The Light Programme

 Born  on this day in 1945 was the BBC Light Programme, a national network devoted largely to light entertainment and light music, which replaced the BBC General Forces Programme, which had itself replaced the BBC National Programme for the duration of the war (and had done a great deal for the nation's morale). The Light Programme was the soundtrack of my childhood and boyhood, and even lasted into my adolescence, coming to an end in 1967, when it was remade as two networks, Radio 1 and Radio 2. By then, I had migrated to pirate radio, initially Luxembourg, then Radio London, which I preferred to Caroline and the others because it played more American music. However, my first hearing of Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are a-Changin'' was actually on the Light Programme, where its impact was the more electrifying for the easy-listening musical mush surrounding it. Mostly the music I heard on the Light Programme through my boyhood was not for me – my parents' taste was for shows like Sing Something Simple and Your Hundred Best Tunes – and what it gave me chiefly was comedy and exciting serial drama. The comedy ranged from The Al Read Show, a particular favourite of my father's, to Take It From Here (featuring the home life of the Glums), Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne (which still make me laugh) to The Goon Show (which doesn't), Hancock's Half Hour to The Navy Lark and The Men from the Ministry – all of these, and other shows best forgotten (The Clitheroe Kid, anyone?) were the comedies I listened to and mostly loved, in those innocent days before we had television in our house (or in many others). The exciting dramas that seemed essential listening to my junior self and his brother included Journey Into Space, Dick Barton – Special Agent, The Flying Doctor (set in Australia) and the suave amateur detective Paul Temple. Different times.
   Some of the old Light Programme's output can be heard these days on Radio 4 Extra, and some programmes have endured into the present: Desert Island Discs, which is little changed, Woman's Hour, which is changed beyond recognition – and The Archers, that 'everyday story of country folk' (as it was when it began in 1951), to which I remain reluctantly addicted, through thick and thin. It was the first radio programme I became aware of, as my grandmother (who lived with us) listened to it daily. Misunderstanding the title, I assumed it must be something to do with medieval soldiers firing arrows at each other. Life is full of disappointments.