An Abominable Precedent’

In 1940 the BBC provoked a public controversy through its policy of banning pacifists from contributing to broadcast programmes. The policy arose partly from the personal prejudices of a reduced Board of Governors and partly from the BBC's conception of its role and its anxiety about its independence. Retreat to a more tolerant posture resulted from the force of public opinion but also from an improvement in the BBC's relations with the government, an abatement of fears about the Corporation's future, and a gradual brightening of the military outlook. Notes [1] Minutes of the Board of Governors, 30 Sep. 1939, BBC Written Archive Centre, Caversham [henceforward BBC WAC], R1/9/1. [2] Minutes of the Board of Governors, 24 April 1940, BBC WAC R1/8/1. [3] Ogilvie letter to Crossman, 22 April 1940, cited in CitationBriggs, The War of Words, 182. [4] Note by DG to Controllers and Regional Directors, 30 August 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [5] R. Maconachie, Note added to internal circulating memorandum from News and Talks Executive, 22 July 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [6] For this reason the case of the pacifist preachers is not considered in this article. A detailed account of the Religious Broadcasting Department's conflict with the managers over the policy is given in CitationWolfe, The Churches, 179–91. [7] Record of interview at the Ministry of Information, 12 August 1940, BBC WAC R49/106/2. [8] Memorandum from R. A. Rendall to C(O), 17 September 1940, BBC WAC R8/137/1. [9] Memorandum from Programme Contracts Executive, 16 July 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [10] Forward, 18 September 1939. [11] Memorandum from Ogilvie to Dinwiddie, 27 November 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [12] Record of interview at Broadcasting House, Glasgow, 28 Nov. 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [13] By 6 December 1940 the BBC had received 107 letters on the ban, all (with one exception) condemning it. Memorandum from J. C. Thornton to Ogilvie, 7 December 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [14] M. G. Farquharson, Director of Secretariat, Note on Parliamentary References to Conscientious Objectors and the BBC, 3 June 1942, BBC WAC R8/137/1. [15] Manchester Guardian, 3 December 1940. [16] Glasgow Herald, 3 December 1940; News Chronicle, 3 December 1940; Birmingham Post, 5 December 1940; The Spectator, 6 December 1940; Civil Liberty, 8 December 1940; Musical Opinion, February 1941. [17] Memorandum from the Director-General to the MoI, 16 December 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [18] Letter from George Strauss MP, 23 December 1940, BBC WAC R34/353/1. [19] Letter from Arthur Watson to Ogilvie, 27 December 1940, BBC WAC R8/137/1. The other signatories were Rutland Boughton, Alan Bush, Prof. Edward Dent, Sidney Harrison, Elizabeth Lutyens and Alan Rawsthorne. [20] Memorandum from Farquharson to Ogilvie, 14 January 1941, BBC WAC R8/137/1. [21] Eddington had been Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge University since 1913. He had been awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society and had been its president. He was well known as a populariser of science and had broadcast many times. [22] Memorandum from Barnes to the Director of Talks, 6 January 1941, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [23] Another instance of this also concerned Eddington. The Supervisor of the Registry took it upon herself to contact the Variety Department about the panel of a scheduled ‘Any Questions’ that included Eddington: ‘I've just seen Sir Arthur Eddington's name on a list of people not to be asked to broadcast’. As a result, a warning note was sent to the producer of the programme, Howard Thomas. Note from A. M. Mills to M. Dewar, 18 February 1941, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [24] Memoranda from Variety Department to Programme Contracts Executive, 15 and 16 January 1941, BBC WAC R8/137/1. [25] Memorandum from W. Streeton to Booking Manager, 14 January 1941, BBC WAC R8/137/1. [26] Memorandum from Nicolls to the Director of Staff Administration, 17 January 1941, BBC WAC R49/106/3. [27] Memorandum from Nicolls to Ogilvie, 30 September 1940, BBC WAC R49/106/2. [28] See note 19. [29] On the basis of the questions, put in interviews with administration staff Streeton and Jardine-Brown, some names were, indeed, deleted from the blacklist, e.g. the singer Parry Jones, the band-leader Nat Gonella and the producer Giles Playfair. R8/31/1. Others refused to recant and were given notice of termination of their contracts, e.g. Guy Verney, an actor on the established staff, and the band-leader Phil Cardew. BBC WAC R8/137/2. [30] William Temple to Frederick Ogilvie, 6 March 1941, BBC WAC R8/137/2. [31] Letter from R. Vaughan-Williams to Adrian Boult, 9 March 1941, BBC WAC RCONT/ 1/2a. [32] New Statesman and Nation, 8 March 1941. [33] Sunday Express, 16 March 1941. [34] Memorandum from H. Murrill to the Deputy Director of Music, 6 March 1941, BBC WAC RCONT/1/1a. [35] E. M. Forster and Rose Macaulay announced that they were following Vaughan Williams' example and refusing to do two broadcasts that had been arranged. Several other regular broadcasters – Desmond MacCarthy, J. B. Priestley, Julian Huxley, Vernon Bartlett, Ritchie Calder, David Low and H. N. Brailsford – looked set to do the same, for they joined in protest against the BBC's action. [36] Memorandum from R. A. Rendall to F. Ogilvie, 8 March 1941, BBC WAC R8/137/2. [37] Statement by Equity, 24 March 1941. [38] Hansard, House of Commons Debates [HCD], 5th Series, Vol. 369, cols 1269-71, 12 Mar. 1940. [39] HCD, Vol. 370, col. 570, 20 March 1941. [40] See Briggs, War of Words, 329–45. [41] Ivone Kirkpatrick took up his post as Foreign Adviser only three days after the announcement. The Home Adviser, A. P. Ryan, followed on 3 March. [42] The Star, 8 March 1941. [43] The New Statesman, 17 March 1941. [44] George Strauss, article in Fortnightly Review, May 1941. [45] The additions were J. J. Mallon, Sir Ian Fraser (restored from the 1939 Board), Arthur Mann, Lady Violet Bonham Carter and Harold Nicolson. [46] ‘This is just to let you know that the ban on Sybil Thorndike for broadcasting has now been lifted and you can, therefore, go ahead with her if you require her services’. Memorandum from Staff Administration to Drama Booking, 8 August 1941, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [47] Eddington had remained a pacifist and he had accepted the Presidency of the National Peace Council in June 1941. [48] The Governors gave approval ‘on the understanding that the message was recorded beforehand and that her married name (Mrs Catlin) was used’, BBC WAC R1/9/1. [49] The recantation, ‘Why I am no longer a pacifist’, was in a broadcast given on 4 September 1940. [50] Memorandum from Director of Talks to Controller (Home), 3 July 1942, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [51] Minutes of the Board of Governors, 25 May 1941, BBC WAC R1/9/1. [52] Minutes of the Board of Governors, 12 June 1941, BBC WAC R1/9/1. [53] CitationCooper had already asked Churchill for a different post. In July 1941 he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, which took him immediately to Singapore to inquire into the political and administrative situation in Britain's Far East possessions. Cooper, Old Men Forget, 279–80. [54] In 1943 all three received BBC commissions. BBC WAC R21/55/7. [55] July 1942, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [56] Note from Director of Music to Assistant Director of Music, 24 June 1943, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [57] Letter from Bush to H. Murrill, 17 February 1941; Fantasia on Soviet Songs for the BBC's military band, commissioned November 1941, BBC WAC RCONT/1. [58] It should be noted that, while the Music Department as a whole welcomed the lifting of the ban on COs and pacifists, individual members of it continued to wage personal war against them. The Chief Assistant Conductor, Clarence Raybould refused on several occasions to conduct scheduled music by Tippett (‘in view of his notorious tenets as a conchie’) and Britten (‘I have the utmost contempt for the whole gang of young people who are dodging the country's call’). The Director of Music, Arthur Bliss falsely maintained that the Orchestra resented having to play Britten's work. To their credit the Controllers and Directorate refused to support Bliss and Raybould and ordered them to put their house in order. BBC WAC RCONT/1. [59] Ogilvie to Welch, 5 August 1940, BBC WAC R49/106/2. [60] Even so, Ogilvie told Welch: ‘Cooper is not the enemy; he is protecting the BBC from yet greater Government control’. 15 August 1940, BBC WAC R49/106/2. [61] For ‘enemy music’, see CitationMackay, ‘Being Beastly to the Germans’, 513–25. For Vansittartism at the BBC, see CitationNicholas, The Echo of War, 157–61. [62] A Mass-Observation survey showed no ready support for interning all aliens. Mass-Observation Archive, University of Sussex, File Report 107. Additional informationNotes on contributorsRobert Mackay Robert Mackay is Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Nottingham Trent University

Corporation · Government (linguistics · Independence (probability theory · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · World War II · Law · Public Administration · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

• Excellent but Gullible People”

  Tim Luckhurst•Journalism Studies•2012

  Add to list

• No place in the Corporation's service’

  Robert Mackay•Media History•2006

  Add to list

• Being Beastly to the Germans

  Robert Mackay•Historical Journal Of Film Radio…•2000

  Add to list