BBC World Service Lilliburlero with pips

[@MichaelRoney]

I wish the BBC World Service hadn’t retired this distinctive and stately signature. A big loss…

[@alexkije]

Indeed!

[@joeh52]

​@@alexkijeSadly, this tradition has been replaced with satellite feeds and local relays where a station's local newscast can be an option for the 5 minute BBC news... a sad day in the early 2000s when this pattern started

[@sydneyharbour-bridges8090]

They still are included in the current theme!

[@squirehaggard4749]

In early 1983, growing up in Florida (British parents) I bought a Radio Shack short wave radio and late that night carefully tuned to one of the World Service frequencies listed in the booklet that came with the radio. And finally I heard "....this is London...." then Lilibulero and the pips. It sounded exactly like this recording. I couldn't have been more thrilled if I had just landed on the moon.

[@Narayanan5]

Growing up in India, I used to listen to the World Service regularly. The Lilly brings back old memories. The BBC was (probably still is) a beacon of hope and inspiration to millions around the world.

[@gg-ps1vz]

@@Narayanan5 pardon me but that is the first time I have heard an Indian say something positive about the BBC 🤣

[@G6JPG]

Note the slight pause after "This". Very characteristic.

[@Alfred5555]

@@G6JPG Characteristic of what? Isn't that how everyone speaks?

[@G6JPG]

@@Alfred5555 Very characteristic of the BBC as was. I don't think, say, the VoA (or Radio Moscow) would pause in quite that manner.

[@clydejames6444]

A million times during the Vietnam War we listened to the BBC to get the REAL news, free of USA commentary [hard to come by inside the USA in the early years particularly]

[@nigellamaccini6091]

Not sure why but this ID moves me to tears for something lost - most likely my youth!

[@jimbee01028]

yeah something we all lost and it's not coming back

[@teejayy2130]

In the early 90's working abroad I relied on the BBC world service for news and that music made me homesick every time 😊

[@davidpan5176]

As a kid in NYC in the mid 70s, I had my cherished shortwave radio. I would sit on my front stoop on summer nights listening to the faraway sounds of the BBC and other stations.

[@garethjones6566]

Memories of a wonderful time, when the BBC was a beacon of outstanding journalism and fairness.

[@sillygoose635]

it really still is.

[@sillygoose635]

@s reality tends to be "woke" and "left leaning" these days...

[@Rock-on-man]

@s woke progressives are everywhere. Fortunately the bbc have kept their pips - and it’s an immensely satisfying thing

[@NewRepublicMapper]

@s This Statement is Very Fascist and Fox News Larper

[@electrictroy2010]

“I was born a man, but identify as a woman, even though I have a peepee.”

[@blackhorse385]

Souvenir of my childhood in Mauritius. My father was always saying in order to improve your English then listen to BBC world news . Always starting with “This is London” then the beautiful Lilliburlero.

[@G6JPG]

Old joke: foreigner spoke beauriful English, but interspersed it with odd noises. When asked where he learnt it, he replied "from the (pop, whistle) BBC World Service" ... (-:

[@RobMacKendrick]

Living in Latin America, with the BBC almost my only entertainment, night after night. A deep, enduring bond to this day.

[@departurespod]

So many feels hearing this again after so long🥲

[@bridgetown45]

This tune is still alive and well as the Regimental March of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.(REME)

[@solarhoney]

For so many of us growing up in India in the 1970s, hearing this recording is not only nostalgia and 'illogical' intensity of longing . It is actually a reminder to us of, in very many ways, a much better world - now long gone. The BBC, atleast in the years of the second world war and through the 1970s - was perceived as a symbol of that world and we long for all that it represented - especially Great Britain and its pre- 1990s culture.

[@electrictroy2010]

British genocide of the Indian people

[@alanleespin]

As a Londoner to travel around the world and here the words This Is London - well, it was something special :-)

[@G6JPG]

With the slight but definite pause after "This".

[@gregorybaker9482]

Growing up in Trinidad late 50s to early 60s (before television came to the country), listening to BBC World Service and to a lesser extent Voice of America was mandatory in my parents' home. It fostered an interest in current affairs and gave a broader perspective than our island could provide. Attending secondary school in the UK revealed challenges by the UK natives to the values represented by the BBC. Thankfully I successfully navigated these and acquired a way of carefully examining both sides of an issue before coming to a decision....sadly it seems a lost art at the BBC and in UK journalism today. Bittersweet memories.

[@carolinenothwanger3000]

Always remember listening to the BBC news on the shortwave radio, hearing this tune. Brings back memories of my grandfather (whose old Philco radio I still have)

[@MyJames67]

Working in Vilnius in the mid 90s. Sounded just like this. A real link to home. Hairs up on my neck 😀

[@joedredd1168]

I think it's so lovely to see so many people be they native Britons living abroad or foreigners from many different nations, reminiscing and getting joyfully nostalgic about the BBC World Service, it's something that can and does bring many people together.

[@samuelbcn]

I miss this more than it's logical to explain

[@peteberrie]

Oh God me too. And I find that "This is London" is almost more important to me than the music.

[@peterroberts6933]

I remember being away in the USA and yearning for home. The “This is London” somehow helped me to deal with the desperation to be home. Of course, this is pre-internet as it is now. I think these days, I’d have the Radio 4 stream on all the time and long for “Barwick Green”.

[@YesYesYoureRight]

@@peteberrie and samuelbcn ., I miss this more than it's logical to explain . No, if you can say miss, then it is easily explainable. Logic means that there is a very strong connection between the two items, the audio content and the fact of missing it. The connection of the two things in in the head of the person experiencing the radio sound, in their auditory chamber, in that place, historical record is matched with current hearing and a timeless connection is made. . Have A Nice Day.

[@354sd]

I used to tune in every night in Baghdad during the 80s now i never listen to bbc. Saddam s media was more truthful.

[@rubewaddell1704]

Me too...and I only heard it on shortwave from Australia. It's a bit of music that is so nostalgic...up there with several pieces by Ronald Binge.

[@irishfergal]

Brilliant: All of a sudden I'm seven years old again !

[@pendragonU]

Remember, if anything ever goes worse: Close your eyes and THINK OF ENGLAND! Lillibulero was like listening to the waves and you landing on the shore of Britain, from wherever you were castaway before, after the news reader assured us without a doubt, 'This is London'. You were Home, Greenwich Main Time again. And All was Right in the World again

[@G6JPG]

I know what you mean! (It's "mean" though.)

[@Bahanx11]

I had no idea it was a full March. It is 6:00 an in Barbados and I just remembered that I used to wait for this on my short wave radio at the top of the hour on 5.975 MHZ. The good old boy days.

[@Alfred5555]

More than just a march, it's a full war song, a satirical comedy about the Glorious revolution, joking that the Catholic forces think they will beat the English protestants.

[@TheOrphicCreative]

Its so beautiful reading everyone's memories from around the world, so many different cultures but all united by this same sound. We need more connection like this in our divided world. For me this brings back memories of my dad tuning in his amazing digital shortwave radio in the 80s and early 90s from Southern Africa. Even camped out in a tent in the wilderness on the other side of the world we could still listen in. The shortwave distortion made it seem like London was another planet far away across the galaxy.

[@chabadshaareytikva9501]

Takes me back to my childhood in the late 80's. My Grampa & Granny mooved to Israel whith my 14 years old mother, and i loved to eat breakfast at their home, weetabix whith milk & sugar, and the radio was playing the BBC news. Memories, tears, i miss them so much.

[@YesYesYoureRight]

I bought a short wave radio in Waikiki and listened to the BBC world news service; said to come from Bush House London; in 1992. . Prior to that radio, I had a bigger radio, made in Soviet Union, (Russia), which also picked up Christian Science Radio, of Boston, in my house in Sydney, broadcast from Saipan island in the North East Pacific, from 1986. . I actually abandoned the Waikiki radio when I moved to London SW1 because It could no longer pick anything up; central London had too much interference. . Have A Nice Day ! Mahalo.

[@timdick825]

I am British but lived in Honolulu for 7 years and enjoyed Hawaii Public Radio's BBC news hours there. (I founded Hawaii Superferry.)

[@G6JPG]

It did indeed come from Bush House (or BVSH HOVSE as was carved into the stone); if you look at a map of central London, it's in the semicircular bit off the Strand. (Sadly, the WS is no longer based there.)

[@cheery274]

This takes me back to when I served in the Falklands in 1985. Oh the memories.

[@frankmiller95]

Used to listen to this at sea, back in the Pleistocene as a junior deck officer. We used it to rate the ship's chronometer. l'd listen to it on headphones in the chartroom and conduct along. One day our English captain came in and unbeknownst to me, observed my "performance" with great amusement. Great and catchy tune that brings back vivid memories from another time.

[@glencosby3227]

I remember this during my fanatical SWL years 1975-79. The BBC was my anchor.

[@christiangeibel6633]

Learning and/or improving my English in the '70s with the World Service this tune will always be a kind reminder

[@G6JPG]

From some British comedy show: Englishman abroad, somewhere very remote, to native: "You speak beautiful English, but with odd noises! Where did you learn it?" Native: "From the BBC [pop] World {whistle} service."

[@christiangeibel6633]

Same here 👍

[@christiangeibel6633]

​@@G6JPGave to remember that one 😂

[@thefollandgnat]

The sound of my childhood, growing up in far-flung embassies behind the Iron Curtain during the 1970s, being served dry toast, marmalade and orange juice on starched linen tablecloths by various butlers/flunkies serving their country's intelligence services. "This. Is London".

[@JoseMendoza-vh9oe]

Grew up in Yugoslavia in the second half of the 1970s doing the same thing except the butlers

[@asheeshpandey]

I remember very well this signature tune of BBC World Service on radio in 1990s.

[@EASYTIGER10]

Reminds me of being on an overseas caravan holiday as a kid! Mum and Dad would be at the back of the caravan with dad's radio blaring away that distorted music!

[@G6JPG]

It's not the same unless the distORTIon is there!

[@G6JPG]

That's why this is such a good clip: the distortion is part of the nostalgia! (It's a particular type of distortion, specific to AM radio at a distance, due to how the fading swept across the frequency; very familiar to Radio Luxemb[o]urg listeners, and the pirate stations.)

[@lamideayoola899]

Filled with so much nostalgia of the very simple and innocent past. This tune I still remember till this day.

[@15cedw]

This is the ident I heard when listening to BBC news in San Francisco. It is so regal and grand.

[@G6JPG]

This and "Imperial Echoes", which "Radio Newsreel" used.

[@kosikumah7249]

Wonderful! I've missed this! Back in the 70s and 80s living in Germany we always heard this on 948 kHz (?) Medium Wave.

[@G6JPG]

Sometimes relayed on BFBS, IIRR.

[@greatwazzoo]

Stationed overseas in the early 90’s this was my only connection tothe outside world. Every hour if you were fortunate enough to get reception on your shortwave this is what we heard.

[@paulhinton6416]

As a child growing up in Pakistan, our father turned on the world service at 7am (2am GMT). This recording brings back strong memories. It is illogical, but I’d like the pips back with the nursery rhyme Banbury Cross.

[@m0therway]

It's quite amazing to read comments from people all over the world reminiscing about how they'd stay up listening to the BBC. I grew up in a tiny remote town deep in the taiga of North America. My family didn't have much but one year i got a shortwave radio for Christmas. It seems I was listening along with many others from Hong Kong to Mauritius. I felt so isolated at the time, listening to London was reassuring that civilization was out there. I still love the BBC, despite what the Tories have done to it ;)

[@thomashowell8367]

Days in the British Army overseas. Oh, how I miss that sound!

[@alexgibson8181]

Reminds me of my time in the Merchant Navy, LW radio.

[@timdick825]

100%! Always on the old P&O liners... Great days. If I could teleport back to those days, I'd do it in a heartbeat...

[@2010sjay]

Like clockwork at midnight and 6am in Trinidad back in the day!

[@justinojara9169]

This is the kind of memories i like to visit once in a while , bbc was the only radio i would tune from morning to sunset ,in the 90s it was our national radio which used to tune it , was on both short and midium vawe

[@tomnicholls9016]

Reminds me of growing up in Hong Kong before 1997, when the BBC World Service was relayed by RTHK

[@theopasanduka4297]

I will make it my ring tone

[@blastfromthepast7005]

Frequency tips provided by the late Andrew "the" Piper. Continuity announcer: Roy Larmour, still going strong, as far as I know.

[@christinabatey927]

Miss this!

[@rajeshdhunganakrishna]

It reminds me my 40 years back golden time.

[@CloveCoast]

I don’t know why but I love this Greenwich time and atomic clock stuff

[@joefish6091]

2.5 5.0 10.0 MHz, Canadian time clock on 3330, 7850, and 14 670 kHz.

[@NSBarnett]

Who remembers when the long sixth pip was introduced? This snippet sounds pre-war, but it obviously wasn't as it has the long sixth pip (all six were the same length when I was young, but I can't remember how old I was when they changed the sixth to help people set their clocks and watches...maybe around the early 60s).

[@jacobbonner1306]

Ah, thats what it was for. Often wondered.

[@G6JPG]

@@jacobbonner1306 For anyone who didn't manage to tune in until part way through the pips.

[@G6JPG]

No, because I (born 1960) remember the short pips, so I think it was in the '70s.

[@TheOrphicCreative]

I was born in the 80s and I still recall the short pips, so must have been late 80s I think when they changed it

[@jacobbonner1306]

Coming in late after merry times , switching radio4 on before turning in for the night, not sure why they decided to get rid of it. It was strangely comforting, like Sailing By before the shipping forecast.

[@G6JPG]

"pip … pip … pip … pip … pip … pip: oh nine hours, Greenwich Mean Time."

[@ESmith-ik8vu]

So, do I miss that kind of radio? Certainly! And the British Council Libraries.

[@inagulledjilbawayne9380]

Most of the old generation Somalis across Somalia and the entire East and horn of Africa are familiar with that lilbuero intro sign since the BBC SOMALI service used the same.

[@andyscarborough1501]

I wish the BBC World Service hadn't retired it's adherence to truth and proper principles of journalism.

[@NeerajVerma-pp4gx]

Heard in 80s on short wave

[@Daipeter]

Also in Hong Kong.

[@user-og7rz8yk4z]

Британская Служба БИ-БИ-СИ!!! СЕВА, СЕВА, НОВГОРОДЦЕВ!! ГОРОД ЛОНДОН🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧!! БИ БИ СИ!! МЫ, ВЕРИЛИ!!!

[@alexkije]

VOA also used this as ID music. :)

[@qqwords]

1973...1983...

[@billowens2584]

I have listened to the BBC WS for more than 70 years, I asked a BBC Technician one day why they played the Scottish tune Kate Dalryple before the news, he told me it was to let the listener fine tune their receivers ! It's now very obvious to World listeners that the BBC is now run by the Tory government and is definitely NOT impartial anymore !!!!

[@tracynottage356]

I like it ,nice one

[@petefrys545]

Agreed

[@andicee8324]

Bring the pips back lol

[@anthonysallis]

I long assumed that this was Purcell's Rondeau from Abdelazar . . the rondeau is slower and more baroque in notation; but they seem closely related. With both versions I find I can sing "rock aby baby, on the treetops, when the wind blows, your cradle will rock etc" but the chorus is not suitable. Well, I was very young when I first heard (and never forgot) it . . !

[@bradmiley]

Hello all! I'm going to ask this here as this has bothered me for years, and it's really driving me mad. What is the theme tune to the 1970s era WS "The World Today"? It was a 15minute programme, that was regularly on the "English for 30 minutes, then German for 30 minutes (repeat repeat repeat)" sadly overlooked MW frequency of 1080kHz. It was an incredibly strident, powerful, theme with a decent orchestra. The announcer would say "BBC World Service presents... (short pause, then loud and proud) The World Today!" Then the big tune "Dum dum de dum, dum de de de dum, DUMM duh duh duh duh duh duh DUMM da da da da da da DUMM, da da da da da da da DUMM..". And they would fade it there, after about ten seconds. NOBODY seems to know this tune. Hell, nobody seems to even remember it. They remember "24 Hours" (another 1080kHz favourite) and obviously stuff like the ultra-Empire "Sports Roundup", but no joy on The World Today. If anyone can help, even if you have a few seconds recorded that maybe I could play into the Google We Remember Music For You service, that would be great. I suspect it's a Briton/De Wolfe/KPM Production Music track, but after forty-odd years, I NEED to know so I can stop worrying about it (yes, my OCD and Autism play a large part in this desperation). Thank you!!

[@linmanfu913]

You are in luck! The very day you asked this, RandomRadioJottings posted a video with the answer. Watch kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2qniaCBrq2qqKc from 6:45. You weren't far wrong....

[@G6JPG]

The main two tunes I associate with BBC news - and "This ... is London" - are this one (Liliburlero), and "Imperial Echoes", though I associate that with "Radio Newsreel" - I don't remember "The World Today". Might have ised the same tune though; there's a copy at kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJbJq5udltB0h68&lc=UgzVDeIYaPTOVOnzCix4AaABAg.8px046UXeUA9aASQCuoVME (though without the shortwave effects!).

[@bradmiley]

@@G6JPG 73s G6JPG! I'm but a humble M6 - yet, being disabled, I feel it was a bit of an achievement. It gets me on 2m and 70cm, whenever I'm well enough to take the car up the hill. My little Baofeng has managed thirty or so miles on a good day! I *did* finally find the tune I was looking for. Only took me forty odd years, but I got there in the end! It's a piece of Production/Library Music from De Wolfe, and to hear it clearly, IN STEREO! was quite something. Fair made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and brought tears to my eyes. Be well, be happy, keep your eyes open for Sporadic E, and I'll wish you 73s again OM.

[@G6JPG]

@@bradmiley You're keeping the hobby alive at least! (A G6 is only a B licence - I never passed the Morse. And I haven't keyed a mike in anger for years.) Now, the music - I take it it _wasn't_ Imperial Echoes I gave you a link to above - have you a KZbin link to it?

[@bradmiley]

@@G6JPG Yes indeed - I haven't managed to go up the hill for a while, the disability has made it impossible, while the town in which I live is in a null spot so signals have a hard time getting out! The music to "The World Today" isn't on KZbin so there's no link, but someone kindly pointed me in the direction of the track on the De Wolfe website. I wish I had it to hand, but it was a while ago and can't remember the details. For me it was good enough just to hear it again after so long! Take care sir!

[@davecompton5847]

chills. signed : an American

[@timothypeck3640]

Yep yank, know exactly what you mean! :Another American