‘At important times, people still turn to the BBC’

As the BBC celebrates turning 100, Radio 4’s Today programme presenter Martha Kearney pays tribute to a British institution.

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of the BBC: sitting on the floor in front of our large, dark brown wireless, waiting for Listen With Mother. We didn’t have a television then, so I had to go to neighbours’ to see Watch With Mother, where I was utterly transfixed by Spotty Dog and Bill and Ben. When we finally got our own set, I became a devoted fan of Blue Peter and was utterly starstruck years later to move into a flat in the same building as one of its presenters, Valerie Singleton. She’s just one of the many women who contributed so much to the BBC dating back to its earliest days.

Dame Nellie Melba was one of the first voices ever broadcast in Britain, while the BBC’S very first director of talks, Hilda Matheson, a former MI5 agent in the First World War, was a pioneering woman. She completely changed the way the BBC communicated with its audience, urging broadcasters to be more informal and conversational. It’s still a golden rule for us presenters: to think about talking to an individual listener rather than the many millions who are actually listening.

Over time, the BBC became a trusted voice in the life of the nation, especially during the Second World War. Winston Churchill delivered 33 major wartime speeches by radio, all broadcast by the BBC. The experiences of the civilian population during the Blitz were vividly brought to life by Audrey Russell, the first female war correspondent, who reported from the scene of many bombsites in London. That journalistic tradition is kept alive by my colleagues who report from Ukraine, Afghanistan and other conflicts.

The original values laid out by the founder of the BBC, Lord Reith, were to inform, educate and entertain and, while a huge amount has changed over 100 years, those values are still at the heart of what we do. Despite the much wider competition there now is in the world of broadcasting, the BBC still has a central role in our national life, with 90% of UK adults using it every week.

Of course, there are critical voices and I do joke to Today listeners that we can hear them shouting at the radio. But at important times, people still turn to the BBC, whether it’s for information during a pandemic, to celebrate the Lionesses’ victory, to learn about nature from Sir David Attenborough – or to work out the latest twist in Line Of Duty.

I’ve been working for the BBC for nearly a quarter of its 100 years and feel proud to be part of the teamwork that goes on behind the scenes. As we head into the next 100 years, there will be discussions about its future; my own hope is that its unique blend of news, entertainment, sport and drama will continue to inform, educate and inspire for years to come.