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Abstract
BBC Radio drama, and especially feature programmes, became a crucial vehicle at the beginning of the Second World War for articulating a sense of national unity and for providing accounts of the war that could counteract Nazi propaganda. This essay will explore the feature series Shadow of the Swastika (1939–40), Terence Horsley’s Narvik (1940) and Cecil McGivern’s The Battle of Britain (1941), examining how the aesthetics of this radiogenic genre developed through encounters with the propaganda politics of the British nation at the outbreak of war and in response to the reactions of radio listeners. For the writers of Shadow of the Swastika, the ‘sound alone’ of radio was crucial for creating an effective actuality in a feature, but the empathetic force of this sound actuality—its ability to stand as/for the real—raised important political and moral questions at a time of national crisis. Examining the broadcasts themselves, and drawing on audience responses to features, the essay will uncover the tensions between political and aesthetic conceptions of the radio feature between 1939 and 1941. As the essay will argue it was in this period, which spans the Phoney War and the first major British military campaigns, that friction arose between anxieties about the presence of the radio voice and its reception by listeners, and the BBC’s attempt to use the power of the radio medium to present a real account of the war. Political expediency, technology, radio aesthetics, the exigencies of war and the affectivity of sound were all negotiated through radio features as the Second World War escalated. By 1941, in response to these competing factors, the key parameters of BBC war features had solidified and they would go on to function, in the subsequent years of the war, as white propaganda binding the nation together in the struggle against Nazi Germany.
Notes
1 Report of the Defence Subcommitte on War Time Programmes, January 11, 1939; quoted in Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, vol. 3, 87–8.
2 On the wartime role of the BBC see Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, vol. 3; Nicholas, The Echo of War; Havers, Here is the News.
3 On Louis MacNeice’s wartime features see Wrigley, “Introduction,” 9–17.
4 On the development of BBC Features and their propagandist role see Whitehead, The Third Programme, chapter 6 ‘Features’. Critical accounts of the role of features in the BBC’s wartime programming are given in Thomas, A History of the BBC Features Department 1924–1964 and Nicholas, The Echo of War. Amanda Wrigley points out that ‘“propagandist” and “morale-boosting” seem to have been used a synonyms by the BBC at this time; [features] were designed to actively support the Allied cause without the broadcast of outright lies’, Wrigley, “A Wartime Radio Odyssey,” 82, n3.
5 Gitelman, Always Already New, 26.
6 McHugh, “The Affective Power of Sound,” 496. McHugh is specifically focused on the affective impact of oral history on radio, but her framework is also relevant for considering the power of voice and sound in features that use (dramatised) individual voices to articulate contemporary historical events.
7 Sieveking, The Stuff of Radio, 25–6.
8 Thomas, A History of the BBC Features Department 1924–1964, 68.
9 Thomas, A History of the BBC Features Department 1924–1964, 110.
10 ‘Children in Billets’, aired on Saturday 30 September (3.30–4 pm) and was written by A L. Lloyd (a BBC staff writer) and Stephen Potter; ‘The Home Fires Burning’ aired on Wednesday 18 October (8.30–9 pm) and was written and produced by T. Rowland Hughes (who led on features for the Welsh region); ‘Harvest of the Sea’ aired on Monday 23 October (8–8.30 pm) and was devised and produced by Alan Melville (a BBC staff-writer); ‘Women in War’ aired on Sunday 19 November (7–7.30 pm), and was produced by Olive Shapley (a freelancer for the BBC who produced Woman’s Hour between 1949 and 1953).
11 ‘The Spirit of Poland’ aired on Tuesday 3 October, 1939, 8–8.30 pm (author/producer unknown); ‘The Empire’s Answer’ by Gilliam and A.L. Lloyd aired on Friday 6 October, 1939 8.30–9 pm; ‘All France is Here’ by Moray McLaren the assistant director of BBC Features aired on Saturday 4 November, 1939, 10.30–11.15 pm.
12 ‘Draft Statement on Policy of Features and Drama in Time of War. For Home Service Board Friday 1st December 1939’, 21 November 1939’, BBC WAC R19/352/1. Gilliam reports on all the features mentioned above in this memo.
13 Nicholas, The Echo of War, 16; for detail on the BBC and the MOI see Briggs section IV chapter 2 ‘Controllers and Controlled’ and Nicholas pp.16ff.
14 Brooks, British Propaganda to France, xvii.
15 Gielgud, Years of the Locust, 181; Bridson, Prospero and Ariel, 14, 77.
16 Gilliam, “Introduction,” 10.
17 Whitehead, The Third Programme, 110, 111.
18 Nicholas, The Echo of War, 65.
19 Gilliam, “Introduction,” 9.
20 Looke to your Moate’ was broadcast on Sunday 21 March, 1937, 9.05–9.50 pm; written by the historian Arthur Bryant it was produced by Gilliam. ‘For Ever England’ was broadcast Thursday February 1, 1940, 7.30–9.10 pm; compiled by Val Gielgud Head of BBC Drama it was produced by Moray McLaren.
21 Gilliam, “Draft Statement on Policy of Features and Drama in Time of War. For Home Service Board Friday 1st December 1939,” 21 November 1939’, BBC WAC R19/352/1.
22 Nicholas notes that The Shadow of the Swastika ‘originated in requests from a number of organisations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, for a popular history of the Nazi movement that might counter press allegations that German anti-Jewish propaganda had some justification’ (The Echo of War, 150–51).
23 ‘Expert on Nazis’, Radio Times 840, November 3, 1939, 3. This edition of the Radio Times also included a one-page extract of the script from the first episode, accompanied by archive photographs of Hitler in 1932 and 1933 (p.8).
24 The broadcasts were as follows: The Story of the Nazi Party, Friday November 10, 1939, 9.15–10 pm; The Rise of a Leader, Friday November 17, 1939, 9.45–10.30 pm; The Road to Power, Wednesday November 29, 1939, 10.15–11 pm, The Reichstag Fire, Thursday December 14, 1939, 8.15–9 pm; Hitler over Germany Thursday December 28, 1939, 7.45–8.30 pm, The Shadow Spreads Thursday January 11, 1940, 6.45–7.30 pm; The Road to War Thursday January 25, 1940, 7.45–8.30 pm; From War to War, Thursday February 8, 1940, 7.45–8.30 pm; The Nazis at War Thursday February 29, 1940, 9.30–10.15 pm. These first broadcasts were on the Home Service and recordings are extant in the BBC Sound Archive at the British Library, London: these are erroneously catalogued under the title Under the Shadow of the Swastika.
25 Records of the MOI transcriptions and distribution of Shadow of the Swastika can be seen in the file Transcriptions: Shadow of the Swastika, BBC WAC, E17/192.
26 The Listener, 60, July 25, 1940, 125.
27 Lloyd and Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, 12, 11, 12, 10.
28 The lack of a firm distinction between some features and the radio play format is discussed in Drakakis, “Introduction,” 8–9 and Whitehead, The Third Programme, 109–111.
29 ‘Opening Announcement at 10.15 pm: BBC Home Service Wednesday 29th November, 1939, 10.15–11.00 pm’ (The Road to Power) BBC WAC 19/1142/1.
30 Nicholas, The Echo of War, 151.
31 Lloyd and Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, 194.
32 Lloyd and Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, ‘Foreword’, 9.
33 This relationship with the MOI is clear from the letters contained in BBC WAC 19/1142/1; see also Nicholas, The Echo of War, 151.
34 Lloyd and Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, ‘Foreword’, 10.
35 (The Rise of a Leader) The Shadow of the Swastika 3, November 17, 1939, 7, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
36 (The Road to War) The Shadow of the Swastika 7, January 25, 1940, 7, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
37 Douglas, Listening In, 23–4; Loviglo, Radio’s Intimate Public, xv, see also Ehrick, Radio and the Gendered Soundscape, on the relationship of radio’s ‘“intimate publics” and “imagined communities” ‘to ‘the development of twentieth-century politics’ (p.2).
38 (The Shadow Spreads) The Shadow of the Swastika 6, January 11, 1940, 21, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
39 (The Road to War) The Shadow of the Swastika 7, January 25, 1940, 9, 16, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
40 (The Reichstag Fire), The Shadow of the Swastika 4, December 14, 1939, 8.15 pm–9 pm, 7, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
41 ‘Shadow of the Swastika’, Picture Post, March 2, 1940, 24.
42 See Verma, Theater of the Mind, 46.
43 From War to War, Thursday February 8, 1940, 27–8, Play Library Scripts, BBC WAC; this section is published at the end of Lloyd and Vinogradoff, ‘The Road to War’, Shadow of the Swastika, 193 with additional directions.
44 Wrigley notes that the female voice also had an important role in MacNeice’s wartime features where they served to ‘carry energetic political purpose’ despite being cast in ‘seemingly subsidiary or supporting roles’ (Wrigley, “Introduction,” 14).
45 (The Road to War) The Shadow of the Swastika 7, January 25, 23, 1940, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC. This scene is marked as ‘new page’ in the PasB script and is not published in Lloyd and Vinogradoff’s Shadow of the Swastika.
46 The Listener, 566, November 16, 1939, 986.
47 The Listener, 602, July 25, 1940, 125.
48 R.J.E. Silvey memo to DFD (Laurence Gilliam), ‘Listener Research: The Shadow of the Swastika’, January 24, 1940. BBC WAC 19/1142/2.
49 The Shadow of the Swastika was rebroadcast on the Overseas and Empire Services soon after the Home Service broadcasts, and by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (in early 1940); see Nicholas, 151.
50 Laurence Gilliam, “The Job of the Radio Feature Man Today,” 4.
51 R.J.E. Silvey memo to DFD (Laurence Gilliam), ‘Listener Research: The Shadow of the Swastika’, January 24, 1940. BBC WAC 19/1142/2.
52 BBC files show that the early version of the proposed announcement to precede The Shadow of the Swastika, which named both Goring as Hitler and Genn as narrator, was replaced with a final version that named only the writers and composer (see drafts in BBC WAC R19/1142/1).
53 Gilliam, “Shadow of the Swastika,” Picture Post, 24.
54 Ibid.
55 Gilliam, “Shadow of the Swastika,” Picture Post, 23.
56 Ibid, 25.
57 Lloyd and Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, 11.
58 (Hitler Over Germany) The Shadow of the Swastika 5, 12, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC; the musical direction is not included in the printed script (see Lloyd and Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, 118–19).
59 G. Forbes to R. Murray-Leslie, Director of Productions, Pyramid Amalgamated Pictures Ltd., ‘Letter from the Deputy Director of the Film Section of the MOI,’ February 20, 1940. BBC WAC, R44/173. This file contains further correspondence about proposed film versions of The Shadow of the Swastika.
60 Radio Times, 867, May 10, 1940, 16.
61 Ibid.
62 Horsley and Tevnan, Norway Invaded: The First Full Story.
63 Horsley, The Battle of Narvik, 8, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
64 Horsley, The Battle of Narvik, 10, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC.
65 Goldie, “Critic on the Hearth,” May 16, 1940, 987.
66 Frieda Rollo of Essex, letter in The Times May 16, 1940, 7.
67 The Times May 16, 1940, 7.
68 The Times May 17, 1940, 7.
69 ‘Extracts from Parliamentary Debate’ BBC WAC, R32/44 P.Q.s Narvik, 1940.
70 The Times, June 12, 1940, 3.
71 The Times, June 12, 1940, 3.
72 Gilliam, “The Job of the Radio Feature Man Today,” 4.
73 Laurence Gilliam memo to DFD (Geilgud) ‘main points to be discussed at Feature Meeting 19th Feb 1941’. BBC WAC R19/352/4.
74 Saunders, The Battle of Britain.
75 Campion, The Battle of Britain, 94.
76 See Campion, The Battle of Britain.
77 D. K. Watson (News Editor The Daily Mirror) letter to BBC Press Officer May 9 1941. BBC WAC R19/79/1. This production was rebroadcast on the Forces service on Wednesday 28 May 1941 (9.20–10.20 pm). A recording of the first production can be accessed online http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/battleofbritain/11425.shtml
78 Goldie, “Critic on the Hearth,” August 22, 1940.
79 Nicholas, The Echo of War, 201–2.
80 The Harbour Called Mulberry, for example, an account of the Normandy landings in June 1944, broadcast on the Home Service Monday March 5, 1945, 9.30–11 pm, was written by McGivern in co-operation with the Admiralty, the War Office, the Ministry of Supply, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of War Transport, and the Ministry of Information Films Division and featured only generic characters (‘Trooper’, ‘Contractor’, ‘Workman’, ‘Sailor’); see The Harbour Called Mulberry, Play Library Scripts BBC WAC and the documents on the production in BBC WAC R19/477.
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Alex Goody
Alex Goody, Department of English and Modern Languages, Oxford Brookes University – Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.