Very unusually for me – indeed, I think almost certainly
uniquely for me, past, present, or future – this particular piece of writing
began with a church service.
Not one which I was attending, I hasten to add. But last autumn,
soon after
the Look East 60th anniversary and all the various
bits and bobs which went on around that, my colleague Andrew was attending a
regular Sunday service at his local church. Also among the congregation was a
member of the Norwich Society who, having seen some of the mentions of the
Look
East anniversary, wondered whether Andrew might possibly be interested in
writing something about the history of the BBC in the city for their
twice-yearly journal,
Aspects of Norwich.
Andrew said he didn’t really think it was something for
him, but that he knew a man who might be interested…
So it was that he put me in touch with them, and I was
very pleased to be able to contribute an article.
I thought it would fit best to base the piece around the
story of the BBC’s first proper headquarters in Norwich, at St Catherine’s Close
on All Saints Green, which became their first East Anglian radio HQ in 1956 and
then had a regional television element added to it three years later. Overall
the BBC were there for 47 years, through until 2003, and I thought a piece
about the early days and the establishment and early growth of the BBC presence
in the city might be interesting.
I was particularly pleased to do it because it meant I
was able to provide a home for various bits and pieces of information which I
thought were interesting which I’d come across while researching some of
my previous programmes about local BBC history, either at Caversham or in our
own files which we hold in Norwich. Things there wasn’t really the time or
space for in those programmes, or which were a bit niche for something being
broadcast for a general audience, but which would work nicely in a dedicated
history piece for a specialist readership.
It also meant a chance to share some pictures which,
similarly, wouldn’t really have a home elsewhere. The kind of thing which if
this were Broadcasting House in London, or the BBC in the likes of Glasgow or
Manchester or even Birmingham, would probably find their place in a dedicated
book about the history of the Corporation there, but which in Norwich there isn’t
really the market for. The history of part of an important institution
which, inevitably being a small and unfashionable part of said institution, still falls
through the cracks.
I think it’s quite a nice piece in-all, and the Society
seemed very happy with it, although I haven’t actually had any feedback from
any of the readers of
Aspects of Norwich. But then again, no complaints,
either! If you fancy a read,
Aspects of Norwich is available in various
local bookshops, as well as directly from
the Society’s website.
