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On my mind: I love creating narrative history by recovering the stories of men and women who have sometimes been forgotten but who nevertheless did extraordinary things in their lifetimes. There’s a clue to my approach in the subtitles of my last two books: 'The BBC: A People’s History' and 'Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening'. A writer once said the task of the historian was “to enter imaginatively into the life of a society remote in time and place, and produce a plausible explanation of why its inhabitants thought and behaved as they did.” If we can do that with colour and with compassion, then bingo! At the moment I’m grappling with the tangled – and rather secretive - story of a generation of talented propagandists who spent the Second World War trying to undermine Nazi morale. Was this best done by telling the truth or creating elaborate lies? They struggled to agree. But who was right in the end? I'm not sure I know yet!
Writing can be lonely. And there’s nothing more refreshing – and nothing more motivating - for me than exploring with my readers what works and what doesn’t. I'm a reader, too! And anyone with an interest in history – and an interest in the different ways we write history – would be welcome to get in touch.
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In 1922, three men - only one of whom had previously heard of 'broadcasting' - founded the BBC. In doing so, Arthur Burrows, Cecil Lewis, and John Reith set out to accomplish something utterly bold: using what had been a weapon of war - Marconi's wireless - to remake culture for the good of humanity.
In The BBC: A People's History, professor and historian David Hendy traces the BBC from its maverick beginnings through war, the creation of television, changing public taste, austerity and massive cultural change. The BBC has constantly evolved, developing from one radio station, to television, then multiple channels and now the competition with the internet and streaming services.
This is a history of a now global institution that defines Britain and created modern broadcasting; it is also a reflection of 100 years of British history.
‘Gripping … a fascinating and informative account of the BBC’s first 100 years’
– Sunday Telegraph
What if history had a sound track? What would it tell us about ourselves? Based on a thirty-part BBC Radio series and podcast, Noise explores the human dramas that have revolved around sound at various points in the last 100,000 years, allowing us to think in fresh ways about the meaning of our collective past.
Breaking up the history of sound into prehistoric noise, the age of oratory, the sounds of religion, the sounds of power and revolt, the rise of machines, and what he calls our "amplified age," Hendy teases out continuities and breaches in our long relationship with sound in order to bring new meaning to the human story.
‘Brilliant and thought-provoking’
– Nigel Warburton
In this first major behind-the-scenes account of the station's history, David Hendy--a former producer for Radio Four--draws on privileged access to the BBC's own archives and new interviews with key personnel to illuminate the arguments and controversies behind the creation of some of its most popular programmes. He reveals the station's struggle to justify itself in a television age, favouring clear branding and tightly-targeted audiences, with bitter disputes between the BBC and its fiercely loyal listeners. The story of these struggles is about more than the survival of one radio network: Radio Four has been a lightning rod for all sorts of wider social anxieties over the past forty years. A kaleidoscopic view of the changing nature of the BBC, this book provides a gripping insight into the very nature of British life and culture in the last decades of the twentieth century.
‘Eminently readable, utterly reliable, on occasions painfully frank, it is a joy to read and a masterly lesson in how to translate bare fact into compelling narrative’
– Daily Telegraph
