Image: Dylan Thomas at the Â鶹ԼÅÄ, 1948.
From its famous opening words ("To begin at the beginning…") spoken by the young Richard Burton, Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood was a milestone of Â鶹ԼÅÄ radio broadcasting, revealing the seething hidden lives of a small Welsh village Llareggub in language that was fresh, exciting and revelatory.
Thomas had worked on-and-off creating the play for nearly 20 years, formulating ideas and characters influenced by his upbringing in Wales, and found the process draining. After a stage run-through in New York in May 1953 he wrote to his wife Caitlin 'I've finished that infernally eternally unfinished "Play" & have done it in New York with actors.'
The author never got to hear the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio premiere with a Welsh cast, which included his friend Richard Burton as the omniscient narrator, nor its subsequent adaptations for stage and screen; Thomas died of alcohol poisoning in New York on 9th November 1953 aged 39.
East London schoolchildren create their version of Under Milk Wood
25 January 2019 saw the 65th anniversary of Dylan Thomas’s famous audio ‘play for voices’, Under Milk Wood.
School children from Mile End and Bethnal Green have taken on the same challenge of painting a picture of a place in audio. It is supported by photos of some of the key places that have inspired them: from the local corner shop and the parade of urban characters closely observed in local streets to a bench in a park which is the place for snippets of intimate conversation.
They have worked with poet Miriam Nash from Ministry of Stories on text creation, with support from colleagues in Â鶹ԼÅÄ History and Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio to transform the children’s words into a professional piece of audio.
Here is the result: a brand new soundscape called Round About Candle Street. It featured on Â鶹ԼÅÄ London’s Robert Elms Show on 24 January 2019.
For any school or young writers group that would like to do the same, Ministry of Stories has produced a helpful ‘How to’ education pack.
Robert Seatter, Head of Â鶹ԼÅÄ History said: "It has been great working with these young writers from East London, to take the spirit of Dylan Thomas’s great radio piece and reinvent it for a current generation. Their words are fresh, surprising and all their own – I am sure that Thomas would have approved!".
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Writing and mentoring for writers aged 8-18.
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Dylan Thomas at the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Discover the life, work and legacy of Welsh poet and broadcaster Dylan Thomas.
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Archive on 4: Cerys Goes Under Milk Wood Cerys Matthews delves into a rare collection of tapes made in the 1960s by her uncle Colin Edwards with Dylan's close friends and family.
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The Road to Milk Wood Professor Nerys Williams examines the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Written Archives' correspondence with Dylan Thomas.
January anniversaries
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The Six Wives of Henry VIII
1 January 1970 -
The Brains Trust
1 January 1941 -
The Archers
1 January 1951 -
Z Cars
2 January 1962 -
Trumpton
3 January 1967 -
Open University
3 January 1971 -
Camberwick Green
3 January 1966 -
Final edition of The Listener published
3 January 1991 -
Gardeners' World
5 January 1968 -
A Question of Sport
5 January 1970 -
Forces Programme
7 January 1940 -
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
10 January 1990 -
First in-vision television weather forecaster
11 January 1954 -
The League of Gentlemen
11 January 1999 -
Goodness Gracious Me
12 January 1998 -
Listen with Mother
16 January 1950 -
Life On Earth
16 January 1979 -
First episode of Â鶹ԼÅÄ Breakfast Time
17 January 1983 -
Blankety Blank
18 January 1979 -
The Week's Good Cause
24 January 1926 -
Under Milk Wood
25 January 1954 -
Television Dancing Club
27 January 1948 -
Desert Island Discs
29 January 1942 -
Newsnight
30 January 1980 -
The State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill
30 January 1965 -
Alas Smith and Jones
31 January 1984