Down Your Way was a BBC radio series which ran from 29 December 1946 to 1992, originally on the Home Service and then on BBC Radio 4, usually broadcast on Sundays. It visited towns around the United Kingdom, spoke to residents and played their choice of music. It has sometimes been described as having portrayed an increasingly outmoded and rose-tinted view of Britain, concentrating on market towns with pre-industrial roots and ignoring industrial towns and New Towns, but it vividly evoked the local and regional distinctiveness as it roved around the United Kingdom. The British Broadcasting Corporation,which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The BBC Home Service was the original name for Radio 4 and was on the air from 1939 until 30 September 1967. ... BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... This article discusses mainly the development and use of music in western culture. ...

It was hosted by Stewart MacPherson (from its inception until 1947), Richard Dimbleby (1947 to 1955), Franklin Engelmann (1955 until his death in 1972) and Brian Johnston (1972 to 1987). In 1975, despite then being the second most popular programme on radio, it was taken off the air as an 'economy measure'. It was subsequently reinstated, after a storm of popular protest. Richard Dimbleby CBE (May 25, 1913–December 22, 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster. ... Franklin Engelmann (1908-1972) was a radio personality popular in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, nicknamed Jingle. He was best known for hosting Down Your Way (1955-1972), Gardeners Question Time (1961-1972) and the quiz show What Do You Know?, which later became Brain of Britain. ... Brian Johnstons autobiography Its Been A Lot Of Fun, double cassette cover, 1997 Brian Alexander Johnston MC (June 24, 1912 - January 5, 1994) (known as Johnners) was a cricket commentator for the BBC from 1946 until his death. ...

From 1987 until its demise in 1992 it had a different celebrity host every week, who would visit a place of significance in their own lives - effectively turning it into "Down My Way" and blending it into the then-emerging celebrity culture. Celebrity culture is not new but it is the reason why some people are known and others are unknown throughout the pages of history. ...

Its well-remembered signature tune was called "Horseguards, Whitehall", which you can listen to here (.wav file). Whitehall, London, looking south towards the Houses of Parliament. ...

External links

• Down Your Way