Rodgers & Hammerstein in the South Pacific

History's Heroes

BBC

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.8 • 704 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1949, a new musical production debuts on Broadway, holding up a mirror to the racial prejudices of American society.

Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history.

A BBC Studios Audio production.

Producer: Lorna Reader Series producer: Suniti Somaiya Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, podcast fan.
0:03.0	Consider this your invite to the UK's biggest podcasting party.
0:06.7	We're heading to Sheffield from the 4th to the 6th of July
0:09.0	for the BBC Sounds Fringe at the Crossed Wires Festival.
0:12.8	We'll be joined by some of the biggest names in podcasting,
0:15.3	including Sarah Cox, Charlie Hedges, Russell Kane,
0:18.4	and some bloke called Greg James doing his Radio 4 show called Rewinder.
0:23.2	You can watch live shows of your favourite podcasts, and the best part is free.
0:28.0	To book your free tickets, go to crossedwires.org slash fringe.
0:34.5	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:38.0	You're about to listen to a brand new series of History's Heroes.
0:42.6	New episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts.
0:46.3	But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes a week early, first, on BBC Sounds.
0:53.5	Though the lights were dim, the ornate gold and white decoration around the stage of Broadway's majestic theatre shimmered.
1:01.6	The auditorium was one of the largest in New York City.
1:05.9	Two men were not just watching the show, but the audience.
1:10.5	Their reaction meant everything. The pair watching the show, but the audience. Their reaction meant everything.
1:14.6	The pair were composer Richard Rogers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein.
1:20.0	They'd booked a party after the performance on the roof of the glamorous St Regis Hotel,
1:25.3	and they'd ordered 200 copies of the next day's New York Times, in the hope it would carry a positive review.
1:33.7	The audience was packed with the city's socialites, businessmen and patrons of the arts.
1:40.1	All of this felt precarious.
	...

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