ALGERNON BLACKWOOD [RADIO TALKS]
[RADIO APPEARANCES]
One of the premier writers of supernatural horror and fantasy of his generation, Algernon
Blackwood first came to radio in 1934. For his initial foray into broadcasting he was supposed to
be interviewed on the magazine-format show In Town To-night, but instead of submitting to
questions, he told the interviewer a ghost story. This marked the beginning of a seventeen-year
side-career for Blackwood as the BBC’s “Ghost Man”—a stint that only increased his popularity as
the years went by, culminating in 1949 with the award for “Outstanding Personality” from the
Television Society (for he was, by then, a TV star as well as a radio celebrity).
It was not for want of trying on the part of the BBC that it had taken until ‘34 to lure the elusive
“Pan” (his nickname among his friends) into a broadcasting studio and in front of a microphone.
Producer Cecil Madden had been trying since 1928 to persuade him…. It was not reluctance on
Blackwood’s part but simply an inability to be caught at the right moment. Ever in the throes of
wanderlust, he was absent from the country for a good part of the time during the late Twenties
and early Thirties—skiing in Switzerland,
Although the spring of 1934 was the earliest that they were able to pin the author down to an
actual date on the air, Blackwood’s theatrical friend Harcourt Williams had read one of his
stories—title, alas, unknown—on the air seven years earlier, in 1927. Curiously, Blackwood
himself, before ever uttering a word into a microphone, had been published twice in the BBC’s
weekly print-organ Radio Times—first, in 1927 with his story of a haunted Chinese mirror, “The
Land of Green Ginger,” which appeared in the magazine’s Christmas number, and in 1930 (once
again, in the Yuletide issue) with a tale entitled “Revenge,” which later became the basis for his
radio play, “Told in the Mountains.”
Certainly a writer of many facets and interests, Blackwood was nevertheless aware of how his
reputation stood with British fiction readers. “The classification of ghost-stories,” he noted, “has
stuck to me closer than a brother, and even when the B.B.C. ask for a story it must be, preferably,
of the ‘creepy’ kind… My own public, whatever that may mean, expect a queer sort of grim story
from me and would be disappointed with an ordinary tale.”
Anent the Queer Stories broadcast, the Manchester Guardian reported that “the B..B.C. rule of
manuscripts in advance for all who are to use the microphone will be relaxed in favour of Mr.
Algernon Blackwood, the story-writer, who will entertain listeners for twenty minutes from ten
o’clock with one or more stories, told extempore…”
Following the broadcast the Guardian wireless columnist K.H. reviewed it thusly: “When Mr.
Algernon Blackwood came to the microphone in the National programme he told us that he had
many stories in his head. He told four or five, all of them dealing with the supernatural. The
announcer told us that Mr. Blackwood would endeavour to make the blood run cold, but at
present he is not able to do this on the wireless as he can with the printed word. The attention and
the interest were held, but a chill was not evoked.
“Mr. Blackwood told the stories without pause in a steady voice, speaking at a fairly fast pace,
and it seems probable that though they were not read they were at least memorized. He has a
good dramatic manner and voice, but he has some microphone faults to overcome. Last night his
every breath and a curious sound suggesting the closing of lips were audible to the listener.”
For all of the fervour which the BBC had devoted to obtaining Blackwood for the airwaves, and
for their backing down on reviewing his talk on ??? date, it should also be noted—gleaned from
Blackwood’s correspondence of the time—that the BBC rejected several scripts which the author
submitted to them in 1934 and 1935—“Accessory Before the Fact,” “The Locket,” “The Dream,”
and “Lock Your Door,” the latter of which he finally did broadcast twelve years later.
In the midst of these sporadic but successful appearances at the microphone, Blackwood also
found himself—once again thanks to Cecil Madden—included in the line-up of the very first day of
broadcasting by the BBC Television Service. Although his reputation as the telly’s “Ghost Man”
would not flourish and spread until the post-war years, nevertheless there he was, an omen of
things-that-go-bump to come, on Monday, November 2, 1936, spooking it up for the cameras on
the premiere edition of the magazine program Picture Page. “Our make-up was something
fierce,” he recalled, “and my bright blue lips and eyelids made me horrifying or fascinating
according to taste.” He was placed in a separate studio, completely darkened except for the lights
spotted on different portions of his face. The Times singled him out for the effectiveness of the
presentation—“The choice of Mr. Algernon Blackwood last night to tell two of his own inimitable
ghost stories was excellent—the lighting especially emphasized the ghostly character of the
proceedings…” But some viewers longed for even more atmosphere in the mise en scene. “Can’t
you provide Mr. Blackwood,” pleaded avid spook fan (“Ghost stories, please!”) P.F. Titchmarsh of
Sheffield to the Radio Times, “with a studio lit only by flickering firelight, curtains that move
where no wind blows, and sudden creakings from beyond the microphone?”
The following month an article by Blackwood, reflecting on his BBC experiences, appeared in
the December 11 issue of Radio Times. Published under the title “You Can’t Tell Ghost Stories on
the Radio,” it…
Comparison of texts: how Blackwood would alter his text for telling over the air… For example,
“The Destruction of Smith”… Blackwood’s original text:
“We all stood, staring. The darkness came up closer. The horses ceased their whinnying. For a
moment nothing happened. Then Smith turned slowly round and raised his head towards the
stars, as though he saw something. ‘Hear that?” he whispered. ‘It’s coming up close. That’s what
I’ve bin hearing now, on and off, two days and nights.’”
And the exact wording of his reading on the air:
“We all stood staring, shivering. The horses ceased their whinnying. For a moment nothing
happened. Only the quiet stars looked down. Then Smith turned slowly around, lifting his eyes
towards those quiet stars, as though he saw or heard something. ‘Hear that?’ he whispered in a
strangled voice. ‘Hear that? It’s coming closer. That’s what I’ve bin hearing now, on and off, two
nights and days. Listen!’”
On June 11, 1949 the BBC Third Programme featured a 25-minute talk by R. H. Ward entitled
“Algernon Blackwood: An appreciation of his writings.”
[Sydney Morning Herald, July 23, 1950—“At 82, He’s Still Master Of Horrors” “From A Staff
Correspondent In London”] “For nearly 50 years his name has been synonymous with the
uncanny and the supernatural.
“Horror has fascinated him all his days. As a little boy in knee-breeches he said, ‘I love the night,
the shadows, empty rooms and haunted woods.’
“Such mysticism delights him now. For him, there is nothing horrific about the vampires, ghosts
and things of nameless dread which unfold themselves almost spontaneously from his
imagination. Towards them he is benign, benevolent.
“It is the more earthly things that set his spine tingling.
“The secret lies in his childhood. Although the son of an aristocratic family, he was brought up
under conditions of such strict puritanism that when he sailed for Canada he had never known
the dubious delights of alcohol, cigarettes or theatres. He was, therefore, ‘afraid of life.’
“But not of death, or madness, or the bizarre and gruesome. When a poet-mystic he worshipped
died insane, he was sorry and sympathetic—but not horrified. The sight of a bed bug made his
blood run cold, yet a macabre trail through the underworld of New York after a crazy forger
armed with a razor was as matter-of-fact as a stroll through the park.
“For all his self-confessed dread of life, he has tackled it with courage and fortitude. In turn, he:
“Farmed—and went broke—in Canada; licked stamps for an insurance company; became
general factotum of a Methodist magazine; prospected for gold, ran a hotel; sold dried milk;
dabbled in journalism; became an author.
“In New York, on his uppers, without money, job or friends, he went hungry and endured
agonies sleeping two-in-a-bed at a common lodging house peopled by criminals and degenerates.
“While still doing ‘drudgery’ on the ‘New York Sun’ he discovered his faculty for story-telling. In
the evenings he would spin yarns for the entertainment of his fellow-lodgers, finding that ‘at a
moment’s notice…I could invent a tale with a beginning, middle and climax.’ One of his admirers
put the stories on paper and sent them to a publisher. Thus in 1906 was Blackwood’s destiny
settled.
“He has come a long way since then—nearly 40 novels, short stories by the hundred, scores of
weird tales delivered on radio and television.
“In 1949 he was rated the outstanding British radio personality of the previous year. He was in
Switzerland, on his annual ski-ing vacation, when the honour was announced. By the time he got
back to England another laurel awaited him—a silver medal for the best contribution to British
television for 1948.
“Two months ago 20th-Century Fox induced him to sit in a chair at a British studio and give the
screen 16 minutes of his face, voice and flair for the eerie. The one-man picture was an
outstanding success. Now five more are to be made.”
Unfortunately, the only currently-available commercial recording of Blackwood’s radio work is
“Pistol Against a Ghost,” which was included in the BBC’s 2007 CD anthology set, British Writers.
Mike Ashley informs us of what-might-have-been had certain intentions not gone awry 28 years
ago: “In 1982 the BBC did plan to issue an audio-cassette of Blackwood reading seven of his
stories but finally decided that the quality of the recordings was not of sufficient standard for the
market. For the record the intended line-up…was: ‘The Woman’s Ghost Story,’ ‘The Curate and
the Stockbroker,’ ‘A Pistol Against a Ghost,’ ‘A Japanese Literary Cocktail,’ ‘The Occupant of the
Room,’ ‘The Destruction of Smith,’ and ‘Disappearance in Texas’.”
In 1963 a Times correspondent wrote, “Can there ever have been a more vivid and memorable
figure than Algernon Blackwood? He was a reincarnation of the Ancient Mariner, his face as old
and wrinkled as a turtle’s, and in his voice the power to mesmerize us with his tales of the
supernatural.”
[CHRONOLOGY]
Before Blackwood’s first radio appearance:
WRITERS OF TODAY (2LO, LONDON, & 5XX, DAVENTRY—BBC)
[Saturday—9:20-9:35 PM]
August 27, 1927
[“…Harcourt Williams, A Story by Algernon Blackwood…”]
Blackwood radio appearances:
IN TOWN TO-NIGHT (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)
[Saturday—7:30-8:00 PM]
April 7, 1934
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood’s first radio broadcast in which, rather than an
interview, he told a ghost story. No records survive of which tale.”]
[Reference to this broadcast is made by BBC staffer J. C. Cannell in his
book In Town To-night, where he describes getting certain guests to the
show. “Edward Crocker, this picturesque old man,” he remembered, “has
stood at Westminster Bridge for over forty years with his telescope,
through which, by paying a penny, you can get an intimate glimpse of the
decorative details of Big Ben. Red-faced and white-bearded, Edward
Crocker never flinched at the prospect of broadcasting. I remember going
to pick him up on the Saturday night in a taxi, accompanied by Algernon
Blackwood, author of those classic stories on the unknown. Blackwood,
who figured in the same programme, was most intrigued by the old man,
who is still thrilled by the recollection of his experience on that night.”
READING (LONDON REGIONAL)
[Wednesday—8:00-8:20 PM]
July 11, 1934 “The Blackmailers”
[ASHLEY] “England (London): Alexander is being blackmailed but the
blackmailer commits suicide and his ghost helps Alexander.” An original
story for radio, its first (and apparently only) appearance in print was in
My Grimmest Nightmare, the spin-off anthology from Cecil Madden’s
Empire series Nightmares (although the story was not actually broadcast
as part of the series). The story was originally scheduled for broadcast a
month earlier on June 15 in a 9:20-9:40 PM time slot, but was [ASHLEY]
“rescheduled due to illness.”
(EMPIRE SHORTWAVE)
[Wednesday—5:18-5:43 AM]
July 18, 1934 “The Blackmailers”
GOSSIP HOUR (EMPIRE PROGRAMME)
[Wednesday—2:30-3:30 PM]
August 1, 1934
[ASHLEY: “Instead of a formal interview Blackwood chose to tell two
ghost stories. No record survives.”]
Other guests on the show included the “Horror Man” of stage
melodrama, Tod Slaughter, and vaudevillean/racing tipster “Prince” Ras
Monolulu of Abyssinia. According to Mike Ashley, “He [Blackwood]
enjoyed broadcasting and the BBC found him ideal radio. He
endeavoured to create the right atmosphere in his stories as if he were
recounting tales at a house party. To sustain this atmosphere, though,
Blackwood hoped he could be given a studio on his own. ‘I’m sure you
realise how appallingly difficult it was recently to tell a ghost story
immediately after bagpipes and a comedy Abyssinian prince!’ he wrote to
the BBC.’ (Unpublished letter from Blackwood to the B.B.C., August 4,
1934)
PERSONNEL: Cecil Madden (producer, host).
Detail from group photograph taken after the August 1, 1934 broadcast of
Gossip Hour shows Algernon Blackwood and the “Sweeney Todd” of the
barnstormers, Tod Slaughter, standing side by side at the far right. At far left is
producer Cecil Madden, an important figure in Blackwood’s radio career.
QUEER STORIES (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—10:01-10:20 PM]
August 28, 1934 “Yogi” / “Blank Cartridges” / “Homicidal Dream” / “Evidence
in Camera”
[“…Mr. Algernon Blackwood, the story-writer, will entertain listeners for
twenty minutes from ten o’clock with one or more stories, told
extempore…”]
[ASHLEY: “Four short anecdotes…all presented as unexplained
mysteries.”]
NIGHTMARES (EMPIRE PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—7:45-8:00 PM]
September 4, 1934 “The Empty House”
[ASHLEY] “Adapted by the author from ‘A Haunted Island.’… Note: the
title ‘The Empty House’ appears on the script with the subtitle ‘A
Canadian Ghost Story.’ The Programme-as-Broadcast sheet lists it simply
as ‘A Ghost Story’.”
[“Canada (Ontario): a haunted house on an island, the occupant has a
pre-vision of his own murder.”]
PERSONNEL: Cecil Madden (producer).
READING: SHORT STORY (NATIONAL PROGRAMME-DAVENTRY)
[Saturday—10:01-10:20 AM]
September 29, 1934 “A Suspicious Gift”
[“…a tale of a young writer who, having written a sentence about the
powers of imagination and waiting for further inspiration, undergoes a
terrifying experience…”]
NIGHTMARES (EMPIRE PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—8:01-8:17 AM]
October 30, 1934 “By Water”
[ASHLEY] “Egypt (Guebel Haidi): a clairvoyant warns Larsen to beware
of water.”
PERSONNEL: Cecil Madden (producer).
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD’S SHORT STORIES (GSD, DAVENTRY)
[Friday—3:15-3:30 PM]
November 16, 1934
[“…Transmission 4… Sir [sic] Algernon Blackwood’s Short Stories…”]
SHORT STORY (REGIONAL PROGRAMME)
[Sunday—9:03-9:24 AM]
July 7, 1935 “First Hate”
[ASHLEY] “Canada (Vancouver): the instinctive survival trait of hate at
first sight.”
[Sunday—9:00-9:20 AM]
September 1, 1935 “The Chinese Picture”
[ASHLEY] “Adapted by the author from “The Man Who Was Milligan.”…
England (London) & China: a Chinese picture inexplicably transports
Milligan from his lodgings to China.”
YOUNG IDEAS (NATIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)
[Friday—7:30-8:00 PM]
October 4, 1935 “Train Ghost”
October 11, 1935 “Come With Me”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood relates an incident of two men (a big man and a
little man) who are crossing a field. The little man alone hears a voice
saying, several times, ‘Come with me’ and, on the final time, he realizes
the big man has disappeared without trace.”]
October 18, 1935 “The Wig”
[ASHLEY: “An old lady sleeps in a haunted room where a little gnome-
like ghost steals her wig and places it on top of the wardrobe.”]
November 1, 1935 “Lion in New York City”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood recalls an incident from his days as a New York
reporter when a lion had escaped from a circus.”]
November 29, 1935 “A Backwoods Adventure”
[ASHLEY: “An abridged and freely adapted version of ‘’Mid the Haunts
of the Moose’… “Canada (Ontario): a moose-hunting episode in October
1898 and the experiences that lead to the story ‘Skeleton Lake’…
‘Skeleton Lake: An Episode in Camp’ [publ. in Empty House]: “Canada
(Quebec backwoods): non-fantasy, tale of a murder.”]
SHORT STORY (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)
[Saturday—8:15-8:32 PM]
June 27, 1936 “King’s Evidence”
[ASHLEY: “freely adapted from ‘Confession’”]
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD (EMPIRE, DAVENTRY)
[Thursday—10:00-10:15 PM]
July 2, 1936
PICTURE PAGE (BBC-TV)
November 2, 1936
ASHLEY: “The first programme to be transmitted on television. Blackwood read two ghost
stories but details are not known. They were clearly very short as the ten minute slot also
included two other interviews. Blackwood probably related two personal anecdotes.”]
SHORT STORY (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)
[Sunday—2:00-2:25 PM]
September 12, 1937 “The Curse of the Wolf”
[ASHLEY: “Adapted by the author from ‘Running Wolf’.”]
AT THE BLACK DOG (EMPIRE PROGRAMME)
[Wednesday—11:31 AM-12:00 NOON]
August 16, 1939
[ASHLEY: “No script survives. Blackwood was interviewed and told a
story.”]
PERSONNEL: Roy Speer (producer).
(HOME SERVICE)
[Sunday—10:01-10:22 PM]
December 17, 1939 “Two of a Kind”
[ASHLEY: “Adapted by the author from ‘The Survivors’… England
(London): after an accident, a man meets another only to discover that
they are both dead.”]
THREE STORIES BY ALGERNON BLACKWOOD (HOME SERVICE)
[Monday—12:33-1:00 PM]
December 25, 1939 “Transition” / “The Laughter of Courage” / “A Boy and His Bag”
[ASHLEY: “A Boy and His Bag” was adapted by the author from “The
Little Beggar.” “…an old man senses the spirit of a son he never had”.]
(HOME SERVICE)
[Thursday—11:20-11:35 AM]
February 29, 1940 “By Proxy”
[ASHLEY: “a thug tricks a little boy into murdering his own mother.”]
[Wednesday—3:50-4:00 PM]
April 17, 1940 “The Voice”
[ASHLEY: “adapted by the author from ‘The Reformation of St. Jules’…
“France (St. Jules): a man invents a machine which projects writing on
the sky together with a booming voice, but the locals feel it is divine
intervention.”]
AT THE BLACK DOG (PROGRAMME FOR THE FORCES)
[Friday—12:30-1:00 PM]
May 3, 1940
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood spoke for six minutes on his experiences in
Canada.”]
(HOME SERVICE)
[Friday—11:00-11:15 PM]
September 6, 1940 “The Destruction of Smith”
[Thursday—11:15-11:25 PM]
September 19, 1940 “The Voice”
[ASHLEY: “broadcast instead of ‘Violence’ as announced”]
[Tuesday—6:45-7:05 PM]
December 24, 1940 “King’s Evidence”
(PROGRAMME FOR THE FORCES)
[Saturday—12:15-12:30 PM]
June 7, 1941 “By Water”
(HOME SERVICE)
[Monday—7:40-7:59 PM]
August 18, 1941 “The Chinese Picture”
(PROGRAMME FOR THE FORCES)
[Thursday—7:15-7:30 PM]
October 23, 1941 “Violence”
[ASHLEY: “England (London club): non-fantasy, subjective study of
insanity.”]
(HOME SERVICE)
[Saturday—7:45-8:00 PM]
August 15, 1942 “Violence”
[Sunday—10:13-10:32 PM]
December 13, 1942 “The Magic Mirror”
[ASHLEY] “France (Monte Carlo): a gambler is given a mirror which
reveals the winning numbers at roulette.
THE WEDNESDAY STORY (HOME SERVICE)
[Wednesday—10:15-10:30 PM]
October 25, 1944 “The Castlebridge Cat”
[ASHLEY: “Original story for radio. England: a traveling salesman
returns to a town where six months earlier he had murdered a
blackmailer, only to find himself betrayed by the victim’s cat.”]
LATE NIGHT SPECIAL (HOME SERVICE)
[Sunday—11:08-11:24 PM]
April 1, 1945 “Transition”
AT THE BOWLER HAT (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—5:30-6:00 PM]
October 16, 1945
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood told how he became an author, his experiences as
a New York reporter and his meeting with Angus Hamilton. He then tells
a brief ghost story about two pranksters who dress up as ghosts to scare a
third man. The third dies of heart failure and the two pranksters
suddenly realize there are three of them.”]
FIVE MEN (HOME SERVICE)
[Tuesday—11:03-11:30 PM]
December 25, 1945 “The Curate and the Stockbroker” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “A one-off Christmas special of five men gathered together to
tell ‘true tales of high adventure.’ Others present were Michael Graham,
Anthony Irwin, Charles Lambe and Peter Scott… Pre-recorded December
19, 1945. Blackwood told the fifth story of ‘The Curate and the
Stockbroker.’.”]
THE WORLD GOES BY (HOME SERVICE)
[Sunday—4:30-5:00 PM)
April 7, 1946 “The Russian Dentist”
[ASHLEY: “Italy: Blackwood relates an experience when, with toothache,
he visited a Russian dentist in Naples who gave him an inexplicable and
unorthodox treatment. Pre-recorded March 28, 1946.”]
STORIES OLD AND NEW (HOME SERVICE)
[Monday—4:45-5:00 PM]
May 6, 1946 “Lock Your Door”
[ASHLEY: “Original story for radio. England: after a railway accident an
old lady is directed to a desolate house for the night. A voice warns her to
lock her door which she does just in time to stop someone entering. She
later learns the house is haunted.”]
THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—6:30-7:00 PM]
September 9, 1946 “Reminiscences as a Crime Reporter”
STORIES OLD AND NEW (HOME SERVICE)
[Monday—4:45-5:00 PM
October 28, 1946 “Lock Your Door”
THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—6:15-6:45 PM]
October 28, 1946 “A Queer Story”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood told ‘A Queer Story’ which he later re-told as ‘A
Texas Farm Disappearance’.”]
(THIRD PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—9:55-10:23 PM]
September 23, 1947 “The Woman’s Ghost Story” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “Pre-recorded August 18, 1947. Originally planned [and
announced] for transmission on August 18, 1947, but postponed.
(HOME SERVICE)
[Wednesday—6:45-7:00 PM]
October 29, 1947 “The Fear of Heights”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood relates some personal experiences related to the
fear of heights or the total lack of it.”]
PERSONNEL: Basil Taylor (producer).
HALLOWE’EN (BBC-TV)
October 31, 1947 “The Curate and the Stockbroker”
ASHLEY: “The success of this broadcast led to a regular Saturday Night Story spot.”
(THIRD PROGRAMME)
[Wednesday—7:00-7:15 PM]
December 3, 1947 “The Fear of Heights” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “The second broadcast was recorded” [i.e. this one]”
[The recording was re-broadcast on December 30 (Home Service),
February 11, 1948 (Trans-Canada, CBC Wednesday Night), July 27, 1950
(Pacific Service, Famous Writers), and September 20, 1950 (Home
Service).]
(FAR EASTERN SERVICE)
[Thursday—11:55 AM-12:05 PM]
December 25, 1947 “The Spirit of Christmas”
Blackwood reminisces about Christmases past and then discusses what
the holiday is like now in the years following the war. Ashley notes that
this talk was recorded beforehand, on December 16, 1947. [OG]
(THIRD PROGRAMME)
[Thursday—10:37-11:00 PM]
December 25, 1947 “The Chinese Picture”
[The Times announced that the story would be “With Intent to Steal,”
described [ASHLEY] as “black magic, the disembodied spirit of a dead
magician seeks a new body.” “The Chinese Picture” noted [ASHLEY] as
“pre-recorded December 22, 1947” and broadcast on 12/25/47 (Third),
1/9/48 (West Indies Service), and seven times between 1/29/48 and
1/31/48 (General Overseas Service).]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
January 24, 1948 “The Mirror”
BOOKS AND AUTHORS (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Saturday—2:00-2:30 PM]
January 31, 1948 “Gooseflesh”
[ASHLEY: “Pre-recorded January 20, 1948… An extensive interview with
Blackwood on the subject of ‘Gooseflesh.’ Blackwood tells what makes
him shiver, what makes stories frightening, and of his own feelings when
writing ‘The Wendigo’.”]
PERSONNEL: Arthur Calder-Marshall (host, interviewer).
(HOME SERVICE)
[Wednesday—10:00-10:45 PM]
March 3, 1948 “The Genesis of Ideas” / “The Destruction of Smith”
[EXTANT RECORDING]
[“…a talk by Algernon Blackwood, followed by one of his stories…”]
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood looks in general at the origin of ideas for stories,
and then specifically in relation to “By Water” and The Centaur.”
[NOTE: The Radio 4 program Reece Shearsmith’s Haunted House (broadcast on October
29, 2009) played a very brief excerpt of “The Destruction of Smith” from this recording.]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
March 6, 1948 “The Chinese Picture”
March 27, 1948 “Lock the Door”
STUMP THE STORY-TELLERS (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Thursday—10:15-10:35 PM]
April 15, 1948
[ASHLEY: “A panel programme in which famous authors are challenged
to improvise a story along given lines in a set time. Each author is given a
sealed box containing four objects. The author must open the box and
then has four minutes in which to tell a story in which all four objects
play a part. Blackwood appeared in the first programme of the first series
and the third programme of the second series. No recording or
transcription of his stories survive.”]
PERSONNEL: Ronald Waldman (host).
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD TELLS A STRANGE STORY (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—11:15-11:20 PM]
May 10, 1948 “Texas Farm Disappearance” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood tells of a boy on a farm in Texas who went to fetch
water from a well and was never seen again.”]
[According to Ashley, all of the Strange Story segments were pre-
recorded on May 7.]
PERSONNEL: Basil Taylor (producer). [Taylor also produced May 11-14.]
[Tuesday—11:00-11:05 PM]
May 11, 1948 “The Holy Man”
[ASHLEY: “An anecdote as witnessed by an English official. An old
Indian Holy Man pulls the dead body of a young man from a river.
Within minutes the young man rises and left behind is the cast off body
of the old man. Earlier related as ‘Yogi’ in the ‘Queer Stories’ sequence.”]
[Wednesday—11:15-11:22 PM]
May 12, 1948 “Pistol Against a Ghost” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “Three men spend a night in a haunted house in Norfolk, one
armed with a pistol, and the others play a trick on him. Earlier related as
‘Blank Cartridges’.”]
[Thursday—11:15-11:20 PM]
May 13, 1948 “Japanese Literary Cocktail” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “A fictional anecdote of a painter, a foreigner in Japan,
looking for an ideal subject, who meets a creature with no face.”
[Friday—11:00-11:07 PM]
May 14, 1948 “The Curate and the Stockbroker” [EXTANT RECORDING]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
May 15, 1948 “Confession”
NEW BOOKS AND OLD (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Saturday—2:00-2:30 PM]
June 5, 1948
[ASHLEY: “A series in which invited guests discuss a new book and an
old book (still in print) of their choice… Blackwood reviewed The Fairy
Tradition in Britain by Lewis Spence and Confessions of an Opium-
Eater by Thomas de Quincey.”]
IT’S GOOD ENGLISH (FAR EASTERN SERVICE)
[Tuesday—12:55-1:10 PM]
June 8, 1948 “The Confessions of an Opium-Eater”
[ASHLEY: “Pre-recorded May 11, 1948… Blackwood selects The
Confessions of an Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey as the book he
recommends as good English and a classic of literature.”]
[Presumably Blackwood’s text was at least partially drawn from the talk
he had given three days earlier on New Books and Old.]
PERSONNEL: Rex Moorfoot (producer).
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD TELLS A STRANGE STORY (GENERAL OVERSEAS
SERVICE)
[Sunday—9:10-9:15 PM]
June 13, 1948
[Tuesday—4:20-4:30 PM]
June 15, 1948
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
June 26, 1948
July 17, 1948
August 21, 1948
(HOME SERVICE)
[Tuesday—8:15-8:29 PM]
August 31, 1948 “Oddities”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood related four inexplicable personal experiences.”]
LONDON WEST CENTRAL (LONDON CALLING EUROPE)
[Saturday—7:00-7:30 PM]
October 30, 1948
[ASHLEY: “Eric Stenton spoke on Halloween and then introduced a
ghost story written and read by Blackwood. No copy of the script survives
or details of the story told.”]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
November 6, 1948
SPEAK FOR YOURSELVES (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Sunday—2:30-2:56 PM]
November 14, 1948
[ASHLEY: “A series of unscripted discussion programmes for young
people with an invited guest, recorded in different towns about Britain…
#5 in the series, in Swansea. Pre-recorded November 9, 1948 after a
preliminary meeting on October 19. Chairman Douglas Allan and
Blackwood discussed three topics with the young people, ‘What is
adventure?’, ‘Are possessions necessary?’ and ‘Have we lost the spirit of
adventure?’ Blackwood did not have it all his own way in the ensuing
discussion with the youngsters challenging him on his way of life.”]
THE STORY-TELLER’S CLUB (HOME SERVICE)
[Tuesday—9:15-9:45 PM]
December 21, 1948
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood served as President (i.e. Chairman) and the panel
discussed stories for Christmas… No recording or transcript survives.”]
CALLING THE ISLANDS (PACIFIC SERVICE—RED NETWORK)
[Wednesday—6:15-6:30 AM]
December 22, 1948 “Some Eerie Stories”
[recorded 11/29/48] [ASHLEY: “Pre-recorded November 29, 1948. Blackwood told ‘Some
Eerie Stories’ but no recording or script survives or details of the stories
told.”]
FLASH OF BELLS (FAR EASTERN SERVICE)
[Saturday—12:00 NOON-12:12 PM]
December 25, 1948 “The Spirit of Christmas”
[ASHLEY: “Pre-recorded December 2, 1948.”]
(THIRD PROGRAMME)
[Saturday—6:48-7:05 PM]
December 25, 1948 “Little People and Co.”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood’s belief in fairies and the little people… Pre-
recorded December 20, 1948.”]
MID-MORNING STORY (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—11:15-11:30 AM]
January 3, 1949 “A Dangerous Gift”
[ASHLEY: “Adapted by the author from ‘A Suspicious Gift’.”]
PERSONNEL: Basil Taylor (producer).
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
January 8, 1949 “No Moss”
(EASTERN SERVICE)
[Friday—2:30-2:45 PM]
March 11, 1949 “A Dangerous Gift”
PICTURE PAGE (BBC-TV)
March 16, 1949
[ASHLEY: “On his eightieth birthday Blackwood was interviewed for five minutes by Leslie
Mitchell on his receipt of the Television Society Award as the year’s most Outstanding
Personality.”]
SATURDAY NIGHT PAGE (BBC-TV)
April 2, 1949 “The Reformation of St. Jules”
NEW BOOKS AND OLD (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Saturday—2:00-2:30 PM]
April 9, 1949
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood reviewed Haunted Britain by Elliott O’Donnell
and The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.”]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
May 7, 1949 “Earrings”
May 28, 1949 “Accessory before the Fact”
WOMAN’S HOUR (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—2:01-3:00 PM]
May 30, 1949 “Is Monday Black and the Rest of the Week Uphill?”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood relates a chat with a window-cleaner about
imagining the days of the week pictorially and allocating them colors.”]
PERSONNEL: Marguerite Scott (producer).
STUMP THE STORY-TELLERS (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Thursday—10:15-10:35 PM]
June 23, 1949
[ASHLEY: “Additional requirement that the story be set in North
Africa.”]
PERSONNEL: Franklin Engelmann (host).
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
June 25, 1949 “Max Hensig”
(HOME SERVICE)
[Wednesday 10:00-10:20 PM]
July 13, 1949 “Two Holidays”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood recalls his two trips down the Danube providing
the inspiration for ‘The Willows’, and a holiday on a Swedish island
which inspired ‘The Camp of the Dog’.”]
WOMAN’S HOUR (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—2:00-3:00 PM]
August 29, 1949 “The Little Puzzles”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood considers a few minor puzzles, such as why, when
getting a smut out of your eye, you also always open your mouth.”]
PERSONNEL: Marguerite Scott (producer).
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
September 3, 1949
(THIRD PROGRAMME)
[Thursday—8:39-8:50 PM]
September 8, 1949 “Minor Memories”
[ASHLEY: Early memories of childhood, Canadian experiences and how
he became a writer.”]
PERSONNEL: Julian Hall (producer).
(HOME SERVICE)
[Sunday—9:20-9:35 PM]
September 25, 1949 “On Being Eighty” [EXTANT RECORDING]
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood reflects on four ‘torches’ that were his motivators
in early life: to be a violinist, a mountaineer, a poet and a holy man.”]
PERSONNEL: Eileen Maloney (producer).
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
October 22, 1949
I SPEAK FOR MYSELF (FAR EASTERN SERVICE)
[Saturday—12:13-12:23 PM]
December 3, 1949
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood’s early experiences and how he became a writer…
Pre-recorded October 27, 1949.”]
PERSONNEL: Laurence Staple (producer).
MORNING STORY (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—11:45 PM-12:00 NOON]
November 22, 1949 “Two of a Kind”
(GENERAL OVERSEAS SERVICE) [EXTANT RECORDING]
[Wednesday—2:00-2:24 AM]
December 21, 1949 “The Occupant of the Room”
[ASHLEY: “Pre-recorded December 14, 1949… Hotel room haunted by
the mood of a suicide.”]
PERSONNEL: Prudence Smith (producer).
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD READS HIS STORY (HOME SERVICE)
[Sunday—8:30-8:55 PM]
December 25, 1949 “The Occupant of the Room”
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD (HOME SERVICE)
[Thursday—3:05-3:30 PM]
December 29, 1949 “The Occupant of the Room”
THE STORYTELLER (HOME SERVICE)
[Tuesday—6:15-6:30 AM]
February 14, 1950 “Two of a Kind”
[Ashley says 2/14/50 Pacific Service and 2/15/50 General Overseas Service]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
February 25, 1950
(HOME SERVICE)
[Saturday—7:45-59 PM]
June 10, 1950 “Spiders and Such”
(AKA “Along Came a Spider,” “Algernon Blackwood on Spiders.”)
[ASHLEY: Blackwood describes his fear of spiders together with some
particular experiences.”]
PERSONNEL: Eileen Maloney (producer).
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
June 17, 1950 “By Water”
WOMAN’S HOUR (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—2:00-3:00 PM]
September 12, 1950 “The Human Touch”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood tells some of the secrets and some of the pitfalls
behind his successful unscripted live television broadcasts.”]
SATURDAY NIGHT STORY (BBC-TV)
September 30, 1950 “Jewel Thieves at Albert Hall”
HALLOWE’EN (BBC-TV)
October 30, 1950
[ASHLEY: “Due to Blackwood’s frailty the programme was pre-recorded on October 26th.”]
SUMMER LIGHTNING (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Sunday—6:30-7:00 PM]
May 6, 1951 “The Human Touch” [excerpt]
[ASHLEY: “1 minute 7 second extract only.”]
TELLER OF TALES (LIGHT PROGRAMME)
[Monday—9:45-10:00 PM]
July 2, 1951 “The Destruction of Smith”
THIS IS BRITAIN (PACIFIC SERVICE)
[????]
Circa 1951
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood recorded his contribution on June 25, 1951 but it
has not been possible to determine whether it was ever broadcast.”]
(BBC-TV)
October 13, 1951 “How I Became Interested in Ghosts”
[ASHLEY: “Blackwood tells of his father’s interest in ghost stories and of his own first
investigation of a haunted house. The programme was pre-recorded and the film survives in
the BBC film archives.”]
[RESOURCES]
Ashley, Mike. Algernon Blackwood: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1987.
Ashley, Mike. Algernon Blackwood: An Extraordinary Life. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001.
Blackwood, Algernon. “The Fear of Heights.” The Listener (November 6, 1947).
Blackwood, Algernon. The Magic Mirror: Lost Supernatural and Mystery Stories. Wellingborough:
Equation, 1989.
Blackwood, Algernon. “Oddities.” The Listener (September 9, 1948).
Blackwood, Algernon. “Pistol against a Ghost.” Audio recording collected in British Writers, compiled by
Richard Fairman. London: British Library, BBC, 2008.
Blackwood, Algernon. “Queer Stories.” The Listener (September 12, 1934).
Blackwood, Algernon. “Strange Story of a Texas Farm Disappearance.” The Listener (May 13, 1948).
Blackwood, Algernon. “You Can’t Tell Ghost Stories on the Radio.” Radio Times (December 11, 1936).
K.H. “Mr. Algernon Blackwood.” Manchester Guardian (August 29, 1934).
[Madden, Cecil (ed.)]. My Grimmest Nightmare. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1935.
PERIODICALS: The Gleaner [Kingston], Manchester Guardian, Radio Times, Syracuse Herald, The Times
[London].
[OG-NOTE: For any readers who have a special interest in the life and work of Blackwood, the two Mike Ashley volumes
are an indispensable part of one’s library. They are the be-all and end-all of Blackwood scholarship. The Ashley-edited
collection The Magic Mirror is also a must-have item, as it contains a number of rare tales and anecdotes that Blackwood
utilized in his radio talks, including “The Blackmailers,” “The Wig,” “King’s Evidence,” “Lock Your Door,” “The Texas Farm
Disappearance,” “The Holy Man,” “Pistol Against a Ghost,” “Japanese Literary Cocktail,” “The Curate and the
Stockbroker,” “By Proxy,” “The Voice,” and the title story.]
[GALLERY]
Algernon Blackwood Blackwood, BBC TV, 1936 Blackwood, BBC TV, 1949