Barry Humphries: Forgotten Musical Masterpieces

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Radio 2 Celebrates the BBC at 100

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Programmes and documentaries celebrating BBC personalities and stars through the years.

Programmes and documentaries celebrating the BBC personalities and stars through the years.

Radio 2 Celebrates the BBC at 100: Barry Humphries: Forgotten Musical Masterpieces: 2. All For Ten Shillings a Year

Barry Humphries Forgotten Musical Masterpieces

2. All For Ten Shillings a Year

BBC Radio 2 - Radio 2 Celebrates the BBC at 100, Barry Humphries: Forgotten Musical Masterpieces, 2. All For Ten Shillings a Year

Barry Humphries celebrates 100 years of the BBC with witty songs from the 1920s and 30s.

Barry Humphries celebrates 100 years of the BBC with music by artists, who made their name during the earliest days of British broadcasting.

Barry Humphries celebrates the centenary of the BBC with his personal selection of music by artists, who were big stars during the earliest days of British broadcasting. In episode 2, Barry looks back at the era of John Reith, who was in charge of the BBC from 1922 to 1938.  Musical highlights in this episode include the songs: 'What it Feels Like to Broadcast' by Gert & Daisy, ‘We Can’t Let You Broadcast That’ and ‘All for Ten Shillings A Year (about the wonders of the Licence Fee) by Norman Long, ‘Old King Tut' (inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in 1923) by Billy Jones & Ernest Hare and ‘We’re Frightfully BBC’ by the Western Brothers.

The BBC was formed in the autumn of 1922. Back then, that combination of letters meant little to most people. Also, until 1927 the ‘C’ in ‘BBC’ actually stood for ‘Company’ rather than ‘Corporation’.  ‘Listening in’ to the wireless quickly became a social and cultural phenomenon.  John Reith wanted the national broadcaster to bring the best of everything into the greatest number of homes. Later, the Cabinet Secretary, Maurice Hankey, told Reith that he had, 'created one of the greatest organisations in the world which will continue on your lines for centuries.'

The task of reading the very first BBC news bulletin at 6pm on 14th November 1922 fell to Arthur Burrows and the headlines covered a train robbery, a rowdy meeting involving Winston Churchill, the sale of a Shakespeare ‘First Folio’ and it ended, naturally, with the billiard scores. The second day’s BBC news bulletins brought results of the 1922 General Election. 

Barry also mentions the British broadcasting debut of the legendary George Gershwin, whose performance of 'Rhapsody in Blue' as piano soloist was broadcast live from a London hotel in 1925.   

Barry Humphries says:  

'Making each series of ‘Forgotten Musical Masterpieces’ for BBC Radio over recent years has given me the opportunity to discover artists, I’d never heard of before.  Norman Long is one of my best discoveries. He made his British broadcasting debut  on the radio station ‘2LO’ in London, as early as 1922 and described himself as ‘all teeth and trousers.' Norman Long gave his farewell performance in 1945 and died, in nursing home in Torquay, six years later, so I never got the chance to meet him.  I didn’t arrive in Britain until 1959. I also don’t recall hearing him on the radio in Australia when I was a child. He was a star of the 1920s, the decade before I was born. ‘We Can’t Let You Broadcast That!’ pokes fun at the early BBC censors, whom Norman Long clearly had regular dealings with.  I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that, on occasion, I've shared Norman’s frustrations. ‘We Can’t Let  You Broadcast That!’ has been said to me by BBC producers occasions times over the years.

'One hundred years ago, when the system of broadcasting in Britain was first conceived, it was designed to be very different from the radio chaos that had sprung up on the other side of the Atlantic, after the end of the First World War. In America, anyone could set up a radio station and it was decided that the USA’s disorganised, overcrowded airways were not to be repeated here. British Officials felt that the new method of mass communication had to be carefully regulated, to ensure that it didn’t fall into the wrong hands and wasn’t put to sinister purposes.'

Radio 2 Celebrates the BBC at 100: Barry Humphries: Forgotten Musical Masterpieces

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

Barry Humphries celebrates 100 years of the BBC with witty songs from the 1920s & 30s.

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Barry Humphries: Forgotten Musical Masterpieces

2. All For Ten Shillings a Year

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