Synopsis

Subtitled : The Extraordinary Birth & Troubled Life of The BBC.

Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian's chief culture writer, steps behind the polished doors of Broadcasting House and investigates the BBC.

Based on her hugely popular essay series, this personal journey answers the questions that rage around this vulnerable, maddening and uniquely British institution. Questions such as, what does the BBC mean to us now? What are the threats to its continued existence? Is it worth fighting for?

Higgins traces its origins, celebrating the early pioneering spirit and unearthing forgotten characters whose imprint can still be seen on the BBC today. She explores how it forged ideas of Britishness both at home and abroad.

She shows how controversy is in its DNA and brings us right up to date through interviews with grandees and loyalists, embattled press officers and high profile dissenters, and she sheds new light on recent feuds and scandals.

This is a deeply researched, lyrically written, intriguing portrait of an institution at the heart of Britain.

Details

• Format : Standard 2nd Hand Paperback
• Condition : Very Good
• Category : Non-Fiction - Music, Stage, Screen & TV
• Published : 2015 (Guardian/Faber)
• ISBN : 9781783350728
• SKU : B002729
• PPC : SP400gm
• RRP : £12.99
• Quantity Available : 1 only.

External Reviews

'A very engaging history of the BBC. I really enjoyed the way that Higgins focused relatively obscure BBC personalities. e.g. the woman who invented election coverage and the self-styled BBC outsider who basically built the BBC's engineering department. There's also a lot of interesting analysis of the BBC's role in recent events, like Snowden's whistleblowing and the Scottish referendum.' - Goodreads Review.

'Engrossing.' - Evening Standard.

'Beautifully written'. - The Spectator.

'Exactly observed and beautifully written.' - Mail on Sunday.

'A loving portrait . . . never creaks with excess.' - Financial Times.

'A pleasingly intricate jigsaw of biography, politics, and opinion.' - The Independent.

'Excellent and enthralling . . . informative, educational and entertaining.' - The Guardian.

The Author

Charlotte Higgins was born in Stoke on Trent in 1972 and studied Classics at Balliol College, Oxford. She is a blogger and chief arts writer for the Guardian, contributing to its news, features, op-ed, literary and cultural coverage.

Higgins is the author of three books on aspects of the ancient world. Her first was Latin Love Lessons (2009), followed by It’s All Greek to Me (2010). The most recent, Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain (Jonathan Cape, 2013), was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize, the Thwaites Wainwright prize, the Hessell-Tiltman prize and the Dolman prize. Her fourth book, about the beginnings of the BBC, This New Noise: The Extraordinary Birth and Troubled Life of the BBC, was published in 2015. 

She lives in London. She is a regular contributor to BBC radio and in her spare time plays violin.