People Talking

Fi Glover trawls the archives for intimate stories of the everyday, tracing how curated wartime spirit developed into today's unmediated snapshots of life, with the help of writer and lido supporter, Tanya Shadrick.

From Olive Shapley's Mass Observation-inspired recordings in the 1930s and 40s, via Radio Ballads and Down Your Way, they arrive at the verbatim examples of 20th Century Vox and The Listening Project, charting the development from patronised 'ordinary folk' to the autonomy of contemporary voices.

Producer: Marya Burgess

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in November 2017.