Rewinder

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Greg James digs into the BBC's archives, using current stories as a portal to the past.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Rewinder: Talking Dogs!

Talking Dogs!

BBC Radio 4 - Rewinder, Talking Dogs!

Greg James marks the end of the year with a rummage through the BBC archives.

Greg James heads into the BBC archives using stories of the week and listener requests to guide the way. This week: Enid Blyton, Winifred Atwell, talking dogs and traffic news.

Greg James dives into the BBC Archive to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories to guide the way.

As the Famous Five returns to our screens, Greg looks for Enid Blyton in the archives and almost comes up short: why are interviews with the prolific and beloved children's author so rare? He uncovers rumours of a Blyton ban at the BBC...

It’s always a big deal - who’s going to be the Christmas Number One? Greg tracks back to its origins in the 1950s, specifically 1954 when the world-renowned pianist Winifred Atwell topped the chart. Her piece Let's Have Another Party became the first track by a black musician to top the British charts, and Greg discovers her influence on the likes of Elton John and Paul McCartney.

With this series of Rewinder scheduled for drivetime, Greg is determined to find out the history of traffic and travel news. He discovers the joy of taking a breather in between traffic news and finds a report about a strange AA pilot scheme to help with the busy roads of London in 1950.

As the year comes to an end, Greg gets inspiration from some old British new year traditions like burning the clavie, mummers’ plays and wassailing.

And it wouldn’t be Rewinder without Greg taking an inexplicable tangent: this week, talking dogs, featuring Greg's own clever boy Barney. 

Series archivists: Tariq Hussain and Jonathan Charlton
Producer: Tim Bano

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