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The Listening Project

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Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.

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The Listening Project: The Listening Project One Thousand

The Listening Project: The Listening Project One Thousand: Not Your Usual Oral History

The Listening Project One Thousand

13/04/2017

Not Your Usual Oral History

BBC Radio 4 - The Listening Project, The Listening Project One Thousand, Not Your Usual Oral History

How the conversations provide a unique record within the British Library archive.

One thousand conversations sit in the British Library's oral history archive, yet they are unique. Holly Gilbert, who catalogues them, explains why to Fi Glover.

Our one thousand conversations sit in the British Library's oral history archive yet they are unique. Holly Gilbert, who catalogues them for the BL, explains why to Fi GLover. Part of a celebration of the delivery of the thousandth conversation to the British Library and examination of the value of this unique archive from the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen, now and in the future.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Series celebrating the archiving of the 1,000th Listening Project conversation.

Series celebrating the delivery of the thousandth Listening Project conversation to the British Library.

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Not Your Usual Oral History

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