{
  "title": "A. J. ALAN",
  "category": "[RADIO APPEARANCES]",
  "article": "A. J. Alan, the microphone nom-de-plume of British civil servant Leslie Harrison Lambert, was\nthe premier teller of ghost and “shaggy dog” stories in the earliest days of the BBC. “In his very\nfirst broadcast,” noted announcer Stuart Hibberd, “Alan made such a hit that whenever his name\nappeared in the Radio Times thousands of listeners noted the date and time in their diaries.” An\nA. J. story, whether it concerned a ghost, a murder, or something stranger, was truly an event to\nanticipate. “Whenever A. J. Alan told one of his preposterous stories in the early days of the\nwireless,” reminisced Times writer Leonard Buckley in 1971, “you always listened. Everybody\ndid.”\nThe fact that the listening public knew nothing about the man behind the voice only heightened\nthe anticipation. “His name carried an aura of mystery about it,” explained Hibberd. “In fact, A. J.\nAlan was the mystery man of radio. ‘Tell me, who is this fellow Alan? What does he look like? Is\nAlan his real name? (How many times had I been asked such questions!)” Radio Times humorist\nA. A. Thomson remarked, not altogether facetiously, that “the identity of A. J. Alan is one of the\nmajor mysteries of the century.” But the true identity of Alan was a closely-guarded secret which\nwas known only to, as Eric Partridge expressed it, “a very narrow circle at Broadcasting House,”\nand was not revealed until after his death. “He was known to cut even his friends for fear that they\nmight reveal his identity,” remembered Freddy Grisewood. “As it happened, I knew him quite\nwell, but when later I joined the B.B.C. and had the job of announcing him he showed not the\nfaintest sign of recognition.”\nBut even those who were acquainted with him as Lambert in the 1920s knew next-to-nothing\nabout his earlier years, and reportedly the man himself would close up like a clam whenever the\nsubject was broached. Latter-day research has uncovered the fact that he achieved a modicum of\ncelebrity in his mid-twenties as a professional magician. He was, Eric Partridge revealed, “a\nmember of ‘The Magic Circle’ in its early days and later a polished, very skilful, original performer\nwith Maskelyne at St. George’s Hall…”\nGeorge Facer\n[According to The Times:\n[June 10, 1907] “The Belgrave Hospital for Children… Summer Fair and Spanish Market at\nPrince’s Skating Rink, Knightsbridge… Mr. Leslie Lambert gave exhibitions of conjuring.”\n[June 14, 1907] “The Queen’s Fete, at the Mansion-house, organized by the Lord Mayor for the\ncare and treatment of crippled children… The large company assembled in the Egyptian Hall…\nDuring the afternoon an entertainment was given in the old ballroom, in which…Mr. Leslie\nLambert…took part.”\n[February 27, 1908] Ad for “MASKELYNE and DEVANT’S MYSTERIES, St. George’s-Hall… Mr.\nLeslie Lambert… Mr. Maskelyne’s ‘Spectres of the Sanctum’…”\n[April 1, 1909] “The Prince and Princess of Wales gave an Afternoon Party in honour of Prince\nHenry of Wales’ birthday… A selection of songs were rendered by the Metropolitan Police\nMinstrels…and Mr. Leslie Lambert gave an exhibition of conjuring.”\n[December 3, 1909] “The Duchess of Albany was present yesterday afternoon at an entertainment\norganized to celebrate the jubilee of the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic…\nAmong the artists who contributed to it were…Mr. Leslie Lambert.”\n[July 22, 1913] “Princess Alexander of Teck will be present at a concert at Margate Pavilion in aid\nof a scholarship fund of the Imperial Service College… The following are giving their services:\n…Mr. Leslie Lambert…”\n[November 3, 1913] “…at the Coliseum this week… Mr. Lionel Atwill will produce an illusionary\nsketch, founded by Mr. Cyril Twyford on Mr. H. G. Wells’s story, ‘The Invisible Man,’ the illusions\nbeing by Mr. Leslie Lambert.”\n[November 10, 1913] In a bill that also featured W. C. Fields… Ad: Messrs. Cyril Twyford and\nLionel Atwill present…”THE INVISIBLE MAN,” a Farce suggested by the Story by H. G. Wells…”\nThere are missing years in Lambert’s chronology during and after the Great War, and it is\nspeculated that he was heavily involved in secret intelligence work for the British government. He\nhad a rank of naval commander and an appointment at the Admiralty.\nThe saga of the fourteen-year stint of A. J. Alan on the air really began in December of 1923. On\nthe 19th of the month Lambert tuned in to London station 2LO to hear Sir William Bull, a former\ndirector of the original B.B.C., Ltd., give a talk entitled “Western Stories in an Eastern Fashion.”\nDuring the course of his broadcast Sir William decried the death (or, at least, the dearth) of the\nart of story-telling in the modern age. Lambert was inspired on the spot to rise to the challenge,\nand the following morning he rang up his next-door neighbor, Rex Palmer, who happened to be\nthe managing director of the London station (as well as being a microphone performer, both as a\nbaritone vocalist and as “Uncle Rex” of the Childrens’ Hour). Lambert, who was only casually\nknown to Palmer, explained that he had some ideas for stories and would like, if possible, to have\nan audition to try them out.\n“More clearly than anyone else,” noted British broadcasting historian Asa Briggs, “Alan realized\nthat radio offered completely new possibilities of communication. He realized also that radio\ncould make a broadcaster into ‘a mystery man,’ a topic of universal conversation.”\nHIBBERD: “He took the very greatest care in the presentation and rehearsal of the manuscripts,\nand having written and timed a story—he was most meticulous about timing—he would record it,\nplay it back to himself, noting where to put in the little asides which always seemed so\nspontaneous. Then he would ask one or two trusted friends to come to his house to listen and\ncriticize, adding a pause here, altering a downward inflection of the voice there, until he himself\nwas reasonably satisfied.”\nHIBBERD: “When broadcasting he used to sit on a high stool close to the microphone—\noriginally the old meat-safe magnetophone type—with his manuscript, pasted on to sheets of\ncardboard, in a pile on his knees. He spoke very quietly at the microphone. (If you fidgeted or\ncreaked your chair you got a black look!)… The idea of the sheets of cardboard was to eliminate\nany possibility of paper-rustle, which would have destroyed the illusion he was out to create—\nnamely, that he was sitting by his own fireside, relating some incredible adventure that had just\nhappened to him.”\nGRISEWOOD: “…his mystery stories, …though rehearsed in such detail that he even pasted his\nscript on cardboard to prevent the paper rustling, always sounded absolutely spontaneous and\nended at the perfect psychological moment with such remark as: ‘Curious, wasn’t it?’”\nAlan further fostered this notion of spontaneous storytelling in the preface to his book Good\nEvening, Everyone! “Everything I say over the microphone,” he baldly stated, “is taken down in\nshorthand and transcribed afterwards…”\n[David Wade] “…with his slightly clipped, almost prim speech and calculated intimacy, he\nsounded like a caricature of The Clubman, deep in his armchair in a hushed and lofty room off\nPall Mall, hypnotizing his neighbour with never-ending anecdotes.”\nHIBBERD: “Once, in the late nineteen-twenties, he saw in the paper that the lights had gone out\nwhile I was reading the News, but that I managed to carry on with the aid of matches and a\ncandle, until the bulletin ended. The next time he came to the studio he insisted on having the\ncandle lit in the reading-lamp beforehand. The electric light did not go out, but the candle did—\nsuddenly with a loud click, for there was only a stump of it—and the spring in the reading-lamp\njerked it out, throwing grease all over him, but A. J., unperturbed, carried on as if nothing had\nhappened. After that experience he decided never again to trust B.B.C. candles, but always\nbrought his own candle in a candlestick, and solemnly lit it before he began. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I’m\ntaking no chances’.”\nGRISEWOOD: “A society conjurer, a naval commander with an appointment at the Admiralty,\nA. J. Alan, whose real name was Leslie Lambert, enshrouded himself with an air of mystery as\neffectively as his stories—so much so Everybody knew perfectly well that his name was not really\nAlan, and consequently many attempts were made to unmask him. One day, while talking to the\nannouncer at the end of a broadcast, he chanced to hear that a battery of Press photographers\nwere waiting outside the studio with this intent; so Alan, a match in cunning for any man, left the\nstudio by another door and brazenly joined the photographers as an interested spectator. In due\ncourse the announcer emerged by the correct door—and was immediately photographed in his\nstead.”\nSNAGGE & BARSLEY: “…as one listened it was the voice and the style which mattered as much\nas the stories themselves: a voice entirely distinctive, defying imitation, with an urbanity which\nreflected the appearance of the real man.”\nHIBBERD: “What was the secret of his art—for art it certainly was? In the first place, I should\nsay that he was a born raconteur, with ideas, imagination and a keen sense of humour, and, being\na first-class radio technician, saw in a flash the great possibilities of radio as a medium for his own\nparticular line. He also thoroughly understood the intimate nature of the microphone, and made\neach listener think that he was telling the story to him, and to him alone; it was done in such a\nnatural, detached and effortless way.”\nTimes reviewer David Williams held his style up as a standard of horror: “One thinks of A. J.\nAlan’s broadcast stories long ago—so airy, and yet so chill… A casual, improvisatory ease of\nmanner somehow heightens uncanniness.”\n“Another intriguing quality of the stories,” noted Snagge and Barsley in Those Vintage Years of\nRadio, “is that, right from the first one, ‘An Adventure in Jermyn Street,’ they tend to have no real\nsolution, almost like ghost stories –and indeed, the mysterious Captain Lambert, candle and all,\nhas almost a ghost-like quality himself…”\nAlan’s 1924 Boxing Day broadcast presented his first full-fledged supernatural tale (probably\neither “The Hair” or “The Dream”) and in doing so inaugurated an Alan Yuletide tradition of\nspectral storytelling for many years to come. The following year he told the story of “The Diver”\non Christmas night, prefacing his performance with some appropriately facetious jibes at the\nbroadcasting company. “For some reason or other, the B.B.C. are always asking me to tell a ghost\nstory,” he mock-complained. “At least, they don’t ask me, they tell me I’ve got to. I say, ‘What kind\nof a ghost story?’ and they say, ‘Any kind you like, so long as it’s a personal experience and\nperfectly true’.”\nIn 1927 the Radio Times declared: “Four years of broadcasting have produced no microphone\npersonality more distinctive than that of Mr. A.J. Alan. His gift defies definition as it frustrates\nimitation; like the charm of Lily Elsie and the humour of Grock, it is inimitable and unique… [I]t\nis his way of telling rather than what he tells that counts.”\nAs an example of Alan’s particular stylistic touch of relating the horrific with a matter-of-fact\nconversational approach (peppered with sardonic humor), a passage from the story “Cuthbert”\nwill certainly suffice. The narrator has been taken into the confidence of an acquaintance who\nlives in “a dark, gloomy house which backed on to the Regent’s Canal.” This man, a brilliant\nmathematician, fears that he may have accidentally killed a tramp while taking a potshot out his\nback window at a yowling feline. He begins to have horrible nightmares fomented by his belief in\nhis own guilt:\n“He dreamt that he was sitting in his study waiting for something to happen. Presently the\nwater-level of the canal began to rise, and it went on rising until his house was completely\nsubmerged, right over the roof. None of the water came in, but it made everything dark and\ncold, and looking out of the window was exactly like looking into a vast tank in an aquarium.\nVarious things were floating about in the dull, greenish light—dirty weeds and dead dogs and so\non—and it was all most eerie and unpleasant. The wall at the far end of the garden was just\nvisible through the gloom, and gradually there floated up over it a ghastly shape. This ‘Thing’\nswam very slowly and clumsily towards the window, from which, of course, Christopher was\nquite unable to tear himself away, and when it got near enough he saw that it was a man. He\nwas rather bald and had straggling wisps of grey hair hanging down over his face….\nChristopher knew instinctively, as one does in dreams, that this was his victim.\n…[Unable] to stir a finger…he was obliged to watch Cuthbert’s ineffectual attempts to open the\nwindow. (I’m afraid it was I who christened him Cuthbert, but one had to call him something.)\nAt any rate, he finally drifted away, disappointed, the waters gradually subsided back into the\ncanal, and Christopher woke up feeling like nothing on earth.”\nA number of Alan’s best stories have nothing of the supernatural about them (even in dreams),\nbut nevertheless strike a macabre and unsettling note. In “Wottie,” for example, he relates…etc.\netc.\nThe extent to which Alan’s mixture of the macabre and the sardonically understated may have\ninfluenced the public persona latterly assumed by Alfred Hitchcock has never really been\nexamined, but certainly there are Alan stories which might very well be labeled Hitchcockian.\n“The 19 Club”…\n[with an unwanted corpse (ala The Trouble With Harry) creating an embarrassment for the\nmembers of the dining society…]\nToward the end of his life, as war loomed on the European horizon in 1939, Lambert added yet\nanother layer of mystery to his persona as he became part of the top-secret team of codebreakers\nthat were assembled at the MI6 War Station in Bletchley Park, the unit that was eventually\nresponsible for cracking Nazi Germany’s reputedly unbreakable Enigma cipher. The\naccomplishment of this feat was crucial to Allied victory, according to Michael Smith, author of\nStation X: Decoding Nazi Secrets, and ended up “saving thousands of lives and cutting up to\nthree years off the length of the war.” One of the youngest recruits to the Naval Section of the\nstation was eighteen-year-old Barbara Abernethy, who was astounded when she realized exactly\nwho she was working with. “There was this man in the Naval Section called A.J. Alan,” she told\nMichael Smith. “He was a BBC commentator, his real name was Leslie Lambert… He told funny\nstories in a very sort of blasé accent… There was nothing I was able to tell my mother [about the\nstation’s operations]. But I said: ‘You’ll never guess who I work with, A.J. Alan.’ From then on my\nstock went up.”\nIn the years following his death there has been confusion as to the exact date of Lambert’s final\nbroadcast as “A. J. Alan.” This confusion started immediately post-mortem with the Times\nobituary stating erroneously that his last BBC appearance had been on March 21, 1940. But this\nauthor’s research has identified the Christmas Day, 1938 re-telling of “Wottie” as the Alan\nswansong.\nIt is entirely possible that he may have been too ill to broadcast after that date—or too absorbed\nin his MI6 responsibilities. It is known that he had been having medical problems since 193?,\nwhen he was off the air for ?? months. In the summer of 1940 he underwent an operation from\nwhich he never fully recovered, and eventually he passed away in a Norwich convalescent home\non December 14, 1941.\n“When he died,” relates Eric Partridge, “there was, even in those dark days, a general wave of\nregret, a sighed ‘To think that we’ll never hear him again!’”\n[The Times, Wednesday, December 17, 1941] “…the death of ‘A. J. Alan’ at a Norwich nursing\nhome on Saturday… He broadcast at most five times a year…the last occasion was on March 21,\n1940.”\n[PHS, “Alan’s Candles”, 1970] “The Alan recordings are frequently revived but devoted listeners\nmay have been surprised to hear Alan stories read recently on Monday mornings on Radio 2 by a\nskilful but quite different performer, Peter Tuddenham. The reason is that they come from scripts\ndelivered by Alan, but never recorded in those more haphazard days.\n“Some half dozen were found by a retired B.B.C. engineer, Norman Duret (an Alan fan like\nTuddenham) in the Norfolk depository of the firm which published some of Alan’s stories, and the\nB.B.C. got Tuddenham to record five.”\n[David Wade, 1976] “Ian Carmichael has been reading a group of five stories by Alan in the gap\nleft at 8:45 am on Radio 4… Carmichael is no Alan, but it was plain that he had been studying the\nAlan style with some care.”\nDuring his lifetime two collections of his stories were published by Hutchinson & Co.—Good\nEvening, Everyone! (1928) and A. J. Alan’s Second Book (1932). In 1954 a retrospective Best of A.\nJ. Alan pulled together selections from the two earlier books plus a handful of tales which he had\nrelated after 1932. Unfortunately, there is currently no collection of his stories still in print, and\nseveral of his later stories remain unpublished.\nAs to his actual broadcasts, there are surviving recordings in the BBC archives, but it is\nuncertain how many. A 1949 article in the Radio Times commented: “Nobody who heard him can\nforget the subtle voice of A. J. Alan and from time to time listeners express a wish to hear his\nstories again. Fortunately a great many of them were recorded. Some of the discs show signs of\nage, for the recording of programmes had not then reached the technical level of today, but the\nquality is good enough to justify revivals.” However, the “great many” appeared to have\nsubstantially dwindled somehow by 1970 when a Times article  declared that “the B.B.C.’s sound\narchives have five of the original recordings in stock, as well as an account by the veteran\nannouncer Stuart Hibberd of Alan’s meticulous methods.” In 1976 David Wade said: “I only\nbecame aware of A. J. Alan when recordings of him were resurrected for the Corporation’s\nJubilee.”  [1972?]\nSir John Reith, the first General Manager of the BBC, wrote in appreciation of Alan: “An old-\ntime story-teller…found his way into the twentieth century from those days before the invention\nof printing, when the art of story-telling was honoured by court, castle and cotter’s ben…. As\nprinting became established in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the art gradually died out,\nand several centuries have had to pass before Broadcasting has afforded the long-delayed\nopportunity for a revival. It is no exaggeration to say that A. J. Alan has been a pioneer. No story-\nteller before him ever had so many listeners: no listeners a better story-teller.”",
  "origination": "2LO (1924-1930) and National Programme, etc. (1930-1938), London (BBC).",
  "duration": "January 31, 1924-December 25, 1938 (sporadic appearances during these years).",
  "personnel": "John Cardy (producer—1975, Good Morning Everyone), Ian Carmichael (voice of “A. J.\nAlan”—1975, Good Morning Everyone), Freddy Grisewood (announcer), Stuart Hibberd (announcer), Leslie\nHarrison Lambert (voice of \"A. J. Alan\"—BBC), Peter Tuddenham (voice of “A. J. Alan”—1970, Radio 2),\nRonald Waldman (producer).\nAn excerpt from \"Wottie\" was played on the horror retrospective program The Return of the Man in Black,\nA recording of “The Photograph” (catalogued as “My Photograph”) resides in the Vincent Voice Library at\nMichigan State University.\nTwo recordings exist of a dramatization of \"My Adventure in Norfolk,” narrated by Sir Ralph Richardson.\nThe first is from its original run as part of the Theatre Royal series, and the second from the repeat of this\nshow on the ?/?/58 broadcast of ABC Mystery Time.]",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "A. J. ALAN (2LO, LONDON)\n[Thursday—9:40-10:00 PM]\nJanuary 31, 1924\n“My Adventure in Jermyn Street”\n[Wednesday—9:45-10:?? PM]\nMarch 5, 1924\n“The Dream” [probably]\n[LONDON TIMES: “…Mr. A. J. Alan will answer a few letters and tell a\nstory…”]\n[Friday—10:15-10:40 PM]\nJuly 11, 1924\n[LONDON TIMES: “…A. J. Alan on ‘My Jermyn Street Adventure’…”]\n[Thursday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nOctober 30, 1924\n“My Adventure on Dartmoor”\n[Friday—10:30-10:40 PM]\nDecember 26, 1924\n“The Hair” [probably]\n[LONDON TIMES: “…Christmas Ghost Story…”]\n[Wednesday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nApril 8, 1925\n“A Foggy Evening”\n[Friday—10:30-11:00 PM]\nJune 12, 1925\n“My Adventure in Jermyn-street”\n[Wednesday—10:15-10:45 PM]\nSeptember 9, 1925\n“The B.B.I.”\n[Saturday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nNovember 7, 1925\n“A Coincidence”\n[LONDON TIMES: “…Mr. Thorpe Bates…Luvaun and his ukulele…Mr. A.\nJ. Alan in ‘A Coincidence’…”]\n[Friday—9:35-10:00 PM]\nDecember 25, 1925\n“The Diver”\n[Monday—8:10-8:50 PM]\nApril 12, 1926\n[LONDON TIMES: “…A. J. Alan on the B.B.I….”]\n[Tuesday—10:10-10:30 PM]\nJune 29, 1926\n“The First of April”\n[Friday—10:20-10:40 PM]\nOctober 1, 1926\n“The Voice”\n[Friday—8:25-9:00 PM]\nDecember 24, 1926\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\n[Friday—8:35-9:00 PM]\nApril 1, 1927\n[LONDON TIMES: “…A. J. Alan; London Radio Dance Band…”]\n[Wednesday—9:35-11:00 PM]\nApril 20, 1927\n“My Programme”\n[Monday—10:10-10:25 PM]\nJune 13, 1927\n“The Suit-Case”\n[LONDON TIMES: “…Tonight he will tell of some adventures that befell\nhim in connection with a mysterious suit-case in a train…”]\n[Saturday—10:15-10:30 PM]\nAugust 27, 1927\n“Charles”\n[Friday—10:20-11:00 PM]\nOctober 7, 1927\n“An Impromptu Dance”\n[Friday—10:20-11:00 PM]\nNovember 18, 1927\n“The Photograph”\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[Wednesday—10:35-11:00 PM]\nDecember 21, 1927\n“The Visitors’ Book”\n[OG-NOTE: The entire text of this unreprinted Alan story can be found\nhere.]\n[Wednesday—10:15-11:00 PM]\nApril 25, 1928\n“The B.B.I.”\n[Friday—10:25-11:00 PM]\nJune 1, 1928\n[Thursday—10:15-10:35 PM]\nNovember 15, 1928\n“Wottie”\n[Monday—10:35-10:50 PM]\nDecember 31, 1928\n“A Surprise Item”\n[Tuesday—10:20-10:40 PM]\nMarch 5, 1929\n“A Sea Trip”\n[LONDON TIMES: “…A. J. Alan will describe his recent voyage to Central\nAmerica…”]\n[Thursday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nJune 13, 1929\n“The Cabmen’s Shelter”\n[Tuesday—10:15-10:35 PM]\nSeptember 3, 1929\n“The 19 Club”\nA. J. ALAN (5GB, DAVENTRY)\n[Wednesday-9:55-10:15 PM]\nSeptember 4, 1929\n“The 19 Club”\nA. J. ALAN (2LO, LONDON)\n[Wednesday—10:40-11:00 PM]\nNovember 20, 1929\n“A Joy Ride”\n[Thursday—10:15-10:30 PM]\nDecember 26, 1929\n“17:45”\n[OG-NOTE: This story was reprinted in Best of A. J. Alan (1954) as “The\nWhite Bungalow”]\n[Wednesday—10:40-11:00 PM]\nMarch 5, 1930\n“The Diptych”\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Monday—10:30-10:50 PM]\nJune 16, 1930\n“The Dream”\nA. J. ALAN (LONDON REGIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Tuesday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nDecember 2, 1930\n“The Well”\n[Thursday—8:35-9:05 PM]\nMay 21, 1931\n“Mr. Pappas”\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Tuesday—9:40-10:10 PM]\nJune 16, 1931\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\nEXTANT RECORDING\nA. J. ALAN (REGIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)\n[Saturday—8:35-9:00 PM]\nJune 20, 1931\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Tuesday—9:20-9:45 PM]\nNovember 24, 1931\n“Wottie”\nA. J. ALAN (LONDON REGIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Saturday—8:35-9:00 PM]\nNovember 28, 1931\n“Wottie”\n[Monday—9:45-10:15 PM]\nJune 13, 1932\n“My Adventure at Chislehurst”\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Thursday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nJune 16, 1932\n“My Adventure at Chislehurst”\n[Tuesday—10:35-11:00 PM]\nNovember 15, 1932\n“The Zoo Tickets”\n[Thursday—8:40-9:00 PM]\nMarch 2, 1933\n“A Joy Ride”\nA. J. ALAN (LONDON REGIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Friday—9:55-10:15 PM]\nMarch 3, 1933\n“A Joy Ride”\nAN EVENING WITH THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (4QG,\nBRISBANE)\n[Monday—          PM]\nOctober 23, 1933\n“My Adventure at Chislehurst”\n[BRISBANE WHATEVER: “…A humorous story…told by A. J. Alan…”]\n[OG-NOTE: Alan’s recording of his story was broadcast as part of a night of\nBBC show transcriptions which were run on the Brisbane station.]\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Tuesday—10:00-10:?? PM]\nMarch 6, 1934\n“Settled out of Court”\nA. J. ALAN (EMPIRE SHORTWAVE SERVICE)\n[Wednesday—4:45-5:15 PM]\nMarch 7, 1934\n“Settled Out of Court”\n[Broadcast on Empire Transmission 4]\n[Tuesday—4:05-4:35 PM]\nJuly 3, 1934\n“Henry”\n[Broadcast on Empire Transmission 4]\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Tuesday—10:05-10:25 PM]\nJuly 3, 1934\n“Henry”\nA CHRISTMAS PARTY (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Tuesday—7:30-9:30 PM]\nDecember 25, 1934\n“The Visitors’ Book”\n[LONDON TIMES: “…Comedians; dance music; ghost stories; chorus\nsongs; charades and musical games; all kinds of happy-go-lucky\nentertainment… At some stage of the proceedings someone will tell a\nghost story…”]\n[MANCHESTER GUARDIAN: “…a programme packed with the best of the\nbroadcasters… A. J. Alan told one of his rare stories…”]\nA. J. ALAN (EMPIRE SHORTWAVE SERVICE)\n[Wednesday—4:00-4:20 PM]\nJune 5, 1935\n[KINGSTON GLEANER: “…a short story by A.J. Alan.” Broadcast on\nEmpire Transmission 4]\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Wednesday—10:00-10:?? PM]\nJune 5, 1935\n“Fifty to One”\nA. J. ALAN (EMPIRE SHORTWAVE SERVICE)\n[Tuesday—10:00-10:15 AM]\nDecember 24, 1935\n“The Visitors’ Book”\n[KINGSTON GLEANER: “…a creepy story, by A.J. Alan, told by the\nAuthor.” Broadcast on Empire Transmission—5.]\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Wednesday—9:00-9:25 PM]\nJuly 1, 1936\n“Charles”\nEXTANT RECORDING\nA. J. ALAN (REGIONAL PROGRAMME)\n[Friday—9:00-9:20 PM]\nMay 14, 1937\n“The Firebell”\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[Wednesday—9:20-9:35 PM]\nJanuary 5, 1938\n“A Talk in the Train”\n[Friday—8:00-8:15 PM]\nJanuary 7, 1938\n“A Talk in the Train”\nA. J. ALAN (NATIONAL SERVICE, LONDON)\n[Friday—8:10-8:30 PM]\nDecember 23, 1938\n“Wottie”\n[“…A. J. Alan’s ‘Wottie’ has quite a touch of horror, if you haven’t heard it\nbefore… If you cannot hear the story tonight you will have another\nchance on Christmas Day…”]\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[Sunday—5:00-5:20 PM]\nDecember 25, 1938\n“Wottie”\n[“…A. J. Alan will again tell the story of ‘Wottie’ which he first broadcast\nin 1928…”]\nTHE BEST OF YESTERDAY (THIRD PROGRAMME)\n[Monday—7:10-7:30 PM]\nNovember 25, 1946\n“The Firebell”\n[RADIO TIMES: “…Instead of one of the best talks of past years, the\nbroadcast tonight in this weekly series is a recording of the late A. J. Alan\nreading… (First broadcast in May, 1937…”]\nTHE WEDNESDAY STORY (HOME SERVICE)\n[Wednesday—10:25-10:45 PM]\nMarch 26, 1947\n“Wottie”\n[RADIO TIMES: “…One of the many popular short stories specially written\nfor broadcasting by the late A. J. Alan and read by him. (BBC\nrecording)…”]\n[Wednesday—10:10-10:30 PM]\nMay 21, 1947\n“Charles”\n[RADIO TIMES: “…a story by A. J. Alan and read by him (recording)…”\n[Wednesday—10:10-10:35 PM\nNovember 12, 1947\n“Wottie”\n[RADIO TIMES: “…a story by A. J. Alan (recording)…”]\nA. J. ALAN (MIDLAND HOME SERVICE)\n[Thursday—10:40-11:00 PM]\nAugust 11, 1949\n“The Firebell”\n[RADIO TIMES: “…Beginning on Thursday with ‘The Firebell,’ which ‘A.J.’\nbroadcast in May 1937, a selection from the BBC’s archives will be\nbroadcast weekly on the Midland Home Service wavelength for late-\nevening listeners. Denis Morris, who directs Midland Regional\nprogrammes, is convinced that Alan was the finest storyteller of radio’s\nfirst twenty-five years…”]\n[Wednesday—10:35-11:00 PM]\nAugust 17, 1949\n“My Adventure at Chislehurst”\n[Tuesday—10:30-10:50 PM]\nAugust 23, 1949\n“Charles”\n[Tuesday—7:00-7:20 PM]\nAugust 30, 1949\n“Wottie”\nTHE BEST OF YESTERDAY (HOME)\n[Monday—4:10-4:25 PM]\nMay 14, 1956\n“The Firebell”\nRADIO PORTRAITS (HOME)\n[Wednesday—7:00-7:30 PM]\nOctober 1, 1958\n“A. J. Alan”\nA STORY BY A. J. ALAN (HOME)\n[Monday—10:45-10:59 PM]\nJanuary 18, 1965\n”Wottie”\nApril 19, 1965\n“The White Bungalow”\n[Wednesday—9:40-10:00 PM]\nJune 9, 1965\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\n(HOME)\n[Saturday—8:50-9:00 PM]\nOctober 1, 1966\n“A. J. Alan and Stuart Hibberd: recordings”\nSTORIES BY A. J. ALAN (RADIO 2)\n[Monday thru Friday—10:30-10:45 PM]\nJuly 13, 1970\nJuly 14, 1970\nJuly 15, 1970\nJuly 16, 1970\nJuly 17, 1970\n(RADIO 4)\n[Thursday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nOctober 14, 1971\n“A Foggy Evening”\n[Friday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nOctober 15, 1971\n“The Suitcase”\nTHE RADIO SPELLBINDERS (RADIO 4)\n[Sunday—10:10-10:55 PM]\nDecember 24, 1972\n[“…recordings of J. B. Priestly, A. J. Alan and James Stephens…”]\nTHE BEST OF A. J. ALAN (RADIO 4)\n[Wednesday—10:45-11:00 PM]\nDecember 4, 1974\n[NOT CONFIRMED; FOUND ON BBC INDEX CARD]\nEARLY MORNING STORY—“GOOD MORNING EVERYONE” (RADIO 4)\n[Monday thru Friday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nAugust 25, 1975\n“The 19 Club”\nAugust 26, 1975\n“My Adventure at Chislehurst”\nAugust 27, 1975\n“The Dream”\nAugust 28, 1975\n“My Adventure on Dartmoor”\nAugust 29, 1975\n“The White Bungalow”\n[RADIO TIMES: “…Five stories from the master of the radio story in the\nyears between the wars, with Ian Carmichael as A. J. Alan…”]\nA.M. WITH A. J. (RADIO 4)\n[Monday-Friday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nFebruary 4, 1976\n“The Zoo Tickets”\nFebruary 5, 1976\n“The Visitors Book”\nFebruary 6, 1976\n“Wottie”\nFebruary 7, 1976\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\nFebruary 8, 1976\n“A Joy Ride”\nApril 19, 1976\n“The Zoo Tickets”\n[OG-NOTE: Notated on the BBC Title Card as “Two Zoo Tickets”]\nApril 20, 1976\n“Wottie”\nApril 21, 1976\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\nApril 22, 1976\n“A Joy Ride”\nApril 23, 1976\n“The Visitors’ Book”\n(RADIO 4)\n[Monday—11:05-11:50 AM]\nAugust 22, 1977\n“Man of Mystery”\n[LONDON TIMES: “…The story of A. J. Alan…”]\n[Thursday—8:45-9:30 PM]\nAugust 25, 1977\n“Man of Mystery”\n(RADIO 4)\n[Tuesday—4:45-5:00 PM]\nFebruary 26, 1980\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\nTHE ARCHIVES HOUR (RADIO 4)\n[Saturday—\n??? ??, 200?\n“The Return of the Man in Black” [PART 1]\n[OG-NOTE: An excerpt from the Alan recording of “Wottie” and an actor\nreading the opening paragraph of “The Diver” were heard on this\nprogramme.]\nNo broadcast dates were found for the following titles:\n[printed in Good Evening, Everyone! (1928)]\n“The Hair”\n[printed in A. J. Alan’s Second Book (1932)]\n“The Necessity of Invention Knows No Law”\n“Wandering Minstrels, Limited”\n“A Tale of Four Cocktails”\n“Mr. Warbeck”\n“H2, etc.”\n[printed in Many Mysteries (ed. E. Phillips Oppenheim, 1933)]\n“Cuthbert” (aka “A Shot in the Dark”)\n“Private Water”\n[audio] A. J. Alan tells the story of “The Photograph”\n[audio] Excerpt from “Wottie” (A. J. Alan)\n[audio] ABC Mystery Time: “My Adventure in Norfolk”\n[audio] Reading of “The Dream” (Ogden)\n[audio] Reading of “The Hair” (Ogden)\n[audio] Reading of “The Diver” (read by M. Ogden)\n[text] “The Visitors’ Book” by A. J. Alan (from Radio Pictorial, 1935)",
  "sources": "ALAN, A. J. Good Evening, Everybody. London: ?????????, 1928.\nALAN, A. J. The Second A. J. Alan Book\nALAN, A. J. (ed. ??? ???). The Best of A. J. Alan\nFacer, George. “Listeners Write to the ‘Radio Times’: A. J. Alan—Conjuror.” Radio Times (August 26, 1949).\nHett, H. A. “Listeners Write to the ‘Radio Times’: More About A. J. Alan.” Radio Times (September 16,\n1949).\nLambert, P. “Listeners Write to the ‘Radio Times’: More About A. J. Alan.” Radio Times (October 7, 1949).\nPartridge. Eric. The Shaggy Dog Story\n“Radio’s Master Storyteller.” Radio Times (August 5, 1949).\nSMITH, MICHAEL. Station X: Decoding Nazi Secrets.\nPERIODICALS: The Daily Gleaner [Kingston]; The Times [London]; Manchester Guardian; Radio Times.",
  "gallery": "Leslie H. Lambert (c. 1909)                   Alan’s first story collection (1928)                “He hastily put down his fiddle and\nhung out of the window.” (“The Hair”)",
  "images": []
}