Broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed, 'born of immigrants' recalls the shows she watched growing up as a British-Asian child in the 1970s included Make Yourself at Home, The Black and White Minstrel Show, and the pioneering access programme, Open Door.
Watching them now, she recalls how they provoked in her a range of strong reactions, feelings of exclusion and strangeness at times, but also a sense of 'incredible affection' for a 大象传媒 which, every now and then, did 'semi-revolutionary things' on screen and radio.
100 Voices that Made the 大象传媒
This project is a collaboration between the 大象传媒 and the University of Sussex, is part of Connected Histories of the 大象传媒, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
The project鈥檚 core aim is to bring into the public realm some of the hidden treasures of the 大象传媒鈥檚 own oral history archive - some 600 or so interviews with former members of staff, few of which have been available for researchers or members of the public until now. We are also working with other three other partners - Mass Observation, the Science Museum Group, and the British Entertainment History Project. This means we can enrich the 大象传媒鈥檚 own story by providing a new level of access to material and resources held elsewhere.
The project is based in the University of Sussex, and is led by Professor David Hendy. Other University of Sussex researchers on the project include Dr. Alban Webb, Dr. Margaretta Jolly (Director of the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research), and Tim Hitchcock, Professor of Digital History.
This is the fourth 100 Voices that Made the 大象传媒 website. Previous editions cover Elections, The Birth of TV and Radio Reinvented. Four more will be created between 2018 and 2021.
David Hendy outlines the unique value of oral history, its long-standing importance at the University of Sussex, and how personal testimonies can reveal new insights into the Corporation鈥檚 evolution.
Aware that Lord Asa Briggs had already published several volumes of his History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Frank Gillard knew he could not compete in terms of sheer historical detail. Instead, through spoken testimony, Gillard hoped to throw new light on the 大象传媒's background, and how it developed. In this introductory piece of video, recorded on the 25 October 1995, he explains his ideas and motivation for the project.