Naturists, Naturalists and Neighbours

Available for over a year

Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show, uses his access-all-areas pass to the BBC Archives to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories as a springboard into the vast vaults of past programmes. Celebrating 100 years of the BBC, the archive team have been selecting their favourite treasures from the vaults. Greg takes a look at some of these archivists' picks, which lead him on a trip to a nudist beach in Yorkshire, where the locals are less than impressed. Staying by the sea, he visits Broadstairs in 1957, taking in the cuisine and eavesdropping on a fractious town council meeting. An exchange of letters between writer Reverend W Awdry and the BBC reveals a disastrous attempt to broadcast a live Thomas the Tank Engine story in 1953. Greg also finds a fascinating piece of history from a BBC reporter who was stranded in a lighthouse for a month by bad weather. After 37 years, Neighbours is leaving our screens. To say goodbye, Greg unearths audience feedback from the height of its popularity on the BBC. And the big question back then – is that Kylie Minogue or Rick Astley singing I Should Be So Lucky? And - why do radio presenters find it so difficult to tell the time? Producer: Tim Bano