BBC WW1 Escapees Documentary

[the_ageing_young_rebel]

So I've been after a copy of a book named "Escapers All 1914-1918" vy J. R. Ackerly fow a while. One has just popped up on ebay and I was looking at the photos that have been posted. One of which is this preface that says that this book was based on a BBC series of talks (which I assume were broadcast on the radio), does anybody have any details about these talks, and know if they exist somewhere online? They sound like a good listen and it would be great to know that they still exist

[DavidOwen]

Any good? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04n62k9

 

[the_ageing_young_rebel]

20 hours ago, DavidOwen said:

Any good? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04n62k9

 

Thanks for the link. This is a nice listen (I've got it playing right now), but seems to be made from other archive material as opposed to the original 1930's recordings that this book was based off. I assume the originals were probably lost as archive of radio and television wasn't cared for in any real way until fairly recently

[DavidOwen]

You could always contact BBC and ask?

[dink999]

I can only find this one reference in the Radio Times the J R Ackerley broadcast on 6th June 1931

Image courtesy of the BBC

[dink999]

“and one by a German who escaped from a British island in the Indian Ocean.”

Escape XVII was broadcast on 26 September 1931 

Image courtesy of the BBC

[the_ageing_young_rebel]

1 hour ago, DavidOwen said:

You could always contact BBC and ask?

I work for the BBC so you think that would be easy! But knowing the BBC archive, I thought google would be a more likely way of finding them. I might have to see what I can do from inside the walls though

1 hour ago, dink999 said:

I can only find this one reference in the Radio Times the J R Ackerley broadcast on 6th June 1931

Thanks, This is really useful as at least proof that these once existed. I'll see if I can use them to cross reference against the BBC archive somehow

[MaureenE]

This book is available to read on the Internet Archive as a Book to Borrow under a different title

Tunnelling to freedom and other escape narratives from World War I

https://archive.org/details/tunnellingtofree0000unse/mode/2up

Maureen

[the_ageing_young_rebel]

10 hours ago, MaureenE said:

This book is available to read on the Internet Archive as a Book to Borrow under a different title

Tunnelling to freedom and other escape narratives from World War I

Thanks Maureen. I might have a read of it online