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''London After Dark'' was a joint venture radio program between
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
and
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
that ran during the 1940
London Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
.
Beginning
The show began on August 24, 1940 when
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
Chief
Paul White and CBS European Events Director
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...
began to arrange the show by cable and short wave conference. Murrow lined up nine commentators from America, Britain and Canada, with the help of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and the
CBC, and set them up all over London with microphones.
The commentators featured on the first edition of ''London After Dark'' were Murrow, CBC radio reporter
Robert Bowman Robert Bowman (also Rob, Bob, or Bobby) may refer to:
Sports
*Bob Bowman (coach) (born 1965), American swimming coach
*Rob Bowman (footballer) (born 1975), English football player
* Robert A. Bowman, President and CEO of MLB Advanced Media
*Bob Bow ...
,
Raymond Glendenning
Raymond Carl Glendenning (25 September 1907 – 23 February 1974) was a BBC radio sports commentator and occasional character actor.
Early years
He was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, and was educated at Newport High School and the Unive ...
,
Larry LeSueur
Laurence Edward LeSueur (June 10, 1909 – February 5, 2003) was an American journalist and a war correspondent during World War II. He worked closely with Edward R. Murrow and was one of the original Murrow Boys.
Early life
LeSueur was born on J ...
,
Eric Sevareid
Arnold Eric Sevareid (November 26, 1912 – July 9, 1992) was an American author and CBS news journalist from 1939 to 1977. He was one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed " Murrow's ...
,
Vincent Sheean
James Vincent Sheean (December 5, 1899, Pana, Illinois – March 16, 1975, Arolo, Frz. of Leggiuno, Italy) was an American journalist and novelist.
Career
Sheean's most famous work was ''Personal History'' (New York: Doubleday, 1935).
It wo ...
,
Michael Standing,
Wynford Vaughan-Thomas
Lewis John Wynford Vaughan-Thomas (né Thomas) (15 August 1908 – 4 February 1987) was a Welsh newspaper journalist and radio and television broadcaster. In later life he took the name Vaughan-Thomas after his father.
Early life and educat ...
, and
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator.
His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...
.
The program opens with light organ music played by Canadian-born theatre organist
Sandy MacPherson
Roderick Hallowell "Sandy" MacPherson (3 March 1897 – 3 March 1975) was a Canadian-born theatre organist in Britain. As the second official BBC Theatre Organist, in succession to Reginald Foort, he achieved considerable broadcasting time dur ...
.
The first commentator heard on ''London After Dark'' was none other than Edward Murrow himself. He broadcast live from
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, a broadcast now world-famous. "This is Trafalgar Square. The noise you hear at the moment is the sound of the air-raid siren," Murrow said as he calmly described the scene.
From the square that first program moved on to
Robert Bowman Robert Bowman (also Rob, Bob, or Bobby) may refer to:
Sports
*Bob Bowman (coach) (born 1965), American swimming coach
*Rob Bowman (footballer) (born 1975), English football player
* Robert A. Bowman, President and CEO of MLB Advanced Media
*Bob Bow ...
who was stationed in the kitchen of the
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...
. Bowman described the menu, eight hors d'oeuvres and eight different kinds of meat and talked to famed Chef
François Latry. The atmosphere at the Savoy was seemingly joyous.
The program then jumped to an
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
battery and then to and
Air Raid Precautions
Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s an ...
Station. Then, onto
Hammersmith Palais
The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first ''palais de danse'' to b ...
, London's big dance hall where Eric Sevareid was set up and remarked, "There was an air raid alarm, as you know, 15 minutes ago. The orchestra leader simply announced they'd go on playing as the crowd wished to stay and I don't expect more than half a dozen people have left."
Vincent Sheean was up next on that first edition of ''London After Dark''. Sheean spoke briefly on the silent streets of
Piccadilly Circus before the program went to some interviews with trainmen in
Euston Station
Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
by the BBC. Finally the show wound up with J.B. Priestley in
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
.
References
*Time.com, Sep. 2, 1940
''London After Dark'' Retrieved 12 April 2011.
* Widner, James F
Radio Days Retrieved 12 April 2011.
External links
Complete Broadcast of a ''London After Dark'' Episode, Aug. 24, 1940
{{Edward R. Murrow
American variety radio programs
CBS Radio programs
BBC Home Service programmes
CBC Radio One programs