Recording of the week: croggy or backy?

This week’s selection comes from Jonnie Robinson, Lead Curator of Spoken English. Sadly, despite growing up in Yorkshire and the West Midlands in the 1970s, I never owned a Chopper, although I certainly remember the thrill of a croggy [= ‘shared ride on handlebars of bicycle’] on my mate’s bike…




Andrea Levy

We’re sad to hear of the death of novelist Andrea Levy who passed away yesterday, aged 62. In 2014, Andrea agreed to make a recording for Authors’ Lives which will be made available to listeners in the weeks to come.




Recording of the week: the endingidi and the erhu – two types of the spike tube fiddle

This week’s selection comes from Tom Miles, Metadata Coordinator for Europeana Sounds. The Hornbostel-Sachs classification system is a way of grouping types of musical instruments by structure and the way in which sound is produced, rather than the culture from which the instruments are made. This system reflects the classification…




Where our laws are drafted: 150 years of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel

On 8 February 1869 the Board of the Treasury met to discuss “the drafting or preparing of Bills introduced into Parliament on the part of Her Majesty’s Government.” The Treasury minute goes on to note “the advantage of bringing all important Government Bills under the view of one person,” and…




The tale of the seven whistlers

By Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife & Environmental Sounds. The natural world is one of the cornerstone themes of British folkloric tradition. From familiar animals to mysterious creatures, our local tales and superstitions are full of references to nature. For centuries birds, and especially their voices, have been a particularly…