The BBC
A Century on Air
-
-
4.5 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $19.99
Publisher Description
The first in-depth history of the iconic radio and TV network that has shaped our past and present.
Doctor Who; tennis from Wimbledon; the Beatles and the Stones; the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales: for one hundred years, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been the preeminent broadcaster in the UK and around the world, a constant source of information, comfort, and entertainment through both war and peace, feast and famine.
The BBC has broadcast to over two hundred countries and in more than forty languages. Its history is a broad cultural panorama of the twentieth century itself, often, although not always, delivered in a mellifluous Oxford accent. With special access to the BBC’s archives, historian David Hendy presents a dazzling portrait of a unique institution whose cultural influence is greater than any other media organization.
Mixing politics, espionage, the arts, social change, and everyday life, The BBC is a vivid social history of the organization that has provided both background commentary and screen-grabbing headlines—woven so deeply into the culture and politics of the past century that almost none of us has been left untouched by it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Broadcasting scholar Hendy (Radio in the Global Age) delivers an entertaining if uneven history of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He tracks the ups and downs of the BBC from its start as a "grand, emancipatory project" in 1920s London to its rise as an influencer of global affairs via its "Overseas Service" during WWII and its recent controversies, including allegations that longtime presenter Martin Bashir used deception to gain a 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Hendy also analyzes the BBC's reporting on key historical events including the 1926 general strike and the Iraq War, and recounts criticism that the broadcaster, which was "founded on the belief that its job was to hold the ring in the middle of a national debate," was caught flat-footed by the deceptions of the "Leave" side in the Brexit campaign. Though Hendy covers a lot of ground, the individuals responsible for shaping the BBC get a bit lost in the shuffle; director-general John Reith and other executives get their due, but only a handful of lesser-known employees are profiled, including Una Marson, the first Black female producer on staff, whose nervous breakdown in the 1940s Hendy attributes to the "constant hum of prejudice" at the BBC. Still, this fast-paced and accessible history provides genuine insight into one of the world's most influential broadcasters.
