Written Archive
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In this section, we provide original correspondence, brochures and other documents related to the establishment of the BBC's operations in South East Asia. All the scans have been vetted for Public use by the BBC Written Archives at Caversham, Reading. but retains BBC Written Archives Copyright.
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787 items
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Recording of Hanjoi Temiar dream music, religious ritual songs and dances are performed in a Temiar long-house, reflecting the shamanic and animistic faith of the culture. The title of the recording is a play on words, representing the disappearing form of a man diving into a pool to catch fish. This variation on the saying "the higher the fewer" conveys the theme of disappearance and transformation within the music and rituals of the Temiar people. More »Music |Topic: Culture |Audio
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In a talk about Mass-Observation, producer Stewart Wavell and speaker Tom Harrisson discuss the organization's pre-war role as an opinion-seeking service. The methods of Mass-Observation differed from the Gallup Poll, and the discussion took place on October 11, 1960. More »Radio Programme |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Letter responding to Mr. George's request for a 1 K.W. test transmitter explaining one is not available. Sender instead attatches other papers which the receiver may find useful More »Message
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Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore also produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the Cabinet as a member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minister of Transport during the Second MacDonald ministry, then after losing his parliamentary seat in the 1931 general election, he became Leader of the London County Council in the 1930s. After returning to the Commons, he was defeated by Clement Attlee in the 1935 Labour Party leadership election but later acted as Home Secretary in the wartime coalition. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Holgath thanks H.E. Milliken for the scripts and acknowledges that they are copyright. More »Message
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Holgath inquires about the most suitable recieving set for the use of schools in Malaya, and records for broadcasting lessons for students. More »Message
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Holgath states that he has aquired the script from H.E. Milliken and that their committee has completed the preliminary analysis of the local problem. More »Message
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Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until his death in 1963. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Hughes writes to inform the office of India's Secretary of State that broadcasts will start from Singapore. More »Message
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HW Jackson writes to Ivor Thomas to inform him that Radio Malaya lacks the funds and staff to conduct a listener survey (in reference to BBC_510). Jackson also suggests the matter be discussed further on his return to London later that year. More »Message
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Lieutenant General Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob GBE, CB (27 September 1899 – 24 April 1993), known as Ian Jacob, was a British Army officer, who served as the Military Assistant Secretary to Winston Churchill's war cabinet and was later a distinguished broadcasting executive, serving as the Director-General of the BBC from 1952 to 1959. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first leader to be born and raised in Rhodesia, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 in opposition to the UK's demands for the implementation of majority rule as a condition for independence. His 15 years in power were defined by the country's international isolation and involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War, which pitted Rhodesia's armed forces against the Soviet- and Chinese-funded military wings of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). Smith was born to British immigrants in the small town of Selukwe in the Southern Rhodesian Midlands, four years before the colony became self-governing in 1923. During the Second World War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. A crash in Egypt caused debilitating facial and bodily wounds that remained conspicuous for the rest of his life. Following recovery, he served in Europe, where he was shot down and subsequently fought alongside Italian partisans. After the war, he established a farm in his hometown in 1948 and became a Member of Parliament for Selukwe that same year. Originally a member of the Liberal Party, he defected to the United Federal Party in 1953, and served as Chief Whip from 1958 onwards. He left that party in 1961 in protest over the territory's new constitution, and went on to co-found the Rhodesian Front the following year. Smith became Deputy Prime Minister following the Front's December 1962 election victory, and he stepped up to the premiership after Field resigned in April 1964, two months before the first events that led to the Bush War took place. After repeated talks with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson broke down, Smith and his Cabinet unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965 in an effort to delay majority rule; shortly afterwards, the first phase of the war began in earnest. After further negotiations with the UK failed, Rhodesia cut all remaining British ties and reconstituted itself as a republic in 1970. Smith led the Front to four election victories over the course of his premiership; despite sporadic negotiations with moderate leader Abel Muzorawa over the course of the war, his support came exclusively from the white minority, with the black majority being widely disenfranchised under the country's electoral system. The country initially endured United Nations sanctions and international isolation with the assistance of South Africa and, until 1974, the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique. Following 15 years of protracted fighting, with economic sanctions, international pressure and the decline in South African support taking their toll, Smith conceded to the implementation of majority rule and signed the Internal Settlement in 1978 with moderate leaders, excluding ZANU and ZAPU; the country was renamed Zimbabwe Rhodesia the following year. The new order, however, failed to gain international recognition, and the war continued. After being succeeded as Prime Minister by Muzorawa, Smith took part in the trilateral peace negotiations at Lancaster House, which led to fully free elections and the recognition of an independent Zimbabwe. Following the election, Smith served as Leader of the Opposition for seven years and marked himself as a strident critic of Robert Mugabe's government. His criticisms persisted after his 1987 retirement: He dedicated much of his 1997 memoir, The Great Betrayal, to condemning Mugabe, UK politicians, and defending his premiership. In 2005, Smith moved to South Africa for medical treatment, where he died two years later at the age of 88. As the dominant political figure and public face of Rhodesia in its final decades, Smith remains a divisive and controversial political figure to this day. By his supporters, he has been hailed as "a political visionary ... who understood the uncomfortable truths of Africa", defending his rule as one of stability and a stalwart against communism. His critics, in turn, have condemned him as "an unrepentant racist ... who brought untold suffering to millions of Zimbabweans" as the leader of a white supremacist government responsible for disempowering and discriminating against the black majority. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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The inauguration of the BBC Empire Service was rerecorded onto a single Betamax cassette stereo. The speakers included J.H. Whitley, Noel Ashbridge, and Capt. C.G. Graves, all male. More »Radio Programme |Topic: Culture |Audio
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In a remote village in India, a group of Muslim fishermen were captured on video chanting a solo vocal with a chorus. The rhythmic and melodious singing reflected their cultural heritage and community spirit. More »Spoken voice : chanted |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Indira Feroze Gandhi (Hindi: [ˈɪndɪɾɑː ˈɡɑːndʱi] ; née Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first and, to date, only female prime minister, and a central figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, and the mother of Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded her in office as the country's sixth prime minister. Furthermore, Gandhi's cumulative tenure of 15 years and 350 days makes her the second-longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father. Henry Kissinger described her as an "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her tough personality since her lifetime.During Nehru's premiership from 1947 to 1964, Gandhi served as his hostess and accompanied him on his numerous foreign trips. In 1959, she played a part in the dissolution of the communist-led Kerala state government as then-president of the Indian National Congress, otherwise a ceremonial position to which she was elected earlier that year. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had succeeded Nehru as prime minister upon his death in 1964, appointed her minister of information and broadcasting in his government; the same year she was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. On Shastri's sudden death in January 1966, Gandhi defeated her rival, Morarji Desai, in the Congress Party's parliamentary leadership election to become leader and also succeeded Shastri as prime minister. She led the Congress to victory in two subsequent elections, starting with the 1967 general election, in which she was first elected to the lower house of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha. In 1971, the Congress Party headed by Gandhi managed to secure its first landslide victory since her father's sweep in 1962, focusing on issues such as poverty. But following the nationwide Emergency implemented by her, she faced massive anti-incumbency and lost the 1977 general election, the first time for the Congress party to do so. Gandhi was ousted from office and even lost her seat in parliament in the election. Nevertheless, her faction of the Congress Party won the next general election by a landslide, due to Gandhi's leadership and weak governance of the Janata Party rule, the first non-Congress government in independent modern India's history. As prime minister, Gandhi was known for her political intransigence and unprecedented centralization of power. In 1967, she headed a military conflict with China in which India successfully repelled Chinese incursions in the Himalayas. In 1971, she went to war with Pakistan in support of the independence movement and war of independence in East Pakistan, which resulted in an Indian victory and the creation of Bangladesh, as well as increasing India's influence to the point where it became the sole regional power in South Asia. Gandhi's rule saw India grow closer to the Soviet Union by signing a friendship treaty in 1971, with India receiving military, financial, and diplomatic support from the Soviet Union during its conflict with Pakistan in the same year. Despite India being at the forefront of the non-aligned movement, Gandhi led India to become one of the Soviet Union's closest allies in Asia, with India and the Soviet Union often supporting each other in proxy wars and at the United Nations. Citing separatist tendencies and in response to a call for revolution, Gandhi instituted a state of emergency from 1975 to 1977, during which basic civil liberties were suspended and the press was censored. Widespread atrocities were carried out during that period. Gandhi faced the growing Sikh separatism throughout her third premiership; in response, she ordered Operation Blue Star, which involved military action in the Golden Temple and resulted in bloodshed with hundreds of Sikhs killed. On 31 October 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards, both of whom were Sikh nationalists seeking retribution for the events at the temple. Gandhi is remembered as the most powerful woman in the world during her tenure. Her supporters cite her leadership during victories over geopolitical rivals China and Pakistan, the Green Revolution, a growing economy in the early 1980s, and her anti-poverty campaign that led her to be known as "Mother Indira" (a pun on Mother India) among the country's poor and rural classes. However, critics note her authoritarian rule of India during the Emergency. In 1999, Gandhi was named "Woman of the Millennium" in an online poll organized by the BBC. In 2020, Gandhi was named by Time magazine among the 100 women who defined the past century as counterparts to the magazine's previous choices for Man of the Year. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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In an interview with Wilfred De'Ath, young people David Fisher and Rowena Hyde discuss their experiences working in underdeveloped countries through voluntary service programs. The program explores the increasing interest among young individuals to contribute to overseas projects during their gap year, and questions the competition between organizations like V.S.O and Kennedy's Peace Corps. David Fisher worked in Sarawak in Borneo at the age of 19, while Rowena Hyde is the daughter of a former Communist turned Catholic. The broadcast was compiled and narrated by Wilfred De'Ath and produced by Robert Pocock. The interview took place on January 9, 1962. More »Radio Programme |Topic: Culture; Politics |Audio
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Norman Collins notes down some conclusions arrived at during his discussion with Captain John Martin. Topics discussed include broadcasting to forces, Army Welfare Services, Radio SEAC 100 k/w, transcriptions, and shortwave stations. More »Message
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Major S. Lack expressed disappointment in the interview regarding the lack of broadcast hours for forces in Malaya, specifically during 7 to 8:30 and 12 and 2:30 local time. It also notes that Major S. Lack asked if the BBC can consider providing service during those periods. More »Message
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Dumeresque expresses his gratitude for Conner Broadcasts London's cooperation on the Macdonald broadcast More »Article
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Irene Elford of BBC London urges Peter Albany not to delay the broadcast date, and asks Albany to contact potential replacements as quickly as possible More »Message
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Irene Elford copies HC Fenton's telegraph to WM Goatman informing him that the frequency changes in his area will cease. More »Message
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Irene Elford writes to thank John Dumeresque for sending her a copy of Radio Malaya News More »Message
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In a recent program, James Hogg narrates interviews with two members of a 50-person party that had just returned from Vietnam, where they attempted to stop the bombing. The date of the program was March 16, 1968, and the participants included speakers Andrew Hornung, Philippa Moody, and John Roberts, as well as interviewees Kit Masters and Michael Meech. The program did not have an announcer. More »Radio Programme |Topic: Military Conflict |Audio
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Ivor Thomas writes to coordinate arrangement of a survey of Radio Malaya listeners. More »Message
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Ivor Thomas opts out of intervening on matters of Audience Research, suggesting that H.W. Jackson be approached for this purpose instead. More »Message
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Ivor Thomas writes Lloyd Williams to thank him for the broadcast schedules for English schools in Malaya, he notes that he has already forwarded them to H.C.S., Sec. S.B.C, and S.B.M. More »Message
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Ivor Thomas informs the head office on Norman Lloyd Williams' schedule for broadcasts in English schools in Malaya for 1949. More »Message
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John Henry Whitley (8 February 1866 – 3 February 1935), often known as J. H. Whitley, was a British politician and Georgist.[2][3] He was the final Liberal to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, a role he held from 1921 to 1928. His friendship with John Reith led to his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC in 1930.[23] In 1932, he made the first broadcast on the Empire Service, which developed into the World Service.[7] He held the Chairmanship until his death. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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