A Voice From The Loft
Our new series, A House With a Past attracted from the Guardian's radio critic Elisabeth Mahoney. I'm glad because our Features teams are building a repuation for themselves in this area. Programmes like Magnetic Memories, Digging Up Your Roots and Tracing Your Roots (for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4) seem to be capturing the interest of audiences who have a fascination with social and family history.
A House With A Past gives you the chance to be your own property detective and there are even some videos available on the website to accompany the series.
As for me, well, with the exception of a crumbling Victorian student bedsit in Cardiff, I don't think I've ever lived in a house that was more than thirty years old.
Not much scope for ghosts or historic happenings there.
My sister once lived in the top floor of a tenement in Glasgow's Dennistoun area. She came across tangible evidence of its previous inhabitants when she found an audio casette in the loft. When she played it she heard a woman's voice describe some recent tragic events that had befallen her family and then outline some of the alterations that she and her husband were planning for the flat.
This might have made an interesting little piece for Magnetic Memories had my sister not immediately tossed the tape in the bin.
"Too creepy," was her verdict.