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Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research

War from the Inside: Oral histories from the BBC

Sat, 19 October 2019
11:00 – 15:00 BST

The Keep
Woollards Way
Brighton
BN1 9BP

Free, all welcome, but booking is essential
Disabled access

Join us to explore rare recordings from the BBC’s vaults and the stories they tell about how our national broadcaster has reported war and helped us live through it.

Eighty years ago, on 3 Sept 1939, the ponderous voice … through the radio.. ‘We are at war’…

Olive Shapley (producer) with Mrs Emerson in the colliery village of Craghead, County Durham BBC North region 01/01/1939 © BBC

To mark this anniversary, the Mass Observation Archive is teaming up with the BBC and the ÄûÃÊÊÓƵ. Through hearing personal accounts from key BBC figures, we'll explore how the BBC helped shape our experience of World War 2 - at home, abroad, and in our minds. We'll also retrace landmark coverage of the Blitz and D-Day, but also lesser known stories from behind-the-scenes: the 'secret war' of coded messages and secret beams, the arguments over the hit-series Music While You Work, the strange life of siege experienced by a generation of broadcasters who felt themselves on the front-line.

There’ll be a chance to see new clips from the BBC’s archive and hear from the legendary war correspondent Allan Little. The event also offers a unique opportunity to take your place in BBC history by bringing your own memories and visiting our special pop-up TV corner to record your reminiscences on film.

Light lunch and refreshments provided. To book, please register here:  

Image credit: Olive Shapley (producer) with Mrs Emerson in the colliery village of Craghead, County Durham BBC North region 01/01/1939 © BBC