Voices from the Titanic - BBC releases archive

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The BBC has just opened up its archive of first-hand interviews with Titanic survivors, first broadcast in 1936.

My great-great uncle Thomas Andrews, Head Designer of the vessel, went down with the ship, having previously argued with the owners about the lack of lifeboats, accepted his fate as a gentleman after helping to save other passengers, and died a hero - so I am particularly interested on a personal basis.

However, the ship holds such a strong place in imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic, that this will be of particular interest to many.

Of particular interest are the remniscences of Commander Lightoller, the most senior officer to survive.

Also included are PDFs of memos within the BBC, including one to suppress a post-war play about the sinking that would sap morale.

I only hope this stuff isn’t fixed to UK-only IP addresses. If this is so, and you’re interested in a particular archive, send me a PM and I’ll see what I can do.

2

Very interesting, thanks! I’ll check it all out further when I’m not running late for work!

3

Doesn’t seem to be the case, jjimm. My frightfully uncouth colonial IP got in.

4

It even lets us ratbag Kiwis in, jjimm. Thanks very much for the link.

5

I can get the recordings. I’ll be listening to some more. Thanks for the link and heads up.

6

I went to high school with a girl whose grandparents were on the Titanic and lived to tell about it. She said they never really talked about it much other than to say they got on one of the first lifeboats and were told there were plenty for everybody - their lifeboat wasn’t even full of people.

She said her grandparents had then gone (I believe to Washington DC?) to testify several times in official investigations of the the disaster.