Steve Wright

[stewamax]

After 'Listen with Mother' ?

Ahhh..... sorry ..... a severe attack of nostalgia
At 1.45pm my sister and I would be placed on our potties in front of the huge pre-war wooden-cased radio whose dial had meaningless but evocative stations like Hilversum and Droitwich.
Then:
bim be bum
bim be bum
bim be bum
bim be bum
bim bim

and the motherly reassuring voice of Daphne Oxenford when about to tell The Story: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin"

It was followed at 2.00 pm by (I think) Mrs Dale's Diary (she who was always "rather worried about Jim..." )

[doolally]

That's the new trendy Woman's Hour, I remember it being an afternoon activity.

Aha...I've only transitioned in the last decade or so.

You've transitioned? From what to what?
doolally

[XFool]

and the motherly reassuring voice of Daphne Oxenford when about to tell The Story: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin"

It was followed at 2.00 pm by (I think) Mrs Dale's Diary (she who was always "rather worried about Jim..." )

I thought that was in the morning, around 11am? But it is all so very, very long ago now...

Ah. The morning broadcast may have been the repeat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dale's_Diary

"On 19 February, 1963, a plump and embittered fifty-six-year-old character actress called Ellis Powell walked out of Broadcasting House for the last time. She was not a star. In fact, she had earned less than £30 a week. But her voice was as well known in Britain as that of Queen Elizabeth II, for it was heard twice a day by seven million devoted listeners. Miss Powell was Britain's most sacrosanct fictional paragon, Mrs. Dale, in the radio serial Mrs. Dale's Diary. And now, after fifteen years in the role she had created, the BBC had summarily fired her partly because of her drinking habits, and partly because it was felt that the role, and also the entire programme, was in need of a facelift. Three months later, at the age of fifty-seven, she died. Her friends believed she never recovered from the shock and distress of her summary dismissal by the BBC. In the last weeks of her life she worked as a demonstrator at the Ideal Home Exhibition and as a cleaner in an hotel."

I always thought Mrs Dale was played by a very well known British, 1930s film actress - can't now recall her name.
Ah. She was replaced by Jessie Mathews: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Matthews

[redsturgeon]

Aha...I've only transitioned in the last decade or so.

You've transitioned? From what to what?
doolally

From a non Woman's Hour listener to a Woman's Hour listener.

[Mike4]

I think it was an afternoon programme.

The thinking being, after a hard morning getting all the housework done, the wife deserved a nice sit-down and cup of tea, listening to her favourite programme on the wireless before the children arrived home from skool.

[stewamax]

....listening to her favourite programme on the wireless ...

And I called it radio. Wrong; sloppy me. In the Listen with Mother era, we did call it the wireless!
And we had a wind-up gramophone, not one of those electrically-powered inventions the record player

[Mike4]

....listening to her favourite programme on the wireless ...

And I called it radio. Wrong; sloppy me. In the Listen with Mother era, we did call it the wireless!
And we had a wind-up gramophone, not one of those electrically-powered inventions the record player

All the same, I always imagined term "wireless" was an abbreviation for something longer, but what? I could never quite figure it out.

Googling comes up with nothing but ChatGPT says this:

"The term "wireless" originated in the early days of radio technology. It refers to the transmission of electromagnetic signals through the air rather than through wires or cables.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as radio technology was being developed and experimented with, the term "wireless telegraphy" was commonly used to describe the transmission of telegraph messages without the use of wires. This technology was pioneered by figures like Guglielmo Marconi and others.

The term "wireless" itself emerged as a convenient way to describe this mode of communication without the need for physical wires. It emphasized the freedom and mobility that radio communication offered compared to earlier wired telegraph systems. Over time, "wireless" became synonymous with radio communication, and the term has persisted even as radio technology has evolved and become more sophisticated".

Good ol' ChatGPT. It's hard to remember a time when we didn't have it!

[kempiejon]

in 100 words tell me about life before ChatGPT
Show drafts

Before ChatGPT, AI chat was like basic Siri: factual, limited, and forgettable. LLMs were research secrets, not party guests. Then, boom! ChatGPT arrived, throwing open the doors to engaging conversation, creative writing, and a wave of "wow, is this an AI?". Competition exploded, new models emerged, and suddenly everyone was talking AI. But concerns lingered: misinformation, plagiarism, and lost jobs. Life pre-ChatGPT was simpler, unaware of AI's power and peril. Now, the conversation starts with everyone, shaping the future of AI together.

[simsqu]

in 100 words tell me about life before ChatGPT
Show drafts

Before ChatGPT, AI chat was like basic Siri: factual, limited, and forgettable. LLMs were research secrets, not party guests. Then, boom! ChatGPT arrived, throwing open the doors to engaging conversation, creative writing, and a wave of "wow, is this an AI?". Competition exploded, new models emerged, and suddenly everyone was talking AI. But concerns lingered: misinformation, plagiarism, and lost jobs. Life pre-ChatGPT was simpler, unaware of AI's power and peril. Now, the conversation starts with everyone, shaping the future of AI together.

I'm sorry. I fell asleep halfway through that

[stevensfo]

After 'Listen with Mother' ?

Ahhh..... sorry ..... a severe attack of nostalgia
At 1.45pm my sister and I would be placed on our potties in front of the huge pre-war wooden-cased radio whose dial had meaningless but evocative stations like Hilversum and Droitwich.
Then:
bim be bum
bim be bum
bim be bum
bim be bum
bim bim

and the motherly reassuring voice of Daphne Oxenford when about to tell The Story: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin"

It was followed at 2.00 pm by (I think) Mrs Dale's Diary (she who was always "rather worried about Jim..." )

I remember the music and decades later, learned that it was the Dolly Suite by Faure. I can't listen to the music without a few tears in my eyes. I also remember a teacher reading 'The Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton, while we sat underneath a tree in the playground!

Steve

PS Loads of my relatives were Primary school teachers and confessed, years later, that they had used such occasions to nip off and have a crafty fag outside. They also confessed that Friday afternoons, lots went to the pub and left the young teachers in charge. Happy days!

[XFool]

And I called it radio. Wrong; sloppy me. In the Listen with Mother era, we did call it the wireless!
And we had a wind-up gramophone, not one of those electrically-powered inventions the record player

All the same, I always imagined term "wireless" was an abbreviation for something longer, but what? I could never quite figure it out.

Starting around the turn of the 20th century it originally meant "wireless telegraphy". Literally, electric telegraphy, but without wires. It eventually also came to mean wireless telephony and then wireless broadcasting. "Wireless" became old fashioned, associated with your granny, and was displaced by the term "radio", presumably from the term "radio waves".

Then, in a stroke of historical irony, at the turn of the 21st century the term "wireless" came back into fashion - this time referring to wireless computer networking.

[scotia]

It's a sobering thought that an increasing number of announcements such as this are of people younger than me.

--kiloran

Clearly we have got safely past the danger zone