Wartime Broadcasting

On September 3, 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sat tensely at a microphone, using radio to declare that `this country is at war with Germany`. During the ensuing wartime years, the BBC was the sole radio broadcaster in Britain, boosting morale through programs such as `ITMA` and `Worker`s Playtime` - helping the Home Front with useful hints and advice, transmitting government messages, and providing news. Personalities and stars became household names - Tommy Handley, Arthur Askey, Ethel and Doris Walters, Mr. Middleton - and their catchphrases could be heard everywhere. And yet, as this fascinating book explains, the BBC chose to avoid propaganda, and had to tread a fine line between what the people wanted to hear and what it was felt they should hear.