Charles Parker
Charles Parker was in turn a submarine commander, a pioneer of radio broadcasting and oral history, an inspiring lecturer and folk musician and a political campaigner. One of Charles Parker’s most significant contributions was to recognise the enormous value of the kind of language that we ordinary folk take for granted in our everyday conversations.
About Charles Parker
Charles Parker was one of the BBC's most brilliant and innovative producers, and the series of documentary Radio Ballads which he produced were internationally acclaimed for bringing an entirely new dimension to radio broadcasting. The special feature of Parker’s approach was the use of ordinary people’s words and music to tell the story of their lives without the obstruction of an interviewer – something unknown in the formal BBC of the 1950s. His great strength was his ability to communicate with people and to get them to talk freely about their lives and interests. In this he was helped by the development of the small portable tape recorder which he could now carry around for his interviews, and he was one of the first to realise the opportunities this afforded.
His colossal energy was reflected in his many activities, which extended far beyond his BBC work into lectures for the Workers’ Educational Association, the National Association for the Teaching of English, and the Polytechnic of Central London; extra-mural projects such as his collaboration with Arnold Wesker on The Maker and the Tool in 1962 and engagement in the Folk Music Revival of the 1960s and 1970s as a performer.
In 1972 he left the BBC, probably growing tired of its still formal structure and not taking well to the dominance of television over his own preference for radio and the spoken word. He pursued many other interests, all involved in some way with communication and often championing the interests of those be considered disadvantaged, such as Gypsies and travelling people, minorities of various sorts, teenagers and the disabled.
Charles Parker is well-known as the producer of the Radio Ballads (1957-1964) but he made many other programmes for the BBC including I Chose Where To Stand: The Life of Else Rosenfeld broadcast in 1963. Being involved in various political campaigns, he also produced some more subversive programmes like Off Limits, aimed at GI’s in Vietnam in 1970.
Click here for a list of all the programmes that Charles worked on during his time at the BBC.
Links to other resources
There have been numerous articles and broadcasts about Charles Parker and we’ve assembled the highlights along with some of the most interesting programmes on storytelling and the radio ballad. There’s also a link to some songs from his folk club days.
