PODCAST: BONUS Episode - Dame Nellie Melba Sings

The Essex 2020 podcast

In this series, we go behind the scenes of the UK’s biggest celebration of science and creativity.  In each episode, Essex 2020 project director Richard Freeman meets some of the brilliant people and organisations who are working to create, inspire and discover Essex’s past, present and future. 

In this episode: Chris Neale and Alan Pamphilon from Chelmsford Civic Society | Chelmsford Science & Engineering Society


In this short, bonus episode, Alan Pamphilon recounts exactly what happened 100 years ago to the day - on 15th June 1920 - when the possibilities of radio was first demonstrated. 

Needless to say, nothing went entirely to plan… 


Useful links

Chris Neale https://www.chelmsfordses.org.uk/about/council/7-chris-neale?highlight=WyJjaHJpcyJd 

Alan Pamphilon https://aru.ac.uk/graduation-and-alumni/alumni-network/alumni-stories/alumni-of-the-month/alan-pamphilon 

Alan’s walks for Chelmsford Civic Society (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/pg/ChelmsfordCivicSociety/posts/?ref=page_internal 

Chelmsford Science & Engineering Society https://www.chelmsfordses.org.uk/ 

Chelmsford Civic Society http://www.chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk/

Marconi historian Tim Wander https://marconibooks.co.uk/about.php 

The Titanic and Marconi’s wireless telegraph – Science Museum https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/titanic-marconi-and-wireless-telegraph 

Godfrey Isaacs, Marconi’s business brain, on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Isaacs  

Winifred Sayer, world’s first woman broadcaster http://www.bluefence.co.uk/emergenceofbroadcastinginbritain/index_illustrations.html 

Dame Nellie Melba’s microphone http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/p0lN-tReTl2P_QyzRwKFEA 

Dame Nellie Melba on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Melba 

Captain Peter Eckersley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Eckersley_(engineer)


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Essex 2020 is an Essex Partners initiative. 

This is an always possible podcast.

The interviewer was Richard Freeman for always possible and the producer was Chris Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts