#071 Yesteryear in Parliament: The BBC vs The Government, April 1923

The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

Sometimes we get nerdy. Sometimes we get very nerdy.

This episode is one of those where media meets politics meets history - and we're giving you all the nit-picking details, because if we don't, who will?! We only pass this way once...

...And by 'this way', I mean April 16th-24th 1923.

On our previous episode, the five-month-old BBC was almost on its last legs, facing battles from the press (the Express) and the government (a feisty Postmaster General who doesn't feel generous with the licence fee).

Now episode 71 sees the BBC discussed in the House of Commons, as two debates introduce the Sykes Inquiry, and see MPs debate, debase, defend and potentially defund the BBC. (A reminder: this was 1923, not 2023.)

To bring this to life, we've revisited the Hansard parliamentary record of precisely what was said, and reunited (or recruited) our Podcast Parliamentary Players.

So you'll hear:

Neil Jackson - Mr Ammon

Alexander Perkins - Lt Col Moore-Brabazon

Lou Sutcliffe, David Monteath, Paul Hayes, Fay Roberts, Tom Chivers - Postmaster General Sir William Joynson-Hicks (aka Jix)

Shaun Jacques - Sir William Bull, Mr Pringle

Gordon Bathgate - Ramsay Macdonald, Sir Douglas Newton

Steve Smallwood - Captain Benn

Jamie Medhurst - Captain Berkeley

Carol Carman - Mr Jones

Andrew Barker - Mystery Speaker

Wayne Clarke - Mr Speaker, J.H. Whitley

...and apologies if I've missed anyone out! It's quite possible.

If you'd like to follow along (why would you?), the text of the two debates are here:

April 19th 1923:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1923-04-19/debates/8b3a8bd2-60c2-4c76-9e51-27c86098693f/BroadcastingLicences?highlight=experimental#contribution-276dc9d5-9f73-4623-867f-57e71dd74a1e April 24th 1923: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1923-04-24/debates/9eb32788-f7a5-4f00-b2e5-a3207e5713bf/WirelessBroadcasting?highlight=experimental#contribution-7d5744c5-1c76-49d8-848e-858b0f275df7 OTHER LINKS:

• The text of Peter Eckersley's on-air engineering talk (thanks to Andrew Barker):

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury/posts/624629565774834/ (Join our Facebook group!)

• The 1938 Radio Times I mentioned, that I was kindly sent: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury/posts/788427186061737/

• This episode contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v.3.0

• Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about the old BBCompany, and not made by the present-day BBCorporation.

• Apologies we were going to feature Dr Martin Cooper - but the debates over-ran! Soon, Martin, with apologies. Meanwhile, buy his book: https://amzn.to/44eSXIM
• Music by Will Farmer
• Support us on Patreon.com/paulkerensa
• Rate/review us where you found this podcast?
• Paul's tour on old radio: Paulkerensa.com/tour

  Thanks for listening, if you do. This one's a bit heavy!

  NEXT TIME:

  The first radio dramatist - The Truth about Phyllis Twigg

  paulkerensa.com/oldradio