London calling Italy: BBC broadcasts during the Second World War

London calling Italy is a book about the BBC Italian Service during the Second World War. It examines the role of the Italian broadcasters, the programmes and their reception. 'London Calling Italy offers an expertly researched, thought-provoking analysis of BBC propaganda for Italy during the Second World War, exploring how programmes were put together and what listeners made of them. It will surely become the key work on this topic.' Simon Potter, Professor of Modern History at the University of BristolHave you ever wondered how a national corporation like the BBC became a leading global radio service? By examining the case of Radio Londra, as the Italian Service was known, London calling Italy explains how the Second World War contributed to the BBC’s development as an internationally recognised broadcaster. Drawing on unexplored archive material from Italy and the United Kingdom, the book reveals why the BBC programmes have become a central, positively viewed part of Italian cultural heritage of the war and interrogates that view. It focuses on the relationship between the BBC Italian anti-fascist broadcasters, the British Foreign Office and the Labour Party; it also concentrates on the programmes aired during the Allied Italian campaign and partisan Resistance to Nazi Germany and their reception. The Italian Service’s scripts, the broadcasters’ memoirs, the BBC audience surveys, and the letters sent by many Italian listeners to Bush House, give an insight into how transnational broadcasts created a European popular culture in which common people identified themselves. From bombings, to lack of food supplies, or family losses, ordinary British and Italian citizens were all subjected to the same circumstances and the BBC was very skilled in addressing their concerns, but Radio Londra was also the expression of British political warfare towards an enemy country. London calling Italy is a book about Radio Londra, as the BBC Italian Service was known in Italy, and the company’s development as a global leader in the broadcasting industry, starting from the Second World War. Drawing on unexplored archive material collected in Italy and the United Kingdom, it aims to understand how the BBC programmes engaged with ordinary Italians, while concurrently conducting political warfare against fascist Italy. The book also focuses on the relationship between the BBC Italian anti-fascist broadcasters, the British Foreign Office, and Labour Party. Key sources analysed in the book are, among others, the Foreign Office’s records, the programmes broadcast by the BBC Italian Service during the Allied campaign, the memoirs of Italian anti-fascist broadcasters, the BBC surveys on the audience and the letters sent by listeners of the Italian Service.