The British Broadcasting Century podcast

VID: Broadcasting from Within pt 20, Books, 1927-28 BBC recordings? | The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa Get more from The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa on Patreon

Latest Patreon video for our beloved patreons and matreons - it's part 20 of our readthrough-with-mansplained-interruptions of Cecil Lewis' Broadcasting from Within, the first book on broadcasting...
www.patreon.com/posts/vid-br...

I had need to look at this again today - Philips' Wireless Map of Great Britain. Estimated summer 1923. Isn't she a beaut?
(Random bits zoomed in on in t'other pics)

Rule Of Third Even the Third Programme – the most serious and highbrow BBC radio service ever – wasn’t above having a laugh every now and then…

Decades before Brass Eye, one of the funniest, most convincing and most pointed - and most successful - broadcast hoaxes ever took place in the unlikely surroundings of the BBC's extremely straight-faced Third Programme. Read all about it here!

timworthington.org/2019/11/27/r...

...Prof Rachel Cowgill guides us through early BBC Armistices, from 'The Great Silence' to Reith trying to get Jerusalem on the playlist, via some of the earliest recordings of a broadcast.
+ Trayce Arssow has found the earliest electrical recording: 1920's Funeral of the Unknown Warrior.
Do listen.

OVERDUE PODCAST KLAXON!
(I know, it should have been November...)
Episode 114 of The British Broadcasting Century Podcast is on BBC Armistice Broadcasts in the 1920s - simply as that's where our moment-by-moment timeline has reached, 11 November 1923...
bbcentury.podbean.com/e/114-bbc-ar...

H.R.H. The Prince of Wales - Speech on Armistice Night, 11 November 1927 YouTube video by Vintage Sounds

...Whoops the above one is from 1928.
THIS recording is what was broadcast in 1927...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPsT...

"Daily Express" Remembrance Festival Recorded Live at the Royal Albert Hall Nov 11 1928 HMV C1601 YouTube video by EMGColonel

Just found a 1927 recording of a BBC broadcast. Sort of. The first Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall. Broadcast, and released on gramophone. One of maybe five 1920s recordings of anything on British radio.
More about it on tomorrow’s podcast. Here’s the recording:
youtu.be/-yQuqRBREKo?...

The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa 100 Years of the BBC, Radio and Life as We Know It. Be informed, educated and entertained by the amazing true story of radio’s forgotten pioneers. With host Paul Kerensa, great guests and rare archiv...

Your next British Broadcasting Century Podcast will be out this weekend.
We're back in Nov 1923. Our previous eps on the BBC in Autumn 1923:
105: Aberdeen
106: Bournemouth
107: Critics on air
109: Will the King/PM broadcast?
110: GK Chesterton + the first radio novel
All at podfollow.com/bbcentury

Prayer for the Day - Knox’s Hoax - BBC Sounds A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Paul Kerensa

I know religious broadcasts aren't everyone's cup of tea (or grail of red wine), but fans of radio history might like to know I smuggled Ronald Knox's century-old radio hoax onto Radio 4's Prayer for the Day this morn. It's too good a tale not to be evangelistic about!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I've been a bit quieter than usual here. But fear not. It's only because plans are afoot. And feet are aplans. Bring it all on.

...Speaking of which, here's the chap who got me along in the first place - Radio 4 announcer, newsreader, radio ham and all-round top chap, Jim Lee.

Last week I was at Cray Valley Radio Society for a show/talk/presentation/thing... but the real show was the mighty collection of early radios brought along by @bakeliteguy.bsky.social (and I think one other member). Look at these beauts...

Brilliant night last night with Paul Kerensa on the early years of broadcasting.
I did a display of vintage radios with my mate Dave and we had suitably vintage music playing on the Ethophone iv from 1926.

Tonight I'm bringing 'An Evening of (Very) Old Radio: The First Firsts of Broadcasting' to an audience who know their stuff - Eltham's Cray Valley Radio Society.
I expect heckles that are informed (...educated and entertaining).
cvrs.uk/event/club-m...

The next British Broadcasting Century podcast episode (on the first BBC Armistice broadcast - I know, not topical...) might appear this week - or might be next week. A couple of hospital dashes (all fine now) have delayed me. Plus with my comedy writing hat, it's deadline o'clock. But with you soon!

104 years yesterday since this gang got regular British broadcasting going.
2MT Writtle, every Tuesday evening for just under a year, under the stewardship of unpredictable raconteur extraordinaire Peter Eckersley.
Hear all about it on this old podcast: bbcentury.podbean.com/e/2mt-writtl...

Kenneth Horne died on this day in 1969. My February 2019 blog post on one of Britain's best-loved entertainers who also maintained a totally separate career as a successful businessman bit.ly/4jZJUnm

...I ran out of word count, but kudos to Prof Marcus Collins for finding the notes behind this story in the BBC archives, and the cast and crew for bringing it to life.
I think it's sold out for its current tour, but keep an eye out.
I hope to have Marcus and Stephen on the podcast some time soon.

‘Naked homophobia’: play revisits BBC’s first programme on gay men in 1950s Original script from 1954 referring to ‘troubles of this kind’ to be brought to life on stage for LGBT+ History Month

This week I saw the excellent play The BBC's First Homosexual - superbly written by Stephen Hornby, based on notes found in the BBC archives of a 1954 BBC prog on homosexuality.
So many tales to be told that are sitting on those shelves - this was a great one.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

Happy #WorldRadioDay!
I've loved bringing its origin story to:
...stages. Next: 19 Feb Eltham, 16 Apr Chelmsford, 4 Jun Weston-super-Mare - paulkerensa.com/tour
...podcasts. 113 eps of The British Broadcasting Century so far.
...the BBC. The Truth about Phyllis Twigg is still online.
Keep radioing!

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Hidden Treasures, A Criminal Practice by Terrance Dicks Idealistic Matthew Larrabie joins his uncle's firm of solicitors.

A Criminal Practice, a comic play by Terrance Dicks first broadcast on 5 July 1967, is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra today at 3pm and 9pm; afterwards, it’ll be available on BBC Sounds - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bsky.app/profile/bbce...

When is a picture of Broadcasting House not Broadcasting House? When it's 'Architect's sketch of the proposed new headquarters for the BBC in Portland Place, a stone's throw from Queen's Hall'...

VID: Four Monarchs and a Mic: The BBC's Royal Engineer - full show, filmed at Leicester Comedy Festival 7/2/26 | The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa Get more from The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa on Patreon

Here's the show - Four Monarchs and a Mic: The BBC's Royal Engineer... here on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/vid-fo...

Get more from The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa on Patreon creating podcasts, writing and videos

...Join them? patreon.com/paulkerensa - £5/mth, cancel whenevs, ample videos, writings, reading etc about the British broadcasting back-story.
Thanks if you do/have/will! All keeps this afloat.

For fab Patreon patrons: I've just posted some gifts, for any who've shared their address...
...for those who haven't, I'll upload the full vid of last weekend's one-off show 'Four Monarchs & a Mic: The BBC's Royal Engineer'. Twas a joy, but I've no plans to perform it again. It'll live on Patreon.

Today, I’m at BBC Broadcasting House, with King George V’s mic.
Tomorrow, I’ll be in Leicester, performing ‘Four Monarchs & A Mic: The BBC’s Royal Engineer’ - the tale of the man who put it on air, OB Engineer Robert Wood.
Good to bring his book back to visit his 94-year-old microphone.

Oh nice - I know Vikki Stone - she knows her music. Looks marvellous.

Oh nice! I shall listen.

Calling The Shots, Director's Cut: How It All Began Episode 1 - How it all Began: In March 2020, the world stopped as human tragedy unfolded. To that backdrop, a lockdown project started small and got way out of hand, as Adam Collins…

For more about Tommy Woodrooffe's career @norcrosscricket.bsky.social and @collinsadam.bsky.social worked on a history of cricket broadcasting during the pandemic of 2020 pca.st/episode/3e17...