Professor Chignell, Director of the Centre for Media History at BU, spoke to an audience of around 100 members of the public and university staff at the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe, Bournemouth. His talk, 鈥楢rchive warriors: How radio historians research our audio past鈥�, looked at the ways in which radio plays from the post-war period on the BBC鈥檚 Third Programme had been lost to archives and not released to the general public.
Hugh鈥檚 talk saw him present his lecture amidst a set of period-correct vintage household items from the era, including a late 1940鈥檚 radio set, and copy of the Radio Times from 23-29 March 1948. 聽
Speaking about the work of those seeking to bring this archived work to the public, Hugh said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great shame that, for example, Michael Bakewell鈥檚 brilliant production of 鈥楻hinoceros鈥� or Harold Pinter鈥檚 hugely important 鈥楢 slight ache鈥� are denied us and that is why the title of my talk was 鈥榓rchive warrior鈥�, because sometimes I think it is necessary to break the rules in order to make good things happen.
鈥淲e are fortunate at 天美传媒 that we can have some sort of impact on national radio archive policy and the decisions made in organisations like the BBC. The Centre for Media History is 20 years old this October and the university has, in its collection held by the library, some important media archives including the archive of the IBA. We have a thriving BA in History which emphasises the importance of media and cultural history.鈥�
He added: 鈥淲e have the reputation and we have the experience to make some noise and make something happen and to fight for this neglected part of our cultural heritage.鈥�
The talk, which was introduced by Professor Mike Willmore, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Media and Communication, formed the penultimate lecture of BU鈥檚 Inaugural Lecture Series 2018, with a final address, 'Nutrition 鈥� a new view on health, ageing and practice', from Professor Jane Murphy, Professor of Nutrition at BU, taking place at BU鈥檚 Executive Business Centre on Monday 30 April.
A full podcast of Professor Chignell's lecture is available below.聽For more information about the Inaugural Lecture Series聽and to book tickets, visit:
