Auntie takes over

Though the BBC began life in 1922, it was five years later that the organisation took over the running of the Proms. Now 32 years old, the festival itself was very popular but not in the greatest financial health – with co-founder Robert Newman having died the year before, things were looking iffy. Keen to find a way to broadcast concerts from the Queen’s Hall, the

BBC saw its chance… and pounced. ‘When I walked on to the platform for my first Promenade Concert under the British Broadcasting Corporation, I felt really elated,’ wrote conductor Henry Wood later. ‘I realised the work of such a large part of my life had been saved from an untimely death.’