History On The Edge

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

20210927

20211123 (R4)

Anita Anand uncovers an extraordinary personal story from the margins of British history which challenges our perspective of the past we thought we knew. At a crucial moment in the rethinking of whose histories we should be telling, History on the Edge challenges some of the conventional assumptions about our past.

It's 1940 and, amid the chaos of the Second World War, a 19-year-old refugee from Hitler's Germany, Konrad Eisig, finds himself caught up in a British policy which, just when he thought he was safe, sends him on a hazardous sea journey to Australia in conditions little better than those of the slave ships of a century-and-a-half before. With the help of Eisig's first-hand testimony from the astonishing diary he left behind, Anita is on an investigation to unravel his story and understand how this apparently cruel train of events came about, and what it was really like for those who lived it.

With contributions from Nick Ross, Aditi Anand, Laura Walker, Claudia Cotton, Dr Rachel Pistol and Dr Seumas Spark. Extracts from Konrad Eisig's Diary are read by Gunnar Cauthery.

Producer: Anna de Wolff Evans

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

Anita Anand uncovers an extraordinary untold refugee story from 1940.

Denmark Place

20230724

Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past which have somehow fallen through the cracks of mainstream history.

In this first episode Anita uncovers the story of a catastrophic fire at the Spanish Rooms in Denmark Place, behind London's famous Tin Pan Alley, that killed 37 people in 1980. It was the worst death-toll in a fire in London until the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

The Spanish Rooms were among many unlicensed afterhours clubs in central London at the time. The two clubs were popular with people of many nationalities and backgrounds - many from South America - who loved to salsa the night away.

The victims died where they danced and drank, bodies found still seated at the bar or on the dance-floor. Others plunged to their deaths from the clubs' second floor windows. Those who survived often had their reputations tarnished in the media as police linked the fire to the Soho underworld.

Anita Anand meets survivors, friends and relatives of those who died, talks to police and fire fighters who were there on that tragic August night and to journalist Matt Rendell who's long been working on a book about the fire. Using archive and new first-hand testimony, History on the Edge pieces together the real story of the Denmark Place inferno and the forgotten people who died simply having a good night out.

Producer: Sara Parker

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Denmark Place

20230724

20240108 (R4)

Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past which have somehow fallen through the cracks of mainstream history.

The Spanish Rooms were among many unlicensed afterhours clubs in central London at the time. The two clubs were popular with people of many nationalities and backgrounds – many from South America – who loved to salsa the night away.

Producer: Sara Parker

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Anita Anand goes on the trail of a tragic fire in London's Soho in 1980 that, despite killing 37 people, has fallen off the edge of mainstream history.

Films And Filming

20230807

Anita Anand uncovers the hidden story of the British film magazine that, for 40 years, offered a cloak of authoritative cinematic respectability for gay readers who sought sexual contact when homosexuality was punishable by prison.

Films and Filming was a widely respected magazine that built a serious reputation for its coverage of the burgeoning international art-house cinema of the 1950s and 60s. It sold throughout the English-speaking world, its tens of thousands of readers admiring the calibre of its reportage of new masterpieces by Claude Chabrol, Elia Kazan and Bernardo Bertolucci. But when it launched, from a dingy basement near Victoria Station in London in 1954, few knew that Films and Filming was also a clandestine publication of great interest to men whose sexual preference was for other men.

That same year, when Films and Filming launched with Marlon Brando in his signature role in On the Waterfront on the cover, homosexuality had also been featured for months on the front page of Britain's tabloids, as the famous peer, Lord Montagu, was put on trial and eventually sentenced to a year in gaol for illegal sex with other men.

Today, when equal marriage is legal and widely accepted in the UK, it's hard to fully comprehend just how furtive and secretive gay relationships needed to be 70 years ago to escape the attention of the law - gay men lived in constant fear of discovery. So the existence of a respectable magazine that offered both stories about cinematic gay icons and images, often of near-naked male film stars, was a lifeline.

Even more of a lifeline were the magazine's personal ads where gay film fans could arrange to share their interests, cinematic and otherwise, covertly of course, with impunity.

Anita Anand leafs through historic copies of Films and Filming with one of its regular columnists, David McGillivray. She meets his readers and reveals the hidden story of the magazine's mysterious publisher, Philip Dosse, whose team of editors, almost exclusively gay, ran a distinguished portfolio of arts magazines on theatre, ballet, books and art, as well as film, from that Victoria basement.

Producers: Sara Parker and Simon Elmes

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Films And Filming

20230807

20240122 (R4)

Today, when equal marriage is legal and widely accepted in the UK, it's hard to fully comprehend just how furtive and secretive gay relationships needed to be 70 years ago to escape the attention of the law – gay men lived in constant fear of discovery. So the existence of a respectable magazine that offered both stories about cinematic gay icons and images, often of near-naked male film stars, was a lifeline.

Even more of a lifeline were the magazine's personal ads where gay film fans could arrange to share their interests, cinematic and otherwise, covertly of course, with impunity.

Producers: Sara Parker and Simon Elmes

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Anita Anand uncovers the story of the respected British film magazine that provided a secret rendezvous for illicit sexual contact.

Lennox Castle Hospital

20230814

Anita Anand goes on the trail of another story from the recent past that's fallen through the cracks of mainstream history. In this episode, she travels to Scotland to uncover a dark chapter in the history of care.

Lennox Castle Hospital was set up near Glasgow in the 1930s as a forward-thinking institution for the care of those with learning and other disabilities, but the victims of the hospital's savage regime also included teenagers involved in petty larceny and young women who'd given birth outside marriage and had been labelled as prostitutes. As Anita discovers, patients were subjected to a strict and dehumanising regime, and to physical punishment for challenging behaviour or trying to escape.

With oral Historian Howard Mitchell as her guide, Anita takes a steep walk through the Campsie Fells to the ruined Lennox Castle whose remote location, Mitchell says, helped keep its patients shut away from mainstream society.

Howard has recorded many interviews with those who lived and worked at the hospital and even presented a series on the hospital's history for the Open University. But, having worked as a nurse at Lennox Castle in the 1970s, the historian is also an invaluable first-hand witness, with insider knowledge of the brutality inflicted on the patients.

Today, many of the custodians of memory are either no longer with us or unable to be interviewed. But after the hospital closed in 2002, former patients' and families shared their memories for the Lennox Castle Stories Project and these are featured in this episode of History on the Edge. There is also the story of Patrick, who as a teenager was admitted to Lennox Castle because of his challenging behaviour and who spent years there, until his father successfully fought for him to be returned to mainstream society.

Anita also speaks to Dr Sam Smith, who helped re-settle Patrick and others and has since founded an organisation helping those with disabilities and challenges live in the outside world.

Producer: Sara Parker

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Lennox Castle Hospital

20230814

20240129 (R4)

Today, many of the custodians of memory are either no longer with us or unable to be interviewed. But after the hospital closed in 2002, former ‘patients' and families shared their memories for the Lennox Castle Stories Project and these are featured in this episode of History on the Edge. There is also the story of Patrick, who as a teenager was admitted to Lennox Castle because of his challenging behaviour and who spent years there, until his father successfully fought for him to be returned to mainstream society.

Anita also speaks to Dr Sam Smith, who helped re-settle Patrick and others and has since founded an organisation helping those with disabilities and challenges live in the outside world.

Producer: Sara Parker

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Anita Anand treks to the ruins of Scotland's 1930s Lennox Castle Hospital to uncover a dark chapter in the history of care for the learning-disabled.

The Tinker Experiment

20230731

20240115 (R4)

Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past that have somehow fallen through the cracks of history.

In this episode, Anita travels to Scotland on the trail of what's become known as the 'Tinker Experiment'. Following World War 2, the aim of the authorities, helped by the Church of Scotland, was to get gypsy travellers to leave their nomadic traditions and lives behind for a settled life in mainstream society. There, they'd have a chance of education for their children who could be removed into care if they didn't comply with the required 200 days attendance at school.

Anita travels to Bobbin Mill near Pitlochry where, in 1946, the McPhee family and other gypsy travellers were moved into an old wartime hut converted for four families. The accommodation was small and overcrowded for the nine McPhee children and their parents, and was without amenities such as electricity. There was also asbestos in the walls which wasn't removed until the 1980s.

At Bobbin Mill, Anita meets Shamus McPhee and three of his sisters who still live on the site. Old holiday chalets have in recent years replaced the hutted accommodation and they now have electricity and running water. Yet the family still suffer hardship and discrimination despite having been to university and contributed to society. Prejudice against gypsy travellers runs so deep among the settled community that they've found it difficult to get work if they reveal their background. And - having fallen between the settled and the nomadic ways of life - none of them has found a life partner or had children.

The McPhees are now seeking an apology from the Scottish Government as they feel their lives have been blighted by the Tinker Experiment.

Producer: Sara Parker

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Anita Anand travels to Scotland on the trail of a 1940s ‘experiment' to settle gypsy travellers into society – a story forgotten by mainstream history.

The Tinker Experiment

20230731

Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past that have somehow fallen through the cracks of history.

The McPhees are now seeking an apology from the Scottish Government as they feel their lives have been blighted by the Tinker Experiment.

Producer: Sara Parker

Executive Producer: Simon Elmes

Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
	20210927	20211123 (R4)	Anita Anand uncovers an extraordinary personal story from the margins of British history which challenges our perspective of the past we thought we knew. At a crucial moment in the rethinking of whose histories we should be telling, History on the Edge challenges some of the conventional assumptions about our past. It's 1940 and, amid the chaos of the Second World War, a 19-year-old refugee from Hitler's Germany, Konrad Eisig, finds himself caught up in a British policy which, just when he thought he was safe, sends him on a hazardous sea journey to Australia in conditions little better than those of the slave ships of a century-and-a-half before. With the help of Eisig's first-hand testimony from the astonishing diary he left behind, Anita is on an investigation to unravel his story and understand how this apparently cruel train of events came about, and what it was really like for those who lived it. With contributions from Nick Ross, Aditi Anand, Laura Walker, Claudia Cotton, Dr Rachel Pistol and Dr Seumas Spark. Extracts from Konrad Eisig's Diary are read by Gunnar Cauthery. Producer: Anna de Wolff Evans Executive Producer: Simon Elmes Anita Anand uncovers an extraordinary untold refugee story from 1940.
Denmark Place	20230724		Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past which have somehow fallen through the cracks of mainstream history. In this first episode Anita uncovers the story of a catastrophic fire at the Spanish Rooms in Denmark Place, behind London's famous Tin Pan Alley, that killed 37 people in 1980. It was the worst death-toll in a fire in London until the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. The Spanish Rooms were among many unlicensed afterhours clubs in central London at the time. The two clubs were popular with people of many nationalities and backgrounds - many from South America - who loved to salsa the night away. The victims died where they danced and drank, bodies found still seated at the bar or on the dance-floor. Others plunged to their deaths from the clubs' second floor windows. Those who survived often had their reputations tarnished in the media as police linked the fire to the Soho underworld. Anita Anand meets survivors, friends and relatives of those who died, talks to police and fire fighters who were there on that tragic August night and to journalist Matt Rendell who's long been working on a book about the fire. Using archive and new first-hand testimony, History on the Edge pieces together the real story of the Denmark Place inferno and the forgotten people who died simply having a good night out. Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Simon Elmes Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.
Denmark Place	20230724	20240108 (R4)	Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past which have somehow fallen through the cracks of mainstream history. In this first episode Anita uncovers the story of a catastrophic fire at the Spanish Rooms in Denmark Place, behind London's famous Tin Pan Alley, that killed 37 people in 1980. It was the worst death-toll in a fire in London until the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. The Spanish Rooms were among many unlicensed afterhours clubs in central London at the time. The two clubs were popular with people of many nationalities and backgrounds – many from South America – who loved to salsa the night away. The victims died where they danced and drank, bodies found still seated at the bar or on the dance-floor. Others plunged to their deaths from the clubs' second floor windows. Those who survived often had their reputations tarnished in the media as police linked the fire to the Soho underworld. Anita Anand meets survivors, friends and relatives of those who died, talks to police and fire fighters who were there on that tragic August night and to journalist Matt Rendell who's long been working on a book about the fire. Using archive and new first-hand testimony, History on the Edge pieces together the real story of the Denmark Place inferno and the forgotten people who died simply having a good night out. Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Simon Elmes A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history. Anita Anand goes on the trail of a tragic fire in London's Soho in 1980 that, despite killing 37 people, has fallen off the edge of mainstream history.
Films And Filming	20230807		Anita Anand uncovers the hidden story of the British film magazine that, for 40 years, offered a cloak of authoritative cinematic respectability for gay readers who sought sexual contact when homosexuality was punishable by prison. Films and Filming was a widely respected magazine that built a serious reputation for its coverage of the burgeoning international art-house cinema of the 1950s and 60s. It sold throughout the English-speaking world, its tens of thousands of readers admiring the calibre of its reportage of new masterpieces by Claude Chabrol, Elia Kazan and Bernardo Bertolucci. But when it launched, from a dingy basement near Victoria Station in London in 1954, few knew that Films and Filming was also a clandestine publication of great interest to men whose sexual preference was for other men. That same year, when Films and Filming launched with Marlon Brando in his signature role in On the Waterfront on the cover, homosexuality had also been featured for months on the front page of Britain's tabloids, as the famous peer, Lord Montagu, was put on trial and eventually sentenced to a year in gaol for illegal sex with other men. Today, when equal marriage is legal and widely accepted in the UK, it's hard to fully comprehend just how furtive and secretive gay relationships needed to be 70 years ago to escape the attention of the law - gay men lived in constant fear of discovery. So the existence of a respectable magazine that offered both stories about cinematic gay icons and images, often of near-naked male film stars, was a lifeline. Even more of a lifeline were the magazine's personal ads where gay film fans could arrange to share their interests, cinematic and otherwise, covertly of course, with impunity. Anita Anand leafs through historic copies of Films and Filming with one of its regular columnists, David McGillivray. She meets his readers and reveals the hidden story of the magazine's mysterious publisher, Philip Dosse, whose team of editors, almost exclusively gay, ran a distinguished portfolio of arts magazines on theatre, ballet, books and art, as well as film, from that Victoria basement. Producers: Sara Parker and Simon Elmes Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.
Films And Filming	20230807	20240122 (R4)	Anita Anand uncovers the hidden story of the British film magazine that, for 40 years, offered a cloak of authoritative cinematic respectability for gay readers who sought sexual contact when homosexuality was punishable by prison. Films and Filming was a widely respected magazine that built a serious reputation for its coverage of the burgeoning international art-house cinema of the 1950s and 60s. It sold throughout the English-speaking world, its tens of thousands of readers admiring the calibre of its reportage of new masterpieces by Claude Chabrol, Elia Kazan and Bernardo Bertolucci. But when it launched, from a dingy basement near Victoria Station in London in 1954, few knew that Films and Filming was also a clandestine publication of great interest to men whose sexual preference was for other men. That same year, when Films and Filming launched with Marlon Brando in his signature role in On the Waterfront on the cover, homosexuality had also been featured for months on the front page of Britain's tabloids, as the famous peer, Lord Montagu, was put on trial and eventually sentenced to a year in gaol for illegal sex with other men. Today, when equal marriage is legal and widely accepted in the UK, it's hard to fully comprehend just how furtive and secretive gay relationships needed to be 70 years ago to escape the attention of the law – gay men lived in constant fear of discovery. So the existence of a respectable magazine that offered both stories about cinematic gay icons and images, often of near-naked male film stars, was a lifeline. Even more of a lifeline were the magazine's personal ads where gay film fans could arrange to share their interests, cinematic and otherwise, covertly of course, with impunity. Anita Anand leafs through historic copies of Films and Filming with one of its regular columnists, David McGillivray. She meets his readers and reveals the hidden story of the magazine's mysterious publisher, Philip Dosse, whose team of editors, almost exclusively gay, ran a distinguished portfolio of arts magazines on theatre, ballet, books and art, as well as film, from that Victoria basement. Producers: Sara Parker and Simon Elmes A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history. Anita Anand uncovers the story of the respected British film magazine that provided a secret rendezvous for illicit sexual contact.
Lennox Castle Hospital	20230814		Anita Anand goes on the trail of another story from the recent past that's fallen through the cracks of mainstream history. In this episode, she travels to Scotland to uncover a dark chapter in the history of care. Lennox Castle Hospital was set up near Glasgow in the 1930s as a forward-thinking institution for the care of those with learning and other disabilities, but the victims of the hospital's savage regime also included teenagers involved in petty larceny and young women who'd given birth outside marriage and had been labelled as prostitutes. As Anita discovers, patients were subjected to a strict and dehumanising regime, and to physical punishment for challenging behaviour or trying to escape. With oral Historian Howard Mitchell as her guide, Anita takes a steep walk through the Campsie Fells to the ruined Lennox Castle whose remote location, Mitchell says, helped keep its patients shut away from mainstream society. Howard has recorded many interviews with those who lived and worked at the hospital and even presented a series on the hospital's history for the Open University. But, having worked as a nurse at Lennox Castle in the 1970s, the historian is also an invaluable first-hand witness, with insider knowledge of the brutality inflicted on the patients. Today, many of the custodians of memory are either no longer with us or unable to be interviewed. But after the hospital closed in 2002, former patients' and families shared their memories for the Lennox Castle Stories Project and these are featured in this episode of History on the Edge. There is also the story of Patrick, who as a teenager was admitted to Lennox Castle because of his challenging behaviour and who spent years there, until his father successfully fought for him to be returned to mainstream society. Anita also speaks to Dr Sam Smith, who helped re-settle Patrick and others and has since founded an organisation helping those with disabilities and challenges live in the outside world. Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Simon Elmes Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.
Lennox Castle Hospital	20230814	20240129 (R4)	Anita Anand goes on the trail of another story from the recent past that's fallen through the cracks of mainstream history. In this episode, she travels to Scotland to uncover a dark chapter in the history of care. Lennox Castle Hospital was set up near Glasgow in the 1930s as a forward-thinking institution for the care of those with learning and other disabilities, but the victims of the hospital's savage regime also included teenagers involved in petty larceny and young women who'd given birth outside marriage and had been labelled as prostitutes. As Anita discovers, patients were subjected to a strict and dehumanising regime, and to physical punishment for challenging behaviour or trying to escape. With oral Historian Howard Mitchell as her guide, Anita takes a steep walk through the Campsie Fells to the ruined Lennox Castle whose remote location, Mitchell says, helped keep its patients shut away from mainstream society. Howard has recorded many interviews with those who lived and worked at the hospital and even presented a series on the hospital's history for the Open University. But, having worked as a nurse at Lennox Castle in the 1970s, the historian is also an invaluable first-hand witness, with insider knowledge of the brutality inflicted on the patients. Today, many of the custodians of memory are either no longer with us or unable to be interviewed. But after the hospital closed in 2002, former ‘patients' and families shared their memories for the Lennox Castle Stories Project and these are featured in this episode of History on the Edge. There is also the story of Patrick, who as a teenager was admitted to Lennox Castle because of his challenging behaviour and who spent years there, until his father successfully fought for him to be returned to mainstream society. Anita also speaks to Dr Sam Smith, who helped re-settle Patrick and others and has since founded an organisation helping those with disabilities and challenges live in the outside world. Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Simon Elmes A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4. Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history. Anita Anand treks to the ruins of Scotland's 1930s Lennox Castle Hospital to uncover a dark chapter in the history of care for the learning-disabled.
The Tinker Experiment	20230731	20240115 (R4)	Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past that have somehow fallen through the cracks of history. In this episode, Anita travels to Scotland on the trail of what's become known as the 'Tinker Experiment'. Following World War 2, the aim of the authorities, helped by the Church of Scotland, was to get gypsy travellers to leave their nomadic traditions and lives behind for a settled life in mainstream society. There, they'd have a chance of education for their children who could be removed into care if they didn't comply with the required 200 days attendance at school. Anita travels to Bobbin Mill near Pitlochry where, in 1946, the McPhee family and other gypsy travellers were moved into an old wartime hut converted for four families. The accommodation was small and overcrowded for the nine McPhee children and their parents, and was without amenities such as electricity. There was also asbestos in the walls which wasn't removed until the 1980s. At Bobbin Mill, Anita meets Shamus McPhee and three of his sisters who still live on the site. Old holiday chalets have in recent years replaced the hutted accommodation and they now have electricity and running water. Yet the family still suffer hardship and discrimination despite having been to university and contributed to society. Prejudice against gypsy travellers runs so deep among the settled community that they've found it difficult to get work if they reveal their background. And - having fallen between the settled and the nomadic ways of life - none of them has found a life partner or had children. The McPhees are now seeking an apology from the Scottish Government as they feel their lives have been blighted by the Tinker Experiment. Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Simon Elmes A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history. Anita Anand travels to Scotland on the trail of a 1940s ‘experiment' to settle gypsy travellers into society – a story forgotten by mainstream history.
The Tinker Experiment	20230731		Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past that have somehow fallen through the cracks of history. In this episode, Anita travels to Scotland on the trail of what's become known as the 'Tinker Experiment'. Following World War 2, the aim of the authorities, helped by the Church of Scotland, was to get gypsy travellers to leave their nomadic traditions and lives behind for a settled life in mainstream society. There, they'd have a chance of education for their children who could be removed into care if they didn't comply with the required 200 days attendance at school. Anita travels to Bobbin Mill near Pitlochry where, in 1946, the McPhee family and other gypsy travellers were moved into an old wartime hut converted for four families. The accommodation was small and overcrowded for the nine McPhee children and their parents, and was without amenities such as electricity. There was also asbestos in the walls which wasn't removed until the 1980s. At Bobbin Mill, Anita meets Shamus McPhee and three of his sisters who still live on the site. Old holiday chalets have in recent years replaced the hutted accommodation and they now have electricity and running water. Yet the family still suffer hardship and discrimination despite having been to university and contributed to society. Prejudice against gypsy travellers runs so deep among the settled community that they've found it difficult to get work if they reveal their background. And - having fallen between the settled and the nomadic ways of life - none of them has found a life partner or had children. The McPhees are now seeking an apology from the Scottish Government as they feel their lives have been blighted by the Tinker Experiment. Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Simon Elmes Anita Anand uncovers hidden stories from recent British history.