Past Forward: A Century of Sound

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Greg Jenner dives deep into the BBC archive to explore what it says about who we are now.

Greg Jenner takes a deep dive into the BBC archive to explore what it can tell us about who we are now.

Marking the Centenary, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the BBC's vast archive over the past 100 years. Historian Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and uses it as a starting point in a journey towards the present day. The archive captures a century of British life in a unique way -  a history of ordinary people's lives, as well as news of the great events.  Greg uncovers connections through people, places and ideas that link the archive fragment to Britain in 2022, pulling in help from experts and those who remember the time - and sometimes the speakers themselves, decades later - along the way. What he discovers are stories, big and small, that reveal how the people we were have shaped the people we have become.

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Past Forward: A Century of Sound: Christmas 1945

Christmas 1945

BBC Radio 4 - Past Forward: A Century of Sound, Christmas 1945

Greg Jenner dives into the BBC archive to explore what it says about who we are now.

Public historian Greg Jenner hears an archive clip from 24 December 1945 and hears about plans for Christmas after years of war.

Greg hears an archive clip from 24th December 1945 – when people in Bethnal Green were interviewed by Wynford Vaughan-Thomas about their plans for Christmas that year - for many, the first celebration with their families for several years.

Marking the centenary of the BBC, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the BBC's vast archive over the past 100 years. Public historian Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and uses it as a starting point in a journey towards the present day. The archive captures a century of British life in a unique way - a history of ordinary people’s lives, as well as news of the great events. Greg uncovers connections through people, places and ideas that link the archive fragment to Britain in 2022, pulling in help from experts and those who remember the time – and sometimes the speakers themselves, decades later - along the way. What he discovers are stories, big and small, that reveal how the people we were have shaped the people we have become.

Featuring historian Martin Johnes -- and Vi Davis, Gloria Lacey and Juliet Middleton.

Thanks to Dail Francois and all at the Sundial Centre, Bethnal Green.

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

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Past Forward: A Century of Sound

Christmas 1945

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