Today is the centenary of the first broadcast radio programme on the BBC, a news bulletin that included the snooker scores, court news from the Old Bailey and fog problems in London. It included radio stations from around the country… the one in Manchester aired the first children’s programme, featuring Miss A. Bennie, who told juvenile listeners, “Now, children, listen to this lovely fairy story” before going on to read The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde. Happy days.
But these clips are just appetisers. The archive of the BBC is a treasure trove of wonders, with only a small proportion actually available. Ofcom has launched a consultation into whether to allow the BBC to make more of the archive available (it closes today…hurry!). To which the only possible response is…why are you even asking? Bring it on!
I’ve had significantly more pleasure myself from the BBC archive than from most current programmes. Talk shows were very different in the Fifties and Sixties than now. Interviewers were less aggressive, the tone more inquisitive than inquisitorial but still probing. There’s a fabulous series available on BBC iPlayer called Face to Face featuring John Freeman as the interviewer. It began in 1959 with a stellar cast of interviewees in conversation with Freeman in a darkened room: Martin Luther King, Dame Edith Sitwell, Carl Jung, Bertrand Russell. There were 35 episodes but only seven are available on iPlayer. Why can’t we have the lot?
The educational programmes were quite brilliant. Game shows didn’t worry about being universally accessible. A hilarious show called Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? featured three archaeologists who were presented with items from a museum and asked to identify them.
There are many much more recent programmes which aren’t available at all. The former Labour MP Brian Walden did a brilliant series called Villains, featuring individuals such as the Emperor Nero, which classics teachers used to use. When I tried to track that down, the only Nero programme I found was Horrible Histories.
Granted, there are copyright issues or accessibility issues. But we should be able to look or listen to what’s there. You know, even current broadcasters might learn from it.
