#083 The Launch of Savoy Hill: The BBC’s New Home, 1 May 1923

2024-03-25

Welcome to the Savoy Hill era of the BBC! Episode 83 opens the doors to the first permanent home of Auntie Beeb, with a grand launch night on 1 May 1923. I think it's one of the most crucial - and funniest - 24 hours in the BBC's history. So we recreate as much as we can of that one day: A last-minute dress code sees senior management in far-too-big suits... John Reith's tee-total buffet goes terribly wrong.... The closing speaker goes missing - and is found, sozzled. Will Reith let the drunken lord on ...

Welcome to the Savoy Hill era of the BBC!

Episode 83 opens the doors to the first permanent home of Auntie Beeb, with a grand launch night on 1 May 1923. I think it's one of the most crucial - and funniest - 24 hours in the BBC's history.

So we recreate as much as we can of that one day:

A last-minute dress code sees senior management in far-too-big suits...
John Reith's tee-total buffet goes terribly wrong....
The closing speaker goes missing - and is found, sozzled. Will Reith let the drunken lord on the air, and will he string a sentence together?

All will be revealed, plus the music, the speeches (from Lord Gainford, Sir William Bull and Lord Birkenhead), the first Men's Talk (next time, it's Women's Hour, the next day) and the launch of the Sykes Inquiry - just that minor thing of the govt and the press loathing the BBC. A reminder: this was 1923.

Our guest too covers more recent years of broadcasting - Charles Huff, producer of Tomorrow's World and The Great Egg Race, tell us about radio days of his youth, from Educating Archie to Eastern Bloc jamming.

Next time: Dr Kate Murphy joins us to talk about the first Women's Hour progamme, as well as other 1920s women's broadcasting - and why it stopped.

SHOWNOTES:

This is an independent podcast, nothing to do with the BBC.
Original music by Will Farmer.
We're hugely grateful to the BBC Written Archives Centre for access and permission to recreate the Savoy Hill launch speeches. BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Books consulted include Sir John Reith by Garry Allighan, The Emergence of Broadcasting in Britain by Brian Hennessey, Savoy Hill by Brian Hennessey, and Never Look Back by Cecil Lewis. Among others.
Support us on Patreon (£5/mth), and bonus bits include this video meander around (the outside of) Savoy Hill: patreon.com/posts/patron-vid-savoy-75950901
...Interested in joining a live actual walking tour around those first BBC landmarks? I'm thinking of running one, early 2024. Email paul at paulkerensa dot com for details of when.
Paul's on tour with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio - for where/when, see www.paulkerensa.com/tour
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