Letter from America was a weekly 15-minute radio series on BBC Radio 4, previously called the Home Service, which ran for 2,869 shows from March 24, 1946, to February 20, 2004, making it the longest-running speech radio programme in history. The programme was also broadcast for many years on the BBC World Service.
It was presented by Alistair Cooke, who each week spoke of a topical issue in the USA, often tying together different strands of obser...
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Letter from America was a weekly 15-minute radio series on BBC Radio 4, previously called the Home Service, which ran for 2,869 shows from March 24, 1946, to February 20, 2004, making it the longest-running speech radio programme in history. The programme was also broadcast for many years on the BBC World Service.
It was presented by Alistair Cooke, who each week spoke of a topical issue in the USA, often tying together different strands of observation and anecdote. He frequently ended his letters on a humorous or poignant note.
Letter from America had its origin in London Letter, a 15-minute talk for American listeners on life in Britain that Cooke recorded during the 1930s while working as London correspondent for NBC. London Letter came to an end when Cooke emigrated to America in 1937, but it was not long before he suggested to the BBC the idea of continuing the idea in reverse. A prototype, Mainly About Manhattan, was broadcast intermittently from 1938, but the idea was shelved...
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