#087 The Cello and the Nightingale: A Centenary Celebration

The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

100 years ago the weekend of this podcast, the Cello and the Nightingale became one of the most cherished broadcasts in radio history.

It first took place on 19 May 1924, live from the Surrey garden of cellist Beatrice Harrison. In this centenary special, we celebrate the musician, the muse and the microphone that made this incredible feat possible: the first major outside broadcast of nature.

The renowned cellist petitioned the BBC for some time to broadcast this unusual duet, and while John Reith at first thought it wouldn't work, new microphones developed by Captain H.J. Round ensured that the birdsong would carry... so long as they sang.

Did they sing? (Yes.) Was it faked? (No.) Was it the first broadcast birdsong? (Not quite.) All of this and more will be answered and delved into this episode, with an interview with Patricia Cleveland-Peck, author of The Cello and the Nightingales: The Life of Beatrice Harrison - new edition just released.

We look at the scandalous rumours of fakery, the technical developments that meant the BBC's first fading, the Cardiff broadcast that just beat them to it, the bleak wartime duet between The Nightingale and the Bomber, and even John Reith's odd nightingale impersonation, the very same day he first heard radio in 1917.

SHOWNOTES:

• Iain Baird's excellent article on the technology and legacy of The Cello and the Nightingale is at https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/song-of-the-nightingale/
• Buy The Cello and the Nightingales: The Life of Beatrice Harrison by Patricia Cleveland-Peck (NB: I get several pence commission if you click that affiliate link! I ambitously expect to retire on this money)
• More on Patricia's books and career on her website: https://patriciaclevelandpeck.com/
• A video version of Paul's interview with Patricia can be seen here on Youtube: https://youtu.be/CjaNILDlmZ0?si=Dp6fbbLbS-gZKVJu
• We try to only use clips long beyond copyright - but any BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
• Original music is by Will Farmer.
• Support us on Patreon (£5/mth), for bonus videos and things - and thanks if you do!
• Paul's on tour: An Evening of (Very) Old Radio visits these places: www.paulkerensa.com/tour - come and say hi
• Walking tours of BBC's London sites coming this summer. Email Paul via the Contact link on his website for more details.

NEXT TIME: We're back in May 1923 for bands and boycotts on the early BBC.

More info on this radio history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio