It’s not always realised that the British Library has a substantial moving image collection – around 170,000 items. A great many of these are television programmes in digital form and instantly accessible for researchers in our Reading Rooms on any Library computer. All you have to do is find the… read more
This week’s selection comes from Andy Linehan, Curator of Popular Music Recordings. ‘Rock Island Line’ was the hit single that sparked the Skiffle craze amongst British youth in the late 1950s. Skiffle was a pared-down mixture of jazz, blues and folk influences played on a mixture of tea-chest bass, washboard,… read more
Thomas Henry is a collector of 78 rpm records based in Paris who has carried out extensive research on the history of sound recording through his blog Ceints de Bakélite and his interactive mapping project Disquaires de Paris. With a background in history and sociology of music from Paris École… read more
This week’s selection comes from Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife and Environmental Sounds. On 24th May 1930, a worn and weathered de Havilland Gipsy Moth named Jason crashlanded into the dusty red soil of Australia’s Northern Territory. On board was the English aviator Amy Johnson who had just made history… read more
This week’s selection comes from Jonathan Summers, Curator of Classical Music Recordings. Jacob Collier has been creating a stir in the musical world recently, winning two Grammys in February at the age of twenty-two. His grandfather Derek made his first broadcasts for the BBC at the same age, in 1949…. read more