Although Eric Gill's sculpture of Prospero and Ariel was created in 1931, it wasn't until 1933 that it was installed above the entrance to Broadcasting House. Art in Context has posted a superb article about the creation of the statue and an analysis of the controversy surrounding the artist. In 2006, an article by one of Gill's biographers Fiona MacCarthy opens with a subheading which asks "Eric Gill's reprehensible private life would doubtless land him in prison today. But does that mean we should value his sculpture less?" To which I say, yes, yes it does. This old Night Waves celebration sounds horrible in hindsight, doesn't it?
Based on what we know now, Gill's sculpture should simply not be there. Given what he admitted to in his memoirs and other controversies which have effected the BBC's reputation over the years, it is reprehensible that they continue to have a work by this man at the front of their historic headquarters. Just because it's embedded in the BBC's identity to the point that they named their in-house magazine after it and that its a familiar site is not an excuse for excusing the actions of its creator. If Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft which was once "the Eric Gill museum" can get there, so can the BBC.
Behind The Scenes
Striking photograph of Broadcasting House from Munich born photographer Emil Otto Hoppe.
[V&A]
"The two tracks featured on this page were made in 1933 (BBC library number 304) and they may be the oldest surviving BBC location recordings. They appear on two sides of a 12-inch transcription disc which must have been part of a set. The other disc or discs can’t be found."
[London Sound Survey][BBC Programme Index]
"Taken with permission from Journeyman: the autobiography of Ewan MacColl [...] I had started doing occasional radio work in 1933 when I had been approached by Archie Harding, the North Regional Programme Director, to read some verses in a feature programme about May Day in England."
[Working Class Movement Library]
"In many ways it is intriguing that the Ellington Orchestra got the opportunity to broadcast on the BBC at all, and the decision to include both an interview with Ellington on the day of his arrival, 9th June 1933, and a forty-five minute performance by the Ellington Orchestra three nights into his week run at the London Palladium, really is noteworthy."
[Wall of Sound][BBC Programme Index]
An article about the restoration of an early television recording made using the 30 line vertical Baird process of a musical revue.
[The Dawn of TV][BBC Television Index]
"The year 1932 saw the close of the first decade of British broadcasting, a decade marked by a record of achievement which can have few parallels in the history of new -born public institutions."
[World Radio History]
"The year has again been marked by steady progress and expansion."
[hathitrust]
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