BBC Five to Ten / Judith Piepe

[jloewer]

Hello fellow archivists!

My name is Jeremy Loewer. I am doing archival research on singer/songwriter Paul Simon.

I'm hoping you could help answer a question about the "Five to Ten" program. As I understand it, social worker Judith Piepe introduced Paul's recordings on the broadcast.

I've spoken with representatives at the BBC, Getty Images, as well as close friends of Judith looking for a recording of her - with no luck so far. We've heard Paul's performance on the show from the bootleg CD, which was pre-recorded. What we are still looking for is her introduction to the recording.

I have read Gary Critcher's post here labeled 'Paul Simon on the BBC, 1964'.

If you have any information or suggestions on where to find audio of Judith Piepe on BBC's "Five to Ten" - I would be glad to hear from you. Thank you.

[Stuart Monk]

Hi, Jeremy,
Sorry it's taken a few days to reply to your message.
The tape that was recovered through the Treasure Hunt was 'just' a copy of Paul Simon's studio input, presumably from the master recording.
I'm not aware of any off-air recordings that would have Judith Piepe's introductions or comments, sorry.
Manchester's Central Library Sound Archive has a few live recordings of Paul Simon from around this time in the collection of a local folk music fan, but there don't seem to be any radio recordings in the collection.
It also looks like the songs were repeated in revised editions of "Five To One" in 1967 and 1968 - the later versions have introductions by Colin Semper, according to Genome.

The songs were spread across three series in 1965 - the song order for the third run isn't specified in Genome, unfortunately:
01. 08/03/1965 He Was My Brother
02. 09/03/1965 A Church Is Burning
03. 10/03/1965 On The Side Of A Hill
04. 11/03/1965 Little Sparrow

05. 01/05/1965 The Sound Of Silence
06. 08/05/1965 I Am A Rock
07. 15/05/1965 A Most Peculiar Man
08. 22/05/1965 Bleeker Street

09. 19/07/1965 ?
10. 20/07/1965 ?
11. 21/07/1965 ?
12. 22/07/1965 ?

Incidentally, the tape that was returned to the BBC also had a separate interview with Paul Simon backstage at a London folk club and a live recording with Art Garfunkel guesting on "A Most Peculiar Man" and Paul Simon solo on "Kathy's Song" and "The Sound Of Silence".
I don't think that has ever escaped from the Archives.
All the Best,
Stuart

[jloewer]

Hi Stuart,
Thank you for your reply! And no worries - I similarly thought I had notifications turned on, and my apologies for just catching this now.
This is great information, and much appreciated.
Who would you suggest reaching out to regarding the backstage interview / recording of Art?
Have you ever been in touch with Colin Semper?
Best Regards,
Jeremy Loewer