Be My Guest 1966 - 1983

[williammcgregor]

Here is the first line that the BBC say about this ...

There were a lot of episodes of this series made, and it was on very regularly, so not surprisingly they don’t all exist.

However there are a good selection held in the archive, amounting to a few tens of editions over the run of the series.



TV Brain has in excess of 450 editions.

They are all Existence Unknown - for a very good reason, read on

Looking at the Radio Times entry for the programme, it was not actually listed as Be My Guest, it was listed as the person inviting you into their home, for instance


15:30
Leslie Phillips


BBC Radio 2 logoBBC Radio 2
Sun 27th Nov 1977, 15:30 on BBC Radio 2

Schedule - BBC Programme Index



says Be My Guest and invites you to his home in London to recall some personal memories of early days in the theatre, Hollywood movies, and ' Sub-Lt Phillips ' of The Navy Lark; and shares some of his favourite music. Producer PHYLLIS ROBINSON
(Leslie Phillips is in 'Sextet ' at the Criterion Theatre, London)

Contributors
Producer:
Phyllis Robinson
Unknown:
Leslie Phillips
Here is the second line from the BBC in relation to TV Brain's Existence Unknown and the Radio Times entry above

We do have cataloguing of which editions we hold but it would take quite a while to make a list of the subjects – it’s not possible to extract the information on command from our systems at present, each one would need to be looked at to check which edition was which.


If there were 450+ editions and the Archive has ' a few tens of editions' (say 50) then if any one holds any editions or comes across one in their 'finds' there is 8 in 9 chance it is not an edition
currently held in the archive.

Do take a look at the TV Brain entry for Be My Guest (Radio), not all the hosts were British; some may be some of your favourite people and some may be a surprise for you!

Here is some good news,

BBC Radio 4 Extra

played 3 episodes

Eammon Andrews from 1976 Friday 16th December 2022

Alfred Marks from 1977 First broadcast on Radio 2 in 1977 Sunday 7th March 2021

Patrick Cargill from 1974 Monday 4th June 2018


So 3 editions of the Tens of Editions held in the archive are now known, if someone would like to inform TV Brain please.

[Ed Brown]

In that case, it will interest you to know that all three of these broadcasts exist online.

The Internet Archive automatically records the entire output of 4 Extra, and has been doing so since 2016:
archive.org/details/Radio-BBC-Radio-4-Extra?tab=collection

There's a search box on that page which can be used to find individual broadcasts by title.


Here are some details on the 4 Extra website about these 3 editions -

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b51znm/episodes/guide



[2021-03-02]
Be My Guest - 1977-10-09 - Alfred Marks
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sr7n
vf_m000sr7m_1fc84ba2-0c3b-4b4b-9c53-8e84c65afc06.ism

Alfred Marks: Alfred Marks says 'Be My Guest', and invites you to join him in recalling his early visits to London's Variety Theatres and Musical Shows; memories of wartime films; and records he likes to share with his family. Producer Phyllis Robinson.
First broadcast on Radio 2, in 1977.

Unfortunately, IMHO this is not a goldmine, I vividly recall listening to this broadcast by Alfred Marks, and found it dreadfully dull. There was, IMHO, too much music and too little of Alfred. Also, he only tells a few anecdotes. So this is not an in-depth look at his career either.

On the positive side, Be My Guest ran to 450 editions, so must have been popular. So they can't all have been as dull as this one!

[williammcgregor]

Many thanks Ed