Wartime Broadcasting

On 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sat tensely at a microphone, using radio to declare that ‘this country is at war with Germany’. During the ensuing wartime years, the BBC was the sole radio broadcaster in Britain, boosting morale through programmes such as ‘ITMA’ and ‘Worker’s Playtime’; helping the Home Front with useful hints and advice; transmitting government messages; and providing news. Personalities and stars became household names – Tommy Handley, Arthur Askey, Ethel and Doris Walters, Mr Middleton – and their catchphrases could be heard everywhere. And yet, as this fascinating book explains, the BBC chose to avoid propaganda, and had to tread a fine line between what the people wanted to hear and what it was felt they should hear.