The BBC Handbooks 2011 A

Wunsch

AWA Review Culture, Technology, Britannia: The BBC Handbooks 2011 A. David Wunsch ABSTRACT HANDBOOK & YEARBOOK In the 1920’s the new medium of radio The BBC Handbook broadcasting had a surprisingly beneﬁ cial effect was a remarkable an- on the much older medium of print. Many read- nual publication of the ers of this journal doubtless collect magazines British Broadcasting for radio hobbyists that were generated by the Corporation during “radio craze” of that decade. If you are shopping its formative early in a secondhand bookshop, perhaps looking for decades-- its “golden old copies of Gernsbach’s Radio News, see if age.” The Handbook is the store has back issues of a publication that of interest to collectors appeared annually, The BBC Handbook. The of books germane to ra- Handbook was a substantial publication—ini- dio history, to students tially hardbound-- sometimes running over 450 of British broadcasting, pages which began in 1928 and last appeared in to researchers of ra- 1973.1 The BBC inexplicably elected to change dio’s technical past and the name of their book to either The Yearbook or to historians of the UK The Annual on various occasions although the of the 20’s, the depres- content and style of the publications remained sion, the war and post- mostly unchanged.2 war years. Handsomely Bibliophiles will want to give their attention designed, the volumes to books of the period 1928-1946 and try to provide a description obtain copies with dust jackets. The BBC com- of how the BBC wished missioned serious artists for these designs who to present itself to the often favored the then fashionable Art-Deco public and are remark- style. Figure 1 shows the cover for the 1929 is- able not only for the sue.3 By the 1950’s the covers were-- to put it technical sophistica- baldly—dull. tion assumed in its What can be discovered from reading these readers but for their books? You can learn the story of the Brit- record of the rich world ish Broadcasting Corporation as it wished to of music, literature and present itself to the world. Such history has theatre to which Brit- limitations and the serious student of the BBC ish wireless listeners will scale the highly readable Mount Everest were exposed. The of the subject: Asa Briggs’s 5 volume History Handbooks reﬂ ect the of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, while philosophy of the BBC someone of more modest ambition might try founding director, Sir Andrew Crisell’s An Introductory History of John Reith, a disciple British Broadcasting whose 2nd edition was of Mathew Arnold and published in 2002.4 his conception of culture. COMPANY & CORPORATION The letters BBC once stood for the British Broadcasting Company, the forbear of the pres-

Volume 24, 2011 1 BBC Handbooks

Figure 1. Handbook cover for 1929.

2 AWA Review Wunsch ent Corporation. The Company, profi t-making company. Adding to a monopoly created by statute of the pressure for change was Reith’s the British government, was the resentment of the power held by only entity permitted in the UK the Post Offi ce to restrict broad- to broadcast to the public, and casting of politically controversial was owned by British companies material. 9 manufacturing receiving sets, e.g., The Crawford Committee, cre- Marconi, and Metropolitan-Vick- ated by the Government to steer ers. These members were required the future of broadcasting in Brit- to pay to the BBC a 10 percent ain, issued its report in 1926, and royalty on radios they sold. An ad- the result was the formation of the ditional source of revenue would Corporation—a nonprofi t institu- be an annual 10 shilling licensing tion to be fi nanced by license fees fee required of all households with and enjoying a monopoly in radio. radio sets—this money to be col- Because the new Corporation was lected by the British Post Office authorized by a Royal Charter which initially gave half of it to (which would periodically have to the Company.5 Licenses were to be be renewed by the Government) granted to those set owners whose and not by Parliamentary statute, it receivers were made by the mem- would have the appearance of being ber companies—which meant Brit- immune to political pressure. The ish companies. 6 The fi rst Company Director-General of the Corpora- broadcasts began on November 14, tion was John Reith, (who was now 1922 from London. From its very Sir John); he held this title until start, advertising on the new BBC June of 1938 when he resigned. 10 was forbidden and the number Some refer to his stewardship as and placement of new transmit- The Golden Age of Wireless, and ting sites carefully regulated--a indeed this is the title of volume 2 decision based in no small part of Briggs’s vast history. on how negatively the founders Each Handbook/Yearbook was viewed American broadcasting in devoted in considerable part to a the twenties.7 By 1925, about 80% discussion of the content of the of the population of the British Isles previous year’s programs.11 Just a could receive the BBC.8 The direc- cursory glance shows that this ma- tors of the new Company appointed terial might, in today’s discourse, as its fi rst General Manager John be described with the pejorative C. W. Reith, (1889-1971), whose “elitist.” Even now, mention of the name we will encounter throughout Reith era BBC can stir up passions this essay. deriving from class resentment. To The British Broadcasting Com- understand this BBC culture one pany was a profi t-making institu- must know something of the man tion. Public, nonprofi t broadcasting at the top.12 in the UK began on January 1, 1927 My colleague at the University when the British Broadcasting Cor- of Massachusetts Lowell, Todd Av- poration went on the air, replacing ery, has written a fi ne account of the Company. Although the reasons the Reithian BBC years, Radio, for this regime change are complex, Modernism: Literature, Ethics, much of the impetus came from and the BBC 1922-1938. Some of Reith, who had a vision of the BBC the book deals with the profound as a vast educational and cultural infl uence that the writing of the public service—one that would be English poet and essayist, Matthew compromised by its connection to a Arnold (1822-1888), had on the

Volume 24, 2011 3 BBC Handbooks BBC head. Readers may be familiar brags of requiring no cat’s whisker. with his poem “Dover Beach” but In advertisements for complete more germane to our discussion is receivers we fi nd quite a choice: Arnold’s much quoted 1869 essay crystal sets, and receivers of two or Culture and Anarchy – a defense three valves (as the British called of what is now called highbrow cul- tubes) powered by batteries or the ture. Arnold recommends “culture power mains. For accessories, we as the great help out of our present fi nd ads for headphones as well diffi culties; culture being a pursuit as loudspeakers including the of our total perfection by means of relatively new moving coil speaker, getting to know, on all the matters and a cornucopia of ads for batter- which most concern us, the best ies and battery eliminators as well that has been thought and said as individual components (for the in the world….” [italics added]. home set builder) e.g., coils, con- Avery sees this as Reith’s “cultural densers, tube sockets, valves. For agenda” for the BBC. For Arnold this reader what is striking about (and doubtless for Reith) anarchy the advertisements for receivers is was “doing as one likes.” the number of sets being promoted Arnold and Reith part ways in that had only two or three valves at the matter of religion. Raised in a a time when American magazines liberal Protestant household, Ar- promoted a plethora of radios with nold was to become an agnostic—a 5 or more tubes. Figure 3 shows fact evident in Dover Beach where an advertisement from page 389 the balm proposed for the loneli- of the 1930 Yearbook for a 2 valve ness and misery of man in an indif- radio. This American-British dis- ferent Godless world is: “Ah, love, parity doubtless arose from the let us be true/ To one another… crowded air waves in the US which .” Reith, the son of a minister of Church of Scotland, practiced a strict Calvinism, and could be hard on his employees, e.g., fi ring the BBC’s Chief Engineer after his being named as a co-respondent in a divorce proceeding.

THE NEW BOOKS The ﬁ rst two Handbooks, dated 1928 and 1929, deserve some scru- tiny as they set the tone for these publications up to the outbreak of the Second World War. The BBC broadcast no commercials but there was no such ban in their print publications. Looking through the advertising in these early books one sees how rapidly technological change was affecting radio design. Although the crystal set was nearly obsolete, page 370 of the 1929 book carries an advertisement (Figure 2) for an improved Figure 2. Crystal detector advertise- crystal detector, the Excel, which ment, 1929 Handbook

4 AWA Review Wunsch would have demanded receivers Part of public service in Reith’s having high selectivity in contrast view is the purely technical: set- to the UK where typically one could ting up transmitters such that the hear only one to three BBC sta- whole British population would tions; to be sure, British listeners be in “crystal range.” He extols a often received broadcasts emanat- “common sense” censorship and ing from the European continent. as to news broadcasting, it must In the 1931 Yearbook (page 131) be “accurate brief and impartial.” there is an article “The American For music, “good music is pre- Listener – A British Impression” ferred to bad” and he intends to in which the visitor from the UK broadcast “music that is addressed is struck that “two out of every to the fi ner and quieter sources of three receiving sets are fi ve or six emotion in a small audience” but valve sets… The American Listener he does not shrink from his inten- expects to be able to tune in easily tion to broadcast “challenging new to a dozen or more stations…” work.” As for religious content, he’s The introduction to the first equally straightforward: the BBC Handbook was written by Reith has and will continue to broad- himself and he states his mani- cast “a nonsectarian Christianity festo: the BBC is to be “of public –confi ned in respect of doctrine, to service.” He is motivated by “the those simple essentials to which all state of things in America,” i.e., the Christians of the west can adhere.” world of radio commercials and, The 1928 book notes that “ The even worse, interference among BBC observes Sunday in a religious radio stations, not to mention pro- non-sectarian way. Religious ser- gram material that he regarded as vices are broadcast regularly from vulgar and unworthy of broadcast. all stations, and no entertainment alternative is recognised.” Reith’s Calvinism is evident--you cannot avoid hearing a religious broadcast by switching to another BBC station. For nonbelievers, the temptation to listen to a secular broadcast in English from France or, later, Luxemburg was strong. 13 The BBC Handbook of 1928 was 384 pages in length while for 1929 –a depression year—it was 100 pages longer. One purpose of each volume was to give a summary of the previous year’s activities of the Corporation. Since advertising made up 5-10 percent of the pages of the book, one might wonder what fi lled these hundreds of pages, and here it becomes evident how broadly conceived these volumes were. First, the books contain much material on the rapidly advanc- Figure 3. Two valve receiver adver- ing technical achievements of the tisement, 1930 Yearbook BBC—improvements to broadcast-

Volume 24, 2011 5 BBC Handbooks ing from the London site as well receiver. Readers are advised: “It as regional broadcasting from is illegal to operate a receiving set such places as Wales, Scotland, & without fi rst taking out a licensing Northern Ireland. Listeners in the costing 10 s [shillings] a year, from London area are told in the 1929 the Post Offi ce. Some people do book that soon they will be able manage to listen without a license, to hear two different BBC stations but it costs much more in the end. (one national and the other region- It costs a lot more in self respect.” al) and are warned that they will Note the allusion to one’s honor. need receivers of suffi cient selec- This was already an old prob- tivity to separate the two signals, lem. A Profi le of the BBC written which will be broadcast from iden- for the 1973 Handbook remarks tical locations in North London but that when an amnesty was offered on different wavelengths. We’re in 1923 to “license dodgers,” the informed of progress in Empire number of licenses issued doubled Broadcasting, meaning short wave in 10 days. How much was 10 service directed at the colonies and shillings worth ? It wasn’t trivial. commonwealth countries. The average weekly pay of a coal Americans might be surprised miner in Britain in 1927 was 53 to learn that, while much of BBC shillings for a 5.5 day work week broadcasting in its first few de- .15 A radio license could represent cades took place within a spectrum a day’s pay for a manual worker. of medium wave frequencies The temptation to assemble a set (comparable to the U.S. AM band), from parts and not license it must in 1925 the BBC opened a popular have been enormous, particularly long wave station, 5XX, at 200khz since there was no shortage of hob- (1,500 meters) radiating 25,000 byist magazines with instructions watts. The station was situated on this very subject.16 Incidentally, in Daventry, near the center of the Yearbook/Handbook cost from England, and a picture of its an- 2 to 2.5 shillings from the 1920’s tenna can be found on page 56 of through most of the 1940’s. the 1928 Handbook. Because of the long wavelength, the antenna THE THIRTIES had to be enormous and was sup- Much of each annual describes ported by masts 500 feet high set the content of the previous year’s 800 feet apart.14 The low frequency programs, and we suspect that was chosen because of the result- were Mathew Arnold present to ing low attenuation of the ground hear the wireless, in the Reith era, wave; in this respect they were fol- he would have been pleased. In the lowing in the footsteps of Marconi Panorama of Music for the 1930 and his early wireless telegraphy Yearbook we learn that it is BBC work. Page 39 of the same book policy to present as many works asserts that this step allowed 80 as possible by such composers as percent of the British population Haydn, Schubert, Bach, Handel to receive the BBC without inter- and Mozart, and that these are the ruption via a mere crystal set. It “bread and butter” of the daily fare was the fi rst long wavelength sta- of the lover of music. The BBC’s tion in the world to give regular panorama consisted of live con- programming. certs of chamber, symphonic and On page 92 of the 1928 Hand- operatic works not to mention—in book we are reminded of the bete 1929—a regular weekly series of noir of the BBC: the unlicensed Bach Cantatas as well as 13 weeks

6 AWA Review Wunsch of music devoted to Schubert’s and was to last only 17 years. The Centenary. Although all the com- BBC Symphony today is still one of posers were white and male, not the world’s outstanding orchestras. all were dead; Stravinsky and De- Reading through all of these lius, still in the land of the living, Handbooks/ Yearbooks one should had their work conducted by Sir notice not only what is present but Thomas Beecham. The 1930 book what is missing. The BBC took contains a touching photograph of some risk in broadcasting the the aging Delius, then blind and works of modern composers like living in France, while the previ- Stravinsky, Bartok and Schoen- ous year’s volume has a full page berg. However, searching through photo of Arnold Schoenberg (the these books of the twenties and father of twelve tone serial music) thirties, one fi nds almost nothing and his fur clad wife. This often about jazz. Reith is alleged to have diffi cult composer had come from hated the idiom.18 Instead, we Germany to rehearse and conduct fi nd plenty of dance band music. the British National Orchestra in Indeed, the BBC formed its own his work“Gurrelieder .” dance orchestra ahead of the BBC The BBC’s commitment to seri- Symphony, a fact gleaned from ous music is even more evident in pages 200-201 of the 1929 Hand- the 1931 Yearbook, which reports book. Having listened to record- the founding of the legendary BBC ings of British dance orchestras Symphony Orchestra the previous of this period I can say that these year. Starting in 1930 the new or- were housebroken versions of chestra was conducted by Adrian American jazz, divorced from the Boult and consisted of 114 full-time black infl uence, ethnicity, and dar- players tied to a “no deputy” sys- ing that you might fi nd in some of tem- which meant that if you were the great U.S. jazz groups of the era a member of this august body you’d led by, e.g., Fletcher Henderson, better show up for work and not Benny Goodman, and Count Basie. appoint someone to take your place 19It would be wrong to accuse the because you had another gig.17 Pag- BBC of racial prejudice: The 1930 es 176-77 of the book shows a two Yearbook lists a July 1928 concert page photo spread of the orchestra by the famed American Negro together with the name of every contralto Marian Anderson who player. What is striking is the large carried an aura of high culture and (for its day) number of women in could stun audiences with arias the ensemble. Of the 14 fi rst violin- from great operas as well as the ists, 8 are identifi able as female. spirituals of her race. The 1931 Where did the money come from Yearbook features a prominent to pay for what was to become one photograph on page 114 of the of the world’s great symphonies? great American Negro singer and The answer is on page 39 : BBC actor Paul Robeson, who sang on license fees and revenues from the BBC. publications adding up to over 1 Robeson appears on a list of million pounds for the year ending Musicians of the Year. To look in 1929. One might contrast this through these names is to be fi lled orchestra with its closest American with envy for what listeners could counterpart: the NBC Symphony have heard: under conductors which, although it could boast of a we find Sir Thomas Beecham, very great conductor, Arturo To- Malcolm Sargent, Bruno Walter, scanini, wasn’t founded until 1937 Toscanini, and Sir Edward El-

Volume 24, 2011 7 BBC Handbooks gar. Besides the two singers just Handbook, asserts, in an instance mentioned we find Rosa Pon- of naked snobbery, that “ [BBC selle, Lauritz Melchoir , Elizabeth English] seems to steer a course Schumann and Lotte Lehmann. midway between the lapses of the Pianists include the composer uneducated and the affectations of Bela Bartok, Myra Hess, Walter the insuffi ciently educated.” For 3 Gieseking, and Artur Rubinstein . pence one can buy a pamphlet from Wanda Landowska performed on the BBC on how to acquire their the harpsichord. pronunciation.22 Radio historian Just as impressive in the 1931 Mark Pegg observes that “…the book is a staggering list of BBC accent of the announcers alone speakers for 1930. Drawn from was to mark the social distinctions seemingly every branch of intel- between the broadcasters and most lectual endeavor we find such listeners.” 23 legendary authors as Virginia Speaking of Shaw, perusing Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Andre Maurois, these BBC annuals one sees that George Bernard Shaw and E.M. radio drama was an important Forster.20Among scientists, we part of broadcast fare. The 1931 encounter Albert Einstein, Oliver book remarks that 4 radio adapta- Lodge, James Jeans and Julian tions of plays of Shakespeare were Huxley. Additionally, we recognize performed the previous year. Shaw the economist John Maynard was represented with Captain Keynes, anthropologist Bronislaw Brassbound’s Conversion and Malinowski, and Arnold Toynbee St. Joan. Sometimes books and the historian. Einstein spoke on short stories were converted to October 28, 1930, and his picture radio plays, e.g. Joseph Conrad’s appears on page 34. Typhoon and Lord Jim. “BBC English” was for genera- Andrew Crisell, a major British tions of Britons the standard pro- radio historian, convincingly de- nunciation of their language. The fends the elitism of the BBC in the accent did not arise by accident Reith years: “In pre-war Britain, as a reader of the 1929 Handbook universal education reached the soon learns. An essay by A. Lloyd age of about 14. Those temples of James observes that “The BBC is high art , the concert halls, opera concerned only with questions of houses and theatres were beyond pronunciation, and the standard the pockets of the great mass of of pronunciation of its official people, and within the tiny minor- speakers more and more, both ity who underwent higher educa- within these islands and abroad, tion there was much more con- as a standard of accuracy to be sensus than there is today about aimed at.” He reveals that the BBC what in cultural terms was, good , maintains an advisory committee signifi cant or worthwhile.” Reith’s on spoken English composed of intention, he maintains, was to “… such men of letters as The Poet open up to all those who had been Laureate of the UK, Robert Bridg- denied to them by a limited educa- es, playwright George Bernard tion, low social status and small Shaw, and essayist Logan Pearsall income the great treasures of our Smith (an American!). It’s fi tting culture.”24 that Shaw, the author of a play in which pronunciation is central, Pygmalion, should be on board.21 TECHNICAL MATTERS James, writing earlier in the 1928 For those interested in the technical history of radio, the

8 AWA Review Wunsch early years of the annuals are a store there would be a record of treasure. These volumes contain her having purchased a radio. She a segment known variously as the might be less likely to avoid buying Engineering or Technical Section. the half pound license fee than a In addition there was sometimes a home constructor of radios who reference portion that was rich in left behind no trail. It’s possible technical information. Altogether, that the Yearbook/Handbook did the technical content might occupy not encourage home construction one third of the overall volume. out of fear of antagonizing their By the late thirties these special- numerous advertisers of ready- ized sections were gone or much made radios. In the article “Some reduced. Hints for the Novice,” in the 1928 The BBC did not patronize its Handbook, the homebuilder is audience. The level of discourse of advised “In nine cases out of ten the technical material is sometimes the results will be disappointing.” appropriate for degree holders in He (and it is always “he” in these electrical engineering. Basically articles) is then advised to buy the the information provided was of most expensive possible compo- several kinds: technical advances nents if building a home set, and to and challenges facing the BBC eschew for example the “cheap for- engineering staff, help for the eign [valves]” because … “British amateur home builder of receivers, valves are the best on the market.” which might include everything Of course it was British valves that from schematic diagrams for ra- were advertised in these books. dios as simple as crystal sets up Sometimes one suspects that to 6 tube superhetrodynes, con- the information provided the struction of receiving aerials, wave hobbyist is not only deliberately propagation over a conducting sketchy but intentionally mislead- earth, the role of the ionosphere ing as in this example (Figure 4) in radio wave transmission, and a taken from page 341 of the 1930 glossary of technical terms which Year Book. The schematic is for contains for example: “… a simple but efficient short- “Natural Frequency or Natural wave circuit …and the values of the Period—The frequency or period at component parts should be near as which a circuit containing inductance possible to those given.” Not only and capacity will naturally oscillate if are the values of some components set in electrical vibration. The natural not given but more striking is the frequency is given by the formula value of the grid leak resistor con- 1 nected to the ﬁ rst valve on the left. f  cycles per second, Its value of 3 is off by a factor of 2 LC one million.25 This might have been where L is the inductance in henries a careless error, but these books and C is the capacity in farads. At this have so few typographical errors frequency, the condition of Resonance that one wonders if this wasn’t occurs.” [italics in original]. deliberate. What is interesting about the In a situation where the BBC is schematic diagrams is that they seeking to enhance the listening never supply quite enough infor- experience, without encouraging mation for one to build a wireless the building of an entire set, they receiver; the BBC did not encour- could be very helpful. The 1929 age home construction. If some- Handbook contains instructions one bought a wireless set from a for the construction of a wave trap

Volume 24, 2011 9 BBC Handbooks

Figure 4. Short wave radio schematic: Note the grid leak resistance, 1930 Yearbook to eliminate interfering stations. the horizontal portion of the aerial Page 343 contains a clear diagram by running it close to the eaves or (Figure 5) detailing construction of roof of the house. Although aerials the inductor for the trap. of this type usually succeed in be- The use of a wave trap would in- ing inconspicuous they are seldom crease the selectivity of a receiver. efﬁ cient, for their effective height We are told in the same book that is small. If the roof of the house is “the majority of ships” are using covered with lead, which is usu- spark transmitters, a reminder ally in electrical contact with the that this crude technology, dating ground, the aerial in effect is only back to the early Marconi wireless slightly higher than ground level.” telegraph era, was still in use. Wave The same book presents (p. 379) a traps were needed to block the re- possible arrangement for an aerial, sulting harmonics from reception. given here in Figure 6.26 The design of receiving anten- We notice how conspicuous nas was of great interest to the this arrangement is; there is little set owner in the first decade of chance that someone with this aer- broadcasting, and the Handbooks/ ial would have the audacity to skip Yearbooks recognize this with con- paying for a wireless license. One struction advice. We learn from feels that this is not an accident. In the 1928 Handbook (p.249) that fact there is no suggestion in any of using an antenna whose overall the annuals that for someone using length exceeds 100 feet violates a regenerative or superhetrodyne the terms of your license, while radio, a much smaller indoor an- the 1931 Yearbook advises the tenna might do. 27 As late as the use of the entire allowed length. 1940 Handbook (p. 98) the listener Moreover they tell you, “In general is advised to use an outdoor aerial. it is not a good policy to make an The technical discussions in aerial system inconspicuous; for the Handbooks/Yearbooks of the example it is bad practice to hide early 1930’s could be at a very so-

10 AWA Review Wunsch

Figure 5. Inductor for a wave trap. 1929 Handbook phisticated level and this is most conclude that the strength of the apparent in the chapter “Trans- signal returned to earth will be “.1 mission” in the 1930 volume. Here mv per meter for 1 kw radiated” at we fi nd an analysis of the direct distances of from 300 to 1000 km. and indirect waves in broadcast The preceding assumes a single propagation that would be of most reflection from what they call interest to radio engineers. A series “the Heaviside layer.” Evidently of curves, based on Arnold Som- credit was not to be given to Arthur merfeld’s diffi cult mathematical Kennelly, who postulated such a theory of wave propagation over layer independently and in the an imperfectly conducting spheri- same year, 1902, as the English- cal earth, shows the electric fi eld man Oliver Heaviside. Kennelly strength vs. distance from the was an Irishman who was born transmitter for various ground in India and who settled in the conductivities. United States, worked for Edison, Of course engineers were also and taught electrical engineering interested in the behavior of the for decades at Harvard. It is not indirect ray—the wave from the until the Yearbook for 1932 that transmitter refl ected back to earth we fi nd the “Heaviside-Kennelly” by the ionosphere. The same chap- layer and by 1934 the modern ter summarizes a paper delivered word ionosphere is used, perhaps to the IEE by two members of the refl ecting the fact that it was by BBC staff, Peter Eckersley and a then known that there were several Mr. Howe, on this very subject.28 layers involved in the refraction of Using a mixture of theory and radio waves. experimental results, the pair The British led the world, in pro-

Volume 24, 2011 11 BBC Handbooks

Figure 6. A suggested aerial. 1931 Yearbook viding regularly scheduled “high on their sets. By contrast, in the definition” broadcast television. U.S. it wasn’t until 1939 that NBC From the 1937 Annual we learn began providing two hours of pro- that experimental t.v. was begun grams a week. The 1939 Handbook from Alexandra Place in London reports that, at the 1938 Radiolym- the previous year; one of its goals pia Exhibition in London, 22 fi rms was to evaluate and compare the exhibited televisions. utility of two competing systems- If one were to read just one -the Baird and the Marconi-EMI. annual because of its technical Both are discussed in some detail. content, it would be the 1930 The Baird would now be regarded Yearbook. Here we fi nd four ar- in modern jargon as a “kluge;” it ticles, written for the lay person, required a mechanical scanning on science and engineering by ac- disc, and worse, a photographic knowledged experts in their fi eld. fi lm as an intervening process in For example, Sir William Bragg, the transmission of the t.v. image. Nobel Laureate and Fellow of the The book reports that in February Royal Society (FRS), addresses of 1937 the Marconi-EMI system, what physicists now refer to as the which was all electronic, was ad- “wave-particle duality,” i.e. the fact opted for permanent use, while that some physical phenomena can the 1938 Handbook asserts that in be explained only by treating the 1937 the BBC was broadcasting 150 transmission of electromagnetic minutes of television per day with energy by means of a wave model, an estimated 10,000 people seeing while others are explicable only by the coronation of King George VI using a particle model. Bragg calls

12 AWA Review Wunsch the particles “minute corpuscles What is especially puzzling about proceeding from the luminous Eddington’s case is that he was the source.” In some respects the ar- author of a very popular book ex- ticle is old fashioned—he avoids plaining relativity: The Mathemat- the modern term “photon” for the ical Theory of Relativity(1923). corpuscles in a stream of light. The Encyclopedia Britannica (15th More curious is his use of the term edition) describes him as “the fi rst “ether” to describe the medium in expositor of relativity in the Eng- which both particles and waves lish language.” Eddington has also propagate. The ether as a medium written about his philosophy of sci- for electromagnetic radiation was ence, which includes the concept discredited 25 years before with of “unobservables” and the reader the publication of Einstein’s spe- curious about his defense of the cial theory of relativity and it is as- ether should read his work.29 tonishing to fi nd it still alive here. Of more practical interest to Even more surprising is an the radio listener than the essays article preceding Bragg’s titled just mentioned is an article by Sir simply The Ether and written by Edward Appleton, also an FRS. Arthur Eddington, FRS, one of Appleton was to win the Nobel the great British astrophysicists Prize in physics in 1947 for his of the 20th century. His purpose is research on the ionosphere and to proclaim his belief in the ether for his discovery in the 1920’s of but he writes like a man on the what was for a time known as the defensive, acknowledging that we Appleton Layer but which is now cannot ask what the ether weighs, called the F layer of the upper at- is it a fl uid or rigid, how fast does mosphere. He proposes to explain the earth move through it? He does to the lay person the role of what concede that “A few distinguished he calls the Heaviside layer in ra- physicists maintain that modern dio wave propagation and why, as theories no longer require an most listeners would have noticed, ether—that the ether is abolished. that certain stations are heard only I think that all they mean is that at night and that the quality of since we never have to do with their reception is highly variable. space and ether separately, we He also ties this variability to the can make one word serve for both sunspot cycle although what this together; the word they choose is connection is he does not explain— ‘space.’” Since physicists speak of a reminder that the science of the the properties of space ( e.g., the upper atmosphere was still in its speed of light in space), Edding- early years. ton would have us assign these R. L. Smith-Rose was less well properties to something called known than the three authors men- the ether—a throwback to the 19th tioned but his article, the fourth, century era of Maxwell’s modeling on lightning and atmospherics of the medium containing electro- is worth reading. Radio listen- magnetic fi elds. ers were well aware of lightning, Although in Eddington’s day knowing it to be responsible for he might speak of a “ a few distin- the clicks they might hear in their guished physicists,” no reputable loudspeakers and headsets, espe- physicist would, post World War cially in the summer. He explains Two, speak of the ether. Its demise the mechanism of lightning, the was sealed by the eventual univer- various kinds of lightning strikes, sal acceptance of Einstein’s work. and the wavelengths of radio waves

Volume 24, 2011 13 BBC Handbooks most apt to suffer from lightning to happen: Britain and much of generated noise. The article is ac- the world is headed inexorably companied by advice on how to for World War Two. The 1934 “earth” [ground] your set to reduce Yearbook has a photograph of the the likelihood of lightning damage. newly elected Chancellor of Ger- many; Adolf Hitler assumed offi ce HISTORY BOOKS in January, 1933. We are told that The annuals for the period 1928 with his election in Germany “the to 1940, with their summary of the rebuilding of the bases of broad- previous year’s events in broadcasting has begun.” We learn that casting, can be read as a history of all employees of German radio Britain during a diffi cult, indeed who were Jewish or alleged to be terrible, period. As in the case “criminally suspect” were fired. of the technical content, what is The new head of German radio un- sometimes most interesting is the der the Nazis, Herr Hadamovksy excluded or partially presented is quoted: “My task… is to make material. The most salient ex- broadcasting a sharp and reliable ample is to be found in the 1937 weapon for the government…” Annual. On December 11, 1936 and furthermore “I have always King Edward the Eighth abdi- ridiculed … the old idea that there cated the British throne in order is such a thing as objectivity and to marry his twice divorced love, neutrality per se.” the American, Wallis Simpson. The In the 1939 Handbook one of following day Edward broadcast a the larger sections is devoted to farewell using radio. His message BBC coverage of “The Crisis [of was broadcast not only by the BBC 1938]”. It contains a photograph of domestic service but by BBC short a triumphant Neville Chamberlain wave to the entire world where in at the Hester Aerodrome on Sep- some countries, including the US, tember 30. He has just returned it was rebroadcast on medium from Munich after meeting with wave. In the age of Empire, he had Hitler. Mobile television units been monarch to over 500 million were at the airport, and the event people. H.L. Mencken, the Ameri- was not only heard on the wireless can critic, waggishly observed that but widely witnessed on British this was “the greatest story since television. The Handbook proudly the Crucifi xion.”30 The Annual has affi rms that “ [television ] viewers a one- line reference to the broad- were among the fi rst to see him cast on page 47 while page 88 has holding aloft that fl uttering piece an entry, inexplicably placed in a of paper (the writing was visible) reduced font, about the farewell, bearing his own signature and that and remarking that his valedic- of Herr Hitler.” The Sudetenland tory “… was probably listened to of Czechoslovakia had just been by the largest broadcast audience handed over to Hitler in return on record.” The abdication was for what Chamberlain would call surely not Britain’s fi nest hour, but “Peace in our time.” an event of this magnitude in the Germany invaded Poland on history of broadcasting cries out September 1, 1939 and two days for more coverage. later Britain declared war on the To read the Handbooks/Year- aggressor. The 1940 Handbook, books in the period 1934 through owing to wartime austerity, has 1940 can be a dismal business shrunk to a mere 128 pages, less because one knows what is going than a third of its size in its best

14 AWA Review Wunsch days. The BBC knew that war was run countries, are discussed at coming and followed advanced length in the 1941 volume. We planning in which it was recog- learn that “In Poland the Germans nized that “peace time methods of have made the possession of wire- transmission would endanger the less sets illegal,” while in Czecho- national safety by giving guidance slovakia “anything broadcast by to enemy aircraft.”The Handbook the BBC is known throughout the explains that on the day of the country in a few hours.” The same invasion all stations shifted to book has an essay by Harold Nicol- a common programming mate- son, Parliamentary Secretary to the rial which became known as the newly formed Ministry of Informa- Home Service and which initially tion. He begins with a powerful used only two wavelengths, 449.1 summary of Hitler’s propaganda: meters and 391.1 meters. The long “ His avowed method is to appeal wave transmitter and various re- to the lowest instincts in human gional services were shut down as nature, namely to envy , malice, was all television; however short greed, fear, and conceit.” Nicolson wave services to the rest of the is at pains to explain that his new world did continue and the long ministry will not be imitating the wave service resumed before the German propaganda chief, Jospeh war’s end. Page 33 carries the text Goebbels, but will indulge in “lib- of Prime Minister Neville Cham- eral propaganda,” which is based berlain’s speech, which the BBC on “…true facts and common prin- broadcast from 10 Downing Street ciples” and the belief “that there on September 3, 1939. He states, “ does exist a difference between You can imagine what a bitter blow right and wrong and that this dif- it is to me that all my long struggle ference is readily appreciated by to win peace has failed.” There is a the vast majority of mankind.” Fac- touching photograph, opposite this ing the fi nal page of the essay is a page, captioned “Keep them happy, photograph of Winston Churchill, keep them safe” of children being making his fi rst broadcast as Prime evacuated from London. . Minister, on 14 July 1940. The One can in some respects trace 1946 Year Book, the fi rst to appear the history of the war through after the war was over, remarks the annuals. The 1941 Handbook (p. 28) that, thanks to the BBC, has a photograph of the teenage Churchill’s words in the “darkest Princess Elizabeth (the present days” of the war were heard by 70% day Monarch), accompanied by of the British population. her sister Margaret, broadcasting New in the 1940 Handbook a message to the children of the is information about a wartime Empire. The same volume displays broadcasting service of the BBC a picture of the results of a German which was to have consequences air attack on the BBC headquarters far beyond the hostilities. On the at Broadcasting House in London. 19th of February 1940 broadcasting Again, this is one of those strange of the Programme for the Forces instances of partial reporting. On commenced. This went out on the 15th of October 1940 a 500 short wave as well as the medium pound bomb landed in the BBC wave 373.1 meters, later changed Music Library, killing 7 people, to 342.1 meters, and consisted of but the deaths are not mentioned. material designed for the men and Short wave and even medium women in uniform: news, popu- wave services, especially to over- lar music, dance music, swing,

Volume 24, 2011 15 BBC Handbooks crooners, comedy. The content is berg, Shaw, Euripides.” The 1955 described in the story “Listening Handbook describes the Third Pro- with the Forces” by Major Richard gramme as intended for “Listeners Longland, BBC Liaison Officer of Cultivated Tastes and Interests.” with the Army. Thus, a year after the war ended Many Britons on the home the BBC had become revolution- front listened to and enjoyed what ized in ways that Reith had never became known as the General wanted nor perhaps envisioned. Forces Programme, a fact not lost His Corporation was now a cake on the BBC. In the 1946 Yearbook of three layers, with the Third we ﬁ nd that the successor to the Programme, Home Service, and General Forces is the BBC Light Light Programme providing en- Programme which went on the air tertainment for high, middle and in July 1945 essentially in competi- lowbrows. This was anathema to tion in the UK with the still present Reith who felt that the strength of traditional Home Service. There is the old, heterogeneous system was a certain defensiveness in the de- that the public was forced—if only scription of the new service in the by chance—to be exposed to some annual (pp. 53-54) : “The title Light high culture. Indeed, Reith wrote Programme does not mean that in his diary that the new arrange- everything broadcast on it must ment was “an absolute abandon- necessarily be frothy or frivolous,” ment of everything I stood for.’32 although the unnamed author con- Of course this restructuring and cedes that it does contain “a higher growing egalitarianism at the BBC portion of sheer entertainment.” was a manifestation of large social This same Yearbook has auguries changes taking place in the UK. of a new service in the annual for Even before the war ended the rul- 1947: the birth of the BBC Third ing Conservative party was voted Programme. out of control and Prime Minister The Third Programme was born Churchill was replaced by the La- on September 29, 1946, broadcast- bour Party’s Clement Attlee on July ing from 6 p.m to midnight and 26, 1945. The frontispiece of the was devoted to the high culture 1946 Yearbook is a photograph of championed by Reith and his muse the new Prime Minister. Railroads Arnold. There were no newscasts. and coal mines were nationalized An article by the novelist and under the Labour Party and the travel writer Rose Macaulay on National Health Service begun. page 20 of the 1947 Year Book, The cover of the 1946 Yearbook “If I Were Head of the Third Pro- (Figure 7) shows the dove of peace gramme,” gives some idea of what launched from a hand shrouded by was broadcast, much of it serious bombed ruins.33 Alas, peace was music. She proclaims that the of- short lived. In four years Britain ferings were “proving more than and the United States would have all one hoped” with a week full of troops in Korea. Beethoven’s String Quartets, and In the decades following the another of Byrd and Bach, and a publication of this hopeful cover performance of The Magic Flute. the Yearbook/Handbook would, Modern music is not lacking – she like the BBC itself, became in- speaks of Bax, Schoenberg and creasingly devoted to television. Webern. As for drama there were No book was published in 1953 “good performances of the familiar or 1954 but the 1955 Handbook great--Shakespeare, Ibsen, Strind- dwells on the banner broadcasting

16 AWA Review Wunsch

Figure 7. Launch of the peace dove. Cover 1946 Yearbook

Volume 24, 2011 17 BBC Handbooks year of 1953—the coronation year ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of Queen Elizabeth II. In the UK I wish to thank Mr. David K. alone, 12 million listened to the Nergaard and Ms. Naomi Ossar for coronation on the radio but 20 mil- useful assistance with this paper. lion saw it on television (this out of The images presented here were a population of 41 million). This, in most cases reproduced by cour- reports the BBC, was the fi rst time tesy of the BBC. Mr. James Codd that the t.v. audience exceeded that of the BBC assisted me with that of the wireless. Perhaps it is ap- procedure. propriate to end our examination of the books here. ENDNOTES Finally, one wonders what 1 The Handbook was replaced by would be the reaction of Sir John “The Handbook, Incorporating the Reith if he could now see his BBC Annual Report and Accounts” in in the age of the Internet. The three 1974 and continued with that title layer cake that was BBC wireless in until it ended in 1987. During the 1946 has today evolved into BBC Great Depression, The Handbook services numbered one through diminished rapidly in size and seven. All go out as broadcast radio was a mere 129 pages by 1938. In as well as Internet stations.34 Al- postwar years it grew but never though some services are restricted achieved the heft of its early days. 2 The Yearbook was the title used to popular music and news, BBC in 1930-3, 1943- 1952. The title radio 3, 4 and 7 have an abun- Annual was used in 1935-7. There dance of serious music, lectures, is no consistency in spelling from and drama --Arnold’s “best that year to year and one can fi nd Year has been thought and said,” with Book and Hand Book. some leavening from light enter- 3 The artist is given simply as E. tainment. Of course, if you spend McK.Kauffer . This is E. McKnight the day listening to one of the other Kauffer, a distinguished American services you’ll miss “the best”, and illustrator from Montana, who was this would not please Reith. better known in Europe than at home. See the website http://www. aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist- SOURCES emcknightkauffer The entire run of Handbooks/ 4 Asa Briggs, The History of Yearbooks/Annual Reports is Broadcasting in the United available on Microfi lm from Micro- Kingdom, vols 1-5, Oxford 1995 form Academic Publishers. Andrew Crisell An Introductory http://www.microform.co.uk/ History of British archival-publishing.php Broadcasting, Routledge, 1997 5 Paddy Scannell and David Cardiff This Microfilm edition is ac- A Social History of British companied by a brief and use- Broadcasting, volume 1, 1922- ful discussion of their contents 1939, Blackwell, 1991, p.5 by British radio historian Hugh 6 An “experimenter’s license” was Chignell. available for those choosing to The business branch of the New construct their own sets. York Public Library has a complete 7 An interesting comparison of set of the actual books. Lamont British and American radio can be Library at Harvard University has found in the essay British Quality, them on microfi lm as do doubtless American Chaos: Historical Dualisms and What They Leave many other university libraries. Out, Michele Hilmes, in Radio (vol2), Andrew Crisell editor, Routledge, 2009 pp. 62-85,

18 AWA Review Wunsch 8 Crisell,( note 4) , page 15 Yearbook lists Boult as the music 9 Scannell and Cardiff,(note 5) pp. director of the orchestra. 24-32 18 See Briggs( note 10), page 126. It 10 It is unclear whether Reith resigned would be overly simplistic to argue voluntarily or if he was encouraged that the absence of jazz on the to leave. See for example The BBC derives entirely from Reith. BBC-The First Fifty Years, by The situation is more complicated Asa Briggs, Oxford, 1985, pp. 145- than we can discuss here. See 6. Simon Firth, The Pleasures of the 11 The term “previous year” is only Hearth: The Making of BBC Light approximate, e.g., the Yearbook Entertainment, Radio (vol2), of 1930 covers Oct. 1928 thru Sept Andrew Crisell editor, Routledge, 1929. 2009 pp, 47-67 which makes a 12 Reith has written his autobiography strong argument for the public’s Into the Wind, and there is a preference for British style dance biography Only the Wind Will orchestras . Listen by A. Boyle. Reith has 19 The reader should make up his / published his own Diaries, which, her own mind in this matter. One Briggs warns us “Aren’t always can hear a recording (1931) of what they seem.” the BBC Dance Band conducted 13 See Briggs( note 10), pp. 46-7 by Jack Payne at this web site on foreign English language http://www.youtube.com/ broadcasts directed to the UK watch?v=BAP3Il2MUP4 from Europe. See Scannell and 20 Forster was to discuss literature Cardiff (note 5) pp. 230-4 on Radio on the BBC on a regular basis Luxembourg as well as a schedule as recently as 1960. A selection for a typical BBC Sunday in the of his lectures has recently been early thirties, which would have published: The BBC Talks of included a period of silence lasting E.M. Forster 1929-1960, edited nearly 2 hours. by M. Lago, L. Hughes and E. 14 See Briggs (note 4), volume Walls, University of MO, 2008 1, pp. 221-225. The BBC still A photograph of Forster appears maintains a long wave service following page 96 in the Handbook but its transmitters are not at for 1940. Daventry. For more information 21 In the 1936 Annual one fi nds that see http://www.bbc.co.uk/ the Committee contains Alistair reception/transmitters/radio/ Cooke, a name many Americans medium_long_wave.shtml will recognize from his hosting of 15 Wages: Statistics of United Masterpiece Theatre on television. Kingdom, Encyclopedia Shaw’s play became the basis of the Britannica, 14th ed. 1939 (vol 23, musical show My Fair Lady. page 273) 22 The 1940 Handbook advertises 16 Among these was the famed a BBC pamphlet on how to Wireless World, still published pronounce 2000 British family today but under the name names, e.g., Cachemaille. Electronics World. In an effort 23 Mark Pegg, Broadcasting and to thwart the efforts of the home Society 1918-1939, Croom Helm, builder, The Radio Times –a 1983, p. 98 BBC publication—would not 24 Crisell (note 4), page 29. accept advertising for certain 25 Page 413 of the same book states radio components until 1926, a that  is the symbol for resistance fact reported on page 12 of the 1933 in ohms. Yearbook. 26 The books use the term “aerial,” 17 The fi rst conductor, briefl y,was not antenna. In the glossary aerial Arthur Catterall . By 1930 Boult is defi ned while under “antenna” was the leader, and he remained in you fi nd a reference to aerial. In this position until 1950. The 1932 general the British public preferred

Volume 24, 2011 19 BBC Handbooks the term “aerial” in this era. See for ABOUT THE AUTHOR example the British publication The A, David Wunsch was born Practical Wireless Encyclopedia by in Brooklyn, New York in 1939, F.J. Camm which went through 7 studied electrical engineering at editions in the 1930’s. He asserts Cornell, and graduated in 1961. He that “antenna” is an “obsolete” term for the preferred “aerial .” received his Ph.D. from Harvard 27 The Handbook from two years where he worked in the Antenna before carries an advertisement for Group under R.W.P. King. Since the Ormond 5 Valve Portable Set, 1969 he has been on the faculty of which boasts that no outside aerial electrical engineering of what was is needed. once Lowell Tech, now the Univer- 28 Eckersley was the chief engineer, sity of Massachusetts Lowell. He mentioned earlier, who was ﬁ red continues teaching as an emeritus by Reith. The IEE is the British professor. In 1995 he started a Institution of Electrical Engineers course for liberal arts majors at 29 For example, Arthur Eddington. The Philosophy of Physical Lowell entitled Principles and His- Science, University of Michigan tory of Radio. A description of his Press 1958. He does concede ( course can be found in his article the book was completed in 1939) Electrical Engineering for the Lib- “… the aether has few friends eral Arts: Radio and Its History, nowadays.” p. 38 IEEE Trans. on Education, vol. 41, 30 As quoted in the Baltimore no. 4, November 1998. He is the Sun, December 15, 1996, Fred author of the textbook Complex Rasmussen Variables with Applications, 31 Briggs, Asa, (note 10) page 194 Addison Wesley 2005, currently in 32 As quoted in Crisell, page 63. rd 33 I have been unable to determine the its 3 edition, and is book editor of artist who created this cover. The the IEEE Technology and Society initials LP appear in one corner. Magazine. His e mail address is According to my correspondent [email protected] at the BBC, this was likely to have been Leonard Potter who did other artwork for them. 34 Some are broadcast on a free satellite radio service.

David Wunsch

20 AWA Review