Post by Terry J on Oct 10, 2019 14:00:31 GMT
"In Our Time" is a live BBC radio discussion series exploring the history of ideas, presented by Melvyn Bragg since 15 October 1998. It covers history, philosophy, science, religion and culture.
They are currently asking for people to propose a topic for discussion with a deadline of October 25, 2019. This will be broadcast during 'listener's week'. As usual I will be submitting the suggestion that they should feature Louis Armstrong. I have little hope that my suggestion will be accepted. The BBC has a strong cultural bias. (You can see a symptom of this in University Challenge where contestants are falling over themselves to answer obscure questions on Greek mythology but they have been stumped by questions such as 'What instrument did the Jazz musician Charlie Parker play?') My submission will be along the following lines.
'Louis Armstrong’
In 1931, a young white student attended a dance at an Austin hotel and it changed his life. For the first time he experienced genius and to his astonishment that genius, Louis Armstrong, was black. The student Charles Black became a Yale Professor and an eminent civil rights campaigner and was a member of the legal team for the landmark Supreme Court case on school desegregation, Brown v Board of Education.
Louis Armstrong elevated Jazz from a folk culture to art. He pioneered twentieth century individualism with the invention of the improvised solo. His unique singing style influenced a generation of vocalists. He was an icon of Black America for over 50 years.
Irrespective of its shortcomings, I would recommend the podcasts that are available on the 'In Our Time' website. I have listened to all 875 episodes; some of them more than once.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Dw1c7rxs6DmyK0pMRwpMq1/archive
They are currently asking for people to propose a topic for discussion with a deadline of October 25, 2019. This will be broadcast during 'listener's week'. As usual I will be submitting the suggestion that they should feature Louis Armstrong. I have little hope that my suggestion will be accepted. The BBC has a strong cultural bias. (You can see a symptom of this in University Challenge where contestants are falling over themselves to answer obscure questions on Greek mythology but they have been stumped by questions such as 'What instrument did the Jazz musician Charlie Parker play?') My submission will be along the following lines.
'Louis Armstrong’
In 1931, a young white student attended a dance at an Austin hotel and it changed his life. For the first time he experienced genius and to his astonishment that genius, Louis Armstrong, was black. The student Charles Black became a Yale Professor and an eminent civil rights campaigner and was a member of the legal team for the landmark Supreme Court case on school desegregation, Brown v Board of Education.
Louis Armstrong elevated Jazz from a folk culture to art. He pioneered twentieth century individualism with the invention of the improvised solo. His unique singing style influenced a generation of vocalists. He was an icon of Black America for over 50 years.
Irrespective of its shortcomings, I would recommend the podcasts that are available on the 'In Our Time' website. I have listened to all 875 episodes; some of them more than once.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Dw1c7rxs6DmyK0pMRwpMq1/archive