Past Forward: A Century of Sound

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BBC Radio 4 FM

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

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Factual: History

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.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Past Forward: A Century of Sound: Listen with Mother

Listen with Mother

BBC Radio 4 - Past Forward: A Century of Sound, Listen with Mother

Greg Jenner hears clips from the BBC archive and asks what they mean in 2022.

Greg Jenner enjoys 'Listen With Mother' from 1950 and explores how children's entertainment has changed since then.

Public historian Greg Jenner enjoys a clip from 1950 of the iconic radio show Listen with Mother, and reflects on the ways children's entertainment has changed since then with Professor Kate Lacey and Kay Benbow

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.

Producer: Megan Jones

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

Listen with Mother

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