David Attenborough et al. in London - 1953

from Life on air : memoirs of a broadcaster, pages 28-29:

Alan [Lomax] was particularly keen to include an Irish tinker woman, Margaret Barry, who accompanied herself on a banjo and had in her repertoire a version of a famous ballad about a ghost lover – As She Moved Through the Fair […]

Alan brought her up to Alexandra Palace.  After a brief run-through, she and Alan retired to their dressing rooms to rest for half an hour before the transmission which was, of course, like everything else at that time, …   more >>

cite as

David Attenborough, Life on air : memoirs of a broadcaster (London, 2009), p. 28-29. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1459199929858 accessed: 29 March, 2024

location of experience: London

Listeners

David Attenborough
naturalist, TV presenter, TV producer
1926-
Margaret Barry
banjo player, folk singer

Listening to

hide composers
Irish ballad
written by Traditional
performed by Margaret Barry
Carmen
written by Georges Bizet

Experience Information

Date/Time 1953
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, in private, indoors, in public

Notes

There are two listening experiences in one account here: David Attenborough listening to Margaret Barry's performance, and Margaret Barry listening to Carmen. David Attenborough produced Song Hunter, a series of programmes about folk music, for BBC TV in 1953. In this account he describes hearing the music live, as he was in the studio, but the song would, of course, have been heard by a wider audience as it was broadcast. Alan Lomax presented the series.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Mon, 28 Mar 2016 22:18:49 +0100
Approved on Sun, 08 May 2016 11:50:16 +0100