ITV (Independent Television) in the UK was launched sixty years ago today and the anniversary and background has been been the focus of much media attention. It is a significant anniversary as the channel marked the end of the BBC’s… Continue Reading
As part of their campaign to prevent the continued downsizing of theatre orchestras in the 1920s, the Musicians’ Union’s Glasgow Branch Secretary, Walter Murdock, wrote to the playwright, George Bernard Shaw, for “any possible assistance he could give us in… Continue Reading
We were sad to hear of the death last week of one of the members of the project’s Steering Group, Tony Lucas. Tony was well known within the Musicians’ Union, having been a member of the Central London Branch committee… Continue Reading
The MU’s relations with the BBC were severely tested by the opening of Radio 1 in 1967. Using material from the BBC Written Archives, Martin Cloonan explains the points of contention. Continue Reading
While the story of David Bowie’s flirtation with fascism and fascist imagery in the 1970s has been oft-told and discussed in subsequent years, its is worth placing in the context of the Musicians’ Union’s politics of the time and to examine the response of the Union to it. Continue Reading