From Our Own Correspondent: A Celebration of Fifty Years of the BBC Radio Programme by Tony Grant

From Our Own Correspondent: A Celebration of Fifty Years of the BBC Radio Programme Reviews

• 
  Apratim Mukherjee

  To start off,this book was written ten years ago.So some of the information is outdated.
  The book itself is a behind the scenes story of journalists broadcasting BBC news or From Our Own Correspondent.Since many of 105 stories,are either boring or do not connect to me,I am deducting a point.
  Secondly,there is a focus on USA in Americas section.Similar bias towards India and China is observed in Asia-Pacific section.So here I deduct another point.
  So I would suggest that please do not read the book if you are not a fan of BBC
• 
  Miceál

  There's a broad scope of events and subjects covered in this book, and each section is incredibly short -- rarely does a piece exceed three pages, and a majority of them are probably closer to the one-and-a-half to two page mark. The problem with some books of this structure is that it's very difficult to get your teeth into something so short, especially when you're immediately whisked off into the next totally different topic. This book does not suffer from this problem at all. It's an impressive mark of the writers' talents that each piece immediately pulls the reader in and leaves them, sometimes only a page later, with a lot on the imagination and a lot to think about. It's very clear why this radio programme has continued to be so popular over the decades, and this is a fitting tribute. I could happily sit down and read every single one of these.
  
  Regardless of if you're going to dip in and read it piece-by-piece over the course of several weeks, or if you want to sit down and read it in larger chunks, it'll still hold your attention and leave you with plenty to think about, and probably a list of new things to look up and read about, too. Like every collection, I personally enjoyed some more than others, though overall the quality did not vary widely -- I can think of only one where I thought justice hadn't quite been done, but it's all a matter of personal taste. No doubt there's something in here for everyone -- probably multiple somethings, in fact.
• 
  Lulu Rahman

  From Our Own Correspondent (FOOC) is one of the most popular programmes on the BBC and has been on air the last 50 years. It is still being aired on BBC World Service with millions of audience tuned in each week and have won several prestigious awards. This book is a commemoration of the various dispatches over the years written by various BBC correspondents and stringers. A total of 105 of its most popular dispatches that span its whole lifetime, displaying its depth, variety and brilliance are compiled this in volume.
  
  Divided into six parts, namely Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Early Years, Africa, Middle East and the Americas, most of the locations chosen by correspondents are places nobody would go to by choice. One such place is Norilsk, a former Russian boomtown located at the far north inside the Artic Circle. It’s a place that has been abandoned by all who can leave and those remaining do so because they just can’t. Kevin Connolly met up with one if its long-term resident, Tatiania Nikolaevna, who came as a prisoner in the 1940s when she was still a teenager. Her crime – slandering the Soviet State by reciting a nursery rhyme she learnt at home. Though she’s a free woman now, she still remains there because there’s nothing for her to go back to as her family members are all dead and she is just too broke. At one stage of the interview, she reached out to Kevin and started fiddling with his airplane ticket just so she can find out how much it cost without asking him. Her heartbreaking story reveals all the flaws of the Soviet system which has ruined and shortened the lives of its population.
  
  In another report, Andrew Harding writes about another interesting individual whom he described as the “stability among the chaos” in Chechnya. Aunt Natasha is a tiny wrinkled 60-year-old living in a village in Grozny. Here is a woman who have lived through the horrors of war and seen all kinds of violence and atrocities yet is still able to keep her wits. Andrew Harding recalled how she hooted with laughter as she describes her latest horror story – a bunch of local thugs broke into her home and having found nothing to steal, they ripped out her gold front teeth! Aunt Natasha is an independent old lady with an iron will to survive and nothing can scare her, probably because she has literally nothing to lose. But she will at last leave Grozny as she’s the only surviving ethnic Russian left in her street.
  
  Journalists rarely reveal much about their personal life but when they do, you can bet they tug fiercely to one’s heartstrings and is filled with such raw emotions that can bring its audience on the verge of tears. My favourite piece would be Fergal Keane’s Letter to Daniel. It’s a simple yet poignant piece that grips at one’s emotion. With his newborn cradled in one arm, he used his other hand to type about all the children who were abused, hurt or killed that he came across during his ‘tour of duty’. His fierce protective instinct for his newborn child lies in stark contrast as he reminisced over his dead father whom he had never known. No surprise, this is the most popular piece ever aired on FOOC.
  
  FOOC provides the stories and insights that look beyond the sensational headlines. Correspondents record their observations and personal perceptions of how ordinary citizens try to find normalcy amid the chaos, violence and war, which is why their accounts come with full sensory accompaniment. The stories are wide-ranging, from poignant to endearing and comical, albeit with the standard BBC dry humour. The words used are simple yet audience can sense the sincerity behind each report as the journalists laid bare their emotions.
  
• 
  John

  300-plus pages of 2 - 4 page reports (1990 - 2005) grouped by continent, as well as a section "From the Past" (going back to the Cold War-era). A few involve "big" stories, such as the fall of Mobutu in Zaire; the charm of the collection comes through in the many pieces showing an attachment to the places covered, where the correspondent makes a point through the story of an ordinary person, place, or event. Definitely recommended, with an added plus that with such brief pieces the book can be read "on the go" for those with unscheduled downtime.
• 
  Julian Schwarzenbach

  As you would expect, the wealth of source material means that all the pieces are well written, insightful and illuminating. However, I feel that the selection of stories is far too much biased towards recent stories and provides less of a historical context than it could.
• 
  Milan

  A collection of transcripts from FOOC programme on BBC Radio 4. Journalism from all over the world at its best.
• 
  Jim

  A brilliant selection of journalism that inspires you to sit down and write to try and create as opposed to merely record.
• 
  Michael Austin

  Terrific. Use it to make my days better, and escape for worlds new.