An interesting radio program this afternoon about nightingales. One unexpected feature was the famous cellist Beatrice Harrison, who in the 1920s was practicing in a wood/garden when a nightingale joined in a duet. This happened frequently so she got the idea to arrange to have it broadcast on the radio. This continued as an annual event for around 20 years. During the 1942 broadcast, the sound was interrupted by a 1000 bomber raid setting out for Mannheim. The broadcast was quickly shut off, but was recorded instead. A performance of a nightingale singing to the drone of bombers flying overhead still exists. Starts about 13 minutes into the program, but the whole thing is interesting: BBC - BBC Radio 3 Programmes - Twenty Minutes, The Barley Bird
Cheers for that Geoff. I know Tom Canning often recalls hearing them in Italy . I've read about that bomber raid recording but never heard it. The bomber bit starts just before 21 minutes
It was one of the earliest BBC traditions; each year in May the corporation broadcast the birdsong from a Surrey back garden live on the radio. But on May 19, 1942, as BBC staff prepared to transmit the chirruping of nightingales, 197 Wellington and Lancaster bombers appeared overhead. A quick-thinking engineer, realising a live broadcast of the bombers could warn Nazi spies of the impending attack, pulled the plug. Read more: The remarkable moment the BBC were forced to pull plug on World War II birdsong broadcast as bombers flew overhead | Mail Online I believe this to have been a raid to Mannheim on the night of 19-20 May 1942.
Vikram Seth chose the recording as one of his Desert Island Discs on Sun 22 Jan 2012. It can be heard here
Just having a look around You Tube, found this so thought I'd post it on this thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_MHqW5KVds
I seem to remember Anne Shelton heard a nightingale singing in Berkeley Square ... A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square - YouTube
There was no 1000 bomber raid on the day concerned. As Peter has already posted there were only 197 aircraft detailed for the operation to Mannheim, of which 11 were lost.
I have always wondered why someone self censored. Assuming that the Germans could hear the transmission live (no need for a spy to rush to his morse key, they had their own "Y" service) what could they have usefully done? Raids were a nightly event somewhere over the Reich, so common that mere engine noise would reveal nothing. In fact, if it wasted manpower straining at a needless "trigger point" for an hour or two then its broadcast would have been preferable. Who's to say that the bombers weren't OTU machines training?
