Listen with Mother 16 June 1965

An edition of the long-running radio programme Listen with Mother from the BBC Home Service on 16 June 1965. Presented by Eileen Browne with the story, Big Fat Puss-Cat by Sheila Hayley, read by Julia Lang.

[@davidhurford2860]

Eileen Browne was my aunt, a lovely aunt. Wonderful to hear her voice again. I can remember thinking she was inside the radio, somehow - all things are possible at that age.

[@shivkptheorganist3809]

That is lovely ! God bless her and you too ! It must have been an honour to have her as your Aunt !

[@lemmy6782]

Give anything just to go back for a day . Lost my mam few months ago and me dad's two month over the year they gave him . Brought a lump to my throat this .

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

I've just listened to this for the first time since about 1956! It was a daily treat that I used to look forward to so much as a toddler, sitting in our kitchen with my Mum, years before we ever had a telly. I'd have my lunch, listen to Listen with Mother on the wireless, and then Mum would put me down for my afternoon sleep. I couldn't have had a better lullaby than Faure's gentle piano music!Lovely, innocent, carefree days . . .

[@Golo1949]

I'm glad I was born 1949, such a gentler time to grow up.

[@goldkhw]

Oh, my little brother wept each day when it was over. He too was born in 1949.

[@phaasch]

If ever there was a piece of music guaranteed to evoke carefree innocence, sunlit afternoons and utter security, it is the sound of Faure played on a piano.

[@unlokia]

What a beautiful comment

[@1958pobs]

Yes🤗

[@robinparker3540]

Absolutely!

[@bumble1612]

Wonderfully warm and very emotional memories,I wish I could go back,just for a day. Every day I wonder where have the years gone. Thank you for posting this delight.

[@stewartcowan5886]

Brings back such happy memories. Such a shame that modern life is not so innocent as we were in those days ..

[@MrAllallalla]

4:11 for "Are you sitting comfortably?"

[@blueconcretezebra]

Suddenly I feel very emotional. A happier, simpler time, all gone....

[@aprilblossom9268]

Only a thought away 😊

[@Steve-Cross]

I was 6 in 1965. I remember these stories. Happy Days. ☺

[@ecinomahaeugene]

Well remember all us kids sitting on the floor while Teacher turned on a big old console radio for "Listen With Mother."

[@brianhartgen]

My wife and I heard this today and it brought back so many memories. We loved radio as children, and remember many of the BBC Schools programmes, especially Let's Join In. I would love to hear some recordings of that, but this was a real treat. Thank you for providing it.

[@davidnash41]

Wow, what a time warp. I can remember listening to this programme every afternoon with my mum, just as the picture depicts. Happy days and so, so innocent. Wonderful, thank you for posting.

[@ianbentley7276]

me too, although it was about 12 years before this, for me.

[@joshuarosen6242]

So I did as well. Indeed I was even about the same age as the little boy in the drawing. "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin." is my strongest memory of Listen with Mother. One thing I'd forgotten is that they really were all frightfully well-spoken. People might think the BBC is still very middle class but it has changed a lot compared to 1963 but then my own parents spoke more or less like that too.

[@roderickfernandez8554]

@@joshuarosen6242 well I'm American but I just love that speech it's so clear so easy to understand just beautiful and my English friends I know they don't speak that way at all probably never did but their parents might have

[@aprilblossom9268]

Yes, think it’s known as The Queen’s English but only a minority really speak that way in UK

[@aprilblossom9268]

Accents certainly have changed from those days! Maybe it was a condition of getting employment with the BBC then..

[@yu768ytu78kguyi]

Memories came flooding back.

[@blueconcretezebra]

From a happier simpler time. A better time.

[@pauldobson7840]

Goodness - that is certainly a trip down memory lane! Although I remember "Listen with Mother" vividly (Daphne Oxenford was my favorite), I'm afraid that as soon as we bought our first TV, I moved on to "Watch with Mother" (Bill and Ben especially. Andy Pandy was such a goody goody!). However, "are you sitting comfortably" still brings back memories of a much less complicated time.

[@susangreen1986]

I remember very well the closing piece that ended this programme. Still drawn to this music today which reminds me of another time and place- somewhere way back in the midst of time...

[@joshuarosen6242]

Daphne Oxenford was my favourite as well and her name just adds to the appeal. I can just imagine running across a croquet lawn shouting, "I say, Daphne."

[@prdixon7325]

The male singer in the clip was my father, George Dixon. His "day job" was the senior producer for the BBC's Schools Brodcasting department. He also produced the Listen with Mother program.

[@LOTUS-ARTS001]

Julia lang also narrated the lost media piece called "The sad story of Henry" back in 1953 where as the saying goes... "once an engine attached to a train was afraid of a few drops of rain, the points weren't set right, it came off with a fright! and a hand put the engine back on again" go to lost media wiki to learn more!

[@ninaashik]

wonderful to hear this. thank you

[@joansavage1857]

Amazing! Thank you…

[@jamescrowley8637]

Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I'll begin.

[@markharris1223]

Thank you for this.

[@britishcomposers]

The continuity announcer is the late great John Dunn. He stood at 6' 7" tall all told. Drive time Radio 2 was never better than under his stewardship from around '76 until sometime in the late 90's. We had Listen With Mother piped around our primary school classrooms in the 60's and early 70's via a speaker within a wall cupboard door and a wall mounted volume control, all fed from an old valve VHF/FM tuner in the headmaster's secretary's office.

[@gerrynicol3951]

Would never had known that was John dunn as announcer .I really liked the guy especially on radio 2.

[@1958pobs]

Yes we would have it piped around ours too! It was quiet time after lunch 🤗

[@stephenbaker7079]

I have found memories of this, pre-school. My mother settling me down to sleep on the sofa listening to professional opera singers singing Baa Baa Black Sheep etc! I preferred the stories that followed the song.

[@sunflowersmusic2668]

psaach is quite right. The tune is the Berceuse (Lullaby) from Faure's Dolly Suite Op.56, a collection of short pieces written for children. It's a piano duet and I'm proud to say that the recording of it that was used on Listen With Mother five days a week from 1965 until it closed in 1982 was recorded by Vera Gray and my father one rainy afternoon in a basement studio at Broadcasting House.

[@kaarrff]

SunflowersMusic i

[@joshuarosen6242]

How delightful to read that. In that case, I have enjoyed hearing your father play many times.

[@peterbuckley5830]

What is the trumpet tune at the begining?

[@adriennedunne1748]

Well it gave us a lot of pleasure. Thank you. I've always loved that tune since I was a child listening to "listen with mother". A long time ago but never forgotten. 😊

[@LiteratureTodayUK]

a simpler time..

[@grahamnancledra7036]

Sadly, there is no room in this modern day for this type of programming on the five national networks or even on the regional or local stations. Such a sadness, that such innocence has gone for ever. Also, you don't get suck RP voices on the radio. It;s all Northern English, Ulster and Estuary English. Ter for To: Fer for For; etc. So poor.

[@aprilblossom9268]

Not sure there are any children’s programmes either ☹️ Good for listening skills..

[@jrgboy]

I always used to listen around 1951, I used to call it 'ding-de-dong' cos of the opening music..

[@tocaat2410]

You're about the same age as myself, then. I well remember the ding-de-dong, but I used to squeeze the words "quarter to two" into the metre. Didn't quite fit, but the recollection has remained with me for the past 68 years! Dear, loving Mother passed away about 7 years ago, But I well remember sitting on her lap back then, all ready to listen at what is now known as 13:45.

[@aprilblossom9268]

Forgot about the beginning bit. Thanks!

[@spmoran4703]

And the show had good singers and a introduction to Classical music by the intro and ending music being from Faure . The Dolly Cat . And the stories were about cats . Excellent .

[@shannoncosta7591]

where can we find more episodes?

[@WJL91]

Boards of Canada brought me here..

[@Teleausencia]

Jimbo Rehearsing!

[@LiteratureTodayUK]

"good-bye"

[@Ra1nemaker]

Does anyone know the name of the music that introduces the story at 3:54? I always liked that music as a child.

[@TheatreOrganist]

Me too! It could have been David Davies, a BBC staff Musician who worked for a long time as a storyteller and composer/pianist on "Children's Hour" until it ended. He was often asked at the end of Children's Hour to improvise at the piano with the words "Would you play us out, David?" It seems like his style.

[@alicejackson771]

Sounds like big fat cat was being bullied!! A case of 'cat-ism'!

[@cinderling5472]

Scrolled too far for this! 😂😂😂😂 Hihihi. Poor fatshamed pusscat 😢

[@TheAdwatson]

6:30 Sounds like "after a file", when I know it means "after a while", which is like some New Zealand Maori pronunciation of "wh" as "f". 🤔

[@oby1]

Alt J

[@HowardDavies8]

Very good

[@hughoxford8735]

How the BBC has degenerated.

[@railway-share3820]

It's run by yobs now.