1944 in British radio
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This is a list of events from British radio in 1944.
Events[edit]
January[edit]
- No events.
February[edit]
- 27 February – BBC General Forces Programme replaces the Forces Programme to provide entertainment suitable for American forces in Britain as well as British military and civilian audiences, including a large number of American network and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programmes. It is also broadcast on shortwave frequencies of the BBC Overseas Service.
March[edit]
- 6 March – The BBC transmits a ballad opera, The Man Who Went to War, concerning an African American soldier, written by Langston Hughes and D. G. Bridson and featuring Paul Robeson.[1]
April[edit]
- April – The American Broadcasting Station in Europe (ABSIE) is established, transmitting from Britain in English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian to resistance movements in mainland Europe.
May[edit]
- No events.
June[edit]
- 5 June – One day before D-Day, the BBC transmits coded messages (including the second line of a poem by Paul Verlaine and Hubert Gregg's "I'm Going to Get Lit Up When the Lights Go Up in London")[2] from Britain to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of mainland Europe is about to begin.[3][4]
- 6 June – D-Day: The 08:00 BBC news bulletin announces that paratroops have landed in France (reporter Guy Byam is among them).[5] 17 BBC reporters are embedded with the invasion forces.[5] At 09:32 John Snagge begins reading announcements of the landings "on the northern coast of France", broadcasting over BBC transmitters to home and overseas audiences[6] and introducing a message from General Eisenhower.[5] At 13:00, the first eyewitness report, recorded on a bomber, is broadcast.[6] The King speaks to the nation at 21:00.[6] Reports of the landings are carried by around 725 of the 914 broadcasting stations in the United States.[4]
July[edit]
- 28 July – Sir Henry Wood, aged 75, conducts his last Promenade Concert, evacuated to the Corn Exchange, Bedford,[7] three weeks before his death.
August[edit]
- 28 August – The BBC begins broadcasting in Dutch to Indonesia and in French to southeast Asia.[8]
September[edit]
- 17–26 September – Battle of Arnhem: BBC correspondents Guy Byam and Stanley Maxted report from the scene.[9][10]
October[edit]
- No events.
November[edit]
- No events.
December[edit]
- 31 December – A live BBC broadcast of a service from St Paul's Cathedral, London, includes the background sound of a V-2 rocket.[11]
Debuts[edit]
- 4 January – Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (BBC General Forces Programme) (1944–1954)
- 27 February – Variety Bandbox (BBC General Forces Programme) (1944–1952)
- 6 June – War Report (BBC Home Service)
Continuing radio programmes[edit]
1930s[edit]
- In Town Tonight (1933–1960)
1940s[edit]
- Music While You Work (1940–1967)
- Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
- Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
Births[edit]
- 2 February – Andrew Davis, orchestral conductor (died 2024)
- 9 May – Tony Prince, "The Royal Ruler", born Thomas Whitehead, DJ
- 12 May – Brian Kay, bass singer and radio music presenter
- 5 June – Nigel Rees, radio broadcaster
- 28 October – Gerry Anderson, Northern Irish radio broadcaster (died 2014)
- November – Jim Eldridge, scriptwriter
- 25 December – Kenny Everett, born Maurice Cole, DJ (died 1995)
Deaths[edit]
- 22 June – Kent Stevenson, war reporter (shot down while flying on an air raid)
- 19 August – Sir Henry Wood, orchestral conductor (born 1869)
See also[edit]
- 1944 in British music
- 1944 in British television
- 1944 in the United Kingdom
- List of British films of 1944
References[edit]
- ^ Seatter, Robert (2022). "1944". Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the BBC. London: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9780241567548.
- ^ McDonald, Tim (1 April 2004). "Hubert Gregg". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Foot, M. R. D. (1999). SOE: An Outline History of the Special Operations Executive 1940–46. London: Pimlico. p. 143. ISBN 0-7126-6585-4.
- ^ a b Stourton, Edward (2017). Auntie's War: the BBC during the Second World War. London: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-857-52332-7.
- ^ a b c "D-Day Broadcasts". BBC 100. BBC. 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ a b c Hendy, David (2022). "D-Day". BBC 100. BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ "Jubilee Prom". The Yorkshire Post. Leeds. 28 July 1944.
from the rural B.B.C. studio to which the concerts have been transferred.
- ^ "Chronomedia: 1944". Terra Media. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ Bowman, Martin (2013). Shrinking Perimeter. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. pp. 179–. ISBN 978-1-78159-177-2.
- ^ "Stanley Maxted: Former Singer Covered Plight Of Red Devils". The Globe. Toronto. 11 May 1963. p. 2.
- ^ Waller, Maureen (2020) [2004]. London 1945: life in the debris of war. [London]: John Murray. pp. 18–49. ISBN 978-1-529-33815-7.