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: Talking Technology

Talking Technology

BBC Radio 4 - Past Forward: A Century of Sound, Talking Technology

Greg Jenner looks at the evolution of digital voices and their role in accessibility.

Greg hears a clip from the BBC archive about a 1990 innovation that allowed blind people to access newspapers, and looks into the evolution of digital voice technology since then

Greg Jenner discovers a 1990 innovation that allowed blind people to access newspapers, and speaks to accessibility engineer Leonie Watson and author and disability campaigner Dr Amit Patel about the evolution and implications of digital voice technology.

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. 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 looking at how far we've come since then.

Produced by Amelia Parker


[Image description: Presenter Greg Jenner stands holding a microphone - the left side of his body is styled like it's 1922, his right side 2022]

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Past Forward: A Century of Sound

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