New Storytellers

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

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

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

BBC Radio 4 LW

New Storytellers: The Final Fanfayre

The Final Fanfayre

BBC Radio 4 - New Storytellers, The Final Fanfayre

In 1974, a young girl band from Middlesbrough made a record for their idols - The Osmonds.

In 1974, four young girls from Middlesbrough won a national competition and found themselves making a record for their idols - The Osmonds.

It's 1974 and, half a decade after The Beatles and Elvis Presley dominated the charts, a new generation of artists were capturing the hearts and minds of the nation’s young female fans - The Jackson 5, The Bay City Rollers, and above all David Cassidy and The Osmonds.

The Final Fanfayre is a different kind of fan story. Fanfayre were a band of Osmond fans made up of two sets of sisters – Ali (15) and Bev (11), and Lou (16) and Anne (13). They played Osmond songs and loved the group so much that, when an opportunity to audition to be their European Fanclub band arose, the four youngsters from Middlesbrough applied - and won!

It's 2023 and, 50 years on, broadcaster Paul Gambaccini reflects on fandom in the mid-70s, as sisters Ali and Bev reminisce about their time in Fanfayre and what it was like to be part of the group and travel to a London studio to record their single, Donny's Girl.

New Storytellers presents the work of new radio producers and this series features the winners of the Charles Parker Prize 2023 for the Best Student Radio Feature. These awards are presented every year in memory of the pioneering radio producer Charles Parker who produced the famous series of Radio Ballads with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. The series is introduced by Charles’ daughter, Sara Parker, an award-winning radio producer in her own right.

The Final Fanfayre was produced by Dom Brown who is studying MA Radio, Audio and Podcasting at the University of Sunderland. The judges said of his feature, “What a blast!” “An Interesting subject, well put together” and “Evocative of the time. This simple piece works brilliantly because of the sheer power of the women’s reminiscences.”

Producer: Dom Brown
A Soundscape production for BBC 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.

Factual: Life Stories

New work from winners of the Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Radio Feature.

New work by radio and audio producers new to BBC Radio 4 from the five winners of this year's Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Radio Feature.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

New Storytellers

The Final Fanfayre

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4