BBC releases rare broadcasts by HG Wells

Monday, October 18


BBC Archives has released a rare collection of radio broadcasts by H.G. Wells, the renowned author often referred to as the father of science-fiction.

The collection, titled HG Wells On The Future, provides a "unique insight" into the man behind sci-fi classics such as The Time Machine and War Of The Worlds.

Dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, the radio broadcasts reveal Wells's eerily accurate predictions on future technological advances, such as the spread of the motor car and the growth of printed media.

The author also predicted the coming need to aggregate news content and create constantly-updated bibliographies to "modernise the distribution of knowledge".

Also in the collection is a batch of never-before seen letters sent to Wells by the BBC as part of efforts to encourage him to speak on-air.

The correspondence reveals how the first BBC director of talks Hilda Matheson worked to persuade the reluctant Wells to share his views via the medium of radio.

However, a set of internal memos also reflect the anxiety around how Wells's potentially controversial opinions would be received in Russia.

The fears were escalated to Lord Reith, the BBC's then director-general, but later allayed over a lunch conversation between the author and Matheson, in which he pledged to only criticise Russia "from the standpoint of a scientific historian".

The collection has been released to coincide with BBC Four's adaptation of the author's science-fiction romance The First Men In The Moon, which will air on the channel tomorrow at 9pm.

BBC executive producer Jamie Laurenson said: "It is great to be able to accompany a fantastic new adaption of HG Wells' The First Men In The Moon with such a rich archive resource that further reveals how prescient he was in so many of his thoughts and writings."

The radio broadcasts and letters are available now on a special H.G. Wells section of the BBC Archives website.