Awards

• Winner of Longman History Today Award 2015
• Winner of Longman History Today Award 2015 (UK)

Overview

From its inception in 1932, overseas broadcasting by the BBC quickly became an essential adjunct to British diplomatic and foreign policy objectives. For this reason, the World Service was considered the primary means of engaging with attitudes and opinions behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Although funded by government Grant-in-Aid, the Service's editorial independence was enshrined in the BBC's Charter, Licence and Agreement. London Calling explores the delicate balance of power that lay in the relations between Whitehall and the World Service during the Cold War. This book also assesses the nature and impact of the World Service's programmes on listeners living in the Eastern bloc countries. In doing so, it traces the evolution of overseas broadcasting from Britain alongside the political, diplomatic and fiscal challenges that the country faced right up to the Suez crisis and the 1956 Hungarian uprising. These were defining experiences for the United Kingdom's international broadcaster that, as a consequence, helped shape and define the BBC World Service as we know it today. London Calling is an important study for anyone interested in the media and foreign policy histories of Great Britain or the history of the Cold War more generally. Winner of the Longman History Today Book of the Year Award 2015

Full Product Details

9781474227490

Table of Contents

Reviews

Alban Webb expertly reveals the special war of the ether which West and East waged against each other during the all-too-tangible Cold War. In these pages the aerials hum once more and the men and women who made them do so, to considerable effect, also breathe again. Professor the Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield FBA This work contributes to the expanding discourse about international broadcasting during the Cold War. -- D. L. LeMahieu, Lake Forest College CHOICE

Alban Webb expertly reveals the special war of the ether which West and East waged against each other during the all-too-tangible Cold War. In these pages the aerials hum once more and the men and women who made them do so, to considerable effect, also breathe again. Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary University of London, UK ... This is what a good history should do: both reveal new narratives as well as whet our anticipation for other good stories that might be told. Alban Webb has given us in London Calling, with all the hallmarks, a good BBC history. -- James Schwoch, Northwestern University, US History Transnational

Alban Webb expertly reveals the special war of the ether which West and East waged against each other during the all-too-tangible Cold War. In these pages the aerials hum once more and the men and women who made them do so, to considerable effect, also breathe again. Professor the Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield FBA This work contributes to the expanding discourse about international broadcasting during the Cold War. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students/faculty. -- D. L. LeMahieu, Lake Forest College CHOICE

Alban Webb expertly reveals the special war of the ether which West and East waged against each other during the all-too-tangible Cold War. In these pages the aerials hum once more and the men and women who made them do so, to considerable effect, also breathe again. Professor the Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield FBA

Author Information

Alban Webb is a historian and Lecturer in Digital Humanities at the University of Sussex, UK. He is also Associate on the Cold War Studies Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

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