The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa
#120 The General Strike at 100, part 3: Reith's Jerusalem
Published: 10 May 2026 at 00:18 Europe/London
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Episode notes
And did the Beeb, in ancient times,
broadcast to England's* mountains green?...
...Till Reith has built Jerusalem,
transmitting to England's* green and pleasant** land.
*and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland's
**and the less green and unpleasant bits too
===
In the third and final part of our General Strike special, 100 years on, we look at 10-12 May 1926, in a week that changed the BBC forever - as John Reith walked a tightrope of independence and impartiality.
Plus the legacy of the strike, how it changed the BBC, and of course we couldn't resist bringing you the iconic moment of Reith announcing the strike's end, by reading Jerusalem with accompanying orchestra and choir. While there was no recording at the time, Reith re-enacted it in 1932.
The newspapers, the bulletins, the occasional later reminiscence (Peter Eckersley, Stuart Hibberd...), this aims to be the most thorough - and yet I hope entertaining - retelling of the BBC and the General Strike. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did putting it together.
With thanks to these excellent resources...
Radicalstroud.co.uk
Warwick Digital Collections at the University of Warwick
The Trades Union Congress
The BBC Written Archive Centre
1926 The General Strike edited by Jeffrey Skelley
Into the Wind by John Reith
Asa Briggs’ The Birth of Broadcasting
Ian McIntyre’s Expense of Glory
Peter Eckersley’s The Power Behind the Microphone
The BBC A People’s History by David Hendy
Our Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker - and the various newspaper articles
Trevor Howard and his article Immovable object, irresistible force: Reith, Churchill and BBC ‘impartiality’
Nine Days in May – radio drama by Robin Glendinning
Churchill vs Reith – radio drama by Mike Harris
Random Radio Jottings: https://andywalmsley.blogspot.com/2025/01/churchill-and-bbc.html
SHOWNOTES:
- Original podcast music is by Will Farmer.
- Broadcasts over 50 years old are beyond copyright, but anything that is BBC copyright content is reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
- See Paul on tour in An Evening of (Very) Old Radio - or book it: paulkerensa.com/tour
- Our latest Substack summarises these 5 over-steps of the BBC in the General Strike: paulkerensa.substack.com
- Our Facebook group has ample marvellous photos and newspaper articles - thanks to Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker: facebook.com/groups/bbcentury
- Find us on BlueSky: bsky.bbcentury.social
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Next time, Episode 121: Ask Elvis, The Archers, The Cultures of Early Television conference, and An Evening of (Very) Old Radio - all live events you come to this summer. We'll chat to those behind these do-please-come-along happenings.
Then on Episode 122, we're back in our chronological retelling in Nov 1923, for the launch of the first relay station, Sheffield 6FL.
More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio
