I’m Sure I Speak For Many Others…: Unpublished letters to the BBC

by Colin Shindler

'Dear Mr. Adam, I am writing on behalf of the Central Watch and Social Problems Committee of the Mothers' Union to ask whether you have a programme in mind on the moral issue of venereal disease.''Sir, Where are the B.B.C's censors? We do not care for the language that was inflicted on us Tuesday night in "The Battle of Britain". Don't retort, 'You need not listen if you don't want to'. We did not know it was coming.''Dear Mr. Frost, Let me start by saying how much I enjoy your programme & that I was among those many who felt almost that they had lost a blowsy old friend when dear & vulgar, but nonetheless thought-provoking and funny TW3 went off the air.'For anyone who regularly feels tempted to put pen to paper, I'm Sure I Speak For Many Others is an alternative history of the BBC, from its triumphant broadcast of the coronation in 1953, to that Tynan moment, the controversial That Was The Week That Was, and the groundbreaking Grange Hill.Stretching across over forty years of programming, these never before seen letters represent the joy, the fury and the wit of the nation.

Genres: Nonfiction

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 7, 2017

Reviews

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the letters, for the most part. Astounded that it's only 60 years ago that people were incensed that the word 'Blast' should be used in a public broadcast - my word, but they were either more innocent times, or times with the underbelly hidden better from the rest of us.

However, the writing of the author - as distinct from the correspondents - was woeful. There were some truly incoherent sentences.

I despair at the lack of editorial and proofing quality extant in so much published work today.

[Lucy McAlister · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly an entertaining read and an enjoyable insight into attitudes during the late 1950s and 1960s. The chapters grouped letters relating to a single programme and often a single event, which did make them somewhat repetitive. I would have preferred a longer chapter devoted to miscellaneous letters rather than the very short one offered at the end. All in all though, a fun and lighthearted read to grab in quiet moments.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The contents of this book are a good social commentary on how much attitudes have changed in a relatively short space of time.
Despite some of the letters sounding downright self-righteous and priggish and, therefore, humorous, I must admit to finding at least a few with which I was in complete agreement!

[David Walley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.:
Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song you have just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women's clothes. Many of my best friends are lumberjacks, and only a few of them are transvestites. Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.
P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times.

[Rob Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing collection of praise and complaints from the days when people wrote letters to give their views on TV programmes and had no social media to rush to. The content suggests that times haven't changed much, even if the technology has. A fascinating look into the BBC correspondence archive. I only withheld the fifth star because it would have been good in many instances to see the whole chain of correspondence, including BBC replies, rather than simply the incoming letter. There are also a few uses of [sic] where the use of English in the letter is perfectly correct! I recommend this book to all TV historians.