Episode 95 is our Christmas special for 2024 - looking back to five vintage BBC Christmases of 1922-42.
Well, I say 'five'. I mean nine. Christmas is a time for giving, so have four extra... Nine Gold Airings didn't sound as catchy.
You'll hear:
<ul>
<li>1922 – Rev John Mayo - the BBC's first religious broadcast for Christmas Eve </li>
<li>1926 – Christmas Overture by Coleridge-Taylor, The BBC Wireless Symphony Orchestra conducted by Percy Pitt</li>
<li>1925 - Bethlehem, the BBC's first on-location radio drama, live from St Hilary's church in west Cornwall</li>
<li>1932 – The first royal Christmas message from George V</li>
<li>1934 – The bells of Armagh Cathedral, and Christmas on the Aran Islands</li>
<li>1936 – A Cornish Christmas Carol by the BBC Chorus</li>
<li>1936 – The Wassail Song by the BBC Chorus</li>
<li>1941 – Refugee children and their parents reunited across the Atlantic via BBC and NBC</li>
<li>1942 – Carols in the Desert, Godfrey Talbot, BBC Correspondent with the 8th Army in Tripolitania</li>
</ul>
 
SHOWNOTES:
<ul>
<li>Paul's book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is available in paperback (<a href='https://amzn.to/4iuULoB'>https://amzn.to/4iuULoB</a>) and audiobook read by the author (<a href='https://amzn.to/4gdlYud'>https://amzn.to/4gdlYud</a>)</li>
<li>Hear the full recording of 1934's Bethlehem play: <a href='https://youtu.be/WwC8BemyBtI?si=_m-p_5y3rHPKkrIX'>https://youtu.be/WwC8BemyBtI?si=_m-p_5y3rHPKkrIX</a></li>
<li>Hear the voices behind the Bethlehem play, on this wonderful 1986 BBC Radio Cornwall documentary: <a href='https://youtu.be/HqCO_0uSBFk?si=3AoPR2Gt3We_wgSn'>https://youtu.be/HqCO_0uSBFk?si=3AoPR2Gt3We_wgSn</a></li>
<li>For more on Godfrey Talbot and his BBC career shadowing the 8th army in WW2, see this marvellous detailed biographical blog post:
<a href='https://war-experience.org/events/godfrey-talbot-voice-of-the-desert-and-8th-army/'>https://war-experience.org/events/godfrey-talbot-voice-of-the-desert-and-8th-army/</a>
</li>
<li>Episode 60 of this podcast has more on Rev John Mayo's first BBC religious broadcast, and other landmarks of the genre: <a href='https://pod.fo/e/160bd7'>https://pod.fo/e/160bd7</a></li>
<li>Episode 72 of this podcast is on the first radio drama, on Christmas Eve 1922 - Phyllis Twigg's The Truth about Father Christmas: <a href='https://pod.fo/e/1d6747'>https://pod.fo/e/1d6747</a> - and I'll be writing more about her and this landmark radioplay very soon. Keep an eye out for it!</li>
<li>Original music is by Will Farmer.</li>
<li>Support us on <a href='http://www.patreon.com/paulkerensa'>Patreon</a> (£5/mth), for bonus videos and things - and thanks if you do!</li>
<li>Our Christmas present? Well if you'd rate and review the podcast where you found it... Thanks! You shouldn't have.</li>
<li>Paul's on tour: An Evening of (Very) Old Radio visits these places: <a href='http://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio'>www.paulkerensa.com/tour</a> - come and hear about the first firsts of broadcasting, live.</li>
<li>This podcast is nothing to do with the BBC.</li>
<li>Old clips are likely beyond copyright as they're so old. Newer clips may be BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. </li>
</ul>
Next time: August 1923 on the BBC - new radio HQs in Birmingham and Manchester, developments in Scotland and Dublin, and the first radio gardener, Marion Cran.
More info on this broadcasting history project at <a href='http://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio'>paulkerensa.com/oldradio</a>

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#095 Five Gold Airings: Vintage BBC Christmases 1922-42

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