BBC Radio Scotland Highlands and Islands

Lost Letters

Factual: Life Stories

Paul English

25/07/2017

BBC Radio Scotland - Lost Letters

Journalist and broadcaster Paul English looks back at his childhood passion of pen pals.

Journalist and broadcaster Paul English looks back at his childhood passion for letter writing and meets for the first time some of his former pen pals.

For generations being a pen pal was how Scots reached out to the world. Now, of course, you can connect with anyone and anywhere at the click of a mouse or flick of a touch screen, but in the days before the internet having a pen pal was one of the few ways to discover new worlds, new people and new friendships. 

Journalist and broadcaster Paul English tracks down and reaches out to his former pen pals, and considers whether, in the digital age, we have lost the art of letter writing. Meeting a few of his former pen-friends, some for the very first time, has been a real personal journey for Paul. These long distance correspondence were formed nearly 30 years ago, and we've captured their first ever meeting. Paul will look at four particular pen friendships and discusses why they made such an impact on him as a young man.

We'll also hear from a Youtuber and blogger who has set up an international letter writing campaign amongst bloggers from around the world to encourage and foster letter writing as a creative art form. She's found a way of mixing a more personal letter with modern social media correspondence, with amazing results. 

Written and presented by Paul English
Produced by Gus Beattie
A Gusman Production for BBC Radio Scotland.

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