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The British Entertainment History Project (BEHP) records and preserves interviews with the men and women who have worked in British film, television, radio and theatre industries over the last 100 years "to ensure that their lives and experiences are preserved for future generations". [1]
Founded in 1987 by Roy Fowler, the History Project started as an independent volunteer project by members of the industry trade union, ACTT, who wanted to preserve the stories and memories of the lives of the men and women who had been working in the various film and television industries. The organisation was originally called the ACTT History Project, reflecting the fact that though it was an entirely separate project run by volunteers, it was nevertheless supported by the ACTT union. In 1991, the ACTT merged with the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance, to form BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) [2] and the ACTT History Project became known as the BECTU History Project. In 2016, it was officially registered as a company limited by guarantee, as an independent, non-profit, voluntary organisation, and renamed the British Entertainment History Project. [1]
The unique and internationally recognised archive collection has grown to over 700 oral history interviews and over 4,000 hours of audio and video recordings [3] [4] making it the largest independent oral history collection of its kind in the UK.
The recordings are used as a primary source by researchers and students, especially in the fields of media and social history. In addition, the archive is used by television and radio programmes, film documentaries, publishers, authors, historians, obituarists and journalists as well as the general public. Other partnerships and collaborations include work with the BFI, the BBC, [5] the British Universities Film & Video Council [6] and with universities such as the University of East Anglia. [7] In 2017, the BEHP began working with Sussex University and other partners as part of the '100 voices That Made The BBC', [5] which is part of the Connected Histories of the BBC, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Copies of all interview recordings also form part of the National Film archive of the British Film Institute and a significant number were made available as part of BFI Screen Online. [8]
The interviewees are drawn from professionals in the United Kingdom, but also include British professionals who worked abroad. Although the archive includes many well-known interviewees, the overall emphasis is on reflecting genuine breadth and variety, including those who may not be well known, but who, nevertheless have contributed to, or witnessed, important productions or have a unique story. Capturing their reminiscences provides information about the cultural history of Britain's broadcasting and entertainment, [9] whilst also shining a light on employment practices and the social history of particular periods. The aim is that future historians of the entertainment industry will have access to testimonies from participants in the film and television industries. [10]
In 1999, the History Project was awarded a £3,500 grant from the Kraszna Krausz Foundation to help towards the enormous task of transcribing hundreds of audio tapes. [11]
In 2010, the History Project was honoured with a Lifetime Contribution to Broadcasting Award at a ceremony at BAFTA. [12]
Jeeves and Wooster is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. Set in the UK and the US in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s, the series starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman and member of the idle rich, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his highly intelligent and competent valet. Bertie and his friends, who are mainly members of the Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable Jeeves.
Johnny Speight was an English television scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms.
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The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (Bectu), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017 following the merger of Bectu with Prospect. It has approximately 40,000 members who work in broadcasting, film, theatre, IT, telecoms, entertainment, leisure and interactive media.
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, distribution, and education. It is sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and partially funded under the British Film Institute Act 1949.
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Charles Ainslie Crichton was an English film director and editor.
Eric Richard Porter was an English actor of stage, film and television.
The Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1933 and 1991.
John Herbert Elliot was a British novelist, screenwriter, director, and television producer active from 1954 until around 1993. Between 1954 and 1960, he scripted a succession of one-off television plays including "War in the Air" and "A Man from the Sun". The latter was a pioneering work aimed at a West Indian audience. In 1961, he joined with astronomer Fred Hoyle to write another ground-breaking TV science fiction serial, A for Andromeda. The success of A For Andromeda prompted a sequel, The Andromeda Breakthrough, in 1962.
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The Film and TV Charity, formerly the CTBF, is the leading UK charity for people who work in the film, cinema and television industries, whose careers cover all aspects of pre-production and beyond, from script to screen and in a variety of roles.
Sidney Henry Cole was a British film and television producer. Earlier in his career he worked as a film editor.
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Raymond Francis was a British actor best known for his role as Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart in the Associated-Rediffusion detective series Murder Bag, Crime Sheet and No Hiding Place. He played the role of Lockhart in these series from 1957 to 1967, and the character was one of the first recurring television detectives.
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Red Skirts on Clydeside, produced in 1984, is the fifth documentary film made by the Sheffield Film Cooperative. It follows the process of rediscovering women's histories, focusing on the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915 and four of the women involved: Helen Crawfurd, Agnes Dollan, Mary Barbour, Jean Fergusson.
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