The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

Comedy on Air: Hysterical History from The Co-Optimists to Bottom

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

The First Radio Dramatist: The Truth about Phyllis Twigg

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

Yesteryear in Parliament: The BBC vs The Government, April 1923

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

The Press vs the BBC vs the Govt: 1923 + 2023

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
 

Children’s Hour to Bedtime Hour: Uncles, Aunts and Iggle Piggle

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
 

Major Arthur Corbett-Smith: Reith’s Rival

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
 

SPECIAL: A Brief History of Coronation Broadcasts

Episode 67 is a special:
A Brief History of Coronation Broadcasts (or Broadcast Coronations)
How the BBC has brought two such ceremonies to the air, as they (and others) now tackle a third, for King Charles III.
We'll tell you all about the two previous on-air crownings, of George VI and Elizabeth II, both on radio and TV - but first we'll go back to the four monarchs before them:
Queen Victoria's (1938) used a certain technological advancement to bring more eyes than ever before to a coronation procession.
Edward VII's (1902) had a film made of it, though a simulation using actors. (Had director Georges Méliès got his way, it would have included Queen Victoria's ghost!). Edward's wife Princess Alexandra had a few links to broadcasting too.
Watch Georges Méliès' film The Coronation of Edward VII (1902): https://youtu.be/ME6z810Zre8
George V's (1911) was filmed for newsreel.
That newsreel footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8SoUPxIkZ8 
Edward VIII's (1937) was planned then canned after his (broadcast) abdication.
George VI's (1937) took the same coronation day, same plans, changed the name etched onto the crown (I think that's how they do it), and his state occasion made it to radio and TV: the first broadcast coronation. We'll meet the engineer who taught him to conquer his stammer for the microphone, but had to sleep in Westminster Abbey. And learn how many (or how few) cameras were available to use. You probably have more in your house right now...
BBC radio's coronation broadcast - Stuart Hibberd, John Snagge etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWPE4GIp9kE - thanks to Random Radio Jottings blog
BBC website inc making-of film: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/birth-of-tv/two-coronations/
George VI's coronation speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfD14kL2XAk
Elizabeth II's (1953) was "the OB of all OBs", aka "C-Day". Hear from Richard Dimbleby, John Snagge... and learn why we should toast him at hymn 9 (don't worry - there aren't that many) 
The complete ceremony, televised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NTjasbmgw
Coronation Day Across the World, courtesy of Random Radio Jottings/Andy Walmsley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jg4uK2DGFA
BBC website on Elizabeth II's coronation, inc behind-the-scenes film: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/june/coronation-of-queen-elizabeth-ii/
Charles III's (2023): Well that's not history enough yet for our liking...
Here's a nice guide to the televised coronation, past and present: https://news.sky.com/story/the-kings-coronation-will-be-televised-and-much-more-how-ways-to-watch-have-changed-since-the-queen-was-crowned-12848891
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Or rate and review us.
Or chip in on patreon.com/paulkerensa (or ko-fi.com/paulkerensa) to help fund like this. Thanks!
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This podcast is nothing whatsoever to do with the BBC. We believe the clips used are no longer in copyright due to age. It is possible that some somehow retain BBC or Crown copyright, in which case the content belongs to them, and certainly not us.
It's all here purely to inform, educate and entertain.
For more on this deep dive project into broadcasting's back-story, see paulkerensa.com/oldradio, including details of the live show and novel.
Subscribe to get each episode when it lands.
NEXT TIME: Major Arthur Corbett-Smith - Reith's maverick rival of 1923.
Please stand for the National Anthem.
paulkerensa.com/oldradio

The BBC’s News, Weather and SOS Broadcasts of March 1923

Here is the news. And the weather. And the SOS messages...
Our timeline continues into late March 1923 - which means that as well as news, we now have daily weather forecasts on the early BBC. It's just in time for the end of the Ideal Home Exhibition - selling radio to the masses, and oh look how useful it is.
Also that month, SOS messages began in Birmingham: brief broadcasts trying to reach relatives of those critically ill, or missing persons, or even missing pelicans.
Joining us to talk about yesterday's news is former news editor at Pebble Mill, Breakfast News and many more BBC news programmes MAURICE BLISSON. To talk about today's BBC news, and the war against it, we have Prof PATRICK BARWISE and Peter York (see their book below - and hear more of them in 3 episodes' time), and on the SOS origins of broadcasting, Prof GABRIELE BALBI.
Plus other on-air quirks and remnants from March 1923, such as the first broadcast from a church, the first educational broadcasts, and Peter Eckersley telling us not to oscillate.
Episode 66 is packed as ever then... Next time: meet Arthur Corbett-Smith, the unorthodox Cardiff station director.
 
SHOWNOTES:
Listen to Radio 4 documentary 'And Now An Urgent SOS Message' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRI8DO8QAwg
Buy Patrick Barwise and Peter York's book The War Against the BBC - https://amzn.to/40axAp8
Read Patrick Barwise and Peter York's article in Prospect Magazine - https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/60479/we-have-bad-news-for-the-right-wing-bbc-haters-most-of-the-public-just-dont-agree-with-you
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
 

A Brief History of the BBC’s Archives

Episode 65 welcomes the BBC's only ever Sound Archivist (the title changed a few times), Simon Rooks. For 33 years he was lost in the archives and now he's found his way out, he's here to tell us the way.
This episode is more interview than usual, including a whizzthrough 100 years of the BBC Sound Archive - from no recordings to the first recordings, Lance Sieveking's re-enactments and Leslie Baily's archive gathering, Marie Slocombe and Lynton Fletcher's channelling of Marie Kondo, location actuality recordings, the first retake and recording from a WW2 bombing mission... and that's all just in the first two decades!
Simon guides us all the way through to BBC7 and the present day - if you love old radio, it's a fascinating insight. Thanks Simon - and thanks to you and the team for looking after it for all these years.
Elsewhere, our timeline of British broadcasting's origin story continues, covering March 16th-26th 1923 - which happens to include the first BBC music library under Frank Hook. And the archive is off... So as we traverse the early tale of the Beeb, this is the perfect episode to go deeper into the tale of the archive than you've probably ever gone before (I should add we're mostly talking about the Sound Archive here. As for the Written Archives, the Television Archive - one day...) 
Plus one of my favourite stories about the early BBC, involving an Archbishop, a bit of Schubert and All-Request Monday.
I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did putting it together. Happy listening!
SHOWNOTES:
LOTS of extra things you could listen to if you hunger for more...
Hear the Radio 4 Archive Hour that Simon made with Sean Street on the first Sound Archives Librarian Marie Slocombe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/archive-hour--marie-slocombe-and-the-bbc-sound-archive/zvrf7nb
Simon mentions this 1942 programme, 'You Have Been Listening to a Recording' featuring Lynton Fletcher and Marie Slocombe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/you-have-been-listening-to-a-recording--part-3/znsm47h
Hear even more of Lynton Fletcher on this 1941 literary lunch talk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/foyles-literary-luncheon--the-bbc-recorded-programmes-department/z72kf4j
Hear an extended interview with Marie Slocombe here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/marie-slocombe--sound-archives-librarian-1937-1972/zr4vmfr 
The London Sound Survey is quite something - the late Ian Rawes curated it, from BBC discs including the first location recordings. See the dates down the left, and have a listen to the everyday 1930s: https://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/radio_actuality_recordings
A reminder that this podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about them, not with their permission. And in fact the BBC we're talking about isn't today's BBC - it's the British Broadcasting Company. The Corporation is not behind this in any way.
It's a one-man operation - so thanks for supporting on patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do. Or one-off tips if you prefer are much appreciated too! ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. 
But the free way to support us is to share this podcast with others. Help it grow by helping others find us. That will keep us going as long as... well maybe not quite as long as the BBC's archives, but we can make a start.
Original music by Will Farmer.
Archive material is so old it’s generally out of copyright. BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Thanks for listening. Do rate/review if you like, if you like it. And subscribe so that you get future episodes, including...
NEXT TIME: News, the first daily weather and SOS broadcasts in late March 1923 - with more great guests.
https://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Farewell Magnet House, Hello... Laundry Baskets? + Jeffrey Holland

Episode 64 dwells in 1st-16th March 1923: the last days of the first BBC HQ of Magnet House.
So this packed show takes a walk from Magnet House to the studios at Marconi House, just as the early broadcasters would have done. We take a look at the early broadcasting philosophy of first staff - "the upper side of taste" (no grizzly murders or divorce cases).
We revisit broadcasts from the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition and head on tour with a laundry basket packed with sheet music (just don't send it to the laundrette like they did).
Hear the voices of a few who were there: Rex Palmer, Peter Eckersley, Arthur Burrows, Cecil Lewis, A.E. Thompson, Percy Edgar, Leonard Crocombe... that's about 10% of the entire BBC workforce at the time! You'll also hear a bit from Radio 4's Justin Webb...
...our main special guest is JEFFREY HOLLAND, star of Hi-de-Hi, You Rang M'Lord, Oh Doctor Beeching... and he tells how he even played Private Pike AND Private Walker onstage with the original Dad's Army cast of Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn.
It's a packed episode, but then a lot happened in early March 1923! Next time, late March 1923... Stay tuned to this frequency.
 
LINKS:
Find out more about Jeffrey Holland's tour as Stan Laurel at https://www.jeffreyholland.co.uk/
 
For more on Leonard Crocombe/Justin Webb, here's our previous episode of the podcast about grandfather and grandson, both BBC stars 100 years apart: https://pod.fo/e/120761
 
 
The complete Leonard Crocombe record can be heard on AusRadioHistorian's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/6N1-hGjP_2M
 
London Calling, Jimmy Perry's 1922-set sitcom about the early BBC starring Jeffrey Holland, can be heard on Youtube: https://youtu.be/qFSTtd69U_0
For the full video of my walk from Magnet House to Marconi House (as was), join us on Patreon - join then cancel if you like! Here's the video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/magnet-house-to-68777192
...that all helps support the podcast and keeps us in books and web hosting. One-off tips delightfully welcomed too! At http://ko-fi.com/paulkerensa
I'm booking in a mini-tour this year recreating the first religious broadcast, and/or a more general talk/show/presentation An Evening of (Very) Old Radio. More info at https://www.paulkerensa.com/tour or just email me on https://www.paulkerensa.com/contact.php - you can use that for any podcast comments, heckles, anecdotes etc too. We must bring back Airwave Memories/Firsthand Memories too. Record a thing or write some words about your early broadcast memories, if you like. Get in touch!
Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC. Did I mention that? BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Original music is by Will Farmer.
 
Next time we'll have the tale of late March with the first daily weather broadcasts, SOSs and an interview with a former BBC archivist.
...Subscribe so you don't miss it!
www.podfollow.com/bbcentury

Glasgow 5SC: The BBC Launches in Scotland

On episode 63, we've reached 6th March 1923: Glasgow 5SC launches - the BBC's first station in Scotland.
It's not Scotland's first radio station (see episode 48 for the tale of how Daimler, Glasgow Motor Show and a couple of electrical shop owners made a couple of pre-BBC pop-up stations).
But this sixth BBC station mattered to John Reith more than any other. He'd grown up in Glasgow. His mum came to visit the radio station. He opened the station himself - apart from the bagpipes playing Hey Johnny Cope.
You have two fantastic guides through this episode:
GRAHAM STEWART, a BBC journalist whose new book Scotland On-Air is out very soon. Details at https://wiki.scotlandonair.com/wiki/Main_Page
+
TONY CURRIE, of Radio Six International, and author of The Radio Times Story. Details at https://www.radiosix.com/
 
SHOWNOTES:
- I mention an early 1980s children's retrospective that Kathleen Garscadden appears on. It's called Jubilee! 60 Years of Children's Programmes, it's from 1983, it's got Floella Benjamin, Sarah Greene, Mike Read, Keith Chegwin. Tony Hart and many more, including Auntie Cyclone herself, it's fab, and it's here to watch: https://youtu.be/tNZD70HiFsw 
- My novel on all this, Auntie and Uncles, is out soon! But not yet. Depending when you read this. More info may be here, unless I've missed Amazon's deadline to upload it, in which case Jeff Bezos might delete this from sale. But it will return! When ready. It's going to be great... https://amzn.to/3EODANc
- Support us on www.patreon.com/paulkerensa to keep us afloat and in return get extra writings, videos and ample more! Thanks to all who support us there. 
- We're on www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury, where our Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker is chronicling newspapers on this day 100 years ago.
- Follow us on www.twitter.com/bbcentury, where I post LOTS of old radio things.
- More on this entire project at www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio
- This is not a BBC podcast - we're talking about them (though very much from a favourable viewpoint), not with them.
- BBC content is used with kind permission of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved...
- ...and preserved. This podcast is the origin story of British broadcasting, told the very slow way - but hopefully in a way that informs, educates and (winks, clicks fingers like the Fonz) entertains.
Next time: We're still in March 1923 (a lot happened in March 1923) with broadcasts from the Ideal Home Exhibition, tales of touring variety acts around the early BBC stations, and a fab guest in Hi-de-Hi's Jeffrey Holland.
Subscribe to get this podcast as soon as one's uploaded - we plan on being here a while yet: www.podfollow.com/bbcentury
 

Radio’s First Political Debate... and Reeta Chakrabarti

On 22 February 1923, the BBC tried something new: the first broadcast political debate. What could possibly go wrong? Let's find out!
And we chat to Reeta Chakrabarti - a mainstay of BBC news for over 30 years. She's anchored news from the studio, broadcast from Ukraine, and recently voiced radio pioneer Hilda Matheson on the BBC100 Prom. We talk about her career highlights and the place of BBC journalism in the world today.
Back in 1923, we're telling the origin story of British broadcasting, landmark moment by landmark moment, so this episode includes:
That first political debate: Sir Ernest Benn and J.T. Walton Newbold MP on "That Communism would be a Danger to the Good of the People” - but the audience are a little one-sided, and bring not only heckles but a rousing musical finale - The Red Flag. There are complaints... Thanks to the press of the day, we recreate the key moments of that first political debate for (we presume) the first time ever.
Back at HQ, Caroline Banks joins to head up the female clerical staff.
The BBC listings ban continues in the press.
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred make the jump from a Daily Mirror cartoon strip to on-air children's programme.
The launch of Musical, Dramatic, Literary and Film Talks.
The first broadcast in Welsh (hear Rev Gwilym Davies).
The first daytime programmes... and more.
It was quite a week!
Next time: Early March 1923, the BBC gains its sixth station and Scotland gains official broadcasting, as Glasgow 5SC launches. We'll bring the speeches and juicy details.
Support us? £5/mth on Patreon.com/paulkerensa keeps us going.
And/or share this if you like it - find us fresh ears!
We're on Facebook and Twitter, and a reminder that this is nothing to do with the BBC. It's a one-man non-BBC project.
Part of that also includes Paul's new novel, Auntie and Uncles: The Bizarre Birth of the BBC (out this spring, ish): https://amzn.to/3ZsF335
Another part is Paul's live show on early radio: this year that includes 'The Beeb: Year 1 - 1923 Repeated' (a stand-up history show whizzing through that first year) + a re-enactment of the first religious broadcast. To book either, or with any comments on the podcast, get in touch.
Subscribte/Rate/Review if you like this episode - thanks!
paulkerensa.com

The BBC’s Listings Ban... and Gareth Gwynn’s Ministry of Happiness

Welcome to Season 5!
Centenary specials behind us, we deep-dive back into mid-Feb 1923, in our moment-by-moment story of British broadcasting's birth.
On episode 61, we hear from:
GARETH GWYNN on his new sitcom on the launch of broadcasting in Wales, The Ministry of Happiness (catch it on BBC Sounds)...
ANDREW BARKER on the BBC listings ban...
and DAVID JERVIS on his grandfather 'The Tame Wizard', Capt H.J. Round. Hear an excerpt here, or the full section in David's recording on Youtube.
And some of the landmark moments we cover include:
Feb 13th: Cardiff 5WA launches - hear clips from The Ministry of Happiness, including a sneak-peek of episode 2.
Feb 14th: The Pall Mall Gazette stops printing BBC listings, after a feud between press + broadcasters. Our Newspaper Detective will tell you what, why and when.
Feb 15th: The listings ban comes in...
Feb 16th: As Shakespeare is first broadcast, one of The Pall Mall Gazette's most famous advertisers comes to the rescue.
Feb 17th: The first broadcast appeal, for the Winter Distress League.
Feb 20th: Sir Oliver Lodge broadcasts... and John Reith battles the press, and gets an idea in the process. The Radio Times idea is born. 
Subscribe, share, rate, review, tell your friends, join us on Facebook, Twitter and Patreon - and thanks if you support us there.
...There on Patreon you can have Cecil Lewis' Broadcasting from Within read to you (with explanatory interruptions). Hear an extract this episode from the grandson of the chap being mentioned.
 
FINAL THINGS:
- Paul's new novel Auntie and Uncles will be out this Spring. Hopefully. That date may shift. Still writing it. Details: https://amzn.to/3zIY9Hq
- Paul's got two touring showatunities this year - dates TBC but for now we want BOOKINGS! The First Religious Broadcast: Re-enacted... AND The Beeb: Year 1 are both available. Fancy either at your place? A village hall? A church? A club/group/society? Get in touch: https://www.paulkerensa.com/contact.php
- Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC. Never heard of them.
 
Next time we'll pick up the tale on February 22nd, for the BBC's first political debate (it doesn't go to plan), and guest Reeta Chakrabarti. Don't miss it.
podfollow.com/bbcentury

A History of Religious Broadcasting: 100 Years of God on the Beeb

In the beginning... religious broadcasts were there ever since Marconi said, "Let there be sound!" (He never said that.)
Whether you're a faithful or heathen, you're very welcome here and I think you'll enjoy this whizz through a century of British broadcasting blessings (and some early US ones too) - including some very rare clips and new discoveries of old things/names/juicy geeky details.
From Reginald Fessenden's violin to Justin Welby's sermon to half the planet, via Dr Boon, Revs Dick Sheppard, W.H. Elliot, Bramwell Evens and many more, hear rare clips of the pioneer preachers, the tale of how Reith shaped religious broadcasting in his own image, and the challenges of war, TV, competition and changing attitudes. Plus the shocked Archbishop, how hats prevented a royal wedding broadcast, and where to look for some undiscovered Paul Simon music.
It's a mostly Christian tale (for historical editorial reasons), but we explore how and why the Beeb sometimes wrangled with that issue - and the rare Jewish service the BBC aired during WW2.
Helping us on our journey, three wise men (can you tell this was meant to be a Christmas, then Epiphany special?):
Dr Ian Robertson - broadcaster and author of With God on Our Side: A Comparative Study of Religious Broadcasting in the USA and the UK 1921-1995
Michael Wakelin - ex BBC Head of Religion & Ethics, Exec Chair of the Religion Media Centre, Exec Producer at TBI Media
Dr Martin Cooper - broadcaster and author of Radio's Legacy in Popular Culture: The Sounds of British Broadcasting over the Decades
Buy their books! They're great. Paul's book Auntie and Uncles: The Bizarre Birth of the BBC will be available soon. That will be great, when finished.
(More of these guests on future episodes - I'm holding back some gold. And frankincense. And myrrh.)
Due to limits of time, we've barely scratched the surface this episode. There could be another few episodes on this story (in fact, maybe there should be - hello radio producers. Shall we? Drop me a line...)
This is a helicopter view of 100 years of God on the air. Maybe we'll come back to it to add further details - and look out for our Christmas special later in 2023, with more on Britain's first religious broadcast.
Paul is touring this year with The First Religious Broadcast: Re-Enacted. For info on booking it for your venue/group/church/village hall/anywhere, get in touch with Paul.
You can support this podcast by joining us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa for extra behind-the-scenes videos and writings. Or tip at ko-fi.com/paulkerensa - and thank you!
We're on www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury, where our Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker is chronicling newspapers on this day 100 years ago. Enjoy!
We're also on www.twitter.com/bbcentury - do say hi.
Huge thanks to Will Farmer for the original music.
Archive clips are either public domain or used with kind permission from the BBC, copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
We are nothing to do with the BBC - just talking about them, not with their 'blessing', to use a religious term. That's what this episode is about, you see?
Next time: Season 5! We're back in the 1923 timeline to bring you all the key landmark moments of the BBC's first year, starting with the battle with the press. It's going to get feisty...
Stay subscribed, do rate/review/recommend/share, and bless you for listening.
paulkerensa.com
 

100 Years in 100 Minutes, part 3 (1988-2022)

Episode 59 is the final part of our trilogy of info-dashes through the first British Broadcasting Century. Here we span 1988-2022: the digital years.
Enjoy hearing from experts, those who were there and contributions from you marvellous podcast listeners. (Part 1 was more archive-heavy - but rights issues get trickier as we get more recent - oh and do go back and listen to part 1 (1922-54) and part 2 (1955-87)).
Some excerpts are from longer interviews that you'll hear on the podcast soon (eg. ex Radio 1 boss Johnny Beerling, sitcom star Jeffrey Holland). Some are from previous episodes (go back and hear Lee Mack or Chris Jarvis). Some have been specially sent in for this episode (thanks Jon Dear, Alan Stafford, Dr Andrea Smith). And some are on loan from my other podcast, A Paul Kerensa Podcast - formerly known as The Heptagon Club (eg. Tim Vine, Miranda Hart).
In the below list, asterisked names are from that latter podcast - head to podfollow.com/paulkerensa and scroll back to older episodes to hear those fuller interviews...
 
YOU HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO:
1980s:
Johnny Beerling, Jeffrey Holland, Simon Dunn
 
1990s:
Jon Dear, Steve Legg*, James Cary, Tim Vine*, Dave Thompson*, my son, Dr Andrea Smith
 
2000s:
Paul Hayes, Chris Jarvis, Stevyn Colgan*, Alan Stafford, Richard Woods*, Milton Jones*, Lee Mack, my wife Zoë*, Dr Amy Holdsworth, Alan Stafford, Miranda Hart*
 
2010s:
David Whitney*, Rev Kate Bottley*, Tim Reid*
 
2020s:
Mark Carter, Roger Bolton, Justin Webb, Prof David Hendy, my daughter, Joe Lycett*, Peter Eckersley
 
FURTHER LINKS: 
Those fuller interviews with Miranda Hart, Tim Vine, Milton Jones etc can be heard on A Paul Kerensa Podcast.
Like what we do? Support us on Patreon.com/Paulkerensa
Do share our episodes on social media - we're on Twitter and Facebook.
The novel based on this podcast is due out in March 2023: Auntie and Uncles: The Bizarre Birth of the BBC, 1919-23: https://amzn.to/3hxe4lX
We're nothing to do with the BBC - we're talking about them (and others), not with them, as such.
Do stay subscribed, because we return soon in 2023, with the finer details of the 1923 BBC, including Savoy Hill, Women's Hour and the Radio Times. Some great stories to tell, with great guests.
But first, next time: The History of Religious Broadcasting, including three wise men, plus clips so rare, I don't think the BBC have them.
Thanks for listening, sharing and/or being part of this. Couldn't do it without you.
And happy centenary, Auntie Beeb!
paulkerensa.com/oldradio