The BBC's written archives

The BBC is now 52 years old. It is a simple statement of fact that since the setting up of the British Broadcasting Company in November 1922 and its successor, the British Broadcasting Corporation in January 1927, everyone of any importance in almost any part of the national life has had something to do with the BBC. Kings, queens, archbishops, prime ministers, statesmen, professors, poets, painters, economists, ecologists, even eccentrics, all have appeared in BBC programmes. Many of them have given their services to the BBC in other ways, whether as members of successive boards of governors, or of the many advisory councils or committees that help to guide the development of BBC policies. Or yet again, the BBC has relationships to varying degrees of formality with other organizations. The most important of these is, of course, with the British Government. This was of particular importance during the Second World War, when the BBC was also in close contact with the governments of other countries, particularly with governments in exile and operating as best they could from London or nearby. Underlying all is the business of running the BBC itself: appointing the staff, relationships with unions, planning programmes, formulating policies.