The BBC, the Empire, and the Second World War, 1939-1945

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

Volumn 22, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 135-155

  Hajkowski, Thomas ^a  

^a NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0013141397     PISSN: 01439685     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01439680220133765     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. Listener, 20 May 1943, p. 612
2. Ibid
3. Asa Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Vol. 3, The War of Words (London, 1970), pp. 491-497
4. John M. MacKenzie, 'In touch with the infinite,' the BBC and the Empire, 1923-53, in John M. MacKenzie (ed.), Imperialism and Popular Culture (Manchester, 1986), pp. 163-191
5. Sián Nicholas, Echo of War, Home Front Propaganda and the Wartime BBC, 1939-45 (Manchester, 1996), p. 235
6. Control Board, 3 June 1930, 17 June 1930, BBC Written Archives Centre, Caversham, R3/3/6 (hereafter BBC WAC)
7. Angus Calder, The People's War (London, 1969)
8. Paddy Scannell and David Cardiff, A Social History of British Broadcasting (Oxford, 1991), p. 17
9. Peter Black, The Biggest Aspidistra in the World (London, 1972), p. 77
10. Scannell and Cardiff, Social History, pp. 277-303
11. Valeria Camporesi, Mass Culture and the Defense of National Tradition (Florence, 1993)
12. Nicholas, Echo of War, pp. 4-7, 15-16
13. Empire played a crucial role in the forging of a British national identity. Imperial expansion represented a common cause for of the peoples of the British Isles. Further, 'possession of such a vast and obviously alien Empire encouraged the British to see themselves as a distinct, special, and - often - superior people'. See Linda Colley, Britons: forging the nation 1707-1837 (London, 1992)
14. Linda Colley, Britishness and otherness: an argument, Journal of British Studies, 31 (1992), p. 324
15. By the 1880s, a militaristic imperial ethos permeated popular culture, children's literature and the schools, though there is some debate about how far down the class ladder this ethos prevailed. See John M. Mackenzie, Propaganda and Empire (Manchester, 1984)
16. John M. Mackenzie (ed.), Imperialism and Popular Culture (Manchester, 1986)
17. Jeffery Richards (ed.), Imperialism and Juvenile Literature (Manchester, 1989)
18. Robert H. MacDonald, The Language of Empire (Manchester, 1994)
19. Richard Price, An Imperial War and the British Working Class (London, 1972)
20. Jeffery Richards, Films and British National Identity (Manchester, 1997), Chapters 1 and 2
21. Raphael Samuel, Empire stories, the imperial and the domestic, in Island Stories, Unravelling Britain: Vol. 2, Theatres of Memory (London, 1998)
22. In a recent article, P. J. Marshall suggests that British imperial identity is best thought of as mirror in which Britain saw its best, idealized self. P. J. Marshall, Imperial Britain, Journal of Imperial and Commonweath History, 23 (1995), pp. 389-390
23. Also see Denis Judd, Empire: the British imperial experience (London, 1997), pp. 5-6
24. D. L. LeMahieu, John Reith 1889-1971 entrepreneur of collectivism, in Susan Pederson and Peter Mandler (eds), After the Victorians (London, 1994), p. 192
25. J. C. W. Reith, Into the Wind (London, 1949), pp. 28-29
26. Mackenzie, Infinite, pp. 171, 173
27. Asa Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Vol. 2, The Golden Age of Wireless (London, 1965), pp. 369-397
28. Stephen Constantine, 'Bringing the Empire alive': the Empire Marketing Board and imperial propaganda, 1926-1933, in Imperialism, pp. 207-208
29. Briggs, Golden Age, pp. 148-149
30. John Green to Anthony Barnes, 21 July 1988, Barnes Papers, File Misc 72/6 Archive Centre, King's College, Cambridge
31. For Empire Day broadcasting, see Mackenzie, Infinite, Scannell and Cardiff, Social History, p. 286
32. Empire Day Broadcast 1938, National Programme, 24 May 1938, BBC WAC, Scripts
33. Maconachie, Record of Interview at the Colonial Office, 21 October 1938, Maconachie to Nicolls, 22 November 1938, Barnes to Maconachie, nd, BBC WAC, R51/89
34. Listener, 14 September 1939, p. 503
35. Laurence Gilliam, The radio documentary in wartime, BBC Yearbook 1945, p. 56
36. Alford to Dunnett, 19 December 1940, BBC WAC, R51/678
37. BBC Handbook 1941, p. 79
38. Barnes to Maconachie, 6 August 1941, BBC WAC, R51/91/1
39. Maconachie to Alford 6 May 1941, BBC WAC, R51/678
40. BBC Handbook, 1942, p. 13
41. Listener, 17 April 1941, p. 543
42. E. Rawdon-Smith to Maconachie, 2 August 1941, BBC WAC, R51/91/1
43. Barnes to R.B. Pugh, 4 October 1941, BBC WAC, R51/91/1
44. Christopher Salmon to Barnes, 16 April 1942, BBC WAC, R51/91/1
45. Vincent Harlow to Barnes, 19 June 1942, BBC WAC, R51/91/1
46. Barnes to Maconachie, 15 February 1943, ibid
47. Red on the Map, 13 April 1943, Home Service, BBC WAC, Talks Scripts, Reel 197
48. Briggs, War of Words, p. 568
49. Baily to Nicolls and Kenneth Adam, 16 February 1943, BBC WAC, R34/350/1
50. J. Grenfell Williams to Rendell, Empire Service Directors, 26 March 1943, BBC WAC, R/350/1
51. Maconachie to Barnes, Rendell and Hilton Brown, 29 April 1943, BBC WAC, R51/60
52. Lionel Gamlin, You're on the Air: a book about broadcasting (London, 1947), pp. 40-43
53. W.E. Williams gave Brush Up a positive review in the Listener, but criticized Gamlin for his 'brittle facetiousness'. Listener, 2 December 1943, p. 648
54. Hilton Brown to Kenneth Adam, 5 November 1943, BBC WAC, R51/60
55. Brush Up Your Empire: India, Forces Programme, BBC WAC, Talks Scripts, Reel 177
56. Brown to Talks Producers, 21 October 1943, ibid
57. Salmon to Barnes, 6 November 1943, ibid
58. Brown to Peter Bax, 31 May 1944, ibid
59. Maconachie to Foot, 5 March 1944, BBC WAC, R34/350/1
60. Barnes to Ursala Eason, 30 October 1943, BBC WAC, R51/60. Brown noted on the memo: 'Curious how one does forget about Eire being in the Empire'
61. Barnes to Brown, 11 December 1943, BBC WAC, ibid
62. Alec Morley to Sir John Walton, 16 January 1944, IO, L/I/1/949
63. Morley to Walton, 3 March 1944, ibid
64. Morley to Brown, 22 June 1944, ibid
65. Brown to Morley, 27 June 1944, Morley to Brown, 29 June 44, ibid
66. Brush Up Your Empire: Burma, Home Service, BBC WAC, Talks Scripts, Reel 177
67. Rendall to Foot, 28 February 1944, BBC WAC, R34/350/1
68. Radio Times, 9 November 1945, p. 7
69. Leslie Baily (ed.), Travellers' Tales (London, 1945), p. 5
70. James Curran, David Morley and Valerie Walkerdine (eds), Cultural Studies and Communications (London, 1996), pp. 256-305
71. Clark to Foot, 29 February 1944, ibid
72. Macmillan to Rendall, 10 November 1942, BBC WAC, R34/350/1
73. Ivan Smith to Rendall, 3 April 1942, ibid
74. Barnes to Maconachie, 29 July 1942, ibid