Tower and Town, February 2022

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A Good Read

There is almost certainly no-one alive now who remembers life before the British Broadcasting Corporation. The original public service broadcaster was set up in 1922 by a group of high-minded mavericks, or puritan buccaneers. David Hendy has written The BBC: A People's History, taking readers at a canter through 100 years of the institution. The author describes just enough of the technology to be interesting, and intriguing glimpses of some of the personalities involved. I wanted to know more about the fabulously named and 6 foot 8 inch tall Seymour de Lotbiniere, for example. But no time or space. So we get hints of George Bernard Shaw (a nightmare), Cary Grant, Arthur Askey, ferociously independently minded regional programme makers, war, politics, music, sport, royal events, on radio, then television and now digital services.

Walking the tightrope between being a national broadcaster yet never quite 'the state broadcaster', with constant attempted interference from Governments, the BBC has been almost equally trusted and reviled. It has provoked opinion, dissent, complaint, and praise. There have been mistakes, scandals, dodgy dealings, but all, the author argues, in pursuit of a noble endeavour; to inform, educate and entertain, impartially. If this book had an accompanying playlist, a triple album would include, among many other tracks, Barwick Green, Approaching Menace, Devil's Galop. Lilliburlero, Soul Limbo, Barnacle Bill, Beethoven's Symphony No 5, and Knightsbridge March. There are other, drier books to be written about the politics, sociology and culture of the still-evolving BBC, but this is an enjoyable and accessible popular history.

A BBC man since 1984. Justin Webb has written a memoir, though not about his broadcasting career. The Gift of a Radio is his attempt to make sense of his lonely upbringing through that peculiar period, the 1970s. The author's dreadful boarding school, his mother's grim insistence on their social superiority, and a step-father with mental health issues could make this a depressing read, but it really isn't. Webb looks back with 'amazement, with affection, with relief'. If you remember the 70s you'll wince with recognition at a lot of this book. There's nothing so strange as the recent past.

The Vicar of Savernake, Colin Heber Percy's Tales of a Country Parish, based on his lockdown newsletters for his parish, is warm and learned, relating the seemingly mundane and personal to deeper and wider issues. A nourishing book.

Debby Guest