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Correspondents in the Field

From the mid 1930s to the 1950s, as events changed the world irrevocably, the BBC's correspondents began to report from across the globe. As the role became more defined, so did the techniques and technology used to deliver the broadcasts.

BBC Midget recording apparatus in use on the frontline, 1944
Type C Mobile recording equipment installed in a jeep in the Anzio Beachhead, Italy
The Daily Digest of World Broadcasts being brought to the London office of the Monitoring Unit in 1945
Denis Johnston, BBC War Correpondent, discusses cargo with the Chief Engineer of a Liberty Ship in Italy in 1943
Michael Reynolds, BBC News Observer in a gondola, Venice with a BBC Type C portable recording apparatus in 1945
Robert Barr, Editor of Marching On, typing out a story in the recording van during Army manoeuvres in 1943
Type C mobile recording equipment installed in a jeep in the Anzio Beachhead, Italy in 1943
C.D Adamson, Engineer Correspondent of the BBC War Reporting Unit, with a Midget Recorder of the type used in Normandy. Developed by the BBC and relatively lightweight, this allowed correspondents to make on-the-spot recordings which could be relayed back to the BBC by means of mobile transmitters in the area
Lt.C.L. Jones (right) and Sgt P.M. Mogg, in a gas chamber, visiting the US troops in Northern Ireland in 1942
BBC Midget recording apparatus in use on the frontline, 1944