FOOC - Anthony Lawrence

From Our Own Correspondent is simply a perfect use of radio. Listen with your eyes closed and you hop around the world, sharing a little quality time with engaging communicators who let you know what they’ve seen and felt in utterly engaging dispatches.

In this programme, broadcast originally from 1955 on the BBC Home Service, the BBC’s correspondents open their hearts and tell you the sort of things an informed friend might, were they doing that privileged job. The conflict and the character of far-flung countries. Although the audio quality has improved hugely since the early crackly lines from Vietnam, the quiet power of this programme still remains.

Now, the valiant Kate Adie presents the Radio 4 edition; and her colleague, Owen Bennett Jones, presents the BBC World Service equivalent. Both have an all too keen understanding of the job, as did Owen’s predecessor Alan Johnston.

In this audio from a 50th anniversary BBC documentary, an early editor, Anthony Lawrence, tells of the programme’s inception. Anthony was an accomplished correspondent himself, having been the BBC's ‘man in the Far East’ through the 50s, 60s and into the 70s.