A 1931 adaptation of A Christmas Carol handed in by collectors' circle
ORCA (Old Time Radio Collectors' Association) is the earliest broadcast
recovered and the earliest complete BBC drama in existence.
Man and Superman 16-08-65
Robert Hardy & Fenella Fielding star in this production of George Bernard
Shaw’s play
The Doctor's Dilemma 7-3-66
By George Bernard Shaw, starring Alec McCowen & Maurice Denham
Bajazet 9-1-72
By Racine with Barbara Jefford, Prunella Scales & Martin Jarvis
Peribanez and the Commendador of Ocana 3-8-68
By Lope de Vegar, with Trader Faulkner & Rosalind Shanks
School for Wives 21-1-73
By Moliere, with Geoffrey Bayldon
Showing Up of Blanco Posnet 16-7-63
By G.B. Shaw, with William Sylvester
Their Very Own and Golden City 9-12-68
By Arnold Wesker, with Carleton Hobbs
Naked ("Vestiri Illie Inuli") 27-4-70
By Pirandello, with Stephen Murray & Susannah York
She Stoops to Conquer TX Date unknown
By Oliver Goldsmith, with Alastair Sim & Brenda de Banzie
Fanny's First Play 17-9-66
By G.B. Shaw, with Dilys Laye & Timothy West
The Spanish Tragedy 2-3-69
By Thomas Kydd, with John Laurie
Prometheus Bound 3-7-70
By Aeschylus, with Peter Woodthorpe
Ubu Unchained 26-7-68
By Alfred Jarry, with Norman Shelley
The Rules of the Game 7-7-67
By Pirandello, with Robert Harris, Anthony Jacobs & Nicolette Bernard.
The Quare Fellow 22-9-69
By Brendan Behan, with players from the Arts Theatre, Lyric Theatre &
Ulster Theatre Company, Belfast.
The Devil's Disciple 5-10-69
By G.B. Shaw, with Keith Michell & Max Adrian
The Caretaker 29-9-69
by Harold Pinter, with Bill Fraser, Michael Harbour & Nigel Anthony
Anybody Here Seen Friday? 11-10-61
A sound portrait of a Dublin childhood adapted by Dominic Behan from his
autobiographical novel Terms of Times and Happy Returns
Something Strange 6-2-62
A play for radio by Kingsley Amis with Noel Johnson, Brian Wilde and Nerys
Hughes
The Happy Couple 21-5-69
A production of W. Somerset Maughan’s play starring Carleton Hobbs and
Jean Anderson
What Killed Goliath? 5-5-61
Play with Leo McKern as Goliath.
Comedy and Light Entertainment
I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again 25-10-65
An edition of the "radio custard pie" with Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese,
Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall & Bill Oddie.
Hancock’s Half Hour
4 editions starring Tony Hancock with Sid James, Bill Kerr, Kenneth
Williams and Hattie Jacques.
The Bolshoi Ballet Series 4 episode 2 (21-10-56).
Anna & The King of Siam Series 4 episode 7 (25-11-56).
Around The World in Eighty Days Series 5 episode 8 (11-3-58)
The Election Candidate Series 5 episode 10 (25-3-58).
Peter Sellers Estate Collection
Famously a lover of things technical Sellers recorded his own broadcasts
to 78 rpm disc using home equipment. He recorded just his own performances
from variety shows or got his mother to do it if it was live. Includes
Sellers’ first TV appearance 3-5-49 and first billed appearance on radio’s
Starlight Hour 13-12-48. Collection includes private recordings. Radio
highlights include:
Sellers 1st TV appearence (TV soundtrack only) May 3 1948
Starlight Hour December 13 1948 - Sellers 1st "Billed" appearence
Starlight Hour December 20 1948
Geraldo’s Open House September 15 1949
Showtime August 19 1948
Music Hall November 5 1949
Ray’s a Laugh July 3 1949
Starlight Hour November 22 1948
Music Hall April 5 1949
Starlight Hour November 8 1948
Variety Bandbox September 19 1948
Ignorance is Bliss July 2 1949
Parsley Sidings
4 editions of the Radio 2 comedy series starring Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender
set around a railway station.
Pass The Parcel (29-9-73)
A Night Out (20-10-73)
A Bird In The Hand (3-11-73)
The Secret Agent (1-12-73)
The Men From The Ministry 20-11-62
Written by Edward Taylor, starring Wilfred Hyde-White & Richard Murdoch
with guest star Betty Marsden.
I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue
11-4-72 The first edition of the long-running panel game.
25-9-74 Complete edition.
Something To Shout About
A light-hearted satire on the world of advertising written by Myles Rudge
and Ronnie Wolfe and starring Michael Medwin, Fenella Fielding, Joan Sims,
Eleanor Summerfield and Warren Mitchell.
Two editions:
5-7-60
16-8-60
It’s A Deal 1-6-61
Starring Sid James as a property dealer. Written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald
Chesney. A truly lost programme as no examples were in archives at all.
It’s A Fair Cop 16-6-61
Eric Sykes stars as a blundering policeman. Written by John Junkin and
Terry Nation. A truly lost programme as no examples were in archives at
all.
The Next Programme Follows Immediately
4 editions of the anarchic comedy show from July 1971 with David Jason
& Denise Coffey
Milligna (or Your Favourite Spike) 12-26 December 1972
3 editions of Spike Milligan’s Radio 4 show from December 1972
The Secret Life of Kenneth Williams 21-7-71
One show from the Radio 4 comedy series starring Kenneth Williams with
Richard Calidcot and Josephine Tewson
Beyond Our Ken 4-1-62 & 8-2-62
Two editions of the well-know show starring Kenneth Horne with Kenneth
Williams, Hugh Paddick, Bill Pertwee and Betty Marsden
Radio Five with Eric Idle 30-3-74 to 4-5-74
Four editions of the Radio One show that combined Eric Idle’s brand of
humour with pop music.
It Sticks Out Half A Mile
A Dad’s Army radio sequel written by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles who
also very successfully adapted the Dad’s Army for Radio with the same core
cast.
Share and Share Alike
Series written by Harold Snoad & Michael Knowles. An ‘Odd Couple’ comedy
featuring two chalk and cheese brothers forced to live together by the
terms of their mother’s will.
Pilot show with Reg Varney & Roy Kinnear recorded 19th January
1975 (never broadcast)
Series of 9 shows with Michael Robbins & Hugh Paddick broadcast
July - September 1978
My Music 20-5-68
A battle of wits, with music as the main ingredient. Proceedings are overseen
by chairman Steve Race.
A Night At The Music Hall 31-8-64
Bill Scott-Coomber introduces a selection of variety acts including comedian
Freddy Davis and Shirley Abicair.
The Ronnie Corbett Thing 1970
A show from Ronnie Corbett’s Radio Two series.
Music
Aïda 16-7-55
Extracts from the Third Programme broadcast of a performance of the opera
from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Features Tito Gobbi, Ebe Stinagni
and a young Joan Sutherland. Recorded off-air in good quality by a RAF
National Serviceman and electronics enthusiast running his station music
society.
Saturday Club 17-10-59
Extracts from the Light Programme’s weekly selection of music and live
guests from the pop world, introduced by Brian Matthew.
Ringo Starr: My Top Twelve 7-4-74
Former Beatle Ringo selects 12 tracks to make up an imaginary album of
his favourite music and chats about his career and future plans with Brian
Matthew. Poor quality, not suitable for broadcast but speech content may
be of some research interest.
Paul Simon Five-to-Ten Session rec. 21-1-65, tx March 1965
Paul Simon’s first recorded session in the UK. Practically unknown in the
UK, he was still to have his first big US hit with the Paul Simon Songbook.
Acting on a tip-off from a folk fan, the BBC producer Roy Trevivian went
to hear Simon and immediately asked him to record some songs.
He was asked at short notice to record some of his material for the
religious-spiritual slot on the Light Programme.
The Production Assistant was sent out to the Home Office to get a work
permit especially (the letter requesting the permit is in BBC Written Archives).
Nine complete tracks. Simon had a cold at the time and the recording has
an immediate, slightly raw but authentic quality.
Elton John: Speakeasy 11-10-69
Two session tracks from Elton John’s appearance on this Radio One show.
Broadcast quality recording by a member of the original production staff.
Tubby Hayes Quartet: Jazz Club 18-12-68 & 9-4-69
Two session recordings featuring nine tracks from the band’s appearances
on this Radio One show. Broadcast quality recording made live in the studio
for a band member.
Music While You Work: editions from 1943-1967
21 complete editions from the famous daily live music programme which ran
from 1940 to 1967. Includes a 1943 edition and the last show on the last
day of the Light Programme in 1967. Varying quality but generally good.
One short extract of the theme tune only previously existed in the BBC.
Collected by one man mainly by recording off-air from the 1960s and acquiring
from other sources. He attended some of the last live broadcasts and has
en encylopaedic knowledge of MWYW and light music of the period. His collection
runs into hundreds of editions.
Poets of the Sixteenth Century: Ben Jonson - 17-4-68
Settings of Lyrics for Voice and Lute
Make Way For Music 23-10-59
A slice of daytime entertainment from the Light Programme with singer Sheila
Buxton accompanied by the Northern Dance Orchestra conducted by Alan Ainsworth.
Talks, Features and Topical Material
Tuning Fork of America 17-11-61
America folk singer Pete Seeger discusses his career and plays some of
his songs.
On The Edge 13-2-63
A Charles Parker Radio Ballad. ‘The journey through adolesence faced by
young people in the 1960s’. Seven 14-20 year olds interspersed with original
songs by McColl and Seeger. Not excellent quality, but social history content
important.
The Last of the Gleemen: The Name is Zozimus 31-8-62
An examination of the Dublin Gleemen written by Philip Rooney and featuring
traditional songs sung by Dominic Behan.
Come Along To Freedom 15-8-61
A ballad documentary about an underground railway in America that provided
a means of escape for slaves in the 19th century.
Sparrow: Calypsos 5-10-61
Nobel prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul selects and introduces calypsos
sung by the enigmatic singer Sparrow and reflects on their social commentary.
The Poetry of e.e. Cummings 2-3-69
Selected and presented by Charles Tomlinson.
There’s Nothing There
Extract of a talk on the BBC Sound Archive by Archive Features producer
Madeau Stewart. Date unknown, probably early 1970s. Addresses the complaint
of Archive users who trawling through thousands of recordings exclaim ‘there
nothing there!’.
The Public Ear 22-3-64
A short clip from the start of this edition of the programme, featuring
a letter from a Beatles fan who wanted advance notice of any radio appearances
by the group so that other fans could be told to switch their receivers
on. The reply was read by Ringo Starr, but is not present on this recording!
other articles
The RNID Archive
By
Mark Brown & John King
(under repair)
