Sussex historian revisits 70 great moments in BBC arts broadcasting

Sussex historian revisits 70 great moments in BBC arts broadcasting. A Sussex media historian has sourced dozens of memorable moments from BBC arts radio as part of a major national celebration. Professor David Hendy was commissioned to produce 70 episodes to highlight the 'Power of 3', which celebrates seven decades of culture and music since the start of the Third Programme, the predecessor to BBC Radio 3. Beginning on Thursday (29 September) at 10.30am, Radio 3 listeners will be able to hear the first of the daily three-minute programmes, which include an introduction by David followed by excerpts from Samuel Beckett's first radio play, the premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in 1962, as well as clips of jazz and classical music performances - and the more avant-garde. David, who is also the latest official historian of the BBC , said: "I wanted to be able to offer the critical highlights, but also programmes that capture a sense off discovery and risk - including some that might be regarded as failures. "The greatest challenge - but the greatest opportunity to make personal discovery - comes from the hours and hours of archive recordings I have been listening to over the summer. It has given me the chance to listen, for the first time, to - for instance, Samuel Beckett's first play for radio, 'All That Fall' (1957), to hear Michael Ventris announce to the world in a Third Programme talk (1952) his decoding of the famous 'Cretan Tablets' from Knossos, to hear a rare recital by Janet Baker of works by Schoenberg, and to catch the beat poet Allen Ginsberg intoning to Tibetan prayer cymbals at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965.