"But I deem that left wingers at the Beeb now-a-days are far more extreme than ever they were in the time of Ewan MacColl et al. But whatever,"
Sorry Chris =- far from the case
It was the establishment old guard who sacked Charlie and Philip and closed the department - they were regarded as 'The Red Menace'
We were at the showing of Philip's film, 'The Irishmen' a few weeks ago in Dublin, and one of his daughters described how her father had to send copies of his films to Canada, among other places, to guarantee they survived.
We were also close friends with Charlie when he was sacked, so we got this information first hand from him.
You really do need to read Bridson's book.
Another friend, Bob Thomson, described how the Beeb kept all their material on acetate disc in multi-copies and smashed each one after a set number of plays - Bob was there when they arrived at the decision not to replace them
It wasn't just the Beeb, of course
An extremely deaf Maud Karpeles decided to have a clear-out of one of the storage cupboards at C# House, so she ordered the cylinders stored there to be played to her - those she couldn't hear, she ordered smashed.
Horrors stories abound regarding the protection of our recorded heritage.
Jim Carroll