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Reginald Porter-Brown was the youngest of the four organists who opened the BBC theatre organ at St. George's Hall, London. Like many successful theatre organists, he started by playing the church organ when quite a youngster, and was assistant organist at a Bamsley church when he was only eleven.
On 16 June 1933, the BBC unveiled the Concert Hall's Compton organ, the first of the BBC Theatre Organs. To celebrate the event, the corporation broadcast a concert featuring George Thalben-Ball, G. D. Cunningham, and Walter Alcock. The organ featured 2,826 pipes in 35 ranks. [1]
Wurlitzer Organ. Hide image caption. The organ was the first to be installed in a West End cinema, the New Gallery, where it revolutionised the experience for cinema-goers in 1925 and...
The BBC's first in-house organ - a Compton organ - was unveiled at the BBC Radio Theatre (then named The Concert Hall) within Broadcasting House on 16 June 1933. [1] To celebrate the event, the corporation broadcast a concert with George Thalben-Ball , G. D. Cunningham , and Walter Alcock .
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Today, we usually associate theatre organs with silent films, but in the United Kingdom they remained popular well into the 1940s — in cinemas, at dance halls and especially on the radio. Starting in the 1920s, the BBC featured theatre organists from cinemas around the country. By the mid-1930s, the broadcasts became an almost daily feature. In 193...
Macpherson came into his own during the early months of the war, a period — called the “Bore War” — of intense anxiety when nothing seemed to happen. Sandy, as listeners called him, spoke like a reassuring, relatable friend. “Sandy Macpherson’s quiet voice is very reassuring at a time when our ears are on the alert for warning sirens,” one family w...
With social distancing and concern about COVID-19, we are turning to the media for news, but also entertainment and comfort. Musicians, arts organisations, public libraries and media corporations are responding with creativity and generosity. We have so many more choices than Macpherson’s Second World War listeners, but the question of what homebou...
The BBC Theatre Organ has been an unqualified success. As it is not merely an ordinary 'cinema' organ but is also a very fine and complete concert organ , in addition to its immense popularity as a solo instrument, it has proved its worth by being used to enhance practically
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Robert Hope-Jones was born on the 9 th February, 1859 in The Wirral, Cheshire. After leaving school, he was apprenticed at Laird’s the shipbuilders and then joined the Lancashire and Cheshire Telephone Company in 1881 and eventually became its Chief Engineer.
