Broadcast recently again on BBC Sounds, THE NATIONAL is a fascinating listen. Written by Sarah Wooley, this three-part drama about the creation of the National Theatre on London’s South Bank features all the main players: Sir Laurence Olivier, Kenneth Tynan, Lord Goodman, The Lord Chamberlain, Peter Hall and Harold Pinter as well as many others.
Available to listen to now until September 1st is a jolly celebration of the British seaside in all its glory, a compilation of seaside-related material from the BBC Sound Archive.
Seaside entertainer Tony Lidington takes a trip to Brighton for BBC Radio 4 Extra and reflects how this city has inspired a wealth of seaside memories captured in the BBC Sound Archive.
Tony came to Brighton in the eighties as a student and set up his own Pierrot Troupe, The Pierroters, named after the rotting West Pier which was the subject of a Kaleidoscope feature made in 1995.
There are first hand memories of what it was like to go on a seaside holiday between the wars in a programme called ‘Sand Between the Toes’ made in 1984.
Tony meets Max Tyler, an expert on the Fol De Rols, and he and Tony hear them perform in an extraordinary piece of archive from 1937 when four of the shows hundreds of miles apart were brought together live by the magic of wireless.
There are also insights into Brighton’s very own Cheeky Chappie as Tony visits a Fish and Chip Shop in Brighton where the Max Miller Society has set up a museum.
‘Casting Shadows’ a wonderfully evocative play by Mark Burgess conjures up an imaginary meeting between the actor Laurence Oliver, playwright Terence Rattigan and Brighton’s famous seaside entertainer, Max Miller. Roy Hudd headlines as Miller.
Gavin Henderson, president of the National Piers Society, reveals that seaside piers were initially places of sophistication, almost the arts centres of their day, and Rachel Clark of the West Pier Trust looks to the future and the plans to create a new vertical Pier on Brighton seafront.
Tony celebrates the Great Days of the West Pier in his 1995 Archive Hour programme ‘Oh What a Lovely Pier!’ with contributions from the late Corin Redgrave among others.
The programmes featured within ‘4 Extra at the British Seaside’ in chronological order, with approximate timings are: Pierrotters on Tour (from Kaleidoscope) – 8 minutes
Sand Between the Toes – Memories of Seaside holidays between the wars (1984) – 27 minutes
Casting Shadows, a play by Mark Burgess, starring Roy Hudd – 44 minutes
Oh What a Lovely Pier! (Archive Hour from 1995) – 56 minutes
This fascinating celebration can be heard at the BBC Sounds site until September 1st.
Two interesting shows have cropped up on the BBC Sounds app which are currently available to listen to.
Each show lasts an hour, and appear to be available for some time.
The first is TWICE NIGHTLY, a remembrance of Music Hall and Variety days by one of those who performed in it for many years, the musician and comedian Stan Stennett. An interesting show with much first- hand recollection, the subject spends a little too much time on himself for my liking, but it is worth sticking with to get a taste of “the halls”. The show was recorded in 2001.
The second show is from 2003. MUSIC HALL RECLAIMED is presented by Barry Cryer, another performer who started his career at the tail end of Variety, where he looks into the range of material that survives as recordings of many music hall and variety acts- some famous, some unheard for decades- and the care which goes into tracing, restoring and preserving these last remnants of a disappeared age. It presents a number of surprises, including how political some of the music hall songs could be.
Again, well worth a listen, as well as to hear some rare recordings lovingly cleaned and sounding much less than their age – in most cases, over 100 years!
