Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain in 2022 by Profile Book Ltd.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 572-606) and index.

Preface -- Crucible. Making a new world ; Riding the tiger ; Professionals ; Us and them ; Stardust -- War. Under siege ; London calling ; Turning the tide -- Consensus and conflict. A bomb about to burst ; Building pyramids ; Strangers ; The shock of the new -- Attack and defence. Trade and treachery ; The expanding labyrinth ; On the rack -- Postscript.

"The first in-depth history of the iconic radio and TV network that has shaped our past and present. Doctor Who; tennis from Wimbledon; the Beatles and the Stones; the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales: for one hundred years, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been the preeminent broadcaster in the UK and around the world, a constant source of information, comfort, and entertainment through both war and peace, feast and famine. The BBC has broadcast to over two hundred countries and in more than forty languages. Its history is a broad cultural panorama of the twentieth century itself, often, although not always, delivered in a mellifluous Oxford accent. With special access to the BBC's archives, historian David Hendy presents a dazzling portrait of a unique institution whose cultural influence is greater than any other media organization. Mixing politics, espionage, the arts, social change, and everyday life, The BBC is a vivid social history of the organization that has provided both background commentary and screen-grabbing headlines--woven so deeply into the culture and politics of the past century that almost none of us has been left untouched by it"--The publisher