Children's Hour

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''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the

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's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Children's Hour'' was broadcast from 1922 to 1964, originally from the BBC's

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

station 5IT, soon joined by other regional stations, then in the

BBC Regional Programme The BBC Regional Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing a number of earlier BBC local stations between 1922 and 1924 – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the Home Service, two days be ...

, before transferring to its final home, the new

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

, at the outbreak of the second World War. Parts of the programme were also rebroadcast by the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. For the last three years of its life (from 17 April 1961 until 27 March 1964), the title ''Children's Hour'' was no longer used, the programmes in its "time-slot" going out under the umbrella heading of ''For the Young''. The programme takes its name from a verse by

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

: "Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour."

Broadcast history

In the United Kingdom, ''Children's Hour'' was broadcast from 5 pm to 6 pm every day of the week, with the biggest listening figures being at weekends when parents joined in too. It was the time of day during the week when children could be expected to be home from school, and was aimed at an audience aged about 5 to 15 years. Programming was imbued with Reithian virtues, and ''Children's Hour'' was often criticised, like "Auntie" BBC itself, for paternalism and middle-class values. It was nonetheless hugely popular, and its presenters were national figures, their voices instantly recognisable.

Derek McCulloch Derek Ivor Breashur McCulloch OBE (18 November 1897 – 1 June 1967) was a BBC Radio producer and presenter. He became known as "Uncle Mac" on ''Children's Hour'' and '' Children's Favourites'' and provided the voice of "Larry the Lamb" in '' ...

was closely involved with the programme from 1926, and ran the department from 1933 until 1950, when he had to resign for health reasons. From 1928 to 1960, ''Children's Hour'' in Scotland was organised and presented by Kathleen Garscadden, known as Auntie Kathleen, whose popularity brought crowds to the radio station in Glasgow. Popular

nature study The nature study movement (alternatively, Nature Study or nature-study) was a popular education movement that originated in the United States and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study ...

programmes on ''Children's Hour'' were presented by

George Bramwell Evens The Rev. George Bramwell Evens (15 February 1884–20 November 1943) was, under the pseudonym Romany (and sometimes The Tramp), a British radio broadcaster and writer on countryside and natural history matters – quite possibly the first to bro ...

('Romany of the BBC'), Norman Ellison ('Nomad of the BBC') and

David Seth-Smith David Seth-Smith FZS, MBOU (9 March 1875 – 30 October 1963) was a British zoologist, wildlife artist, nature broadcaster and author. His career included spells as Curator of Mammals and Birds for the Zoological Society of London and edit ...

(the 'Zoo Man of the BBC') in England and Wales during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. On Scottish ''Children's Hour'' their equivalents were Gilbert Dempster Fisher (the 'Hut Man of the BBC'), James Douglas-Home (the 'Bird Man'), and Thomas Haining Gillespie (known later as the 'Zoo Man of the Scottish BBC'). The definitive history of the programme can be found in the book ''BBC Children's Hour'' by Wallace Grevatt, edited by Trevor Hill and published b
The Book Guild
in 1988. With a foreword by David Davis, who became synonymous with the programme, its 21 chapters trace the chronological history and also deal with the BBC's six regions: Midland, Northern, West of England, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Ireland. Trevor Hill was one of the key producers on ''Children's Hour'' and was based in Manchester but later moved across to BBC Television where he introduced ''Children's Television Club'', the original Northern-based presenters being Geoffrey Wheeler and

Judith Chalmers Judith Rosemary Locke Chalmers (born 10 October 1935) is a British television presenter who is best known for presenting the travel programme '' Wish You Were Here...?'' from 1974 to 2003. Early life Chalmers was born in Gatley, Cheshire. Her ...

, before it moved to London. A full account of Hill's wide-ranging career can be found in his autobiography ''Over the Airwaves'' (2005), which includes much detail about ''Children's Hour''. He was later asked by the BBC to write and produce radio programmes in tribute to three ''Children's Hour'' regulars, Derek McCulloch (Uncle Mac),

Wilfred Pickles Wilfred Pickles, OBE (13 October 1904 – 27 March 1978) was an English actor and radio presenter. Early life and personal life Pickles was born in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He moved to Southport, Lancashire, with his family ...

and

Violet Carson Violet Helen Carson, OBE (1 September 1898 – 26 December 1983) was a British actress of radio, stage and television, and a singer and pianist, who had a long and celebrated career as an actress and performer during the early days of BBC Rad ...

. The programme's closure was decided in 1964 by

Frank Gillard Francis George Gillard (1 December 1908 – 20 October 1998) was a BBC executive, reporter and radio innovator. Early years Gillard was born in Tiverton in Devon and attended Wellington School, Somerset. He gained a bachelor's degree f ...

following an enormous decline in listenership—by the end of 1963, the number of listeners had fallen to 25,000. Gillard said that most of them were "middle-aged and elderly ladies who liked to be reminded of the golden days of their youth", and that young listeners had instead turned to watching television, listening to the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

or to

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

. There was considerable complaint about the closing of the service and questions were raised in Parliament.

Programmes

Among popular series on ''Children's Hour'' were: ''Said the Cat to the Dog'', ''Music at Random'', ''Top of the Form'', and serialisations of stories by children's authors such as

Malcolm Saville Leonard Malcolm Saville (21 February 1901–30 June 1982)
Retrieved 16 July 2016 was an English writer best known for the ...

Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...

, Elizabeth Clark and

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

. Well-known musicians such as

Norman Fulton (Robert) Norman Fulton (23 January 1909 - 5 August 1980) was an English-born composer, broadcaster and teacher of Scottish ancestry. Life and career Fulton was born in London but educated in Scotland at Glasgow High School. From 1929 until 1933 ...

(1940s) and

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

(1950s) composed music for the programme. An unknown teenage Maxwell Davies sent in a composition called "Clouds" which raised a few eyebrows and was duly invited in to see whether "he's a genius or mad". The stalwarts of Nursery Sing Song, Trevor Hill and Violet Carson, decided he was the former so Hill took him under his wing from then on, setting him on his way by introducing him to conductor Charles Groves and others.

People

Among actors and presenters who were famous for their work on ''Children's Hour'' were: *

Peggy Bacon Margaret Frances Bacon (May 2, 1895 – January 4, 1987) was an American artist, best known for her satirical caricatures. Bacon studied under Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League of New York, where she taught herself drypoint an ...

as producer and presenter ("Aunty Peggy") from 1947 * Arthur Burrows ('Uncle Arthur' - also the first London wireless Uncle) *

* David Davis *John Darren * Norman Ellison, aka Nomad the Naturalist *Rev

, aka Romany *

Carleton Hobbs Carleton Percy Hobbs, OBE (18 June 1898 – 31 July 1978) was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations in a series of Sherlock Holmes radio dramas (1952–1969), ...

Rupert Gould Rupert Thomas Gould (16 November 1890 – 5 October 1948) was a lieutenant-commander in the British Royal Navy noted for his contributions to horology (the science and study of timekeeping devices). He was also an author and radio personality. ...

('The Stargazer') *

('Uncle Mac') * Kathleen Garsgadden ('Auntie Kathleen') *

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

, aka ''The Zoo Man'' * Olive Shapley *

Norman Shelley Norman Shelley (16 February 1903 – 21 August 1980) was a British actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's '' Children's Hour''. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera ''T ...

* Barrie Hesketh * Stephen King-Hall * William Glynne-Jones

L. Stanton Jefferies Leonard Stanton Jefferies LRAM (4 September 1896 – 22 October 1961) was a British musician, composer, and conductor. He was the first director of music at the British Broadcasting Company, and pioneered techniques for broadcasting live musi ...

composed music for some early programmes.

Notes and references

{{reflist BBC Home Service programmes British children's radio programmes 1922 radio programme debuts 1964 radio programme endings BBC World Service programmes