Episode 95 is our Christmas special for 2024 - looking back to five vintage BBC Christmases of 1922-42.

Well, I say 'five'. I mean nine. Christmas is a time for giving, so have four extra... Nine Gold Airings didn't sound as catchy.

You'll hear:

- 1922 – Rev John Mayo - the BBC's first religious broadcast for Christmas Eve 

- 1926 – Christmas Overture by Coleridge-Taylor, The BBC Wireless Symphony Orchestra conducted by Percy Pitt

- 1926-34 - Bethlehem, the BBC's first on-location radio drama, live from St Hilary's church in west Cornwall

- 1932 – The first royal Christmas message from George V

- 1934 – The bells of Armagh Cathedral, and Christmas on the Aran Islands

- 1936 – A Cornish Christmas Carol by the BBC Chorus

- 1936 – The Wassail Song by the BBC Chorus

- 1941 – Refugee children and their parents reunited across the Atlantic via BBC and NBC

- 1942 – Carols in the Desert, Godfrey Talbot, BBC Correspondent with the 8th Army in Tripolitania

SHOWNOTES:

- Paul's book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4iuULoB) and audiobook read by the author (https://amzn.to/4gdlYud)

- Hear the full recording of 1934's Bethlehem play: https://youtu.be/WwC8BemyBtI?si=_m-p_5y3rHPKkrIX

- Hear the voices behind the Bethlehem play, on this wonderful 1986 BBC Radio Cornwall documentary: https://youtu.be/HqCO_0uSBFk?si=3AoPR2Gt3We_wgSn

- For more on Godfrey Talbot and his BBC career shadowing the 8th army in WW2, see this marvellous detailed biographical blog post:

https://war-experience.org/events/godfrey-talbot-voice-of-the-desert-and-8th-army/

- Episode 60 of this podcast has more on Rev John Mayo's first BBC religious broadcast, and other landmarks of the genre: https://pod.fo/e/160bd7

- Episode 72 of this podcast is on the first radio drama, on Christmas Eve 1922 - Phyllis Twigg's The Truth about Father Christmas: https://pod.fo/e/1d6747 - and I'll be writing more about her and this landmark radioplay very soon. Keep an eye out for it!

- Original music is by Will Farmer.

- Support us on Patreon (£5/mth), for bonus videos and things - and thanks if you do!

- A Christmas present, for us? Well if you'd rate and review the podcast where you found it... Thanks! You shouldn't have.

- Paul's on tour: An Evening of (Very) Old Radio visits these places: www.paulkerensa.com/tour - come and hear about the first firsts of broadcasting, live.

- This podcast is nothing to do with the BBC.

- Old clips are likely beyond copyright as they're so old. Newer clips may be BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. 

Next time: August 1923 on the BBC - new radio HQs in Birmingham and Manchester, developments in Scotland and Dublin, and the first radio gardener, Marion Cran.

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Episode 94 finds us hunting presenters on the run... in 1923 and in 2023. 

But first, the tale of July 1923 in British broadcasting, which includes a pop-up non-BBC station in Plymouth (5DJ), the first BBC film critic G.A. Atkinson, a comedian asks an orchestra to laugh for him, the BBC's first Sunday afternoon radio concert, new nicknames for 'listeners-in' ('ethonians', anyone?), and my favourite of all... The Wireless Manhunt.

Here to tell us more, our Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker, and Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam Dr Carolyn Birdall (whose book is 'Radiophilia').

They contrast 1923's Wireless Manhunt with 2023's uncannily similar Radio 1's Giant DJ Hunt, with Greg James searching for all of his co-presenters around Britain, and beyond.

Back in 1923, Uncles Arthur, Caractacus, Jeff, and Aunt Sophie all go on the run around London, and MANY listeners spot them, track them, nearly arrest them, and much more.

Oh and some lovely audio from Peter Eckersley - a song and the tale of his trip to Sheffield, where listening to the BBC was like "an insurrection in hell". Everyone's a critic. 

SHOWNOTES:

Next time: August 1923 on the BBC - new radio HQs in Birmingham and Manchester, developments in Scotland and Dublin, and the first radio gardener, Marion Cran.

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

June 1923 at the BBC saw the first symphony concerts on-air (with an 'augmented orchestra'), musical criticism from Percy Scholes, 2,500 voices broadcast at once, and new staff led by Admiral Charles Carpendale as Reith's deputy. Plus Scot John Logie Baird advertises for help with his 'Seeing By Wireless' invention. You may know it as television...

...Our guest is celebrating 50 years since he began in television - Stuart Prebble has made World In Action, led ITV, created Grumpy Old Men and now brings Portrait Artists to Sky Arts. He talks about his new memoir, Still Grumpy After All These Years. Buy it now!

SHOWNOTES:

• Buy Stuart's book from stuartprebble.com or wherever you get books.

Next time: July 1923 on the BBC - a wireless manhunt and a cheeky pop-up station in Plymouth. 

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Episode 92

The First Sports Broadcasts: from 'Yachts Slowly Drifting' to MCR21

Our moment-by-moment origin story of British broadcasting reaches 6th June 1923 - and what's sometimes thought to be the BBC's first sports broadcast: author Edgar Wallace giving his 'reflections on the Derby'...

...The trouble is, it wasn't the BBC's first sports broadcast.

But then... what is a sports broadcast? A live commentary? Or will a later summary do? Or how about a police radio transmission, where the Epsom Derby winner happens to be mentioned for anyone listening to hear?

This episode we bring you the tales of every early landmark sports broadcast we know about, including:

• Special guest Nick Gilbey, trustee of the Broadcasting Television Technology Trust and one of the doer-uppers of the mighty MCR21 mobile control room van, first built in 1963, and now looking snappier than ever.

Correct us on any of the above! Seriously. Please do. We want this to be an accurate record of events! Email [email protected] with any feedback, suggestions, alterations or offers of big-screen adaptations.

SHOWNOTES:

• Visit MCR21.org.uk for pics and words about the wonderful MCR21 mobile control room van. Click on their newsletter and subscribe to get info in your inbox.

Next time: Summer 1923 on the BBC - music, the first whisper of television, and a cheeky pop-up station in Plymouth. 

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Episode 91 goes back over 130 years to the 'broadcasting' device that far predates radio broadcasting. But the same ideas were there: entertainment, religion, news even, brought to your home, sent one-to-many, live from West End churches and London's churches.

Meet the Electrophone! 

Dr Natasha Kitcher is the Electrophone expert - she's a Research Fellow at the Science Museum, formerly PhD student to Loughborough University - and has spent years researching this unusual, largely unknown pre-radio cable streaming service, used by Queen Victoria and hundreds of homes in London and Bournemouth. Or you could visit the Electrophone HQ in Soho to listen in their saloon. (More on our walking tour that visits that exact building: birthplace of the headphones!)

We also talk about what broadcasting is nowadays: does streaming count as broadcasting? What about catch-up? Does it lose something when it's not live?

Join the debate from this, er, pre-recorded podcast (sorry we're not live) - email your thoughts to [email protected] - the same email address for any podcast correspondence, your Airwave Memories (earliest radio you recall?) or Firsthand Memories (ever see broadcasting in action?)  

We also move on our chronological tale of British broadcasting history into June 1923, with feedback from the first BBC Shakespeare and the sad demise of the first broadcast singer, Edward Cooper.

Next time? The First Sports Broadcast on the BBC... or was it? Nick Gilbey joins us - expert on outside broadcasts, Peter Dimmock, and the BBC van... 

SHOWNOTES:

• Dr Natasha Kitcher's articles on the Electrophone include this Science Museum blog and Museum Crush.

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Is this the first full-length Shakespeare on the BBC I see before me? Yes it is. And the first radio comedy personality, in John Henry. 

We're in late May 1923 - 28th to 31st to be precise - and the BBC has suffering from a boycott of theatre producers. Performers are hard to come by, so the Beeb brings drama and comedy in-house.

The result? Cathleen Nesbitt (later from Upstairs Downstairs, An Affair to Remember and The Parent Trap) produces and stars in the first of many full-length Shakespeare plays, Twelfth Night on 28th May 1923. Prior to this, there had been scenes and Shakespeare nights. But this was a chance to broadcast the longest and most ambitious play of this new medium.

Illuminating us on this, the return of Dr Andrea Smith of the University of Suffolk - the expert on the BBC and Shakespeare. She'll tell us all about the legacy of Auntie and Shakey, including the only one of his plays that to date has still not been adapted for BBC radio.

And three days after that first Shakespeare, another BBC debut: comedian John Henry, set to become broadcasting's first comedy personality. His comic monologues, often surreal and downbeat, evolved into tales of his family life, then a dialogue with his beloved Blossom... while off-air, their domestic life became more tragedy than comedy.

Comedy historian Alan Stafford tells all. It's quite a tale. John Henry surely deserves mention in the history books...

...on which, both Andrea and Alan have books out soon. See below shownotes for details - and we'll mention more of them on the podcast and on our social mediums when they're published.

SHOWNOTES:

• Look out for Dr Andrea Smith's book 'Shakespeare on the Radio: A Century of BBC Plays', published by Edinburgh University Press in 2025.

NEXT TIME: The Electrophone: Queen Victoria's Streaming Device of the 1890s. 

There may be some delay between episodes at the moment, due to summer holidays, and life throwing things at us. More soon, ASAP. Thanks for bearing with us.

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

Vote The British Broadcasting Century! 

Episode 89 is our Election Night Special special, covering Britain's 28 general election results broadcasts over 102 years. 

Broadcasting in both USA and UK have both launched were pretty much launched with election results.

On 2 November 1920, KDKA Pittsburgh launched regular commercial broadcasting with the presidential election results, giving listeners-in the latest at the same time as journalists. Revolutionary! On 15 November 1922, the BBC went national with London, Birmingham and Manchester announcing the election results and Bonar Law as PM. 

Joining us to tell the tale from here, dropping in at every election night special in Britain since, we have Gary Rodger (author of Swing: A Brief History of British General Election Night Broadcasting) and Harry White (host of The Modern British History Podcast).

...Hear first female liberal MP Margaret Wintringham on her gramophone election message...

...Discover the only person to have announced election results AND served as an MP...

...Find out how black-and-white TV converted the blues, reds and yellows of parties to the small screen...

...Meet pioneering producer Grace Wyndham Goldie, who created the TV election night special...

...Discover the origins of the swingometer...

...Oh and Dimblebys. There are many Dimblebys.

Vote with your ears by listening to this podcast - and vote with your vote by voting.

SHOWNOTES:

• Buy Gary Rodger's book Swing: A Brief History of British General Election Night Broadcasting. 

NEXT TIME: The first full-length Shakespeare on the BBC - and comedian John Henry. 

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

On episode 88, it's May 1923, and the six-month-old BBC is settling into its new home at Savoy Hill. But it's not all plain sailing.

This time, 2-24 May 1923 is retold via press cuttings (thanks to our Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker), showing us that:

Some corners of the press were mounting an anti-BBC campaign, complaining it was offering "poor fare". A few days later, other articles refuted that claim. 

Some corners of the government were eager to renegotiate the BBC agreement, with the Sykes Inquiry under way to look at licences and obligations.

Some corners of the live arts scene were worried their box office takings would be hit by radio entertainment, so decided to boycott Auntie Beeb.

...A few too many opponents!

There are also bands (first Birmingham station director Percy Edgar tells of the Grenadier Guards, a small studio and not much ventilation), simultaneous broadcast tests and plans for new stations (first chief engineer Peter Eckersley tells of his ambitions for the signal-to-noise ratio), and Reith's plans for the Sunday Committee to determine the future of, well, Sundays.

Plus our guest is ITV's first head of technology Norman Green. He tells us about his innovations in colour film and Teletext (he's the double-height guy!). Norman will return on a future episode too...

SHOWNOTES:

• The clips used should be far beyond copyright - but any BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

NEXT TIME: We break from May 1923 for A Brief History of Election Night Specials.

THE TIME AFTER THAT: The first full-length Shakespeare on the BBC! May 1923 continues... 

More info on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

100 years ago the weekend of this podcast, the Cello and the Nightingale became one of the most cherished broadcasts in radio history.

It first took place on 19 May 1924, live from the Surrey garden of cellist Beatrice Harrison. In this centenary special, we celebrate the musician, the muse and the microphone that made this incredible feat possible: the first major outside broadcast of nature.

The renowned cellist petitioned the BBC for some time to broadcast this unusual duet, and while John Reith at first thought it wouldn't work, new microphones developed by Captain H.J. Round ensured that the birdsong would carry... so long as they sang.

Did they sing? (Yes.) Was it faked? (No.) Was it the first broadcast birdsong? (Not quite.) All of this and more will be answered and delved into this episode, with an interview with Patricia Cleveland-Peck, author of The Cello and the Nightingales: The Life of Beatrice Harrison - new edition just released.

We look at the scandalous rumours of fakery, the technical developments that meant the BBC's first fading, the Cardiff broadcast that just beat them to it, the bleak wartime duet between The Nightingale and the Bomber, and even John Reith's odd nightingale impersonation, the very same day he first heard radio in 1917.

SHOWNOTES:

• Iain Baird's excellent article on the technology and legacy of The Cello and the Nightingale is at https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/song-of-the-nightingale/

NEXT TIME: We're back in May 1923 for bands and boycotts on the early BBC.

More info on this radio history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

On the previous episode we explored the only 1920s BBC recording (that we know of), recorded off-air by Mr Jones of Croydon. 

This time on episode 86, we encounter the only other off-air radio recordings of the interwar years (that I know of): the 1932 recordings by Mr F.O. Brown of Greenbank.

His grandson Alex cleared out the family attic as recently as 2016, discovering these bizarre metal discs with no idea what they contained, or how to listen to them. Alex consulted the British Sound Library, the internet, and wherever else he could find knowhow on playing these records to preserve the sounds.

What he found was several dozen 1930s recordings, from BBC jazz bands to radio royalty, from George Bernard Shaw to his own grandfather giving a spoof tour of Edinburgh. 

This episode we chat to Alex about his painstaking work preserving these recordings, and we hear a few. Enjoy Henry Hall opening Broadcasting House, extracts from the 1932 Royal Command Performance, and Reginald Foort and his big organ (stop it).

Then head to http://greenbank-records.com/1930s-recordings#/samples/ to hear the rest! You'll also find Alex's illuminating blog at http://greenbank-records.com/blog

1932 was the year the BBC started recording themselves, but only very sparingly. Most of these recordings are the only surviving copy of each broadcast - and there aren't many more pre-WW2 recorded broadcasts at all.

Thanks to Alex for sharing his story and the recordings, and thanks to F.O. Brown for using his EKCO Radiocorder to do what so many of us have done over the years: in my case, push the record and play buttons on a cassette recorder while Steve Wright was on Radio 1... or in my children's case, recording themselves playing Radio 2 jingles on the Wise Buddah website... but in this case, assembling a recording device from scratch to preserve monarchs and music on disc, so we can still hear them today.

SHOWNOTES:

• Head to Greenbank Records for the full works.

NEXT TIME: The Centenary of the Cello and the Nightingale

More info on this radio history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio