Classified Britain

BBC Radio 4 FM

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

James Naughtie finds the heartbeat of history in small ads of old UK newspapers.

James Naughtie finds the heartbeat of history in the front page small ads of old UK newspapers.

Classified Britain: Series 2: Ripley and Heanor News, 2 July 1948

Series 2

Ripley and Heanor News, 2 July 1948

BBC Radio 4 - Classified Britain, Series 2, Ripley and Heanor News, 2 July 1948

James Naughtie explores history through front page small ads.

James Naughtie finds the heartbeat of history in the front page small ads of old UK newspapers. The Ripley and Heanor News, 2 July 1948.

James Naughtie explores history through front page small ads. 

The Ripley and Heanor News - serving the towns of the Amber Valley, north of Derby - reveals the austerity of post war recovery in its columns, the home made entertainment in the days before television's domination and a meeting with one of the best known mediums in the Midlands. 

Front page news is a relatively late addition to the newspaper business. For most of their first couple of centuries, British newspapers carried classified ads rather than news on their front page. They transformed the hustle and bustle of the marketplace into newsprint, so you could take it home or to the inn to pore over at your leisure.
 
James Naughtie travels the country discovering how these front page ads give us a snapshot of time and place, exploring how they weave national and local life together - the heartbeat of history rolling daily or weekly off the presses.
 
The ads tell us what people were eating, drinking and wearing, what was on stage and what people were playing at home. They mark the mood of the time through notices for public meetings held to stoke up or damp down public fears of crime and political unrest. They are a record of the notices placed for houses and public buildings to be built, licenses applied for and subscriptions raised for publications and commemorations. They show the latest labour saving gadgets "trending" as technology arrived, and they track jobs and trades on the way up and down as the British Empire waxed and waned. The ever present ads for patent medicines record our most popular ailments.
 
Produced by John Forsyth.
Assistant Producer: Alexandra Quinn.
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.

Classified Britain: Series 2

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

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

James Naughtie continues his exploration of British history through front page small ads.

James Naughtie continues his travels around Britain, capturing the heartbeat of history in the front page classified ads of 19/20th century newspapers.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Classified Britain

Series 2

Ripley and Heanor News, 2 July 1948

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4