About
The BBC in South East Asia is an expanding collection of primary source materials focusing on the British Broadcasting Company's significance in the region during Great Britain's late colonial and early post-colonial periods (1927-1961). Led by Cristina Juan, the project aims to gather BBC-produced sound recordings for and about these geographical entities (currently the nation-states of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines, Brunei, Timor-Leste, Laos, and Thailand. There is a special emphasis (and more materials) on The British Colonies in South East Asia which include Burma (now Myanmar) - Colonial period: 1885–1948 Independence: January 4, 1948; Malaya (part of present-day Malaysia) - Colonial period: Various states from the late 18th century, unified as the Federated Malay States in 1895 and later the Malayan Union in 1946 Independence: August 31, 1957; Singapore - Colonial period: 1819–1963 (joined Malaysia in 1963 and separated to become an independent nation on August 9, 1965); North Borneo (now Sabah, part of Malaysia) - -Colonial period: 1882–1963 (joined Malaysia in 1963); Sarawak (now part of Malaysia) - Colonial period: 1888–1963 (joined Malaysia in 1963); and Hong Kong, - Colonial period: 1841–1997, Handover to China July 1, 1997, becoming a British Special Administrative Region (SAR) which, while it is geographically and culturally distinct from South East Asia, is also included in this database as it played a significant role in British colonial history and the BBC’s regional influence during the period. These recordings are contextualized through related materials from the BBC written archives, The BBC Transcription Service, and the Kew National and SOAS archives.
The sound recordings begin with the earliest surviving BBC broadcasts, now digitized and accessible at the British Library. They encompass diverse materials, such as a 1937 broadcast featuring an Englishman's reaction to the 1927 Krakatoa explosion, the inaugural address of the BBC Empire Service in 1932, and the initial broadcast in May 1951 of London Calling Asia, a programme transmitted to South and South-East Asia as part of the BBC's Far Eastern Service.
Pre-1961 recordings of BBC broadcasts were expensive and only done for practical reasons. Consequently, the corpus of recorded material in the inventory is selective and incomplete. Yet the archive still enables us to listen to sounds that might otherwise remain unheard: commercially viable popular music, field recordings for ambient sound, speeches, and the social and ideological positioning of colonial subjects through voice inflections and sonic expressions. The soundscapes offer insights into both significant political events and the everyday lives of people within and beyond the British imperial sphere.
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787 items
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A recording of King George V delivering a Christmas message from Sandringham on 25/12/32. This is noted as the first Christmas broadcast, preceded by the first round-the-world link-up. The performance includes a recording of 'The first Nowell' at the beginning and 'God save the King' at the end, along with an introduction by the radio presenter. However, the sound quality is poor, with muffled audio throughout. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American Democratic Party politician and diplomat who represented Montana in the United States House of Representatives from 1943 to 1953 and United States Senate from 1953 to 1977. As the leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus from 1961 to 1977, Mansfield was the second longest-serving party leader Senate history, after Mitch McConnell. During his tenure, he shepherded Great Society programs through the Senate. Born in Brooklyn, Mansfield grew up in Great Falls, Montana. He lied about his age to serve in the United States Navy during World War I. After the war, he became a professor of history and political science at the University of Montana. He won election to the House of Representatives and served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during World War II. In 1952, he defeated incumbent Republican Senator Zales Ecton to take a seat in the Senate. Mansfield served as Senate Majority Whip from 1957 to 1961. Mansfield ascended to Senate Majority Leader after Lyndon B. Johnson resigned from the Senate to become vice president. In the later years of the Vietnam War, he opposed escalation of American involvement and supported President Richard Nixon's plans for Vietnamization. After retiring from the Senate, Mansfield served as United States Ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988. Mansfield is the longest-serving American ambassador to Japan in history. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mansfield later served for a time as a senior adviser on East Asian affairs to Goldman Sachs. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Miss Honeyball writes to return the memorandum which was lent to her by a Mr. Latham. More »Message
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Sender hopes that receiver will attend the meeting to be held in the Ministry of Information in Singapore on the 19th of February to discuss information contained in the telegram they have received from Batavaia. More »Message
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Collection of Malaysian folk music captured on BBC Radiotape, featuring various traditional tunes like "Ayam Didek" and "Negara Ku." More »Radio Programme |Topic: Culture |Audio
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In August 1955, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, a key figure in the War in the Far East, gave a speech on 'Tokyo Bay and After'. The speech was recorded under the asset ID 60360582748d8fc68c9d2715 and is available under the title 'War in the Far East: Extract from Tokyo Bay and After'. More »Radio Programme |Topic: Military Conflict |Audio
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Sender corrects titles such as "British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation" or "The Malayan Broadcasting Corporation" to "The Malaya Broadcasting Corporation". More »Message
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Sender gives receiver number of general principles for efficient work if they were to establish a world network of British Broadcasting Stations. More »Message
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Sender writes to receiver that his short stay in England was not as he hopefuly expected and he must return to more important work. More »Message
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Sender forwards a copy of the telegraph Mr. Scott sent and writes to asks for their views about it. More »Message
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Mr. George Simpson, a Shipping Agent in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong from 1948-1980, is the focus of the Scottish Decolonisation Project collection at the National Library of Scotland. The collection includes three compact cassette recordings of interviews conducted by Mr. Bill Dorward, covering Simpson's work in Singapore, British North Borneo, Penang, Malaya, and Hong Kong. Additional documentation is available from the library's Manuscripts Division. More »Radio Programme |Topic: Business |Audio
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Sir Grantley Herbert Adams, CMG, QC (28 April 1898 – 28 November 1971) was a Barbadian politician. He served as the inaugural premier of Barbados from 1953 to 1958 and then became the first and only prime minister of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. He was a founder of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), and he was named in 1998 as one of the National Heroes of Barbados. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Sender acknowledges receivers thoughts on his short stay in England and that athough it was not as positively as the receiver expected it to be, it has still establsihed a more complete basis of mutual understanding that will help with their future operations. More »Message
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Letter Containing Action Plan for the News and Monitor unit Malayasia Broadcasting Corporation operating in Batavia. More »Message
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Writer highlights issues and dissatisfaction with the current state of broadcasting in British Malay. He lists changes which should be discussed and put into place in regards to the high power transmitters recently built and the new issues that have arisen from them. As well as the issues with the Ministry of Information's broadcasting policy. More »Message
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Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante (born William Alexander Clarke; 24 February 1884 – 6 August 1977) was a Jamaican politician and labour leader, who, in 1962, became the first prime minister of Jamaica. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Malaya Broadcasting Corporation now assumes all responsibility and that the Director General of Posts and Telegraphs will no longer exercise control. More »Message
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James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 1911 – 2 August 1975) was a British musician whose career was spent mainly as the musical director for British film studios. Born in Scotland, to a musical family, Mathieson won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London. His teachers there included Malcolm Sargent, who recommended him to the film producer Alexander Korda, whose musical director he became in 1934. Mathieson made most of his career in the film industry. After the Second World War he was musical director to the Rank Organisation. Among the composers from whom Mathieson commissioned film scores were Arthur Bliss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten. Mathieson rarely wrote the music for the films on which he worked, considering himself to lack the talent for original composition, but he helped the composers who wrote for him to make their material precisely fit the action of the film, and he arranged concert suites from some of the scores he commissioned. He was responsible as musical director, arranger, conductor or occasionally composer for nearly a thousand films. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Music (Vocal and instrumental) |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Music from Malaya. Aborigines. Lanoh negrito bamboo jaws harp More »Music |Topic: Culture |Audio
