This is the British Forces Network: The Story of Forces Broadcasting in GermanyIn December 1944, with the war still raging in NW Europe and the Germans about to launch their ill-fated counter-offensive in the Ardennes, four Mobile Broadcasting Units left Tilbury docks for Ostend. Their role was to relay the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme to the advancing British and Canadian armies. But with the end of the war in Europe five months later came the need to find a permanent home for these roving broadcasting units. 'This is the British Forces Network ...' traces the story of the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), as these units became, from a harem in Algiers in 1944 to the Musikhalle in Hamburg, and on to the new headquarters of forces radio and television in Herford for Service Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC) in the 1990s. In 'This is the British Forces Network ...', Alan Grace, who spent thirty-six years with BFBS, traces the history of forces broadcasting in Germany, drawing on interviews with past and present members of BFBS, archive photographs, scripts and many previously unpublished documents. For example, he mixes stories of LAC Geraint Evans of the BFN Music Department with Barry Davies' introduction to sports broadcasting, bringing out the humorous side of forces broadcasting. For thousands of British servicemen and women and their families, 'This is the British Forces Network ...' will evoke memories of their postings to BAOR and RAF Germany. It will also appeal to successive post-war generations of Germans who tuned in to the sound of BFBS as they toiled to rebuild their country in the chill of the Cold War era. |
Common terms and phrases
Alec Alexander McKee announcer Army arrived asked audience audition BAOR BBC Light Programme BFBS Berlin BFBS Cologne BFBS Germany BFBS Television BFBS TV BFBS's BFN Bulletin BFN Hamburg BFN's Bill Crozier Bosnia British Forces Network Charly Lowndes Chris Howland Christmas Cliff Michelmore Club colleagues Cologne concert Crown Copyright/MoD decided Dennis Scuse East German engineers Family Favourites film Forces Broadcasting Geraint Evans Gerald Sinstadt Germany Gordon Savage Herford Ian Woolf interview Jean Metcalfe Jim Luxton John McMillan join BFN Ken Scarrott later listeners live London Mike military morning moved Music Department Musikhalle night officer Pachebat padre Peter play posted to BFN presenter produced Raymond Baxter recalls record Regiment remembers reporters Rheindahlen Rhine Royal Russians servicemen soldiers SSVC TV staff Station Director story studio Sunday tape Tim Gudgin took transmitter troops unit week West Berlin