Transcribing the Past

  Mil gracias! Christmas greetings and thanks from the Basque children     We thank all the people of England, Wales and Scotland who have helped us - The Basque children in England. Six months ago you saved nearly four thousand of us from bombs and machine-gun fire and hunger. To-day in homes all over your island we are being looked after, fed, warmed, and well-treated. Some of us have been able to go home to our fathers and mothers in Bilbao now that there are no longer air-raids. Those who have been looking after us took great care to see that only those claimed by parents should go home. Many of us cannot yet have that happiness. Some of us have lost all trace of our mothers after the fall of Santander and Gijon. Others know now that our mothers and our brothers and sisters are in Catalonia, suffering from hunger and cold and illness. They cannot take us back yet.      There have been some people who have made a lot of propaganda about our being here. T...

  In the immediate aftermath of World War II Mosley and the British Union of Fascists members were released from prison as the threat of a pro Nazi fifth column subsided. Unfortunately the defeat of their patrons Mussolini and Hitler, and the revelations of the Concentration camp system and the Holocaust didn't lead to much repenting. Mosley and a core group of Fascists became active again in the East End hoping to rebuild their movement. Understandably this attempted resurrection was bitterly opposed by the Jewish community. The main source of opposition was the 43 Group, its backbone was Jewish ex servicemen but the group did include civilian men and women and some non Jewish members. Here is an interview with a member of the group followed by a discussion with Professor Nigel Copsey of Teesside University about the post war resurgence of Fascism and the effectiveness of the 43 Group. Transcript of the above video Max Pierson Program Editor: We begin on th...

  In 1981 tensions over racist police officers abusing and harassing local black Liverpudlians exploded with a riot that for a few weeks managed to drive the police out of the area and force the government to respond and look into concessions. However, with the use of CS (Tear) gas for the first time in the UK and reinforcements enabled the police to take back control of the streets. Racism in policing hasn't gone away and riots against police harassment would become more common in the 80's. And of course the response to police killings of coloured people has sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and UK. Transcription [Program Producer Max Pierson] Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pierson. Next, we move forward in time and onto the streets of Liverpool, in the English Northwest. In the 1980s the industrial and economic changes introduced by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had led to conside...

  Link  https://youtu.be/xBcTOje1v4s The Peterloo Massacre Transcript Note: Melvyn Bragg interrupts a lot in this segment and often appears to do so without a fully formed question in mind. So, I've dealt with this in two ways, either typing out what I believe he meant to say based on the context of the discussion and the replies, or failing that cut out the interruptions.  In addition while this talk on Peterloo is important particularly as it relates the other events of political and economic change that surround the meeting on St. Petersfield it does still contain some myths which I've decided to respond to via footnotes. Melvyn Bragg: Hello in 1819 Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote “I met Murder on the way— He had a mask like Castlereagh— Very smooth he looked, yet grim; Seven blood-hounds followed him: All were fat; and well they might Be in admirable plight, For one by one, and two by two, He tossed them human hearts to chew ...