milligan then you'll appreciate this contribution to Punch about his family Christmases and his attempt to disguise himself as Father Christmas that ends in disaster. This article comes the edition of Punch dated 4 December 1974.  

There's more Spike over Christmas on the radio. As well as the Operation Christmas Duff episode of The Goon Show, Radio 4 has a dramatisation of his comic novel Puckoon with Ed Byrne, Barry Cryer, Pauline McLynn and his daughter Jane Milligan.   

With thanks to Tim Havenhand

A Crooning Christmas

With a career spanning seven decades Tony Bennett is the last of the American singers who goes back to the big band era. Most of his contemporaries - Sinatra, Ella, Ray Charles, Mel Tormé, Vic Damone - are sadly no longer with us. He's survived the rock 'n' roll and pop era and has come back time and time again, most recently enjoying success with the Grammy award-winning Duets albums. His most recent album Love is Here to Stay, a collaboration with Diana Krall, was released in September.    

For Christmas in 2001 Tony recorded a show for BBC Radio 2. This was relaxed easy listening with Bennett acting as DJ and playing some of his favourite music from Bing to Billy Joel, from Dinah Washington to Stevie Wonder plus some of his own recordings mixed in for good measure.

Sit back, pour yourself a drink and wallow in some classic music and reminiscences from Tony Bennett. First broadcast on Sunday 30 December 2001. Thank you to Paul Langford for passing this recording on to me.      




And if love this kind of music you were probably a listener to those Sunday night shows from The David Jacobs Collection. Here's a festive themed programme with David from 23 December 2007.  

Christmas Countdown - 25 December - Just a Minute Does Panto

This year sees the 50th anniversary of that radio perennial Just a Minute. There are some special programmes this month marking the golden anniversary but on Christmas Day last year Radio 4 broadcast this extended version of the game with some added, if rather flimsy, panto elements. Joining the regulars of Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth are Tony Hawks, Tom Allen, Rufus Hound, Pippa Evans and Julian Clary. As ever the chairman is Nicholas Parsons.

The format reverts to a team effort, even if it does sometimes get undermined, a throwback to Just a Minute's predecessor One Minute, Please and there's a lovely nod to the days of Kenneth Williams.

Read more about Just a Minute in my recent post Just a Golden Minute.

Christmas Countdown - 24 December - The Snowman

A Christmas treat from Classic FM from this day last year with a retelling of the Raymond Briggs story narrated by Aled Jones with music written by Howard Blake. 

Christmas Countdown - 22 December - Mark Forrest

When I recorded the BBC local radio evening show on this day last year it had already been announced that Mark Forrest was stepping down, to be replaced in February 2017 by Georgey Spanswick. Since then the DG has recently announced that the networked evening show will be dropped from next summer and local shows will return.

Little has been heard of Mark since he left the show though I did catch him read the news on Radio 3 in September. 

Christmas Countdown - 21 December - Tony Gillham

It was a special edition of Gillham's Gold on BBC Radio Jersey this time last year as Tony Gillham celebrated 50 years on the radio. Remarkably Tony had kept the tape of his first appearance behind the microphone, aged just 15, on hospital radio in Colchester. 

Christmas Countdown - 20 December - Adrian Chiles

On this date last year the day's news was dominated by the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. But the story I've selected from Adrian's 5 live Daily covers the events from five decades ago, the sinking of the TSMS Lakonia (above) which saw the greatest loss of British lives on a cruise ship since the Titanic. Eyewitness stories mixed with some contemporary archive material create a compelling and moving story of the events of December 1963.  

Christmas Countdown - 19 December - Matt, Polly & Geraint

To South Wales for the Capital Breakfast show from a trio rather than the usual duo of Matt Lissack, Polly James and Geraint Hardy. Goodness me, all this talk of Christmas parties, Snapchat and members of the  Kardashian clan makes me feel old. This is how it all sounded a year ago today. 

Christmas Countdown - 18 December - Big T

It's Father Christmas with a stetson as Northern Ireland's Downtown Country airs a year ago on a Sunday night. To my knowledge Trevor Campbell, aka Big T, is the only DJ from the original 19 ILR stations that is still working on the same station some four decades later. This is the first hour of the show in full.  

Christmas Countdown - 17 December - Alex Lester

Little did I know that when I recorded this last year that Alex's days on Radio 2 were numbered, with just another few weeks of overnights before an automated Radio 2 Playlist kicked in. On this Best Time of the Day show the Virtual Musical Map concentrates on High Wycombe.  

Alex can now be heard presenting the weekday breakfast show on BBC WM 95.6

Christmas Countdown - 16 December - Joel & Lorna

Great fun with Joel Ross and Lorna Bancroft on Heart North West a year ago today. On this show Lorna's feeling under the weather, producer Jordan Hemingway has been on a date but Joel has some upsetting news about his cat. Tomorrow the Dark Lord. 

Christmas Countdown - 15 December - JK & Lucy

I've not heard JK and Joel since their days on Radio 1, apart from once catching Joel on Yorkshire Coast Radio. So on this day last year I dipped into Heart London's drivetime show with Jason King and Lucy Horobin. This was a very slick affair: no talkie bit seemed to last more than a minute, it was mostly two or three record segues and editing out the ads, news and all but one traffic report I've reduced a three-hour show to just 18 minutes! Tomorrow Joel & Lorna. 

Christmas Countdown - 14 December - John Foster

From the radio dynasty that is the Foster family here's John on BBC Tees mid-mornings from this day last year. The self-confessed radio anorak even name checks the old BBC HQ at Savoy Hill and can't resist a trip down nostalgia lane towards the end of the show.

In 2017 John appeared infrequently on Tees and in November announced that he was leaving the station for good due to the long commute. 

Christmas Countdown - 13 December - Jon Holmes

Jon Holmes and team on Talk Radio's afternoon show dissecting the news in haiku and W.H. Auden poetry. Plus loads of topical Christmas cracker jokes from newsreader Victoria Bourne, old Now Show mate Pippa Evans, celebrity-spotting, a work experience pundit, the diversity paper review and a chance to win some meat.

This is how the show sounded on 13 December 2016. 

Christmas Countdown - 12 December - James O'Brien

Mid-mornings on LBC it's James O'Brien. Talking to Buzzfeed in 2016 about his broadcasting style James had this to say: "I set out to excite an emotional reaction, which I guess the shock jock does. But I would distinguish myself from most shock jocks in America by saying I do it by a telling the truth, speaking up for the people who don’t have a voice, rather than the kind of traditional shock jock, which is pretending that you’re speaking up for the people who haven’t got a voice whereas in fact you’re endorsing the loudest, most privileged voices – usually angry white men, isn’t it – claiming that they are somehow victims of circumstances when it’s never been a better time in history to be an angry white man.”

A year ago James was picking up on the issues of the cost of social care and the working conditions of Amazon employees. Some of those lengthy O'Brien monologues (actually edited here) and some calls too.

Christmas Countdown - 11 December - Sunday Morning with Ricky Ross

If you've ever wondered what Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross is up to well the band are still touring and Ricky can be heard on BBC Radio Scotland as one of the presenters of the Sunday morning programme that is billed as "two hours of music and stimulating conversation from a faith and ethical perspective". The other presenters are Cathy Macdonald, Sally Magnusson and Richard Holloway.

A year ago Ricky's main guest on Sunday Morning with... was actor Gregor Fisher. Best known, of course, as street philosopher Rab C. Nesbitt but in December 2016 about to go into panto as one of the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella as Glasgow's King's Theatre. You'll hear that he now lives in France, just a little over an hour from me as it happens.