Rewinder

The Elton John biopic Rocketman arrives in our cinemas this week and the BBC archives reveal that Elton's journey to global success had a very bumpy start. Following the announcement that Yorkshire-born Simon Armitage will be the next Poet Laureate, we hear from a long-overlooked Yorkshire writer who wrote hundreds of royal poems. And there's an art review format which Greg describes as 'astonishing': two Beryls consider paintings by an artist called Beryl.

Producer Paula McGinley

Greg, who describes himself as a 'proud radio nerd', is let loose in the vast BBC vaults, home to a treasure trove of radio and television programmes as well as some revealing documents. He says 'As someone who spends too much time searching for oddities online, the opportunity to gain access to one of the greatest media resources on the planet was too good to miss.

This week Radio 1's Big Weekend launches the music festival season which sets Greg off on a hunt to find out how big pop events were reported back in the 1960s and 1970s. Beneath the flares and cheesecloth he uncovers some illuminating recordings - how a gang of Hells Angels caused a rumpus at the Weeley Festival and the clash between locals and festival goers in Bickershaw in 1972. There's also a painful interview with a young Bob Dylan.

As one high street bakery this week attributed rising profits to its vegan sausage roll, Greg also looks back at the way vegans and vegetarians were portrayed on radio and television, although Delia Smith was a trailblazer for the versatility of vegetables. Back in 1980 Delia interviewed a young Kate Bush about turning away from meat and, in a warm and revealing conversation, Kate shares her recipes and culinary tips.

Plus the early sounds of Victoria Wood, and the voices of Victorians - women in their 90s, filmed in 1970 remembering life in the 19th century.

Producer: Paula McGinley

In anticipation of the FIFA Women's World Cup, Greg kicks off this week's episode with some archive recordings of female football players from the 1960s and 1970s. It's safe to say that the interviews and commentaries are definitely of their time with some less than enlightened male attitudes towards women on the pitch.

The sporting theme continues with the Cricket World Cup which sends Greg on a mission to find some standout cricketing moments. He discovers a spine-tingling edition of Any Questions in 1960 in which commentator John Arlott makes an impassioned attack on apartheid in South Africa and challenges the British Government to take action.

As the UN questions the use of female voices for digital assistants, Greg listens in when Robert Kilroy-Silk takes on Germaine Greer in an edition of his show Day To Day from 1987.

Obesity levels are continuing to rise in the UK so Greg slips on his legwarmers and limbers up to some fitness albums from the 1980s - the cast of instructors include Jane Fonda, Joan Collins and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell demonstrates his high intensity workout without breaking into a sweat.

And as the Italian Job celebrates its 50th birthday Michael Caine reflects on his cockney accent in an interview from 1976. There's also music from the Little Angels of Korea, who enjoy the 1970s delicacy of sausages on sticks courtesy of a Blue Peter party, and the case of Acker Bilk's missing bowler hat continues.

Producer: Paula McGinley

In the first series Greg unearthed the earliest appearances of DONALD TRUMP on the BBC, including the time when the future President found himself perching on the chat-show sofa between TERRY WOGAN and Dame EDNA EVERAGE. Greg also found the BBC review show which thought that ELTON JOHN was 'past it' at the age of 26 - and uncovered reports of bad behaviour at a BBC pop show in the Royal Albert Hall in the early 1960s, culminating in the theft of Acker Bilk's bowler hat. It's still missing.

Greg now crosses the corridor from Radio 1 to Radio 4 for a second series of Rewinder, and says: As someone who spends far too much time searching for oddities online, the opportunity to gain access to one of the greatest media resources on the planet is too good to miss.

Producer Paula McGinley

Greg James, self-confessed 'proud radio nerd', returns to rummage through the BBC archives

This week a listener sends him in search of how the BBC covered the arrival of punks and punk music - coincidentally just a few days after BORIS JOHNSON stated that The Clash were one of his favourite bands, a choice which infuriated some Clash fans. Greg finds an interview with Clash front-man JOE STRUMMER, shooting opinions in all directions, as well as Johnny Rotten and bandmates on Radio 4 news programmes in the late 1970s, JOHN PEEL defending the music and its disciples on Brass Tacks, and a reflective moment from singer Poly Styrene.

On the eve of Road Safety Week 2019, Greg discovers how the introduction of the breathalyser proved controversial just over 50 years ago - along with a radio play from the 1940s about the dangers of drink-driving. As the general election campaign continues, we hear the voice of the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons - Nancy Astor, who was elected 100 years ago this month.

And almost 25 years to the day since the very first National Lottery draw, Greg returns to a moment of TV history, with a truck filled with the jackpot cash arriving in the studio.

As the domestic de-cluttering guru Marie Kondo makes headlines by opening an online shop, we hear earlier expert advice on how to free your home from junk, and Rod Stewart's current British tour prompts a return to a landmark documentary from the mid-1970s - including two devoted, patient fans waiting at Heathrow, and the moment when a French radio interviewer kept Rod waiting - and waiting.

As RuPaul's Drag Race UK reaches its grand finale, Greg's archive searches take him to performers catalogued as 'female impersonators', and eventually lead him to a series of programmes which won vast audiences and changed public opinion.

And a request from a listener introduces a sound now lost from Farming Today, with a lyricism which - according to our listener - rivals the Shipping Forecast.

Producer Paula McGinley

As the police in Boston, USA, experiment with robot dogs, Greg searches for robots of the past, uncovering Ferdinand the Beast, an early American example, along with bold predictions from the 1960s from visionary writers ISAAC ASIMOV and ARTHUR C CLARKE.

Angling, it was reported this week, is becoming increasingly popular among women - Greg fishes up some earlier coverage of life on the riverbank, including a theory as to why women are more successful at catching salmon.

Letters between JAMES BOND creator IAN FLEMING and wife are about to be auctioned: Fleming himself made very few appearances on the BBC - but one is very memorable: a conversation with the revered American writer RAYMOND CHANDLER. And as a new baby on EastEnders is named Peggy, in memory of the role played so successfully by BARBARA WINDSOR, Greg finds Barbara in 1963, delighted to see her name in lights for the very first time.

Producer Paula McGinley

This week, broadcasting from his bedroom, he turns his attention to animals and how, unlike people, dogs are enjoying the lockdown experience - his own dog Barney being a case in point. With Barney as his starting point he goes back to the 1980s when Barbara Woodhouse, the country's most famous dog trainer, put her four-legged pupils through their paces.

Greg also unearths an example of animal home schooling in Dartmoor where naturalist HG Hurrell teaches Atlanta the seal how to read using flashcards. And when school is over for the day Atlanta also enjoys playing on the seesaw. The success of the Netflix series Tiger King prompts Greg to check out the archive for big cats and he discovers the story of a man who kept a tiger in his garage in Northern Ireland.

An email from a listener sends Greg hunting for the many voices of comedian Peter Cook. He discovers archive from Cook's ill-fated live chat show Where Do I Sit? which was cancelled after only three episodes. Greg also finds an edition of the Radio 3 series Why Bother? recorded not long before Cook's death in 1995, which showcases Cook's skill at improvisation and his impeccable comic timing, in conversation with Chris Morris.

Baking has taken off during lockdown and Greg finds an early appearance of Paul Hollywood on the Generation Game, long before he entered the Bake Off tent. And in the week of what would have been Florence Nightingale's 200th birthday Greg finds some moving interviews with people who knew her as well as a short recording of Florence herself made in 1890.

Producer Paula McGinley

In Mental Health Awareness Week Greg looks at how the BBC reported on mental illness in the days when it was very much a taboo subject for open discussion. He watches The Hurt Mind, a groundbreaking series from 1957 in which reporter Christopher Mayhew went behind the closed doors of a hospital and spoke to its staff and patients. The programme, which was highly praised at the time, shows how enlightened staff and a culture of openness about mental health, addressed some of the hidden issues faced by a post war generation. Greg also finds an astonishing interview with the singer and songwriter Ian Dury from 1981 in which the Blockheads frontman talks about his experience of depression.

Like many people Greg has found solace in his garden during the pandemic and, taking his microphone outdoors, he listens to birdsong and looks back at some of the BBC's early gardening programmes. Before Alan Titchmarsh there was CH Middleton - known to his audience as Mr Middleton - whose radio programme In Your Garden attracted an audience of millions. Mr Middleton's vegetable alphabet was a regular slot on his programme - something Greg thinks might appeal to listeners today. Writer Vita Sackville-West was also a regular gardening broadcaster and Greg finds a delightful talk she presented on the Home Service in 1950. Called Walking Through Leaves, it's a meditation on life's small pleasures which she and her family rank in terms of their 'Through Leaveness'.

A listener sets Greg on the hunt for archive featuring Eric Idle and, to his joy, the search leads him to find one of his favourite combinations - Test Match Special and a Python. Eric is conversation with the legendary cricket commentator and guffawer Brian Johnston and they discuss Eric's cricket musical Behind the Crease. Let's just say much laughter ensues.

Producer: Paula McGinley

Later archive features the British Concorde test pilot Brian Trubshaw - known as Trubby. Against the backdrop of Anglo-French rivalry and various controversies surrounding the development of the supersonic airliner, Trubshaw represented the human face behind the technology. He was even name-checked in a Monty Python sketch featuring the new Anglo-French Flying Sheep.

Greg also tracks down recordings of the legendary Who drummer Keith Moon, following a listener request to hear the musician's Radio 1 comedy shows from the early 1970s.

With the nation's hairdressers and barbers all currently unable to work, the vexing issue of lockdown locks prompts Greg to search for coverage of the hair issue of the 1960s - men with long hair. He discovers how follically endowed males were seen as a threat to civilised society and finds archive of a 17-year-old Davy Jones - later better known as David Bowie - talking about his campaign group to protect long-haired men.

Producer: Paula McGinley

Greg says: 'In times of trouble, I rely on radio to help my brain escape and there's no great portal to disappear into than the BBC archives to uncover some gems from the past - when life was fun. I'm very excited to get my Radio 4 pass re-activated and get started on a new series of Rewinder. I've even treated myself to some new notebooks. Self-care is important.

In this new series: on the eve of Valentine's Day, Greg heads back to 1961 to see, stepping out of a Rolls Royce, the man who 'sells love and makes it pay', in a realm of 'satin, stardust, red roses, and bleeding hearts' - Britain's leading greetings card manufacturer offered the nation romantic advice ahead of his most lucrative day, and his star verse writer shared her winning lines. And - if your surname is Card, and you have a child born on 14 February, what do you call him? At least, later in life, Mr Valentine Card enjoyed regular BBC appearances around his birthday.

And it's almost exactly 50 years since Marc Bolan brought an early burst of glam rock to the nation's living rooms, appearing on Top of the Pops wearing a silver satin sailor suit, with glitter teardrops painted below his eyes. Greg tracks down some surprising early appearances - and whatever happened to that sailor suit?

Producer Tim Bano

And it's almost exactly 50 years since Marc Bolan brought an early burst of glam rock to the nation's living rooms, appearing on Top of the Pops wearing a silver satin sailor suit, with glitter teardrops painted below his eyes. We hear memories of Marc from John Peel and Annie Nightingale, and find out what happened to that sailor suit.

In a landmark outside broadcast from 1939 we hear the trumpets from the tomb of Tutankhamun, and in a week when the latest lockdown viral moment sees wheat cereal topped with baked beans, Greg tracks down some other outrageous food combinations.

As William Blatty's best-selling novel The Exorcist turns 50, Greg dusts off some very British hauntings, involving a carpenter, a choc ice and a ghost named Albert - and hears about a phantom furniture removal man.

Greg takes inspiration from Netflix film The Dig, starring Ralph Fiennes as archaeologist Basil Brown who excavated a Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo in one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of all time. He does some digging of his own, unearthing interviews with the real Basil Brown and other members of the Sutton Hoo team, plus he gets to practise his Suffolk accent.

And with Nina Simone becoming one of the most popular choices on Desert Island Discs in the past two years, we hear from the legend herself.

Producer: Tim Bano

With Fleetwood Mac's single Dreams recently featuring in the UK Top 40 singles chart thanks to a viral TikTok video, Greg pieces together the story of how the band's two couples - Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, and John and Christine McVie - were tearing each other apart while recording their best-selling album Rumours.

While we've been at home, rats have been invading our empty office spaces: the British rat population boomed by 25% in 2020. Greg coaxes some early rat catchers and rat lovers out of their hiding places in the BBC archives.

And following last week's overwhelming response to I Remember, He Remembered - a 1970s Radio 4 programme which aimed to find out how far back living memory can go - Greg hears from listeners with second-hand memories of the sinking of the Titanic and the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Producer: Dan Hardoon

A listener is curious about recordings of hecklers being `dealt with`, which sends Greg on an odyssey of comedians and actors being insulted and political meetings gatecrashed by anarchists.

Black Panther actor Daniel Kaluuya was one of a long list of British actors to receive a gong at the 78th Golden Globe Awards this week. Perhaps less well known is that Kaluuya cut his teeth in a Radio 4 sitcom from 2009 about a group of hapless surveillance operatives. Dolly Parton has also been in the news after singing an impromptu song about vaccination. There's plenty of Dolly Parton riches in the archives, including interviews with Terry Wogan and the unforgettable moment when Parton presented the National Lottery in 1998.

Elsewhere, a request leads Greg to a song contest where listeners were invited to vote for the likeliest hit. Songs You Might Never Have Heard was a long-running series from the 1930s in which a committee of listeners including a shop girl, a hospital nurse, a postman and his wife gave their verdict on ditties by new songwriters. Remarkably, some of the songs from the series survive on vinyl, which gives Greg the perfect opportunity to judge one of them for himself.

Producer: Dan Hardoon

This week, a request starts a search for possible fakes in the archives: in the last series Greg played a scratchy recording, apparently from 1890, of the poet Tennyson reading his Charge of the Light Brigade - but was it the real thing or a cunningly constructed counterfeit, dating from the early 1960s? And was a renowned British film director responsible for this trickery?

Other listener requests include early appearances by the comedian Linda Smith, and Greg finds Amy Winehouse launching her career, with interviews on programmes including Woman's Hour.

Greg also looks back at the disastrous opening night of BBC2, when calamitous power cuts stopped the transmission of the planned launch programming, leaving presenters and producers trying to find their way around Television Centre using candles and torches.

Producer Tim Bano

This week, a listener request starts a search for possible fakes in the archives: in the last series Greg played a scratchy recording, apparently from 1890, of the poet Tennyson reading his Charge of the Light Brigade - but was it the real thing or a cunningly constructed counterfeit, dating from the early 1960s? And who was the eccentric performance artist responsible for this trickery?

Summer is here, and with it comes the return of Wimbledon. Greg serves up some of tennis's pioneering women, from the French player who changed the game forever, to a more contemporary national treasure.

Greg also looks back at the disastrous opening night of BBC2, when a calamitous power cut stopped transmission of the launch and left a kangaroo stuck in a lift.

And to mark the tenth anniversary of Amy Winehouse's death, Greg takes a look back at the life of a once in a generation talent.

This week, the start of summer prompts Greg to take a trip to the village fete. Amid the welly wanging and jam judging he eavesdrops on a planning meeting in 1980 where tensions over tent hire begin to run high. He also finds out about a particularly fateful fete in Liverpool in 1957, which proved to be a turning point for a teenage Paul McCartney.

Listener requests lead Greg into the unlikely world of radio ventriloquism as he looks back at one of the most popular radio shows of all time, Educating Archie - featuring the already stunning voice of a 14-year-old Julie Andrews - as well as a chance to revisit the best jokes from the woman once voted Wittiest Living Person, the late Linda Smith.

And to mark the fiftieth anniversary of The Fight of the Century, in which Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier famously squared up, Greg investigates some of Ali's other talents, from teaching children about tooth decay to playing darts in a Radio 1 studio.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James heads deep into the BBC archives to deliver a selection of extraordinary audio.

This week, Greg dons his spandex and cape to rescue clips of British superheroes, from Bicycle Repair Man to Green Cross Man, getting sidetracked by psychic ponies at the Multicoloured Swap Shop.

A listener request transports Greg to 19th century London, with street cries from lavender sellers, muffin men and the mysterious cats' meat man. Plus, a shortage of hairdressers prompts Greg to find inspiration for the next generation of barbers and stylists, from a shampoo and set in Inverness to a wartime trim recorded just after the liberation of Rome in 1944.

And as the late Carrie Fisher is honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Greg looks back at the life of Princess Leia, from her earliest BBC interview to a bewildering appearance on Blue Peter where she comes face to face with her greatest foe yet: British cuisine.

Producer: Tim Bano

As Kenneth Branagh returns to our cinema screens as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, Greg gets caught up in his own mystery as he tracks down rare BBC appearances by Poirot's creator, the 'Queen of Crime' Agatha Christie.

The Superbowl sends him stateside as he gets to grips with American Football, fierce coaches and spectacular halftime shows, including an early interview with this year's headliner Kendrick Lamar.

A listener request sends Greg in search of 'The Nightingale of the Wireless' - the now largely-forgotten singing star Mavis Bennett. She was said to have 'the perfect microphone voice' - so much so that one major record company would regularly invite her into the studio just to test their latest technology. She made dozens of appearances in the early days of radio, but avoided TV after an unfortunate experience on her screen debut in 1939.

And in a Rewinder first, a special guest drops by with his own extraordinary archive.

Producer Tim Bano

As Kenneth Branagh returns to our cinema screens as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, Greg is on the trail of rare BBC appearances by Poirot's creator, the 'Queen of Crime' Agatha Christie.

It's 75 years since the school leaving age was raised from 14 to 15: Greg hears how this was debated at the time, and in the following years, including the voices of young people who left aged 14 - did they envy those who could now stay on in education?

And delving further into the piles of listener emails, Greg hunts down memorable appearances by guest presenters - the substitute voices stepping in when the regular host can't be there.

This week, with awards season underway, Greg looks back at three generations of acting talent - Dame Judi Dench, Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley - who have all been nominated for Academy Awards this year. He finds early BBC appearances as far back as 1960, with parts ranging from Shakespeare to Holby City.

Are you thinking what Greg's thinking? Let's find out as he recounts a mass experiment in telepathy on BBC radio in 1927, resurrects a controversial mind transference act from 1949 which had an audience of 20 million, and conducts his own test for listeners at home.

It's now 50 years since the band Chicory Tip topped the charts with Son of My Father, the first number one to feature a synthesiser. This milestone sends Greg on a quest for more musical innovations in the archive, including sounds created by the electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.

Following up a request from a listener, Greg explores the history of Children's Hour, the hugely important radio programme that ran from the BBC's birth in 1922 right up until 1964, and was a staple of so many childhoods over those decades.

Producer: Tim Bano

This week, as a new Batman film hits the cinemas, Greg hunts the Caped Crusader in the archives. He finds Adam West, who recalls acting with a mask for most of the time, a man called Mr Batman, and a bizarre experiment on Blue Peter in 1966.

To celebrate the centenary of Judy Garland's birth, Greg tracks down interviews with the elusive star, and also finds memories of her from her daughter Liza Minnelli.

A hunt for one listener's grandad leads Greg to a programme about stunt performers, and following a query about the soothing voice heard at the start of every edition of Rewinder, he looks into the life of Patricia Driscoll, presenter of Picture Book on Watch With Mother.

And - who's in Greg's envelope? We have the hugely anticipated results of last week's telepathy experiment... but you knew that already.

Producer Tim Bano

This week, as the final series of Killing Eve hits TV screens, Greg looks back at the career of its star Jodie Comer, from her first role in a BBC Radio 3 drama aged just 14 to her myriad accents as globetrotting assassin Villanelle.

It's 50 years since David Bowie's extra-terrestrial creation Ziggy Stardust looked down the TV lens on Top of the Pops and influenced the hairstyles, make up and jumpsuits of a generation of young people: Greg looks at some of Bowie's characters and finds out how audiences reacted to the superstar at the time. He also revisits the moment 40 years ago when David Bowie starred in Baal, a play by Bertolt Brecht, on BBC One at the heart of the evening schedule.

It's a big year for Birmingham, leading Greg on an eccentric's tour of the city in which he encounters a coal-powered car, tortoise racing, a topless dress and a man with a pigeon on his head.

Listener requests take him to memories of D-Day, the coronation of Queen Victoria, and the inimitable corpsing of Brian Johnston.

Producer: Tim Bano

Obi Wan Kenobi is back with a new series on Disney Plus starring Ewan McGregor, but Greg uses the force (well, his computer) to search for the original Obi Wan, the inimitable Sir Alec Guinness. We hear his thoughts on the original Star Wars film, find a rejection letter from the BBC from 1934, and learn about an eerie encounter with the actor James Dean.

As summer approaches, Greg goes swimming in Loch Nes

~Rewinder

60 years ago this week, the Rolling Stones played their first ever gig, so Greg finds some of their less than rock ?n roll moments in the archive. Anyone for a poached egg and glass of milk?

A listener request sends Greg into the strange and, frankly, disturbing world of public information films. We receive some advice from PC Dixon of Dock Green, learn how London buses work and discover the dangers that can befall cartoon cats.

In honour of the women?s test match this week we hear from some of the cricketing greats, including those who played the first women?s test match in 1934.

A Star Wars-inspired violinist makes a return to the BBC after 40 years and tells Greg about the influence his incomprehensible 8th birthday party had on his career.

And - did Kate Bush call in to Alan Partridge?s radio show Norfolk Nights 20 years ago? We?ll let you decide.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James unearths audio gems from the BBC's enormous archives.

Celebrating 100 years of the BBC, the archive team have been selecting their favourite treasures from the vaults. Greg takes a look at some of these archivists' picks, which lead him on a trip to a nudist beach in Yorkshire, where the locals are less than impressed. Staying by the sea, he visits Broadstairs in 1957, taking in the cuisine and eavesdropping on a fractious town council meeting.

An exchange of letters between writer Reverend W Awdry and the BBC reveals a disastrous attempt to broadcast a live Thomas the Tank Engine story in 1953. Greg also finds a fascinating piece of history from a BBC reporter who was stranded in a lighthouse for a month by bad weather.

After 37 years, Neighbours is leaving our screens. To say goodbye, Greg unearths audience feedback from the height of its popularity on the BBC. And the big question back then - is that Kylie Minogue or Rick Astley singing I Should Be So Lucky?

And - why do radio presenters find it so difficult to tell the time?

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James unearths audio gems from the BBC's enormous archives.

Greg turns the clock back 50 years to 1973, the year when Uri Geller became an instant radio and TV sensation, re-creating drawings sealed in envelopes, and affecting clocks, watches and cutlery, with appearances on the Dimbleby Talk-In, presented by David Dimbleby. Greg's finds includes letters from the BBC archives from listeners happily sharing the transformations they witnessed in their homes - including an irate couple whose electric clock stopped at 11.05pm during the Dimbleby show. They demanded compensation, assuring the BBC 'we are not cranks'. The BBC lawyers soon became involved.

And after Greg offered a Meet and Greet with his dog Barney as a prize during Radio 1's Jan Slam giveaway month (other prizes included FA Cup final and Glastonbury tickets), he takes a look at other unexpected prizes across the decades. Gammon, anyone?

Producer Tim Bano

Greg heads back 1982 when Eurovision came to Harrogate in North Yorkshire. With Norway reeling from a 'nil points' loss in 1981, they employ a secret weapon to guarantee a Eurobeating hit. Will it work?

At this year's Oscars ceremony, Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to be named Best Actress. Greg finds a brilliant interview from 2004 where Michelle describes doing all her own stunts throughout her decades-long career - and the many injuries that she has sustained as a result.

An email from a listener recalls a cherished memory from her childhood with her late father, and sends Greg to 1954 to embark on a Journey Into Space. Another listener asks to revisit Blue Peter in 1972, where a smartly dressed Peter Purves hops down the Tube and shows viewers how to survive if they get stuck on the tracks.

Following on from last week's look at unexpected prizes, Greg finds a letter from 1923, just a few months after the BBC began, with one of the first prizes it ever awarded. He also uncovers correspondence from the 1950s when BBC execs try to come up with exciting prize ideas. Did they really try to give away a house?

And it's 75 years since the first permanent self-service supermarket opened in the UK. Greg goes wild in the aisles, discovering strange lie detector experiments on unsuspecting customers in the 1960s, the first petrol station supermarket, and a surprise (surprise) appearance from Cilla Black.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James loses himself in the BBC's enormous archives.

In the time before 24-hour broadcasting, the BBC filled dead hours with the famous test cards as well as Trade Test Colour Films, short documentaries on a variety of subjects, for the benefit of TV engineers and retailers. The BBC didn't want these filler films to actually be entertaining - after watching a few, Greg doesn't think they've got anything to be worried about.

As we try to predict how AI will shape our future, Greg looks to the past and hears the sometimes strange, often amazingly prescient predictions of young people as they imagine tech in the year 2000.

Miss Havisham and Pip hit our TV screens once again so Greg revisits previous adaptations of Great Expectations, and uncovers a huge conspiracy: the BBC seems to adapt the Dickens novel every ten years, going right back to 1959!

And as Pink Floyd's seminal album Dark Side of the Moon turns 50, Greg goes loopy about the use of tape loops on the track Money. He explores other influential loops including the Are You Being Served theme - then he cranks up an old reel-to-reel tape machine, digs out some magnetic tape, and creates his own loop... and creates his own loop... and creates his own loop...

Series archivists: Michael Cosgrave and Colin Waddell

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James loses himself in the BBC's enormous archives.

As the global Formula 1 circus arrives in Silverstone this weekend for the British Grand Prix, Greg looks back at the history of British F1. He finds an excited report from the first F1 world championship race, held at Silverstone in 1950 (speeds of up to 90 mph!) and remembers two of the greats of British racing: Sir Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, also known as The Racing Dentist.

A listener request takes Greg to radio nerd paradise as he finds out about the earliest jingles used on BBC radio. From Live and Kicking to Radio 4's Today, via Kenny Everett, The Beatles and Elton John, Greg gets lost in the strange world of extraordinary radio jingles.

And as a law is passed in South Korea making its population younger, Greg tries to discover the secret to eternal youth...does it lie in trying to recreate childhood, as train enthusiast Victor Martin did by building a lifesize replica of a railway signalling station in his garden? Or maybe it's more scientific: a 1968 documentary by Lord Snowdon heads to a Swiss clinic where they're doing iffy things with sheep...

Producer Tim Bano

Greg James loses himself in the vast BBC archives.

Following on from Greg's enthusiastic search for old radio jingles last week, listener requests lead him to more memorable melodies, including jingles for paraffin and the decimalisation of Australian currency.

Greg also marks 40 years since vandals broke into the Blue Peter garden. He unearths some letters sent in by young viewers with offers of help, some more sinister than others.

And a clip of legendary director, actor and writer Ken Campbell on Radio 4's Midweek in 2002 sends Greg down a ferret hole where he explores Blue Peter's strange obsession with ferrets over the years, and finds the man who held the world record for keeping ferrets down his trousers.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James loses himself in the BBC's vast archives.

As singer, model, actor and all-round icon Grace Jones turns 75, Greg finds some extraordinary interviews in the archive. She talks about her tough upbringing, her stunts with a six-foot stick while filming A View to a Kill, and we hear her first BBC appearance on a variety show called Seaside Special. Then there's the infamous interview with Russell Harty, one of the most famous chat show moments of all time, when a sleep-deprived Grace lashed out at the host.

Greg goes in search of the elusive concept of 'the spirit of cricket'. Is it in the village of Tilford on a rainy day in 1936? Maybe it's in the unconventional diet of legendary England fast bowler Harold Larwood? Or perhaps Ainsley Harriott can help?

And as a new Mission Impossible film opens in cinemas, Greg's mission is to uncover the exploits and adventures of British secret agents. He hears from a Second World War saboteur who recalls his parachute training, and from a member of the Special Operations Executive who finds out his comrade is a double agent and has an impossible decision to make.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James loses himself in the vast BBC archives.

He also uncovers the national scandal that erupted when the BBC paid more than $4 million for the rights to broadcast The Sound of Music, meanwhile delving into the history of the film - featuring archive interviews with Julie Andrews and the real Maria Von Trapp - and the staggering public reaction to it.

A listener request sends Greg into the nightmares of children as he seeks out Sketch Club from 1957, in which kids were invited to send in drawings of their dreams and nightmares. And he revisits some of Blue Peter's festive makes, from a cufflink box to an Advent crown (fetch the wire cutters!) and Anthea Turner's iconic Tracy Island.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James delivers festive treats from the BBC Archives.

Greg James heads into the BBC archives using stories of the week and listener requests to guide the way. This week: Fanny Cradock, Tracy Island and scandal with The Sound of Music.

Greg James dives into the BBC Archive to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories to guide the way.

It's 25 years since Cher's pop classic Believe topped the charts, so Greg goes looking for the idol herself in the archives. Where did she choose to debut the single? The National Lottery of course. She returned to the programme a few years later to talk to Dale Winton about her Christmas cookie traditions.

As children up and down the country put tea towels on their heads, Greg heads to a nativity play in Sunderland in 1962 to hear about the showbiz drama behind the scenes. In Gelligaer in Wales he discovers a presenter obsessed with his own childhood appearance as Herod.

And he uncovers some touching transatlantic conversations between refugee children and their parents, broadcast live on Christmas Day during the Second World War.

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James with some festive treats from the BBC archive.

Greg James heads into the BBC archives using stories of the week and listener requests to guide the way. This week: Cher, Nativities and messages of forgiveness.

[LISTEN NOW]

As the Famous Five returns to our screens, Greg looks for Enid Blyton in the archives and almost comes up short: why are interviews with the prolific and beloved children's author so rare? He uncovers rumours of a Blyton ban at the BBC...

It's always a big deal - who's going to be the Christmas Number One? Greg tracks back to its origins in the 1950s, specifically 1954 when the world-renowned pianist Winifred Atwell topped the chart. Her piece Let's Have Another Party became the first track by a black musician to top the British charts, and Greg discovers her influence on the likes of Elton John and Paul McCartney.

With this series of Rewinder scheduled for drivetime, Greg is determined to find out the history of traffic and travel news. He discovers the joy of taking a breather in between traffic news and finds a report about a strange AA pilot scheme to help with the busy roads of London in 1950.

As the year comes to an end, Greg gets inspiration from some old British new year traditions like burning the clavie, mummers' plays and wassailing.

And it wouldn't be Rewinder without Greg taking an inexplicable tangent: this week, talking dogs, featuring Greg's own clever boy Barney.

Series archivists: Tariq Hussain and Jonathan Charlton

Producer: Tim Bano

Greg James marks the end of the year with a rummage through the BBC archives.

Greg James heads into the BBC archives using stories of the week and listener requests to guide the way. This week: Enid Blyton, Winifred Atwell, talking dogs and traffic news.

With the General Election approaching, he looks back at the first days of election broadcasting on the TV. There are discussions about ‘electronic brains', sneaky Mars Bars and the invention of the Swingometer.

And as it's summer, Greg fancies a barbecue. He finds a Blue Peter make from 1966 in which presenter Christopher Trace teaches us how to make our own barbecue from something we've all got lying around - a 5 gallon oil drum. Hacksaw at the ready!

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio certified production

Greg James digs into the BBC archives. This week: Taylor Swift, Blue Peter barbecues and the invention of the swingometer.

What could happen in the final five days?

Electioncast Results: What's in Labour's In Tray?

Did Biden explain why he's quitting the race?

Greg also finds out about the origins of the modern Olympic Games - not in Athens, but in the tiny Shropshire village of Much Wenlock. Anyone for pig racing?

A listener request sends Greg through the dragon's eye as he revisits the children's literacy programme Look and Read, with great theme tunes and awful special effects.

And 60 years on from her debut solo album, Greg listens to the incomparable voice of Dusty Springfield - not only an icon, with her beehive hair and panda eyes, but a radical too: Greg hears how she refused to play to segregated audiences in South Africa, and was told to leave the country.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio certified production

Greg James looks through the BBC archives. This week: pigeons, Olympics and Dusty Springfield.

Sir Keir Starmer holds cabinet meeting on his first full day as PM

LIVE at the Edinburgh Festival!

The UK's flagship daily news podcast from the BBC.

Last week Greg asked for your nostalgic theme tune requests. Charlie remembers the theme for a show called People, but can't remember what People actually was. As Greg discovers, it involves bald men, nudist beaches and Hell's Angels. Or how about the theme to Jossy's Giants, a children's footballing drama about the new manager of the Glipton Grasshoppers, written by darts commentator Sid Waddell?

It's 60 years since Sir Ian McKellen's TV debut in a BBC adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling story in 1964. Greg charts Sir Ian's career, both as an actor and as an activist, including the moment he came out publicly on a BBC Radio 3 debate about Section 28. We also hear his memories of filming The Lord of the Rings, and meet a 10-year-old Daniel Radcliffe.

A listener asks Greg to find the source of a sample used in a Lemon Jelly song, which leads him to a programme called Children Talking. Cue the sweetness.

And this year marks the 50th anniversary of a defining moment in television: the invention of reality TV. In 1974, the BBC broadcast a new documentary series called The Family, in which a camera crew followed a real life family as they went about their lives. There were arguments, weddings, scandals - and a very divided viewing public.

Producer: Tim Bano

Series archivists: Tariq Hussain and Gordon Edmonds

An EcoAudio certified production

Greg James explores the BBC archives. This week: Sir Ian McKellen, exchange students, and the birth of reality TV.

A look at Keir Starmer's first week as PM and Tory leadership infighting starts again.

LIVE at the Edinburgh Festival!

The UK's flagship daily news podcast from the BBC.

Greg James searches through the BBC Archive to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories to guide the way.

It's 25 years since the world braced itself for the arrival of the Millennium Bug, so Greg goes off in search of how we managed to escape with our lives – and toasters – intact. When midnight strikes, will Peter Snow and The Corrs be swallowed up by the BBC's giant Bug Watch screen?

Listener emails to the Rewinder inbox send Greg on the trail of Mystery Voices and Michael Bond, creator of Paddington and finds out how the BBC tied itself in knots trying to find a real life bear for the lead role.

And in the year when darts prodigy Luke Littler was searched more on Google than the King and Prime Minister, Greg steps up to the oche on board HMS versatile in 1941 as it takes a barrage of German bombs.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio certified production

Greg James is back in the BBC Archives rooting around for audio gems.

Greg James explores the BBC Archives. This week: the Millennium Bug, the origins of Paddington Bear, and mystery voices.

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Izzy wizzy Greg gets busy as this week's he's joined by a certain magician bear while searching through the BBC Archives. He digs out an argument between Sooty creator Harry Corbett and the BBC about whether Sooty should have a girlfriend. Did the little bear get his way?

As a new film version of Nosferatu hits cinemas, Greg goes vampire hunting. He tracks down some blood-sucking bats in the archive, and the various BBC presenters who've been bitten - or wanted to be bitten - by them.

One of Greg's highlights of 2024 was climbing the O2 with singing superstar Billie Eilish. This inspires him to look for other BBC presenters who've climbed tall buildings. Chief among them was John Noakes, the programme's resident daredevil who, over the course of 12 years, climbed tens of thousands of feet, from Big Ben to Mount Etna, sometimes without a safety harness. Greg looks at some of Noakes's breathless climbing highlights.

And 60 years ago, Petula Clark's hit single Downtown went to number one in the States. She now has the longest career of any British entertainer ever, beginning when she was just nine years old during an air raid in London. Greg finds out more about Petula's extraordinary career, from that beginning to a seminal TV broadcast with Harry Belafonte, and the fact that she recorded Downtown in several different languages.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio certified production.

Greg James is back in the BBC Archives, rooting around for audio gems.

Greg James explores the BBC Archives. This week: Sooty, vampires, Petula Clark, and John Noakes climbing lots of tall buildings.

One of Greg's highlights of 2024 was climbing the O2 venue in London with singing superstar Billie Eilish. This inspires him to look for other BBC presenters who've climbed tall buildings. Chief among them was John Noakes, Blue Peter's resident daredevil who, over the course of 12 years, climbed tens of thousands of feet, from Big Ben to Mount Etna, sometimes without a safety harness. Greg looks at some of Noakes's breathless climbing highlights.

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It's Dry January so...Greg is bucking the trend and taking his archive search down the pub. The BBC Archive is overflowing with innkeeping oddities: goat riding, phantoms lurking in an 800-year-old walls and how to play a new game called 'plasticine splat'.

With a new season of Traitors in full swing, Greg dons his black cloak and finds an early incarnation of the game the BBC killed off 20 years ago. No castles, cloaks or fringes in sight, just a plain white studio - and a very young Ruth Wilson, future star of Luther and His Dark Materials, taking on a man who claims to own a four foot monitor lizard. But which of them is a traitor?

A listener request leads Greg to a weird slice of BBC history as he revisits beeb.com, an internet shopping website from the BBC where you could buy a WAP-enabled phone and tickets to see S Club 7.

And to mark the release of a new biopic about the great opera singer Maria Callas, Greg looks back at some archive highlights of the soprano known as La Divina, including being pelted with radishes, getting into blazing rows with opera bosses, and an extraordinary duet with her singing dog.

Producer: Tim Bano

Series archivists: Joe Schultz and Jonathan Charlton

An EcoAudio certified production.

Greg James is back in the BBC Archives, rooting around for audio gems.

Greg James explores the BBC Archives. This week: he's in the pub, with Maria Callas, The Traitors and Bob Hoskins.

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Greg James is back for another trip deep into the BBC Archives, and into the past, as he uses listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories to guide him to audio gold.

Bonjour la classe! It's that time of year when kids get out of the classroom and enjoy a much deserved school trip. Greg hears from a class of children from 1963 who hop the Channel to practise their French skills in a French classroom. With mixed results. And why's that boy hiding a massive bottle of whisky? There are also wonderful memories from trips to Wembley in 1925, featuring a vocal elephant and a potato.

As Noel and Liam Gallagher prepare for their hotly anticipated Oasis reunion tour, Greg listens back to early interviews with the brothers just as they were on the cusp of stardom. Yes there's bickering, yes there's questionable language, and booze and general discord - but despite the sibling rivalry, Liam shows brotherly loyalty when an unexpected situation on-stage unfolds during one early performance in Newcastle.

Order! Order! It's time to wind the clock back 50 years to the very first moment the House of Commons was broadcast on the airwaves. Debating the pros and cons of having cameras in the chamber, politicians pondered whether filming would mean acting to the cameras simply to get a quick sound bite. Surely not?

Fifty years too since one of the biggest and most influential summer blockbuster films ever: Jaws. Beach holidays have never been quite the same. Greg dives into incredible behind-the-scenes archive from a very young Steven Spielberg, negotiating wobbly boats and capsizing actors.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio certified production

Greg James explores the BBC's archives, using current stories as a portal to the past.

Greg James explores the BBC Archives. This week: the early days of Oasis, 50 years of Jaws, school trips and the biggest horse in Britain.

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Greg James is back for another trip deep into the BBC Archives, and into the past, as he uses current stories and overlooked anniversaries to guide him to audio gold.

Inspired by a class of students at a girls' school in Croydon, who recently built their own satellite to launch into space, Greg launches himself into the archives to find other satellite stuff. In 1962 the BBC nervously tracked Telstar, an early communications satellite, hoping to show the first ever live transatlantic TV image. Did they succeed?

75 years ago, the BBC launched its Children's Television department, and kids' TV was born. Cue endless agonising by senior managers, strange programme ideas and - dancing pigs.

And with Brits spending more on their pets' birthdays than ever before, Greg searches for other devoted pet owners, meeting a parrot called Rochester and a bat called Balls.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio Certified production

Greg James launches himself into the BBC Archives. This week: Project Telstar, a bat called Balls and the birth of children's television.

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Greg James is back for another trip deep into the BBC Archives, and into the past, as he uses current stories and overlooked anniversaries to guide him to audio gold.

This week, for the first time ever, Rewinder comes to you in front of a live audience at the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield, and features a very special star guest....Sir Michael Palin!

Michael helps Greg on his archive quest, uncovering the time Michael was interviewed live on Radio Sheffield in the back of a cab as the taxi dispatch radio kept cutting in. They look back to when floundering Sheffield Wednesday, languishing in the third division, tried to turn things around by bringing in a consultant clairvoyant, and they listen to the worries of ordinary Sheffield residents from 1959 - dogs, buses and students were on one woman's mind.

Michael relives moments from his childhood, as he remembers being terrified by the BBC's early crime and sci-fi dramas like Fabian of the Yard and Quatermass and the Pit. Greg digs out Michael's first ever travel documentary, Confessions of a Trainspotter, which was the programme that led to all of Michael's subsequent travel adventures.

And a trail of letters takes us back to Michael's first ever appearance on the BBC when, aged 21, two sketches he co-wrote and starred in were broadcast on television. But the letters suggest he might never have been paid.

Plus there's Python, cutlery, pork pies and much more...

Producer: Tim Bano

Series archivist: Tariq Hussain

An EcoAudio Certified production

This week, Greg James is joined by Michael Palin to explore the BBC Archives in a special episode recorded in front of a live audience at the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield.

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Greg James is back for another trip into the BBC Archives, and into the past, using the big stories of the week and your suggestions to guide him to audio gold.

This week, as Alex Honnold scales a skyscraper live on Netflix, Greg finds out that the BBC was there first. In 1967 they undertook a colossal logistical operation to bring viewers a live programme over two days following six climbers as they ascended the Old Man of Hoy, a 450-foot rock stack off the coast of Orkney. With no electricity or accommodation available the BBC drafted in the army, and 15 million viewers were gripped by the pictures of climbers hanging off the edge of the crumbling rock.

A listener request takes Greg to the children's TV programme Why Don't You, which ran from 1973 to 1995, was presented by children, and showed a range of crafts, tricks and hobbies that kids could do rather than watching TV. Stamp collecting...brass rubbing...and hovercraft building.

With social media full of people posting their pictures and videos from 2016, Greg goes one step further and searches the archive for 1916 instead. He finds an extraordinary and moving firsthand account of the Battle of the Somme.

And as Timothee Chalamet earns multiple award nominations for playing a ping pong supremo in Marty Supreme, what happens if you put the words 'ping' and 'pong' into the archive? You find a ping pong playing cat, of course.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio Certified production

Greg James roots around the BBC archives. This week: make your own hovercraft, climbing a 450-foot rock stack live on TV and a ping pong playing cat.

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Greg James explores the BBC Archives using overlooked anniversaries, the big stories of the week and your suggestions to guide him to extraordinary audio.

Marking 100 years since John Logie Baird first demonstrated his Televisor to the public, Greg finds an interview with first man ever to appear on a TV screen, William Taynton, who worked as Baird's assistant and survived being half-roasted to make history.

As a new raunchy take on Wuthering Heights hits cinemas starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Greg explores the many, many BBC adaptations of Emily Bronte's novel - as well as the feedback from listeners distracted by the wuthering weather.

After last week's look at kids' TV programme Why Don't You, Greg receives an email which leads to a lovely surprise for a Rewinder listener.

And fifty years on from the first commercial Concorde flight, there are big bangs and booms and bad tempered Brits. Plus a very flustered Terry Wogan.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio Certified production

Greg James explores the BBC Archives. This week: Wuthering Heights, sonic booms and 100 years of television.

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Greg James explores the BBC Archives using overlooked anniversaries, the big stories of the week and your suggestions to guide him to extraordinary audio.

Following this week's headlines about a crisis for fish and chips, with fried chicken shops taking over the high streets, Greg finds out that chippies have been in crisis since the 1960s, when Alan Whicker reported on a possible shortage of chips in Wales. He also visits the Dorchester Hotel where the price of fried chicken is under scrutiny.

It's 60 years since John Lennon said to a reporter that the Beatles were 'more popular than Jesus', sparking outrage across the United States and almost leading to the cancellation of the band's US tour. Greg finds extraordinary archive of Maureen Cleave, the British journalist who interviewed John, as well as recordings of the protests and the ensuing press conference where John had to apologise.

After leading the nation in morning stretches on his Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Greg discovers that the BBC has been doing morning exercise programmes for a long time. During the war, the BBC broadcast daily 'physical jerks' with instructors taking listeners through their paces set to lively and live piano music.

For Valentine's Day, he looks at the history of computer dating, from early experiments in the sixties using computers to match compatible couples to a very sceptical reporter on Nationwide in 1976.

And a disgruntled listener writes in to correct Greg's understanding of hovercrafts, leading to more inflatable fun - and a man who has built a 25 foot submarine in his front garden.

Producer: Tim Bano

Series archivists: Tariq Hussain and Gordon Edmonds

An EcoAudio certified production

Greg James explores the BBC archives. This week: computer dating, Beatles protests, fried chicken and a homemade submarine.

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