Genome’s global reach: links to thousands more World Service programmes

More than 2,000 World Service radio programmes dating back to the 1990s can now be accessed directly from their programme listings on BBC Genome.

These programmes were among the thousands digitised by the World Service when it moved out of its old headquarters, Bush House. There are now 27,000 available on iPlayer and, in coming months, more and more of these will be linked directly to BBC Genome listings, via the familiar pink iPlayer arrow.

Matching a single episode of a long-running series to an exact date, time and title in BBC Genome can involve considerable detective work, because the dates on the newly digitised World Service Archive programmes sometimes refer to the date a programme was recorded, rather than when it was broadcast. As the World Service has many channels worldwide, extrapolating the date of broadcast to find a match in Genome often means extra research is needed, but the quality, variety and reach of the content make it all worthwhile.

Wherever you are on the planet now, the stories and voices in these programmes will take you to times and places you might never otherwise reach.

Our favourites

My Century (1999) is a global history of the 20th Century, a mosaic built up of five-minute, first-person stories by an astounding range of men and women, some well-known, others we’re probably meeting for the first time. Inventors, record breakers, scientists, survivors of war and natural disasters are interspersed by farmers, artists and astronauts.

Many tell of being centre-stage at great events, others witnessing them by chance or feeling their impact in distant places. Big questions, such our beliefs, and ways of living and working, are cleverly sampled through personal experience. Moving, exciting, sad, curious, different: other people’s lives are endlessly fascinating.

Hundreds of different voices tap into the simple power of “My name is … and I’m going to tell you about ” ̶ being a World War One Stretcher Bearer, the Wall Street Crash, witnessing Mao proclaim the Birth of a Nation, resisting Pinochet’s Operation Condor, being a member of Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement, being the Deep Diver who went deepest, the Nicaraguan Revolution, going From Horse to Combine Harvester, being a Child Exile in Russia or a Geisha Girl in Japan or a Sculptor in Africa, life after Live Aid, Drinking Coffee with Fidel Castro… What would be your My Century story?

There are iPlayer links to 117 episodes of My Century in BBC Genome. Once you have followed any one of these, you can click on the tab marked Episodes to find many more in the series.

Another highlight is the international discussion series Agenda. It examines ideas and trends shaping the world. BBC Genome directly links to 18 episodes and once you are at the World Service Archive pages there are a total of 159 programmes from Agenda available. The collection touches on questions that still feel relevant, such as Do We Need the Commonwealth? and whether human nature is down to genetics (2002) 

For music lovers, BBC Genome links to a great programme from 1995 about the music and musicians of Kenya called African Ear. From that programme page, the rest of the series can be heard as the presenter visits local traditional musicians in Ethiopia and Senegal.

We would also recommend the fascinating series Print The Legend, exploring cinematic interpretations of history. Topics range from John Wayne Westerns to the cult classic The Vikings, and includes contributions from Hollywood greats such as Fred Zinnemann and John Milius. In one episode about cinema and big cities, there is a reconstruction of a deleted scene from the film Things to Come, and archive of writer HG Wells discussing the film which was based on The Shape of Things to Come, his science fiction story written in 1933. Definitely worth a listen!

BBC Genome listings come from the pages of Radio Times, which only began to list World Service programmes from 1989, and then only those available to British audiences. Before this time, many World Service programmes were also heard on Radio 4, so you may find WS programmes linked to their corresponding BBC Radio 4 listing in BBC Genome. (You will also find many other programmes broadcast in other parts of the world on the World Service website.)

We hope you enjoy browsing these newly released World Service programmes. Don’t forget to tell us your own favourites…

 Find out more about the World Service Archive project