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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe BBC: A People\u2019s History<\/em><\/a> by the Connected Histories of the BBC project\u2019s founding director David Hendy<\/a> was published on 27 January 2022 by Profile Books Ltd. Based on many of the unique oral histories that the CH-BBC project is helping to bring to public view, it is the only BBC-authorised centenary history book and traces the BBC from its maverick beginnings through war, the creation of television, changing public tastes, austerity, and massive cultural change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BBC has constantly evolved, developing from one radio station, to television, then multiple channels and now the competition with the internet and streaming services. The BBC: A People\u2019s<\/em> History<\/em> <\/a>is a history of a now global institution that defines Britain and created modern broadcasting; it is also a reflection of 100 years of British history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Hendy\u2019s history not only complements Asa Briggs\u2019s five-volume oeuvre on BBC\u2019s history by dealing with a much longer period but takes a different \u2018bottom up\u2019 approach rather than an institutional one, by focusing on the people\u2019s stories: on oral histories from former staff, as found in BBC Oral History Archive, as well as on audience accounts and reactions on BBC\u2019s presence\/programmes in the public sphere of mid-twentieth-century Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hendy\u2019s book tells not an institutional history but mainly people\u2019s stories about setting up, staffing, advancing their careers, making friends and enemies, struggling and flourishing within an institution. It also tells people\u2019s stories about the transformative cultural, educational and informational dimension of having the BBC as background throughout their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all, The BBC: A People\u2019s History<\/em> <\/a>helps trace the public understanding of the BBC\u2019s own rich and complex past, and especially its role in a society and culture in constant change. This brilliantly-written account of the BBC\u2019s history, that has already gathered many reviews and has gone recently into the top ten of the UK\u2019s non-fiction charts, makes the BBC looks as much of a National Treasure as the NHS, that, using Hendy\u2019s concluding words, \u201cwe sometimes never know just how much we need or want [it] until it\u2019s gone<\/em>\u201d (Hendy 2022, 571). And such a contribution can\u2019t be more timely, just weeks after the announcement of the new five-year licence fee deal before deciding on a new funding model for the BBC and on its future altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Celebrating 100 years of the BBC, David Hendy\u2019s book complements a brilliant series of digital resources. These include 100 voices that made the BBC<\/a>, which includes many tantalising oral history clips in stories including on war, nation, pioneering women and entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are proud to recommend David\u2019s wonderful book!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018A fascinating and informative account of the BBC\u2019s first 100 years\u2019<\/strong><\/em> Daily Telegraph<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018A dramatic tale of innovation and determination\u2019<\/em> Guardian<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018A masterpiece \u2026 this is the authoritative, much-needed history of the BBC\u2019s first century\u2019<\/em> David Kynaston, historian and Visiting Professor at Kingston University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We thank the AHRC, the School of Media, Arts and Humanities<\/a>, the Sussex Humanities Lab<\/a> and the BBC for their support. MARCH 3, 2022 The BBC: A People\u2019s History by the Connected Histories of the BBC project\u2019s founding director David Hendy was published on 27 January 2022 by Profile Books Ltd. Based on many of the unique oral histories that the CH-BBC project is…<\/span><\/p>\n
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