“The Fifty-One Society: A Case Study of BBC Radio and the Education of Adults”, 2006-09 (; backlinks):
This article discusses the relationship between sound broadcasting and adult education, looking at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) during the period of postwar reconstruction and austerity of the 1950s.
It considers in particular one of the Corporation’s most innovative educative programs of the period, The Fifty-One Society. This was produced in Manchester by the Talks Department of the BBC North Region and first broadcast on 1 November 1951.
The format was a discussion, along the lines of the old literary and debating societies, and featured a small group of northern academics drawn from the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, many of whom had personal experience as adult education tutors. Each week a topic was introduced by a guest speaker and then discussed by the ‘resident experts’ in the studio. [eg. Alan Turing’s 1951 talk] The discussion was then edited and broadcast.
The Fifty-One Society aimed to bring to listening audiences ideas, informed views and argument on a wide range of topics relating to science, the arts, industry, education, literature, government, politics, religion, war and peace.
The paper examines the program’s underlying philosophy: ‘the belief of the liberal imagination’ and attempts to evaluate its success and its educative impact.
[Keywords: adult education tutors, educational history, liberal adult education, BBC, sound broadcasting, universities]
[Conception] …The suggestion, put forward by Graham Miller, was for a radio adaptation of the old ‘Literary and Debating Society’ tradition (BBC WAC 1972). A number of such societies were founded in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in northern England. The Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, for example, established in 1819 and described as ‘a little torch of culture, burning in the midst of the darkness of provincial philistinism’, was intended for ‘the leisure-time cultivation of scientific interests by the professional and employing classes of Leeds’ (1961, pg4; 1883, pg99). Miller, however, was using the analogy more to illustrate the idea of ‘a permanent club which met regularly to hear, question and debate with a guest speaker’ (BBC WAC 1972).
The general aims agreed at Grassington were: ‘to illuminate everything that matters in life in general and Northern life in particular so clearly that as many listeners as possible are given a greater awareness, understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the world in which they live’ (BBC WAC 1951). This objective took account of the belief that ‘a big listening audience is not enough, and that what matters more in the long run is the positive impact of the programme on the minds and emotions of its audience’. It would be a unique programme for, as Miller later recalled (BBC WAC 1972):
We were going to ask people of some distinction and reputation to travel to Manchester regularly as members of the club and take part in a broadcast not for the normal fees which they could have commanded but for a drink, a sandwich and a very modest expenses allowance.
For what were later described as ‘logistical reasons’, the catchment area of the Society was limited to the Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool axis. The north regional ethos was to pervade the society throughout its existence. After prolonged discussions, the title ‘Fifty-One Society’ was chosen, commemorating the year it started. It was also agreed that the number of members should eventually total 51, though it is doubtful that it actually did so, usually hovering around 48–49. In line with the aims of reflecting the atmosphere of an autonomous society, a system was set up with agendas and minutes, conventions on the election of members, choice of speakers and the election of a committee. Similarly, to foster the impression of independence, attempts were made to broadcast from the Grand Hotel, Manchester. Technical problems over transmission proved insurmountable, however, so Broadcasting House became the permanent venue.
[Membership] …From the early days the members were chosen with these qualities in mind. Existing members suggested names of potential members who, after discussion, might then be invited to join the Society. Few members had time to attend each weekly meeting, so, as Miller explained ‘the number of members has been made large enough to ensure a quorum with a reasonable diversity of interests and experience at each discussion’ (BBC WAC 1953). This also fitted quite neatly with the idea of having 51 members. About a dozen attended fairly regularly, with about an equal number of others ‘changing from session to session who have completed the core of the Society’ (1955, pg9).
…[Why successful popularity/ratings?] The answer was partly due to the BBC’s preparedness to give to the programmers and the Society comparative freedom in the choice of subjects and speakers. This approach demanded a high level of thought from listeners. To the extent that it appealed to the more serious listening public the Society was free to an almost unparalleled degree at this period to indulge its ‘belief of the liberal imagination’. It did not expect, or seek, vast audiences, though when extended to the national network large audiences of 1⁄2–3⁄4ths of a million did tune in. In setting out consciously to challenge what the BBC rather despairingly expressed as the ‘increasing tendency on the part of the public to listen to discussions which were becoming so informal and light-hearted as to be almost variety turns in themselves’, the Society was uniquely successful (BBC WAC Inaugural meeting minutes, 1951). In providing a meeting place on the air ‘for representatives and authoritative intellects in a great many field of human enterprise’ where ‘matters of public importance could be subjected to enquiry and discussion’, the Society achieved something that had not been done before in broadcasting.
Death by censorship? …A second controversial issue concerned the future of sound broadcasting. As with commercial television London had given qualified refusal on several previous occasions, provoking a confidential memo from the Controller, North Region (CNR) to the Assistant Director Sound Broadcasting (ADSB), in August 1957, questioning the logic and wisdom of the decision (BBC WAC CNR 1957):
We surely should not deny a public discussion of our own policies in our own medium…The future of Sound Broadcasting as a whole is a matter of general public interest and concern and, as such should find a place in the BBC’s serious discussion programmes. It is every bit as valid a subject as eg. Defence, or the Wolfenden Report…One cannot but be concerned at the continued pressure of public criticism of all aspects of the BBC’s work—pressure that is mounting like steam in a boiler. Let us release some of that pressure ourselves, and allow a debate on the air, through the Fifty-One Society.
London eventually yielded the following year. After some disagreement on who should lead the debate, the Society settled on Tom Driberg of the New Statesman, much to the consternation of the Director of Sound Broadcasting who thought the choice ‘strange’ and ‘unpromising’. ‘Normally’, he continued, ’your central speaker is an authority on his subject who can speak with authority in answer to probing questions on his facts and opinions, Driberg has no such knowledge of broadcasting, so far as I know—no more than a New Statesman critic can have acquired’ (BBC WAC DSB, 1958).
In the event the broadcast seemed to divide opinion inside the Corporation, symbolizing perhaps a growing sense that ‘The Fifty-One’ might be nearing the end of its useful life. The Controller of West Region wrote to the Controller North Region to congratulate him on the quality of the discussion. But this view was not shared in London. In a critical memo from Head of Talks, London, the programme was dismissed as a failure. Worse still, the Society’s members were criticized for being ‘wholly unaware of the realities of working class life’ and ignoring the fact that ‘radio is essentially a medium for mass communication’. It was acknowledged that the Society had often produced good discussions, but this discussion was ‘deplorable’. It concluded (BBC WAC HT 1958):
Two main lessons might be thought to emerge. In relation to output, that care should be taken to ensure that at least some of the speakers have made a proper study of the subject; and in relation to the Corporation that steps should be taken to eradicate a dangerous degree of ignorance about the Corporation and its work among the relatively better educated and opinion forming minority.
The critique arrived at a critical point in the Society’s existence. Radio audiences in general were dropping, members were drifting away and were in any case becoming too familiar to the audience. Experiments with a televised version of the programme failed, while the policy of integration into the national Home Service, alongside retention of some regional ‘opt-outs’ imposed new rigidities and effectively spelt the end of the programme. Although it struggled on for a last ‘session’ during 1959–60, the end came with a delayed final broadcast on the occasion of the BBC’s 40th anniversary celebrations in November 1962.8