Basil Bunting and D.G. Bridson: Briggflatts and the BBC

Smith, Carrie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1977-2612 2026. Basil Bunting and D.G. Bridson: Briggflatts and the BBC. Journal of Modern Literature Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This article discusses as a case study the relationship between producer D.G. Bridson and poet Basil Bunting as they created the broadcast of Bunting’s Briggflatts on the British Broadcasting Company’s (BBC) Third Programme in 1967. Although often overlooked, the BBC production contexts and personal histories of tastemakers preserved in institutional and personal archives were an integral part of the cultural landscape of literary Britain. The broadcast of Briggflatts illuminates Bridson’s influence on poetic culture during his time as the unofficial “poetry editor” of the BBC. It illustrates how his commitment to the voices and poetry of the north sits alongside broader critical considerations of the impact of BBC producers on the sound of poetry and the place of poetry on the radio in post-war poetry cultures, as well as the BBC’s attitudes toward regional voices on the radio and, more specifically, the place of regionally accented voices in the reading of poetry.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
ISSN:	0022-281X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 April 2026
Date of Acceptance:	27 February 2026
Last Modified:	09 Apr 2026 10:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186289

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