The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

In October 1923, first BBC General Manager John Reith wrote to both 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, inviting the Prime Minister and the King to broadcast on the near year-old BBC. Both refused. In November 2025, 17th BBC Director General Tim Davie resigned because... well we're still trying to find out exactly why. Again, politics is at play - though it's difficult to know if that's at the White House, the House of Commons or Broadcasting House. Dr Tom Mills, sociologist at Aston University and author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service, joins us to whizz through 17 Directors General, their own politics and their battles with politics. Meet: John Reith, Frederick Ogilvie, Cecil Graves, Robert Foot, William Haley, Ian Jacob, Hugh Greene, Charles Curran, Ian Trethowan, Alasdair Milne, Michael Checkland, John Birt, Greg Dyke, Mark Thompson, George Entwistle, Tony Hall and Tim Davie. (Add some 'sirs' and 'lords' in there - I've only de-titled them here as we're often talking about them while they were DG, and it's confusing who was appointed what and when. No disrespect intended) All men, you may notice. There are a few women in this tale too - though not many, and usually by such names as Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse. It's a complex tale - I hope we make it less so for you. Oh and we have news of your festive audio treat - coming soon (to Radio 4!)   SHOWNOTES: Dr Tom Mills' book is The BBC: Myth of a Public Service Tom has co-written this article on a potential future for the BBC: https://www.common-wealth.org/publications/our-mutual-friend-the-bbc-in-the-digital-age Paul's Substack article on the 17 Directors General: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/p/who-let-the-dgs-out-the-17-bbc-directors Paul's Substack on last episode's Mass Telepathy broadcast re-enactment: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/p/the-bbcs-mass-telepathy-broadcast Apply to be BBC Director General! The job ad: https://careers.bbc.co.uk/job/Director-General/34415-en_GB/ Details of your audio festive treat - my new Radio 4 drama, about the first radio drama: https://www.facebook.com/paul.kerensa/posts/pfbid0MKWEGmjSgXaBGJqMS6FPpbga8XcRaDdqMkAqb6GT6ZNYcW65yfQKKnbrF6B7J4jal The BBC listings page for The Truth about Phyllis Twigg - 2:15pm, Christmas Eve 2025, Radio 4: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ntmx Original music is by Will Farmer.  Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - because like the 1925 panel, we can't read your mind: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour. This podcast is not made by today's BBC. It's just about the old BBC. Support us on Patreon (£5/mth - thanks if you do!), for bonus videos, writings, readings etc - it all helps support the podcast, and without that, there's no this. So thanks if you do! Or a one-off tip to Ko-fi.com/paulkerensa? Thanks for supporting us. I mostly use any kind £ to buy books. Then read books. Then absorb books. Then convert them into podcasts. Thanks for keeping the wheels turning. Please share/rate/review this podcast - it all really helps. Next time: Episode 110: The first BBC Armistice broadcast. More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

On 12 November 1925, the BBC broadcast one of its most bizarre programmes yet: 'MASS TELEPATHY: An Experiment in Thought Reading in which every Listener will be invited to assist' On 12 November 2025, we present a dramatic re-enactment, based on newspaper articles of the day, and brought to life with a cast of marvel and a guest radio drama producer. Appropriately, the one believer on the celebrity panel was the first BBC dramatist - Phyllis Twigg. We first landed on this story on episode 72 of this podcast, exploring her tale, her innovations and her interest in spiritualism. Alas no one else on the panel took it seriously. Like The Celebrity Traitors of 1925, a bunch of celebs (a Shakespearean actress, a panto star, the BBC's drama critic, the BBC's Director of Education, an MP, and so on) gathered in a fancy hotel with a gothic atmosphere and played a spooky game around a table, with a glass or two of fizzy rosé. Or is it more Derren Brown: Mind Control? Either way, the celebrity jury mostly played it for laughs - and enjoyed the hospitality of the Savoy Hotel a little too much. The listeners weren't happy - especially those taking it seriously at home, beaming their thoughts into the ether. With no recording, we bring it to life for the first time in a century. In exactly a century. If you enjoy this dramatisation, do let us know (paul at paulkerensa dot com) and/or consider joining us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa - if you like it, and if we can afford to, we'll do more like this, in and amongst our regular episodes - which right now is meant to be telling the tale of November 1923. We'll pick that up next time... For now, we have a centenary drama to bring you! So concentrate your thoughts, open your mind, and open a bottle. They did.   MASS TELEPATHY: RE-ENACTED THE CAST Sir Alfred Robbins - Adrian Mackinder Cecil Lewis - Will de Renzy-Martin Lady Tree - Helen Lloyd Zena Dare - Natalie Chisholm Phyllis Twigg - Carina Saner (playing her own great-grandmother) Dorothy Warren - Marta da Silva Lt Commander Kenworthy MP - Will Harrison Wallace James Agate - Paul Kerensa J.C. Stobart - Anthony Hewson Roger Eckersley - Anthony Rudd   Written by Paul Kerensa Produced/Directed/Edited by Helen Quigley A Soundliness co-production with the British Broadcasting Century     SOME OF THE GUESSES, AS REPORTED IN THE LONDON DAILY NEWS, 13 NOV 1925, AND OTHER NEWSPAPERS:   1. Letter - K: James Agate IOU Dorothy Warren, F then G, then K Lady Tree Z Miss Zena Dare G Kenworthy B    2. Day - Saturday: Four guessed Sunday, one Friday   3. Number - 7: 49-13-300-13-19-33-9400   4. Playing card - Three of Diamonds: Stobart – 4 of Diamonds. Others failed to follow suit...   5. Shape - Triangle: Circles or polygons, a shilling (Lady Tree), a rugby ball... and an isosceles triangle (Dorothy Warren)   6. Uncategorised - The Game of Bridge: Charlie Chaplin? Lamp on the Cenotaph? A banjulele? A white leghorn pullet?     SHOWNOTES: Episode 72 of this podcast - from 26mins in - has more on the true tale behind the Mass Telepathy broadcast... if want to know how much is accurate: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2dyrq-1478971 Prof Tim Crook's article on Phyllis Twigg quotes extensively from newspapers of the day - again if you'd like to read more on the genuine event and how it was reported: https://kulturapress.com/2022/09/24/phyllis-m-twigg-the-bbcs-first-original-radio-dramatist/ (about 2/3rds down the page) Soundliness Productions made this dramatisation: https://soundliness.com/ Original music is by Will Farmer.  Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - because like the 1925 panel, we can't read your mind: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey Paul's latest Substack posts include a history of BBC DGs: https://paulkerensa.substack.com Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour. This podcast is not made by today's BBC. It's just about the old BBC. Please like/share

October 1923: The BBC's on-air critics go national... These aren't critics OF the BBC (there were - and are - plenty of those), but critics ON the BBC - a literary critic, a music critic, a drama critic, a film critic... Think Front Row, Barry Norman, The Old Grey Whistle Test, but decades earlier. These weekly shows went national via simultaneous broadcasting - SB - and the BBC's London-centric regular programming started to take over the regional schedules. On London 2LO from 14 June 1923 - and nationally on Thursdays from 18 October - was music critic Percy Scholes. On London 2LO from 18 July - and nationally on Fridays from 19 October - was film critic G.A. Atkinson ('Seen on the Screen'). On London 2LO from 8 August - and nationally on Wednesdays from 17 October - was drama critic Archibald Haddon ('News and Views of the Theatre'), and later James Agate. On London 2LO from 3 September - and nationally on Mondays from 15 October - was literary critic John Strachey. And in more recent years, we add comedy criticism to the list - with some comedy writers. James Cary has written BBC sitcoms for TV and radio, inc his own Bluestone 42, Hut 33, Think the Unthinkable, and for others Miranda, My Hero, My Family and more. He joins us with his opinions on comedy, the BBC, and what he'd do if he were DG. And Miranda Hart - once our boss (I also wrote for the show Miranda) - joins us in a conversation I had for my previous podcast, The Heptagon Club (a podcast of conversations with 7 guests per episode - it was exhausting, so I stopped, for the simpler task of chronicling the history of the BBC...) And our latest clue to our audio festive treat. Ooh...   SHOWNOTES: Original music is by Will Farmer.  James Cary's books include The Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer and The Sacred Art of Joking, and his podcasts include The Stand-up Theologian. Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - do please spare 5mins to let me know your thoughts: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey Thanks to Andrew Barker, our Newspaper Detective, for finding the press extracts.  Paul's Substack: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/ Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour... INCLUDING new show Four Monarchs and a Mic: The BBC's Royal Engineer at Leicester Comedy Festival on Sat 8th Feb 2026. This podcast is not made by today's BBC. It's just about the old BBC. And occasionally what's ahead. Please like/share/rate/review this podcast - it all really helps. Support us on Patreon (£5/mth - thanks if you do!), for bonus videos, writings, readings etc. It helps us fund books, web hosting, and oddities like... things coming soon... Or a one-off tip to Ko-fi.com/paulkerensa? Thanks! All keeps the podcast going. Next time: Episode 108: An Evening of Mass Telepathy - a centenary dramatic re-enactment of a lost legendary broadcast!  More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

"6BM Bournemouth sends hearty greetings to the world... We do hope you can smell the pines!"   On 17 October 1923 (oh and look at the date this podcast landed - 102 years apart), the BBC opened its eighth station: 6BM Bournemouth.   It was the last of the first, after the original plan for eight station. Now the map atop the Radio Times cover would be proven correct! When the magazine launched, it featured eight stations... but only six were in operation.   For perhaps the first time, we'll unite some of the first voices from each station - from London's Arthur Burrows to Bournemouth's Auntie Lulu - as well as hear some of pioneering voices from 6BM, thanks to Seán Street, Emeritus Professor of Radio at Bournemouth University. Seán's wonderful recent article and 1973 documentary are essential further reading and listening - and any early voices you hear on this podcast are from interviews he recorded then. We're so glad he did.   Hear the children's presenter in trouble for mentioning religion and booze in her children's tales (no 'Yohoho and a bottle of rum' here...) and the offers from France to pay a licence fee, so enamoured were they with the Bournemouth station.   As for radio's future, who better than the radio futurologist to enlighten us? James Cridland is in-demand as a radio consultant and speaker, and has both intriguing thoughts on where radio (or audio) is going, and wonderful tales of working in radio, including being at the cutting edge of radio's move online two decades ago. I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did (and yes he will be back).   Elsewhere, we talk about not only this podcast's survey, but the BBC's survey, and its results. What do we want the BBC to be? The people have spoken... We dig into that a little.   And our next clue in our audio Christmas gift. What will it be? Keep listening to puzzle it out. (Email me any guesses by all means - or feedback generally on the podcast, or any queries we can ponder on a future episode)    I like all the episodes I make for this podcast. But I REALLY like this one. Hope you do too.   SHOWNOTES: Original music is by Will Farmer.  Professor Seán Street's wonderful 1973 documentary on 6BM Bournemouth is a must-listen: https://soundcloud.com/seans-wireless/6bm-calling His brilliant article on 6BM Bournemouth is here: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/celebrating-centenary-bbc-our-work-creative-industries/question-of-anniversaries James Cridland's website is james.cridland.net, and his daily podcast newsletter is the excellent Podnews. Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - do please spare 5mins to let me know your thoughts: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey The BBC's slightly bigger survey has its results now in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/ourbbcourfuture/ Thanks to Andrew Barker, our Newspaper Detective, for finding the press extracts. Copyright may belong to a newspaper conglomerate somewhere that bought up old newspapers. I can't tell. I just know it's not mine. But fair use, right? Paul's latest Substack is on the Boat Race and the BBC: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/p/the-boat-race-drifts-from-the-bbc Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour. This podcast is not made by today's BBC. It's just about the old BBC. And occasionally what's ahead. Please like/share/rate/review this podcast - it all really helps. Support us on Patreon (£5/mth - thanks if you do!), for bonus videos, writings, readings etc. Coming soon to the podcast: a dramatic re-enactment! That involves me paying a producer for this one-off episode. I intend to give her one month's Patreon £. So now's a great time to chip in, and she'll get a good £... and might then do more for us! If you'd consider? Thanks. Guilt trip over. (...FOR NOW) Or a one-off tip to Ko-fi.com/paulkerensa? Thanks! All keeps the podcast going. Next time: Episode 107: The early BBC criticism programmes: Drama, Music, Film, Books... More

"Aberdeen Calling!"   On 10 October 1923, the BBC opened its seventh station: 2BD Aberdeen.    Its station director R.E. Jeffrey was fresh from the success of Rob Roy - a drama he'd produced and starred in - and in later years he'd head up BBC drama, with contributions arguably including radio's first sci-fi and first sitcom (not at the same time - Red Dwarf was a while away yet).   Our experts include author Gordon Bathgate (whose book Aberdeen Calling is recommended - link below)... academic Dr Aleksandar Kocic of Edinburgh Napier University on why the BBC doesn't really do local radio in Scotland... plus notes from Prof Tim Crook on R.E. Jeffrey's later career... and much more.   We recreate for you Aberdeen's opening night - hear the songs and some of the voices. We look at the challenges of the weather, and the shrinking nature of BBC local radio - both in 1923 and in 2025.   Thoughts on any of this? Email me: paul at paulkerensa dot com. And see the below links for more on this marvellous tale...   SHOWNOTES: Original music is by Will Farmer.  Gordon Bathgate's excellent book Aberdeen Calling: 100 Years of the BBC in Aberdeen is available for your bookshelf: https://amzn.to/42mDDuJ Dr Aleksandar Kocic's thesis - 'What perceptions of local radio by its journalists and listeners tell us about its role and future' - is here: https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/35995?mode=full Graham Stewart's website Scotland On Air has more on the 2BD Aberdeen story here: https://wiki.scotlandonair.com/wiki/2BD Prof Tim Crook's article on R.E. Jeffrey and his pioneering sci-fi dramas is here: https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/29/r-e-jeffrey-pioneer-science-fiction-audio-playwright/ Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - do please spare 5mins to let me know your thoughts: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey Paul's latest Substack is on the Boat Race leaving the BBC... and how it first arrived: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/p/the-boat-race-drifts-from-the-bbc Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour. This podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. Y'hear? Please like/share/rate/review this podcast - it all helps. Support us on Patreon (£5/mth), for bonus videos etc. Coming soon: a thing that involves me paying for a few things to make a one-off fuller bigger episode. Help fund it? Thanks if you do! Or a one-off tip to Ko-fi.com/paulkerensa? Thanks! All keeps the podcast afloat. Next time: Episode 106: The launch of 6BM Bournemouth, and an interview with radio futurologist James Cridland. More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio