Last year, I made a documentary that reminded me about the desire people around the world have to connect, and the power of education.

My father Brian McDermott starred in the BBC’s first television series to teach English abroad in the 1960s, Walter and Connie. Before he died 22 years ago, he was captured in a home video saying he had once signed 4,000 autographs in Norway in one day. Questioning whether that could possibly have been true led me to a wonderful trove of radio and TV programmes broadcast abroad that I and most people in the UK had never heard before: Ditties about democracy, Abba songs to teach adjectives, and a place called Gondoland which happened to be ruled by none other than Miriam Margolyes.

It means a great deal to find out today I’ve been shortlisted for an AIB (Association for International Broadcasting) award for Do You Speak English?

The often surreal material was brought to life by technical producer Richard Hannaford. Invaluable research and sign-posting came from John Escolme, and thanks go to former BBC World Service colleagues who rummaged under beds and in attics for vintage programmes, most importantly, Hamish Norbrook.

Creating Back to the Future, 40 years on – Witness History podcast, BBC World Service – YouTube

In 1992, Mary Fisher set out to fight the prejudice faced by those with HIV and Aids.

Witness History – Mary Fisher’s ‘A Whisper of Aids’ speech – BBC Sounds

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In 1981 the first major series of English lessons was broadcast on Chinese television.

President Deng Xiaoping had allowed private enterprise and was pursuing an era of “opening up” to the rest of the world. It followed a decade of educational turmoil when teachers had been castigated as bourgeois by the former leader Mao Zedong.

Kathy Flower presented the English education programme, Follow Me, several times a week at primetime. It was watched by an estimated 500 million people keen to get a taste of the English language and observe westerners on television. Kathy Flower recalls to Josephine McDermott what it was like becoming the most famous foreign person in China.

Listen here

Listen here: Archive on 4 – Do You Speak English? – BBC Sounds

Do You Speak English was a Radio Times, Sunday Times and BBC Radio 4 Pick of the Week. I was interviewed about it on BBC Breakfast and the Today programme.

English has been taught to people abroad using radio and television for more than half a century and this is how it all started.

Miriam Margolyes is among the stars of English by Radio and Television, broadcast to millions around the world, who reflects on the amazing global impact of the programmes. From their beginnings in 1943 when English was taught to occupied Europe, to their role today reaching girls in Afghanistan banned from school, Josephine McDermott unearths the English programmes lost to time which feature everything from Abba to Morris dancing and a furry, green, alien monster who eats metal.

Most of the programmes have never been heard by a UK audience and took months to track down, but they provide an intriguing insight into the way Britain has been projected in the booming years of broadcast media.

Josephine’s late father Brian McDermott starred in the BBC’s first television series to teach English in the 1960s, Walter and Connie. Unsure if any of the series still exists in the archive, she gets to see films for the first time. He used to tell stories of being mobbed by fans in Europe which sounded like exaggeration for the sake of a good story. It’s Josephine’s task to find out if there was any truth in it – and it may be some ageing Dutch pop stars have the answer. She discovers they still perform a song inspired by her father’s TV programme teaching English.

With insights from Professor Jean Seaton, former English by Radio and Television producer Hamish Norbrook, the actor Miriam Margolyes, Kathy Flower, presenter of Follow Me in China, plus Robert Jan Stips and Rob Kloet from the band Nits.

I’m delighted to have been nominated for Archive on 4: Fangirls and Teen Hysteria for the Audio Production Awards 2024.

Fifty years ago a viewing balcony at Heathrow Airport collapsed under the weight of fans desperate to see The Osmonds land. Ten thousand had turned out. Eighteen girls were injured. It marked the start of a UK tour where “Osmondmania” peaked.

The press used the word “hysteria” and David Dimbleby hosted a TV debate on whether The Osmonds were bad for the UK’s youth. Donny Osmond says “That hysteria and adulation will never happen again, ever, I don’t think for any artist. Even Harry Styles, Justin Bieber. Yes, it’s crazy but it’s a different kind of hysteria. Social media has changed everything. There’s no mystique. That hysteria of ‘I can’t get it, but I want it’ will never happen again because you can get it now”. Is Donny right? As teens have changed, has the nature of fandom changed too?

Tracing the history of teen idols, Josephine McDermott opens her own teenage diary for the first time and considers how her adulation for Take That compares to what went before for The Beatles and the Bay City Rollers, and what comes after with Harry Styles and social media influencers. Contributors include psychologists Dr Linda Papadopoulos, and Dr Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster from Chapman University in the United States.

Listen on BBC Sounds

In 1985 some of the biggest names in fashion and music joined together for Fashion Aid. The actress Jane Seymour shares what it was like being rock star Freddie Mercury’s bride.

Listen on BBC Sounds or watch here

In 2000, the maritime archaeologist Franck Goddio discovered the city of Thonis-Heracleion which had been hidden from sight for two thousand years.

Listen on BBC Sounds

On 21 October 1973, American heartthrobs The Osmonds were met by hysterical crowds when their plane landed at London’s Heathrow Airport. A surge by some of the 10,000 fans caused a viewing balcony to collapse. Eighteen people were injured. Four fans were treated in hospital. The term “Osmondmania” was used across the newspapers. Donny Osmond shares his memories of it with Josephine McDermott.

Listen on BBC Sounds