#021 Loose Ends (with Gareth Jones)

Ending season 1, here's episode 21 to tie up some loose ends, correct some clarifications and clarify some corrections from our previous 20 episodes on the prehistory of the BBC, radio and life as we know it.

There's also an exclusive wide-ranging interview with TV presenter (Get Fresh, How 2), podcaster (Gareth Jones on Speed) and science enthusiast Gareth Jones, known for a brief spell on children's TV as Gaz Top. Find more on his podcast via his website, or his clips 'n' films on Youtube. 

Next episode we'll begin a run of 'specials' before we embark on season 2.

But first on this episode:

Back on episode 1, we covered the first radio entertainment programme... but we DIDN'T cover the first radio entertainment in Britain. So we'll meet Lieutenant Crauford on the good shop Andromeda, in 1907. Then in 1917, there's Captain and Mrs Donisthorpe cycling to and fro in a field in Worcester, to check if each other heard them transmit.

On episode 16, we talked about the first broadcast comedian Helena Millais... but we DIDN'T cover some of the other turns vying for the crown: Will Hay, M'Lita Dolores, Wilfrid Liddiatt, Peggy Rae (mother of Peter Sellers), Charles Cory, William Parkyn, Herbert Dickeson, Ernie Mayne...

We delve into Will Hay's 1922 stage revue Listening In - you can see a silent clip of it here.

Ernie Mayne's Wireless on the Brain can be heard on Youtube, and you can hear more of Ernie and other music hall performers on Earl Okin's podcast, ep138 or older episodes here.

We also zoom in on who the BBC's first four employees actually were - and how it depends how you define 'employees'. (We reckon the first 9ish were Burrows, Lewis, Jefferies, Anderson, Reith, Edgar, Palmer, Shields, Eckersley...)

 

Your thoughts are welcome on this and everything broadcasting-history-based - email me with anything, including your AMs (recorded Airwave Memories - a minute or so of you speaking into a Voice Memo with your earliest memories of radio/TV) or FMs (written memories of when you saw broadcasting in action).

 

 

We also recommend Mark Heywood's Behind the Spine podcast, especially their recent episode with archivists from Paramount and Zoetrope.

 

And we mention Cecil A Lewis' 1924 book Broadcasting From Within. It's the earliest book on broadcasting - I'm reading it at the moment... and you can too! Thanks to the fab BBCEng website, it's here for all to read.

 

We're unaffiliated with the BBC - in fact we're just one person - it's me, Paul, hello.

 

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We're just here to tell a good (hi)story: to inform, educate and entertain.