The 100th anniversary of the BBC is an opportunity to think about what the broadcaster meant a hundred years ago, and also what it means today. In many ways, the founding principles of the BBC haven’t changed; the aim to inform, educate and entertain is as relevant today as it was in 1922. There’s also been a historic attachment to viewers and listeners in the UK and internationally, particularly through the BBC World Service and global news service.
To celebrate its centenary, the BBC is collaborating with other organisations, including the Science Museum Group and the National Literacy Trust, to organise events that reflect its core values. To find out more, Speak Up contacted James Stirling, executive editor of BBC 100. We began by asking him what the celebration was all about and who it was aimed at.
James Stirling (English accent): I don’t want this to be a vague answer, but I think actually we are a universal broadcaster. With our very existence means that we’re aimed so we create something for everyone in the UK, but globally as well. And I think you only have to look at the stats: 90 percent of people use us in the UK every week. Our audience globally is near five hundred million. I hope it’s not a cop-out to say that I’m hoping we will make something for everybody, because that’s why we exist. We’re a universal broadcaster, to create something,whether it’s children’s content or history or drama or pop music or classical music.
SIGHT AND SOUND
And there are some really interesting collections to view and listen to, as Stirling explains.
James Stirling: Our website is pretty comprehensive actually, bbc.co.uk/100. And at that space, you will find a few collections. So, there’s a timeline of the BBC’s history, for anyone who wants to delve into how the organisation has panned out over the years. And we got three collections in our website which are available for everyone to look at. One of them is called 100 Objects, which, as you could imagine, are one hundred objects of cultural significance that resonate with the BBC. Things like the original microphone that the BBC used that then went on to be the blueprint for most microphones in the world, to David Attenborough’s application letter to join the BBC, to the shirt that Colin Firth wore in Pride and Prejudice, which was really seen as the kind of catalyst for costume drama making a big appearance in the 90s. So, there’s a beautiful collection there of objects. There’s a beautiful collection of photographs as well, which we’ve done in collaboration with the Radio Times. I think we’ve got five million images in our photo library. We have an oral history collection, so a collection of voices from the men and women who really created the BBC and had a significant impact on how it worked over the years. So, there’s a lovely collection of voices dating back to a hundred years, which includes Lord Reith, who was the BBC’s founder. So you can hear a lot of voices in the past as well.
INTO THE FUTURE
So, could the BBC last another hundred years?
James Stirling: Yeah, it’s really lovely to think about the next one hundred years. And actually, that was the sort of premise that we built the centenary on. It’s great that we’re here at the age of one hundred, but actually, what would it mean for the next hundred years? Whilst we’re incredibly proud of our past, we’re absolutely focused on the here and now and the future. And I think anything that we look at in the past will always have that contemporary lens on it. You know, how do we get to where we are through where we’ve come, and what does it mean today? So, we’re always looking for contemporary voices to help us explain our past.