Blue Peter’s longest serving female presenter, Konnie Huq, will guide viewers through this extraordinary cultural and historical adventure, featuring not only nostalgic highlights from the past century, but also showcasing how Children’s TV has been at the forefront of change, social progression and inclusivity. In this new three-part series, David Dimbleby will trace the impact of the BBC on British life across recent decades. He willexplore the corporation's role in major moments of political and cultural change, its conflicts with governments over the years, its own public controversies and how it continues to engage with the British people and attempts to represent a diverse and changing nation. Robert has been in his current role for something over 10 years (‘I’m the third BBC historian’) but his BBC career spans more than 25 years, having worked across Education, Communications, the World Service, Worldwide (as was), Workplace and now the DG’s Office (where BBC History is located). An acclaimed poet, his natural writing ability is evident in the book. Its commissioning was delayed by the pandemic, so Robert spent an intensive six months writing the manuscript, which he finished in May this year. When I began writing a new, unauthorised history of the BBC, I was aware that we were heading into a centenary year of celebrations. Official histories, special programmes and public events will inevitably emphasise the remarkable contribution made by BBC staff and performers to British culture, society and politics over the last 100 years – and rightly so, as there is much to celebrate.

Other nonconformists were exiled to places where they could no longer challenge Reith’s authority. When the left-leaning producer E. A. Harding made a special “New Year Over Europe” programme in 1932, which mentioned in passing the vast amount the Polish government was spending on its military, a minor diplomatic crisis ensued, with the Polish ambassador lodging a formal complaint. Reith decided to banish Harding from London, reportedly telling him: “You’re a very dangerous man, Harding. I think you’d be better up in the North where you can’t do so much damage.” Writing the book was a natural extension of Robert’s current role as BBC Head of History. ‘This has to be the best job in the BBC, but of course there’s also a big responsibility in telling the BBC story that involves the contributions of so many other people – especially readers of Prospero! So I hope I have captured why I feel the BBC is such an important part of Britain, and the myriad ways it has touched all our lives.’ In two feature-length documentaries The BBC’s first 50 years will explore how the challenges and triumphs of today’s BBC have their roots in the corporation’s first half century. Ever since John Reith launched BBC Radio in 1922, the rapid pace of technological change has driven editorial priorities and opened up fresh opportunities – and the changing shape of British society has fuelled the debate over whether the national broadcaster should lead or follow new social attitudes. At the same time, the BBC’s international broadcasting has exported British values, while giving domestic audiences a window on the world. In the BBC’s First 50 Years (w/t) John Bridcut will look at the challenges and triumphs of today’s BBC, which have their roots in the Corporation’s first half century. The two part feature-length documentary will look at John Reith’s launch of BBC Radio in 1922; the rapid pace of technological change which has driven editorial priorities and opened up fresh opportunities; and the changing shape of British society which has fuelled the debate over whether the national broadcaster should lead or follow new social attitudes. Ever since, the BBC has been a story of innovation, creativity and resilience. It has survived crisis, conflict and changing technology. In almost every decade, it has been written off, debated and loved. More than anything, its survival is down to the extraordinary people at the BBC who care deeply about the power of truth and great storytelling.We have worked with BBC Radio 3 over the last 13 years on delivering the pioneering New Generation Thinkers scheme. Each year 10 early career researchers are selected to make programmes for Radio 3 and deliver public engagement activities. There are now 130 New Generation Thinkers.

In the formative years before 1932, the BBC was a new and exciting dish, sizzling over the fire, with Reith, as chef de cuisine, and perhaps too many cooks spoiling the broth: by 1932 it was the heavy though doubtless healthy pudding which it remains – rather soggy now to my taste. Radio 3 will tell the story of the microphone: once a bulky piece of new technology so cutting edge that it was the first proud symbol of the BBC - now owned by millions within their dozens of devices. We will meet the pioneering creators of radio programmes and their innovative experiments in trying understanding the nature of audiences who had to “just listen”. New drama tells the story of the first political test for the BBC: The General Strike - and how it set a template for subsequent ideas about the power of radio and the BBC. And we ask today’s digital sound designers to pay homage to the producers of the past by bringing together and dusting down some of the great sonic creations of the BBC’s past for the new age. BBC Orchestras weekend (w/t) All this probably saved the BBC from dwindling into irrelevance. If it had failed to compete with ITV, licence fee funding could not have lasted. Under Greene, the BBC managed to balance the quest for popularity with the making of genuinely innovative and challenging programmes. Yet this came at a cost. By championing an adventurous new approach to programming and bringing previously taboo aspects of life onto British screens, the BBC became a lightning rod for debates about acceptable standards of taste and behaviour. Another rebel who faced exile was Gladstone Murray, the BBC’s head of publicity, who was sent even further north – to Canada. Murray, who was Canadian by birth, had served with distinction during the first world war as a fighter pilot. He worked capably at the BBC from 1924, creating useful links with journalists and seeking to protect and enhance the Corporation’s public profile. Some thought it was his drinking and liberal use of his expense account that led to his fall from grace. Others believed it was his dynamic approach to press work, which Reith and others viewed as undignified, that sealed his fate.We funded seven public engagement projects across the UK where researchers will work directly with the BBC, and other partner organisations, to engage public audiences with their research about the BBC – including projects on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and ‘Call the Midwife’. These projects were both place-based and thematic, and will see researchers engage with communities. the formation of the Corporation, as radio consolidated its massive social influence and the BBC reinvented itself with a newly defined mission. the creation of BBC online; the BBC was ahead of the curve with the move to converge media, transforming user into curator. The centenary of the BBC provided a canvas to explore the broader future of the broadcast media. It is a sector where innovation is constant and viewing habits having changed beyond recognition in the 21st century, with the introduction of new technologies and streaming services.

AHRC’s programme of public engagement activity throughout 2022 saw arts and humanities researchers engage people with research about the history and future story of broadcasting in the UK.As a result, the BBC was transformed from a company to a corporation – with a mission to inform, educate and entertain. Through the decades, no one has bettered that simple summary of its purpose. Most of the current BBC Orchestras and Choirs have their origins in the first pioneering decade of the BBC. Their founding mission was to bring classical music to the widest possible audience on the radio, which they continue to offer to this day. Across the weekend of 11-13 February, each of the BBC’s ensembles will present a live broadcast concert including classical music from the 1920s and the 2020s, including music by Vaughan Williams, Ravel, Hindemith, Bryce Dessner, Errolyn Wallen, Judith Weir, and Howard Goodall. Past Forward