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There’s no place like Hulme
Indeed there was NO place like Hulme – the theatre, with its rather dour appearance, was situated in what looked a bit like a bombsite, some three miles from the centre of Manchester. -
Look East 60th reunion
The reunion held at the Sprowston Manor Hotel, Norwich, on 28 September to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Look East was a huge success. -
The failed Russian revolution
Sunday, 3 October 1993 was an ordinary, pleasant October day in Moscow. With the resident ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Bureau Producer, Kate Whyte, and the visiting ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Correspondent, Bill Turnbull, I drove to Oktyabrskaya (October Square) on the Garden Ring Road, south of the Moscow River. -
In praise of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ remote studios (part 1)
The revolution in broadcast technology over the last decade, combined with the way people now use mobile phones, has hastened the decline, but not yet death, of one of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ’s most humble but useful facilities: the remote studio. -
The ‘Harry Tate’ affair of 5PY
Back in 1974 (as you doubtless recall) it was a time to mark, not just the big ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ anniversaries, but also the 50th anniversary of openings, including 5PY in Plymouth. -
Cardiff author’s debut novel
After a journalistic career spanning almost 30 years with ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales, I decided it was time to fulfil a long-held ambition to write a novel. -
Classic Children’s ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ producer-director Jeremy Swan writes a rollicking memoir
Longtime Children’s ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ producer-director, Jeremy Swan, has published his memoirs: Is That You, Maureen? My Life Making Children’s TV & Beyond. -
Dad’s Army octogenarian
For my birthday, my wife commissioned the artist Erica Sturla to create a portrait of the Dad’s Army team and myself on location! -
Maida Vale visit
Members of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Prospero Society, which organises regular trips to famous venues and West End shows, sometimes decide there are parts of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ well worth a visit too. -
British Railway Standard Steam Locomotives – the Railway Photographs of R.J. (Ron) Buckley
Published by The History Press in Cheltenham, this latest book in a series by Brian Dickson will be of interest to any railway enthusiasts. -
Poetry review
Lesley Curwen, a freelance presenter/reporter for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio has just published two poetry books -
Tales from the Proms
Stories from the world's greatest music festival -
We Do Like to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Beside the Seaside
Marking the centenary of Plymouth's first wireless station, 5PY. -
A film buff’s life – enhanced at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
Documentary film maker Paul Foxall recalls his love of film making and fast cars. -
My Life - Michael Brown
With Holocaust Remembrance Day having taken place on 27 January, one of our ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Volunteer Visitors sent in this article, written by one of her pensioner ‘visitees’, Michael Brown, in which he recounted arriving in England in 1939 as a nine-year-old on the penultimate Kinder transport train. -
Ambridge is real – and alive and thriving in the USA
I had always believed the Archers’ home, Ambridge, to be entirely fictitious: years of working as a Press Officer in the home of Radio 4’s flagship serial at the erstwhile Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham had suggested nothing else. -
The Richer, The Poorer – How Britain Enriched the Few and Failed the Poor
A book by Stewart Lansley -
Bath - I Walked Every Street
A book by Andrew Lawrence -
Happy birthday Ozzie10
Woofferton Transmitting Station at 80 (1943-2023) -
Mustafa’s Last Well
A novel by Tony Preedy -
The Hulme Playhouse – a palace of dreams
The Hulme Playhouse, in Manchester, was constructed next door to the Hulme Hippodrome and originally opened as the Hippodrome Theatre itself in 1902. -
Sports Report – new edition
Pat Murphy’s recent book celebrating the 75th anniversary of the long-running ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 5 Live programme Sports Report is coming out in paperback. -
Dead in the water
Former Controller of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ English Regions and Director of the W1 Project, Andy Griffee, has had four ‘tiller-thrillers’ published in his Johnson & Wilde crime mystery series. -
New book celebrates the writer David Foot
A bumper collection of the work of award-winning West Country journalist and author David Foot. -
Investigating the failures of the UK’s war crimes process
Jon Silverman, the former ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Affairs Correspondent (1989-2002) has co-written a book on the subject, due to be published this month by Oxford University Press. -
The Feeble Arguments of Mr Hill
Peter Hill, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ broadcaster shares his latest memoir, My Russian Odyssey -
Susannah Schofield awarded MBE
The founder of The John Schofield Trust, named for a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ journalist, features in the King's Birthday Honours List. -
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ sketches and the stories behind them
Brian Willis spent 30 years with the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, during which time he made many different sketches of the sights and people he encountered at the Beeb. -
Life ends at 90?
Former Head of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Yorkshire, Colin Philpott has published his debut novel, Deathday, which envisages a time in the future where life ends by law at 90. -
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Pensioners’ Association welcomes new members
Without the sum of all its parts, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is nothing but a well-known brand, with a good 100 years’ worth of history attached to it. Plus a huge back catalogue of content of course. -
Another new life for North 3
The privately owned ‘heritage’ OB scanner, CMCR9, which at various times was known as London 5, The Midland Unit and then North 3, has been in the present ownership since early 2009. -
The John Schofield Trust: supporting young journalists in the UK
One of the charities working hardest to support young journalists in the UK is named in memory of a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ journalist who was killed covering a war in the heart of Europe. -
Making headlines: the Queen and Arthur Scargill
Graeme McLagan, a former award-winning ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Affairs correspondent for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, recalls a story involving Queen Elizabeth in the 1980s that made headlines around the world. -
Social Ping
Bonnie Margo organises table tennis sessions in her local community. Image by jannoon028 -
Shades of the Past - World Cup 1998
Ross Archer shares his memories of working on the World Cup in Paris, 1998 -
Memories of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Monitoring
Karl Lehmann recalls his memories of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Monitoring -
Tea leaves don't lie
Dan Zerdin, who retired in 1986 as a senior radio producer with the World Service, sent in this entertaining piece of personal ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ history. -
Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
Available from 15 September 2022, the 296-page Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is set out in gazetteer-style, with bite-size stories that give the reader a flavour of the key moments that define a national institution, across ten tumultuous decades. -
Writing history by Jonathan Kempster
The 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict brought about an unexpected reunion with a former ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ colleague, Harold Briley, who broke the news of the Falklands invasion in a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service news dispatch. In 1986 I met Harold Briley at Bush House. I did not meet him again until recently in rather different circumstances. In our second meeting four decades later, I heard his whole life story. -
RESTORED MCR21 HITS THE ROAD
In 2016, Prospero published an appeal by Nick Gilbey for information about the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Television mobile control room MCR21. Nick was involved in the restoration of the unit and wanted to compile a history of MCR21 as part of the project. -
FALKLANDS AND THE ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ - FRIEND OR FOE?
How the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reported the 1982 Falklands Conflict and became part of the story itself is explained in a 40th anniversary book by its former Latin America Correspondent, Harold Briley. -
WORKING ABROAD
Geoff Higgs shares his recollections of working abroad. -
OPEN UNIVERSITY REUNION
The Open University 50th anniversary reunion took place on 10 March. -
THE ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ'S MAN IN CANNES
Ross Smith spent four years at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 2, writing and researching almost 100 programmes and conducting over 300 interviews with film personalities. -
THE CONSTRUCTION OF BROADCASTING HOUSE
Broadcasting House was officially opened 90 years ago in May. Lesley Curwen wrote in with a photo of it under construction in around 1930 printed below, pointing out the poster which declares ‘entire premises let to the British Broadcasting Corp’. -
SHARING A LONG-DISTANCE LOVE AFFAIR AND HELPING DEMENTIA CHARITIES
Retired ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ radio and TV reporter and presenter John Roberts from Cheshire has been having a long-distance love affair with the Cook Islands for nearly 40 years. -
THE FIRST GIRL TO BE TELEVISED IN COLOUR
Mrs Ann Moon (nee Matthews), who turned 93 on 12 March 2022, has a claim to fame not many can match! -
THE YEAR WE TOOK FS3 ON AN ALPINE HOLIDAY
Nigel Phillips recalls his first Winter Olympics, when British, American and European broadcasters were tasked with finding a way to share video feed across different colour systems and line standards. -
WAR AND PEACE 1972 – 2022
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ’s production of War and Peace in 1972. In 20 episodes and starring Anthony Hopkins, it remains the most ambitious, lengthy and large-scale drama ever made by the Corporation. It has been seen all over the world and earned Anthony Hopkins the 1973 BAFTA best actor award. John Davies, who directed all 20 episodes, recalls the experience. -
FROM A(NIMAL MAGIC) TO Z(CARS)
With a new year upon us, we thought we’d take a look at some of the notable ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ anniversaries that are coming up in the next six months – aside from the obvious one of the Corporation’s centenary, which is covered extensively elsewhere in this issue.