The author knows what he is doing, and has quietly and elegantly written a book which is nothing short of a nonfiction thriller. Hendy takes a controversial subject and with riveting anecdotes offers a forensic cross-examination of BBC executives and their political adversaries. There are enough showdowns in this account to satisfy any Gunsmoke aficionado, with firings and resignations taking the place of gunfights.

The author himself clearly feels the clouds gathering, and at times cannot banish an elegiac tone from his prose.

... a treasure trove of marvellous detail and some revelations.

Hendy...does set the scene rather well of these three influential figures at the dawning of what would turn out to be this country’s biggest and most significant cultural institution. The reader is prepared for a dramatic tale of innovation and determination as the trio succeed in establishing their new business amid a hostile and powerful Fleet Street resistance. Yet no sooner does Hendy introduce these characters than they largely slip out of the narrative. Instead, an array of other functionaries appear and pretty soon Lewis is gone, the BBC has become a corporation and listening to the radio has shifted from an obscure hobby for the wealthy to a national pastime. Exactly how that transformation takes place is lost in an abundance of information that never quite forms into a dynamic narrative. The book is an authorised history, insofar as the BBC has made its archives available to Hendy, though, as he emphasises, without any editorial control or influence. Yet there is nevertheless a sense of obligation in the writing, a need to cover the ground, even when it’s not that interesting or new.

Although the story of the BBC’s early days is well known, Hendy tells it colourfully and briskly, and these opening chapters are easily the most enjoyable part of his book. He is good on those first pioneers...and has some fun with the BBC’s early critics.

Hendy’s narrative is at its liveliest in the first three decades of the BBC, when a mixture of empire builders and free spirits laid the foundations of the organisation.

A comprehensive biography of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

... an entertaining if uneven history.