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   Dear Michele Hilmes,
 
          Thanks for your message. I don't think I have anything relevant to your student's project - and as you've probably gathered, the French service held itself rather aloof from the  "central" parts of the European Service . Alan Bullock,  in the Talks department of the E.S., complained about this.
    I dare say your student knows about the bulging files at Caversham of interviews with people who had escaped from France. These, and French listeners' letters to the BBC, would seem to be a rich source for the history of France in WW2: i don't know how much use has been made of them.
    Andrew Roberts
----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Michele Hilmes
To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: [BBC-HISTORY] European Service, l941-45

A student of mine is working on a project analyzing French resistance songs sent out over the BBC French language broadcasts.  This is probably a bit of a stretch, but would there be any aspect of this reflected in your father's work?

Thanks -- Michele

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Andrew Dunlop Roberts <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I am presently studying the work of my father, Michael Roberts, in the
European Service from September 1941 to March l945. Until June 1943 he was
in the Intelligence Department; he was then Clandestine Press Editor until
December 1944,apart from three months (May-August 1944)) as Czech Editor.
For the rest of his time at the BBC he was a European Talks Editor. From
March 1943 until May 1944 he represented the BBC on the inter-departmental
Joint Reoccupation Committee and its sub-committees.
   I would be glad to hear from anyone with an interest in these aspects of
the wartime European Service.



--
Michele Hilmes
Professor of Media and Cultural Studies
Director, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Department of Communication Arts
University of Wisconsin-Madison