Recording of the week: Laughing hyaenas

This week’s post comes from Cheryl Tipp, Wildlife and Environmental Sounds Curator. Above: Photo of a Spotted Hyaena by DJM Photos. From Flickr. Although it may sound like it, the Spotted Hyaenas in this recording are not suffering from a fit of the giggles. Their laughter-like calls actually express feelings…




Classical Podcast No. 6 Philip Fowke

Philip Fowke (photo © Jonathan Summers) By Jonathan Summers, Curator of Classical Music One of our great British pianists, Philip Fowke performed and broadcast on BBC radio and television from the late 1970s for more than two decades. He also made studio recordings for EMI, CRD, Naxos, Chandos, Dutton and…




Recording of the week: Never you mind!

This week’s selection comes from Jonnie Robinson, Lead Curator of Spoken English. Chatting today to our local fishmonger (Grimsby born and bred) I was reminded of a wonderful expression, back of Doig’s, submitted by a contributor from Grimsby (b.1939) to the Library’s Evolving English WordBank. Listen to a contribution on…




Brahms, Vienna and early Hungarian national bands

A scene from Viennese life; a Gypsy-concert in the Wurstelprater park’, Illustrirte Zeitung, 4 October 1873 Guest blog by Edison Fellow Dr Jon Banks former Senior Lecturer in Music at Anglia Ruskin University This project, generously supported by a British Library Edison Fellowship, brings together traditional accounts of one of…




Recording of the week: have you ever heard a Billy Hooter?

This week’s post comes from Cheryl Tipp, Wildlife and Environmental Sounds Curator. Above: Photo of a Tawny Owl by Jon Pauling. From Pixabay. As autumn gets underway, the characteristic hoot of the Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) will soon be heard in woodlands across Britain. It is at this time that…