The British Entertainment History Project (BEHP) records and preserves interviews with the men and women who have worked in British film, television, radio and theatre industries over the last 100 years "to ensure that their lives and experiences are preserved for future generations".

History

Founded in 1987 by Roy Fowler, the History Project started as an independent volunteer project by members of the industry trade union, ACTT, who wanted to preserve the stories and memories of the lives of the men and women who had been working in the various film and television industries. The organisation was originally called the ''ACTT History Project'', reflecting the fact that though it was an entirely separate project run by volunteers, it was nevertheless supported by the ACTT union. In 1991, the ACTT merged with the

Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance The Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA) was a short-lived British entertainment trade union. It was founded in 1984 with the merger of the Association of Broadcasting Staff and the National Association of Theatrical Television ...

, to form BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) and the ACTT History Project became known as the BECTU History Project. In 2016, it was officially registered as a company limited by guarantee, as an independent, non-profit, voluntary organisation, and renamed the British Entertainment History Project.

Archive collection

The unique and internationally recognized archive collection has grown to over 700 oral history interviews and over 4,000 hours of audio and video recordings making it the largest independent oral history collection of its kind in the UK. The recordings are used as a

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...

by researchers and students, especially in the fields of media and social history. In addition, the archive is used by television and radio programmes, film documentaries, publishers, authors, historians, obituarists and journalists as well as the general public. Other partnerships and collaborations include work with the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, the

British Universities Film & Video Council British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and with universities such as the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. In 2017, the BEHP began working with Sussex University and other partners as part of the 100 voices That Made The BBC''', which is part of the ''Connected Histories of the BBC'', funded by the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

(AHRC). Copies of all interview recordings also form part of the National Film archive of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

and a significant number were made available as part of BFI Screen Online.

Interviewees

The interviewees are drawn from professionals in the United Kingdom, but also include British professionals who worked abroad. Although the archive includes many well-known interviewees, the overall emphasis is on reflecting genuine breadth and variety, including those who may not be well known, but who, nevertheless have contributed to, or witnessed, important productions or have a unique story. Capturing their reminiscences provides information about the cultural history of Britain's broadcasting and entertainment, whilst also shining a light on employment practices and the social history of particular periods. The aim is that future historians of the entertainment industry will have access to testimonies from participants in the film and television industries.

Notable interviewees

John Ammonds John Ammonds, (21 May 1924 – 13 February 2013)Graham McCanObituary: John Ammonds ''The Guardian'', 15 February 2013.Retrieved 16 February 2013. was a British television producer of light entertainment programmes. Ammonds was born in Kenningto ...

Derek Boshier Derek Boshier (19 June 1937 – 5 September 2024) was an English artist, among the first proponents of British pop art. Greene, Alison de Lima (2000). Texas: 150 Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. New ...

Dallas Bower Dallas Bower (25 July 1907 – 18 October 1999) was a British director and producer active during the early development of mass media communication. Throughout his career Bower's work spanned radio plays, television shows, propaganda shorts, anim ...

David Cobham Michael David Cobham (11 May 1930 – 25 March 2018) was a British film and TV producer and director, best known for the film ''Tarka the Otter (1979 film), Tarka the Otter''. He was also a first-class cricketer. Early life Cobham was educated ...

Jill Craigie Noreen Jean "Jill" Craigie (7 March 1911 – 13 December 1999) was a British documentary film director, producer, screenwriter and feminist. She was one of Britain's earliest female documentary makers. Her early films demonstrate Craigie's inte ...

Charles Crichton Charles Ainslie Crichton (6 August 1910 – 14 September 1999) was an English film director and film editor, editor. Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, he became best known for directing many comedies produced at Ealing Studios and had a 40-yea ...

* John Dark *

Colin Dean Colin Dean (1919-2007) was an Australian producer and director who worked in Australian TV in the 1950s and 1960s. He worked in the UK in the late 1940s, and returned to Australia in the 1950s. Select credits *'' The Queen in Australia'' (1954) ...

Desmond Dickinson Desmond Evelyn Otho Cockburn Dickinson B.S.C. (1902–1986) was a British cinematographer. He was cinematographer on ''Such Is the Law'' (1930). He directed ''Detective Lloyd'' (1932), notable as Britain's only talkie serial. During World War I ...

Clive Donner Clive Stanley Donner (21 January 1926 – 6 September 2010) Ronald Berganbr>Obituary: Clive Donner ''The Guardian'', 7 September 2010 was a British film director who was part of the British New Wave, directing films such as '' The Caretaker'', ...

* Edward Dryhurst * John Elliot (author) *

David Elstein David Keith Elstein (born 14 November 1944) is an executive producer and a former chair of openDemocracy. Early life and career His parents were Polish orphans who were brought to Britain by the Rothschild Foundation, and ran a ladies' outfitter ...

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes Order of the British Empire, CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2 ...

Freddie Francis Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director whose filmmaking career spanned over 60 years, from the late 1930s until the late 2000s. One of the most celebrated British cinemato ...

Cyril Frankel Cyril Solomon Israel Frankel (28 December 19217 June 2017) was a British film and television director. His career in television began in 1953 and he directed for over 30 TV programmes until 1990. He directed many episodes of popular British TV s ...

Harold French Harold French (23 April 1897 – 19 October 1997) was an English film director, screenwriter and actor. Biography After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Italia Conti School, he made his acting debut age 12, in a produ ...

James Gilbert (producer) Cecil James Gilbert (15 May 1923 – 7 July 2016) was a Scottish television producer, director and executive for the BBC, who was its head of comedy from 1973 to 1977 and head of light entertainment from 1977 to 1982. Early life Cecil James Gi ...

Bob Godfrey Roland Frederick Godfrey MBE (27 May 1921 – 21 February 2013),Jack Gold Jacob M. Gold (28 June 1930 – 9 August 2015) was a British film and television director. He was part of the British realist tradition which followed the Free Cinema movement. Career Jacob M. Gold was born on 28 June 1930, in North Lond ...

Guy Green (filmmaker) Guy Mervin Charles Green Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE British Society of Cinematographers, BSC (5 November 191315 September 2005) was an England, English film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. In 1948 in f ...

John Halas John Halas OBE (born János Halász;Brian McFarlane ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'', London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p.48 16 April 1912 – 21 January 1995) was a pioneering British animator. Together with Gyula Macskássy (an acquaintance fro ...

* Gordon Hales *

John Hough (director) John Hough (born 21 November 1941) is a British film and television director. He is primarily known for his suspense films of the 1970s and 1980s, including ''Twins of Evil'' (1971), ''The Legend of Hell House'' (1973), ''The Incubus (film), Th ...

Joan Kemp-Welch Joan Kemp-Welch (23 September 19065 July 1999) was a British stage and film actress, who later went on to become a television director. After making her stage debut in 1926 at the Q Theatre, Kemp-Welch made her film debut in 1933 and appeared in ...

John Krish John Jeffrey Krish (4 December 1923 – 7 May 2016) was a British film director and screenwriter. He directed and filmed much archive footage and in particular ''Our School'' in 1962, showing the changing ways of Britain's school and the last ...

Bill Mason (director) Rowland Hill Berkeley Mason (9 November 1915 – 17 January 2002),Bill Mason
at bfi.org.uk (accessed 16 Oc ...

* Ernest Maxin *

Christopher Miles Christopher Miles (19 April 1939 – 15 September 2023) was a British film director, producer and screenwriter. Personal life Christopher Miles was born in London, England, the eldest of four children to Clarice Remnant (‘Wren’), a councill ...

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

Ivor Montagu Ivor Goldsmid Samuel Montagu (23 April 1904, in Kensington, London – 5 November 1984, in Watford) was an English filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, film critic, writer, table tennis player, and Communist activist and spy in the 1930s. He help ...

Christopher Morahan Christopher Thomas Morahan CBE (9 July 1929 – 7 April 2017) was a British stage and television director and production executive. Biography Early life and career Morahan was born on 9 July 1929 in London, the son of film production designer ...

Diana Morgan (screenwriter) Mary Diana Morgan (29 May 1908 – 9 December 1996) was a Welsh playwright, screenwriter and novelist, mostly associated with her work for Ealing Studios as Diana Morgan. She was married to fellow screenwriter Robert MacDermot. Career Mary Dia ...

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger ( ; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood ...

Francis Searle Francis Searle (14 March 1909 – 31 July 2002) was an English film director, writer and producer. He was active in the post-Second World War cinema industry. Amongst the films he directed were ''The Lady Craved Excitement'' (1950), ''One Way Ou ...

Don Sharp Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director. His best known films were made for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''Kiss of the Vampire (film), Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ' ...

* Michael
Smedley-Aston *

Jeremy Summers Jeremy Summers (18 August 1931 – 14 December 2016) was a British television director and film director, known for directing television series such as ''The Saint (TV series), The Saint'' and films such as ''Five Golden Dragons'', ''The House o ...

* Diane Tammes *

Bernard Vorhaus Bernard Vorhaus (December 25, 1904 – November 23, 2000) was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Kraków, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Early ...

* Aida Young

Awards

In 1999, the History Project was awarded a £3,500 grant from th
Kraszna Krausz Foundation
to help towards the enormous task of transcribing hundreds of audio tapes. In 2010, the History Project was honored with a Lifetime Contribution to Broadcasting Award at a ceremony at

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

.{{Cite web, url=https://www.bectu.org.uk/news/1050, title=Kaleidoscope honours History Project - BECTU, website=www.bectu.org.uk, language=en, access-date=2018-08-08

References

External links

British Entertainment History Project (BEHP)BEHP Vimeo channelBEHP at Companies HouseBECTU
Entertainment industry Oral history