An Error of Catalogues

Although it mostly settled down in the 1970s, the early days of BBC Radio Enterprises releases are remarkable for the erratic and confusing way in which they numbered their releases. Esoteric, arcane and of minimal value to all but a devoted few, I have, nevertheless,  gone to the trouble of working out what the ‘H.A.T. Rogers’ was going on? I still have a couple of gaps a gap in the discography, but I’ve been able to work out what most of the first 20 odd disc’s numbering was and explain some apparent anomalies as, well, still anomalies, but anomalies with an explanation.

Our Present Knowledge of the Catalogue Numbers

Let’s start with the main catalogue of BBC Radio Enterprises, which later became BBC Records, then BBC Records & Tapes and then finally BBC Records again before wandering off into cassette-only and even CD releases and finally petering out altogether and being replaced with another BBC catalogue. I tend to refer to all these as being the ‘BBC Records’ label, but some prefer to call them all BBC Records & Tapes (coughTimWorthingtoncough).

Categorical cataloging categorisation

A word here on what does not constitute a BBC record of this catalogue. It does not include the sub-label Study Series or the Roundabout discs. Singles have their own catalogue and so do the Super Beeb and Beeb pop labels.  BBC Publications, and all their language LPs, are another thing entirely and have no cross-over with BBC Records. The discography should include a variety of releases that are on the BBC Records label but whose catalogue numbers refuse to fit in neatly with the rest (although I hope one day to do so, in a kind of Grand Unified Theory of catalogue numbers). And, while we’re here: BBC Radioplay; BBC Sound Effect Centre;  BBC London; any BBC local radio own-brand labels; BBC Transcription Service discs and some other odds and ends all have their own numbers. So, the main catalogue I’m referring to includes a thousand or so releases that were available in all good record shops to the average punter and shared no common or unifying theme other than being (okay, mostly being) the best of BBC TV & Radio – to coin a phrase. 

Lovell Headed

The first release on BBC Radio Enterprises (RE) was ‘Our Present Knowledge of the Universe’, a lecture on that subject given by Sir Bernard Lovell. He of the radio telescope. The back of the record sleeve has a catalogue number clearly printed in the top right-hand corner, setting a convention that would continue till the end of the label. The number was this: ‘REA 1M’. The first thing you will have noticed is that this must be the first record they released because the only digit there is ‘1’. Indeed. But we’ll get back to that…

The letter ‘M’, after that digit, is short for Mono. The BBC was at the forefront of stereo, but it would be a couple of years before a stereo record would be released by them. Stereo records were around ten years old by this time though, so by convention record labels would indicate if it was a stereo or mono pressing. If you tried to play a stereo disc with an old mono pickup you could even damage it! 

Eyes on the Price

That’s the ‘1M’, but what about the ‘REA’? RE stands for, you guessed it, Radio Enterprises. You could build an argument for it being for ‘REcord’, but I already gave you the correct answer, stop arguing – the label is called ‘BBC Radio Enterprises’. And the ‘A’ was a bit of a mystery for modern collectors until the answer jumped out at us. Later releases have catalogue numbers with ‘ REB’, ‘REC’, ‘RED’ and other, even more, exotic letters like ‘REJ’ or ‘REQ’. There’s a whole lot more out there too, as you get deeper into the discography, but they are all price codes. ‘A’ is the most expensive and ‘D’ is the cheapest. More on that later, though! ‘REA’ then, classifies this release as an A-grade BBC Radio Enterprises record. And, of course, it is! Look at the beautiful full-colour sleeve with a photograph of the first link-up between two Gemini spacecraft, designed by John Gillbe! (Remember that name…) And professors don’t come cheap. Especially fellows of the Royal Society.

Mono Gram

That’s that then. The first release was catalogue number ‘REA 1M’ and all’s right with the world. Except, it’s not the full story. Firstly and most pedantically, the ‘M’ isn’t really part of the catalogue number. It’s a suffix and I tend to ignore it when talking about catalogue numbers. Later releases drop the M or S and some just say ‘Stereo’ or ‘Mono’ instead of ‘S’ or ‘M‘. And sometimes it’s before and sometime after the ‘REx n’ format catalogue number. The BBC labels use the suffix in their own listings, so it’s not consistent. Secondly, we haven’t looked at the labels yet.

Labelling under a misapprehension

The label seems consistent enough at first glance. On the right-hand side, it says ‘REA 1M’ just like the sleeve. But over on the left, underneath the ‘Speed 33 1/3 r.p.m.’ (love that lower-case, full-stop separated acronym), smaller, and in italics, it says ‘re/ 1‘. What could that mean? RE side 1? Maybe flipping over to side 2 will give us another clue? It’s ‘re/ 2‘! It seems reasonable to assume that means side 2. Except it doesn’t. Not really. The ‘re/ 1’ and ‘re/ 2’ numbers are the matrix numbers. Matrix numbers are etched into the inner grooves of a record and help the pressing plant identify each side. Although this release is catalogue number RE(A) 1, the matrix numbers are only slightly related. Each side has its own index digits, 1 and 2. This decision, to increment the digit of the matrix number for each side, is where the main source of confusion in the early releases’ catalogue numbers starts.

But, What Was The Year?

That’s the first release taken care of, except it wasn’t quite that easy. When was it released, even? 1967 seems likely, given the date of the broadcast. And the label seems to have got going in 1967 if the BBC Handbook for 1967 is any guide. RE was set up in 1966 to “take advantage of the normal extension of broadcasting which the making of disks(sic) and tapes, based on broadcast material, affords the Corporation”. Jeez, what a way to describe it. Still, at least they didn’t say ‘monetize’, although they did refer to “disked material”, for crying out loud! They go on to say that, as well as licensing material to commercial record labels, RE “issues disks(sic) and tapes under its own label, when circumstances require”. What on earth would those circumstances be? Demand, surely. Public demand must explain it. This was published in 1967 so we have to assume some of those releases were made available to the public in shops. Priced according to the code I described above. John Gillbe designed a few sleeves for RE and I’m wondering if this was done a bit later than 1967.

Promoted Without Pay

But what are we to make of this version of Our Present Knowledge Of The Universe?

This is what we call a promotional copy. It’s a plain company sleeve and what is more, there is a difference on the label. On the left the matrix number has been written in capitals – ‘RE 1’ and on the right, the catalogue number with price code is missing. The only conclusion is that this is the real first release on BBC Radio Enterprises and if I’m being really strict it’s not part of the catalogue, because there’s no catalogue number there. The other conclusion I can draw from the lack of price code is that this was not for sale. Collectors know the sticker that is often affixed to promo records “Promotional Copy Only. Not For Resale” very well. Of course, they are sold on the second-hand market all the time, but the idea there is to note that they can’t be sold as new. There are white labels, promos in company sleeves and promos in proper artwork sleeves with the promo sticker, but RE went for the company disco bag. As we’ll see this was not always a prelude to full release.

Also, a minor change is that it says ‘Side 1 of 1; and ‘Side 2 of 2’, instead of just ‘Side 1’ and ‘Side 2’. Those crazy guys, eh?

“If you want to panic, join the Townswomen’s Guild”

This second release is called: ‘National Music Festival of the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds’. Not even professional performers! What were they thinking? I’m guessing that this was a practice release, not a serious commercial proposition. I mean, how popular could this have been outside the Towns Women’s Guild? Not at all I suspect! Hence, it is extremely rare. I have the only copy I have ever seen and the only references on the internet are the Discogs entry with a single sale (to me!) and this website. It barely exists at all. Before I got it, I could only infer its existence from a gap in the discography. It was like the Higgs boson of releases (yep, still using physics references). Theoretically ‘there’, but with no direct evidence. In fact, this seems to have been a promotional release only.

A Priceless Antique

This second release is not REx 2. It’s not REx anything, as it has no price code. It has no unique sleeve of its’ own and so we only have the labels to go by and there’s no REx catalogue number there. On Side 1’s label, where the matrix numbers sit on the left it says ‘RE 3′ and on side 2 is ‘RE 4′. So, you see? Two records in and we have broken the conventions already. Even if we assume that there was an intended ‘REx’ catalogue number for this disc – ‘RED 3M’ for example, we have no evidence of it. The labels are printed with capital ‘RE’ too, consistent with the promo of RE 1/2.

I say again, the second release is not numbered 2 at all. Each release is apparently using the matrix number of side 1 as the index for the catalogue number. As with the house numbers on one side of a street, there will never be an even-numbered catalogue number. Only the shadowy matrix numbers will have both odd and even digits. Instead of the infinity of all integers, BBC Radio Enterprises limited themselves to the smaller infinity of all odd numbers. Or did they?

Number 5 is a Live Recording

The third release was discovered by me just prior to writing this and appropriately enough a day or two before Burn’s night (This was 2019, before further updates in 2022). Finding it prompted me into sorting out the numbers properly for the first time. Whilst I had guessed that the release after ‘REA 1’ would, in fact, be ‘REx 3’, I was rather perplexed by the likely numbering of the next release. After matrix numbers 1/2 and 3/4 the next known release had numbers 6/7. That would mean that there could (or should) be an ‘RE 5′ release, which was just one-sided. Right? One-sided? Right!

‘Scotland Sings’ is the third release by BBC Radio Enterprises and they are still not really going for it commercially. Another choir, albeit of a much finer standard, and another exceedingly limited pressing. Once more the record has no sleeve of its’ own and comes in a plain Radio Enterprises die-cut ‘disco bag’. Again, I have the only copy I know of. I found it on eBay and after looking for such records for well over a decade I can say it was definitely for the first time. It’s possible that more have been sold, but they have left no trace on the internet. And, even though we know, from the label, when the broadcast captured here went ‘on air’ and on which radio channel, it’s not even on the BBC Genome database. UPDATE: It is now on Genome, here: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/21983597443b31191e2e1491874adaf4

Update: Mark Ayres has been in the BBC Records archive and told me that this one did not even appear there. So, this record is in the very top-most echelon of rarities for the label.

A single-sided release too! There wasn’t even enough material for two sides! The reverse has several bands of 60Hz test tone and instead of a matrix number the inner grooves have ‘BACKING PLATE -12″‘ etched in. 

RE3/4 and RE5 both seem to have been pressed up as souvenirs for the choirs, rather than for sale in shops. Yet, this was the BBCs’ commercial arm. Were they just warming up? There’s no question these are promo releases as the labels use of capital RE and ‘side x of x’ appear different to what we see on REA1.

I’m wondering: what was the year?

And yet, there’s the nagging doubt. Was REA 1 even released before RE3/4 and R5 came out?

Dates for Broadcast are lining up in order

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67

The next record breaks things a bit though.

At Sixes and Sevens

As already mentioned, this fourth release had matrix numbers 6/7. It was when looking at this record online that I first realised that there were probably not records numbered 2, 3, 4, 5 before it and 7 afterwards. At that point, I hadn’t known that re/1 and re/2 on REA 1 were significant. The revelation came because it was the first time I’d seen photos of both labels and could see the matrix numbers RE 6 and RE 7. Quite a moment for me, I can tell you!

Baroness Asquiwith was 80 years old when this record was released in 1967 to celebrate her life at the forefront of Liberal politics and much else besides. That at least seems to lock in the release date to 1967. The date of broadcast is however not on the label. There is an insert sheet with my copy giving the date as 30th April 1967. Which places it between RE 1/2 and RE 3/4. So, much for that sequence! Ho-hum.

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67
• RE 6/7 – 30/4/67

The title ‘As I Remember’ is a play on the title of two memoirs she wrote about her old flame, Winston Churchill, ‘As I Know Him’ and ‘As I Knew Him’. Violet Bonham-Carter had a fascinating life but that’s not what I want to talk about here. This disc is not as vanishingly rare as the previous two oddities and it was seemingly available for some time after its initial release. Despite that, it never seems to have ever been given a proper sleeve. Instead, a small sheet of notes was included with it. Presumably, these would have been the sleeve notes if there had been one. I wonder if an unused design still lies in the archives.

Despite never making it beyond a promo sleeve, ‘As I Remember’ seems to have retrospectively made it to full release status. On the back sleeve of ‘The Many Voices of Peter Ustinov’ (REC 26M, 1969) – it appears as ‘REB 6M’ and there is mention of it in the 1969 BBC Handbook. Perhaps tellingly it was not listed on the back sleeve of earlier records, like ‘Blessed The World That Sings’ (REC 24S, 1968). 24 is further apart from 26 in this sequence than you might think!

Maybe there are true promo copies without the insert sheet and with the fussy ‘side’ note? Either way, RE ended up with a promo-looking release with a full price code that was not on the label or sleeve being pushed in 1969 and beyond. Things were getting a bit more serious, but was it happening as early as 1967?

This slight change, excluding the broadcast details and the ‘side x of x’ is a mark of either not seeing the promo version or a real chnage in their approach. Let’s see…

Liner Notes

‘The Great Queens’ marks either a return to picture sleeves for BBC Radio Enterprises, or the first, depending on when we believe REA 1 was given its handsome cover. Whatever the historical matters, this is an odd sort of release indeed!

The labels follow the usual format. The matrix numbers follow in an orderly fashion – RE 8 / RE9 – but unlike REA 1 the sleeve carries no catalogue number. It was also made with the “co-operation of Cunard”, which makes it sound like the mighty shipping line was less than enthusiastic, but is actually just a rather stuffy way of saying they worked together, rather than that they would rather not have bothered. On the back sleeve, it rather incongruously states it was “Produced by arrangement with BBC Radio Enterprises”, which sounds like BBC RE were roped in, even though the front sleeve says it was ‘Produced by BBC Radio Enterprises’. Who was behind this? Who was masterminding the co-operation of Cunard and making the arrangements? ‘Producer H.A.T. Rogers’, that must be who. Who was he though?

Like the preceding release the broadcast details have not been concluded on the labels, so what was on it? The main clue is that the other credit: “Script by Robert Stannage”. It’s pretty clear from perusing BBC Genome that this record probably culled its material from a loose series of programmes produced by Harold Rogers and presented by Stannage. These radio programmes are

• ATLANTIC CROSSING – First broadcast: Fri 18^th Nov 1966, 16:00 on BBC Home Service Basic
  • ROBERT STANNAGE describes a journey he made recently from Southampton to New York on R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth With Commodore G. T. MARR, D.S.C., R.D., the captain of this great Cunard liner, he also tells the story of the North Atlantic. with the voices of pioneer sailors and fliers, and present-day passengers, officers, and crew.
  • Produced by Harold Rogers
• THE ‘QUEEN MARY’ – First broadcast: Wed 27^th Sep 1967, 19:30 on BBC Home Service Basic
  • Tonight the Cunard liner Queen Mary docks at Southampton at the end of her last transatlantic voyage from New York. ROBERT STANNAGE and HAROLD ROGERS , recorded on board, look back at the history of this great liner since her launching in 1934
  • Produced by Harold Rogers

The pair of Rogers and Stannage were back in 1969

• ALL VISITORS ASHORE – First broadcast: Fri 2^nd May 1969, 16:00 on BBC Radio 4 FM
  • R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth 2 today leaves Southampton for her first transatlantic voyage to New York. Latest in a long line of Cunarders stretching back 129 years, successor to the great Queen liners, she inherits a distinguished tradition.
  • HAROLD ROGERS and ROBERT STANNAGE look back at some of the famous Cunard liners of the past and at the building of this new Queen of the sea.
  • Script by Robert Stannage
  • A BBC Sound Archive production by Harold Rogers and Denis Lewell

There’s no mention on the QE2 on the sleeve notes of ‘The Great Queens’ and the dates really don’t match up. It is notable that the credit of ‘Script by’, mention of “great Queen” and even the BBC Sound Archive tag on the ‘All Visitors Ashore’ programme are all a bit more suggestive of our record though. I guess that the either Atlantic Crossing or The Queens Mary, or both were reworked for the record then.

The best guess here is that Cunard essentially requested this record and then used it as a promotional item. So, we are still in promo land here. Another notable thing about this release is that I only see copies for sale in the United States. Either it was sold on Cunard liners heading to the States or only sold over there. I wonder if this was a case of “when circumstances require”, as it was described in the BBC Handbook. Cunard are thanked for their help with a few BBC programmes on radio and TV and a bit of a relationship seems to have been in place with Rogers and Stannage too. Was there a true promo version in disco bag sleeve too? Keep ’em peeled, readers!

And lets’s keep an eye on those dates:

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67
• RE 6/7 – 30/4/67
• RE 8/9 – 27/9/67

The Man / The Music

Malcolm in the Riddle

The title “Music Maker” seems a bit obvious for Sir Malcolm Sargent, being Britain’s foremost conductor, famed and celebrated during his life and commemorated in this album. The description, whilst apt, is not simply that though. More famous in modern times for its’ nonsequitous quotation by Gene Wilder in the film ‘Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory’, the line “We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of the dream” is drawn from the 1873 poem ‘Ode’ by Arthur O’Shaughnessy. Sargent himself quotes this verse at the outset of the record and talks about his mentor Sir Edward Elgar, who set ‘Ode’ to music in ‘The Music Makers’, 1912.

A selection of BBC Recordings

So far, BBC Radio Enterprises catalogue numbers have been the exception, with ‘Our Present Knowledge’ and ‘As I Remember’ only gaining a full number at some point after the first promo releases. Releases RE3/RE4, RE5, and RE8/RE9 don’t seem to have proper catalogue numbers at all. No price code and no sleeve. With ‘Sir Malcolm Sargent – Music Maker’ we have a proper sleeve with apparently a catalogue number on it. Bemusingly, this still has no price point though. Although that is a temporary state of affairs, as we’ll see.

Sir Malcolm Sargent – Money Maker

‘Music Maker’ must have sold rather well. There are 24 copies on Discogs as I type this and there are always more than a few on eBay. Unsurprisingly then, it was re-pressed and those re-pressings provide a bridge between two different cataloguing schemes. Both earlier and older pressings use the same matrix numbers, but on later pressing the catalogue number changed from RE 10 to REB 10M. There is even one on Discogs with a mix of the promo style labels ins a sleeve with the price coded cat number. I will therefore rewrite the catalogue list like so. 

• REA 1 (RE 1/2)
• RE 3/4 (promo only)
• RE 5 (promo only, one-sided)
• REB 6 (RE 6/7 promo sleeve only, but retroactively given a cat number)
• RE 8/9 (possibly a promotional item for Cunard liners only)
• REB 10 (first released as ‘RE 10′, RE10/11)

It’s perhaps important that the REB 10 release has the matrix numbers written in lower case – re/10, re/11 – whereas the original had the larger RE 10 and RE11. So, we have another turning point. A picture sleeve without price code and then later (how much later? What was the year?) A proper price code with lower case matrix numbers on the sleeve, like REA 1.

There is some date info there too, with the memorial service for Sargent on the sleeve notes.

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67
• RE 6/7 – 30/4/67
• RE 8/9 – 27/9/67
• RE 10/11 – 27/10/67

Baker’s Dozen?

Apart from a bit of a googly from that one-sided RE 5 release, things seem to be settling down, don’t they? Ah, no. The next release shows that BBC Radio Enterprises were not ready to tame their yet wild side just yet.

Scotland Single Sides – Again!

This is an update from the original post as since February 2022 another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place. Alas, I wasn’t able to snaffle this one from eBay before someone else got in there.

Amazingly, three releases and 7 catalogue sides after RE 5 they put out another single-sided record, also called Scotland Sings! This one is labelled RE 12 with the matrix number RE LP 12′. The label also explains that this Scotland Sings edition was “Broadcast in(sic) the BBC Scottish Home Service, BBC 4 on 5.10.67”. It can be hard to trace the history of the programme in Genome as although there seems to be something like it running weekly from 1949 onwards, it isn’t always titled Scotland Sings. Both of these records are only found by searching the name of the choir.

Can there be any explanation for these two records? If anything, they seem more like Transcription Service records, where a single programme is pressed to vinyl for re-broadcast by far-flung radio stations. But that was a very well established service and not in need of help from BBC Radio Enterprises. Could there have been some very specific pressing plant tests they wanted to do and chose these programmes as guinea pigs? The test tones on the other side of RE 5 (I’m still uncertain of what is on the flip-side on RE 12) suggest something like that. They seem very random choices to have been plucked for that reason though and it’s not likely they would need to be so unsure about the quality they needed two special catalogue releases to check.

The whole catalogue thing at least makes sense in terms of single sides only getting one catalogue number. Why not put both sides on one record though? It’s all still rather baffling and one for future historians to explain.

We are also back to classic promo naming here with both upper-case ‘RE 12’, ‘side 1 of 1’ and the broadcast date. Is that important?

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67
• RE 6/7 – 30/4/67
• RE 8/9 – 27/9/67
• RE 10/11 – 27/10/67
• RE 12 – 5/10/67

Unlucky for Some

Before RE 12 broke cover, a release with the matrix numbers ‘RE 12 / RE 13′ would have been the logical thing to appear after RE/10/11. Instead, the next proper release seems to be another promo with matrix numbers RE 13 /RE 14.

‘Choirs and Places Where They Sing’ is yet another choral based effort from the fledgeling label, but they’ve gone for a different pillar of British culture in the form of John Betjeman. The poet laureate holds forth on the architecture and history of the churches before handing things over to the choir. The eleven-part (the twelfth part was abandoned) radio programme from which this was taken straddles the changeover from BBC Network Three (also known as the Third Programme) to Radio 3.

• Choirs and Places Where They Sing – First broadcast: Sun 1^st Oct 1967, 09:04 on BBC Radio 3
  • John Betjeman introduces the seventh in a series of eleven weekly programmes
  • All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street , London
  • Choir of All Saints’ Church
  • Organist and Choirmaster: Michael Fleming
  • Presenter:John BetjemanOrganist/Choirmaster:Michael Fleming

The Archive of Recorded Church Music has put all the parts up on YouTube. 

My discography states confidently that this disc is based on episode 7, but where did I get that from? The problem is, I only have a very poor photo of this release and no evidence that the numbers, and other details, are what I have recorded them as. The programme details seem to have come from Genome. Therefore, I might have it right and this is ‘RE 13 / RE 14′. From what I can see there are upper case matrix latters and I think ‘side 1 of 2’, but it’s very hazy. This record does not even make it into John Betjemen A Bibliography, S Peterson, 2006.

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67
• RE 6/7 – 30/4/67
• RE 8/9 – 27/9/67
• RE 10/11 – 27/10/67
• RE 12 – 5/10/67
• RE 13/14 – 1/10/67

October was a busy month for new programmes making it to disk, sorry disc, but the dates are going in reverse compared to the record numbering, which isn’t very satisfying. We’re about to go even further back though!

The Betj Is Back

‘Britain’s Cathedrals and their Music’ is another Betjeman fronted visit to a place of worship with some sacred music into the deal. In fact, this radio series pre-dates the ‘Choirs and Places Where The Sing’ programme. Starting in November 1965 BCATM (as the cool kids called it) was a weekly visit’

Whereas his previous BBC Radio Enterprises disc had been a limited release, this one had a picture sleeve and started a series of four such LPs. The catalogue number was anything but serialised though, being ‘BBC 1005’.

A Safe Betjeman?

There are three more albums about Britain’s Cathedrals and their Music, introduced by Sir John, but they have more sensible catalogue numbers. Let’s enumerate all the BCATM releases for completeness, here:

• BBC 1005 – Chichester and Guilford
  • 1968 (see below, for proof)
  • Chichester: First broadcast: Fri 11^th Mar 1966, 16:30 on Network Three
  • Guilford: First broadcast: Fri 18^th Feb 1966, 16:30 on Network Three
• REB 33 – Peterborough and Liverpool
  • 1970
  • Peterborough: First broadcast: Fri 17^th Dec 1965, 16:30 on Network Three
  • Liverpool: First broadcast: Fri 4^th Feb 1966, 16:30 on Network Three
• REB 61 – St. Albans and Ely
  • 1970
  • St Albans: First broadcast: Fri 28^th Jan 1966, 16:30 on Network Three
  • Ely: First broadcast: Fri 19^th Nov 1965, 16:30 on Network Three
• REB 97 – Worcester and Gloucester
  • 1971
  • Worcester: First broadcast: Fri 1^st Apr 1966, 16:30 on Network Three
  • Gloucester: First broadcast: Fri 11^th Feb 1966, 16:30 on Network Three

These release were numbered later and catalogues retroactively call BBC 1005, “no.1”.

I will also note here that there is no visit to Chelmsford Cathedral in this radio series.

Hundreds & Thousands

The ‘BBC’ prefix appears again at various times in the life of the catalogue too, but the numbering is always mysterious and seemingly arbitrary. Generally speaking, the ‘BBC’ catalogue is for double or even triple-disc sets, but not exclusively, and that’s all I can say, for sure.

Yes, there’s a whole other catalogue numbering system in place there. BBC 1005 seems to imply a BBC 1000, 1001, 1002, 1003 and 1004, doesn’t it? Of course, I can’t actually find any BBC 1001 or any other ‘BBC’ prefixed release in the catalogue until you get to ‘BBC 1922-1972 – 50 Years Of Broadcasting’ with catalogue number ‘BBC 50’. Maybe (just maybe) some of those promos were secretly ‘BBC 100n’ catalogue numbers, but I doubt it. The list now continues:

• RE 12 Promo only – or test pressing, perhaps??
• RE 13/14 (promo only)
• RE 15 (Unknown. Could be one-sided – good money for guessing it’s another Scotland Sings)
• BBC 1005 (RE 16 / RE 17)
  

And perhaps there are unused, unreleased catalogue numbers like this

• BBC 1000
• BBC 1001
• BBC 1002
• BBC 1003
• BBC 1004

Maybe we’ll know one day and that’s the purest speculation on my part, although there should be some reason why they suddenly used a ‘BBC’ catalogue number starting at 1005. Cold this have been for the other BCATM parts and were they moved over to the other system later? There are enough to go around…

Meanwhile, we have here: 1) a picture sleeve 2) a sort of proper catalogue number 3) the first release to gain later reissues, which copyright dates this to 1968 and is the first record we can say was released in any particular year. 4) only blurred images of the original RE label but what looks like a) big matrix numbers and b) no ‘side x of x’.

• RE 1/2 – 9/3/67
• RE 3/4 – 24/5/67
• RE 5 – 29/6/67
• RE 6/7 – 30/4/67
• RE 8/9 – 27/9/67
• RE 10/11 – 27/10/67
• RE 12 – 5/10/67
• RE 13/14 – 1/10/67
• RE 16/17 – Feb/March 1966

Stay Young

‘Stay Young with Eileen Fowler has a catalogue number on the spine of ‘RE 18M’. Even the reissue I have with blue/white labels – although that could be a mix-up there are no later version on ‘cogs with a price code on the sleeve. The original release labels are RE 18 only with no price coding.

So, if I’m still iffy about when the price codes are coming in. And, to be clear, the copyright date on the reissues is 1968… The broadcasts coming from Jan/Feb of that year; the sound recording copyright ℗ being 1968.

Red Pilling an Entire Catalogue

With Stay Young, someone must have decided to put a stop to the confusing system of using a matrix numbers for each side or each release though. Instead, the matrix numbers are now formatted as n/1 and n/2. For example, RE 18 has matrix numbers re18/1 and re18/2. Much better! So what goes wrong?

Please Release RE

Before moving into the rest of the catalogue, let’s take stock of what I think was actually released to the shops by the time of Stay Young, before price codes were introduced.

• RE 6/7 – As I Remember – May have been released in 1967. Labels differ from preceeding promos. Not clear when it was catalogued as REB 6.
• RE 10 – Music Maker – Has labels like RE6 and a full picture sleeve, albeit in the same design language as the promo sleeves. Very late 1967 at the earliest (see Memorial Service date on Sleeve notes), possibly 1968. Would later be tweaked to REB 10.
• BBC 1005 – BCATM – BBC 1005 isn’t really a price code, but this catatlogue number is placed on the label to the right side, with the matrix code on the left. Definitley copyright 1968. Technichally price code ‘B’ and could have been REB 16 (see below for proce codes).
• RE 18 – Stay Young – Like BCATM, this has the catalogue number on the right of the label, but it is not price coded – RE 18. Definitely in 1968 based on broadcast dates and copyright on later reissues.

Apart from ‘As I Remember’ all of these were reissued with updated price codes on the labels. Owing to differences in the sleeve design it seems they didn’t bother to update Stay Young’s price code until the new label design came in 1969 and BCATM was left as a lone ‘BBC’ based number.

Born To Freddy

‘Born To Trouble’ (REA 19) and ‘Dear Freddy’ (REB 20) have their acts together. We have sleeves with price coded catalogue numbers and labels in harmony with price codes and lower-case matrix number and no hint of other promo tells. So, Stay Young was the last of the uncoded releases. Plain sailing from hee on!

And then things go and get a bit silly.

But first we can look back and see that now that the price codes are here, ‘Our Present Knowledge of the Universe’ can now come back as a full release with the price code REA 1 and the new matrix code style on the labels, as can ‘Music Maker’. A Catalogue at this point in 1968 would look like this:

• REA 1 – ‘Our Present Knowledge of the UIniverse’ – re1 + re2– reissued
• REB 6 – ‘As I Remember’ – RE6 + RE 7
• REB 10 – ‘Music Maker’ re10 + re11 – reissued
• BBC 1005 – BCATM – RE 16 + RE 17
• RE 18 – Stay Young – re18/1 + re18/2
• REC 19 – Born To Trouble – re19/1 + re19/2
• REC 20 – Dear Freddy – re20/1 + re20/2

You can see the mess they’ve made. By resissung RE 1/2 as REA 1 and updating RE 10 to REB 10 but leaving RE 6/7, BBC 1005 and RE 18 as they were (probably because they still had stock) there is a confusing array of numbers. The cross over release of REB 10 with RE labelled discs inside show how they were working through this changeover. This is the exact list that was in the 1969 BBC Handbook, by the way.

Gold Blend Single, Couple & Triple

Despite having the ‘A; price code for premium releases, BBC Radio Enterprises weren’t satisfied and wanted an even posher gold label for the very best, highest of high brow audio material. Thus, we come to ‘REGL 1’ – ‘Chinese Classical Music’. For a very long time, I assumed that all the REGL releases came from a different catalogue numbering entirely. There aren’t any gaps in the next few releases of the ‘REx’ series to indicate that they were, but it turned out that these ‘REGL n’ releases are part of the same matrix numbering system. The two catalogues are actually blended together in the matrix numbers.  ‘REGL 1′ has matrix numbers 21/1’ and ‘RE 21/2′. Yet there is a record with catalogue number ‘ REB 21’ – ‘The Importance of Being Hoffnung’. Its matrix numbers are ‘RE 22/1′ and ’22/2′. Ugh, so the catalogue and matrix numbers are now out of sync! What next?

What’s next is the return of BBC Radio Enterprises star turn, Sir Malcolm Sargent. ‘My Beloved Promenaders’ is catalogue REC 22. So, what to do about the matrix numbers, now that RE 22 has been used up? Simple, use them again! Yes, the matrix numbers for REC 22 are RE 22/3 and RE22/4. Phew! We’re back on track!

And so, ‘REC 23’ – ‘Dudley Savage at the Organ of the ABC Theatre, Plymouth’ has matrix numbers RE 23/1 and RE 23/2.

We’re nearly there now. The trick of sharing matrix numbers is repeated for ‘REGL 2’ and ‘REC 24’. Then again for ‘REGL 3’, ‘REGL 4’ and ‘REC 25’. If you’ve ever wondered why ‘BBC Radiophonic Music’ has matrix numbers 25/5′ and ‘RE 25/6’, now you know!

There’s Gold in Them Thar’ Numbers

Just to make sure no-one had a chance of figuring this stuff out, the BBC Records catalogue from 1970 lists the ‘REGL’ releases with the ‘REx’ releases, giving the impression that they were released consecutively. As you can see below, ‘As I Remember’ is listed after ‘Song of Myself’, like butter wouldn’t melt!

More usefully in that catalogue, you can see the price difference – in old money – between the Gold Label and the rest.

• REGL – 46/2
• REA – 43/9
• REB – 37/6
• REC – 28/9
• RED – 21/6

That said, another catalogue from 1970 which appears to have been for BBC staff only due o the discounts listed on eth front, does follow the correct order! Proof if it was needed of the primacy of the matic numbers!

Golden Newies

From ‘The Many Voices of Peter Ustinov’ onwards the catalogue and matrix numbers stay in sync. The Gold Label series stopped after ‘REGL 4’ ‘Dohnanyi: His Last Recital’, but was reactivated in 1979 with the same catalogue numbers as the rest of the BBC Records releases. ‘REGL 350’, ‘Sir Thomas Beecham: The Man and His Music’ was a new Gold Label release, except it was now called ‘BBC Artium’. They obviously thought the ‘GL’ price code was the most appropriate despite dropping the ‘Gold Label’ as a series.

Codes Coda

Looking back through all this sleuthing, it’s clear that I’ve been suspicious about when price codes actually came in and also when BBC Radio Enterprises actually started putting records into the shops. The fact that the first version of ‘Music Maker’ has no price code is not conclusive of anything, but would they have released ‘Our Present Knowledge’ with a code and then not bothered for either RE 10 or RE 18? They were later to become REB 10 and REC 18, but when exactly? I would like to suggest that Music Maker was the first record to go into the market proper. ‘Born To Trouble’ ironically keeps its nose clean with the first record to be unequivocally released with a price code catalogue number from the start. My theory then is that around that time after ‘Stay Young’ in early 1968 there was an effort to reissue some of the promo only records they’d made in 1967. ‘Our Present Knowlede’ got the deluxe sleeve and ‘A’ price code. ‘As I Remember was left in the disco bag with the cheaper ‘B’ code. ‘Music Maker’ was tweaked to add the ‘B’ code to it’s sleeve, which was clearly more aligned with the 1967 styling of the company design promo die-cuts. And off they went. The real anamoly is ‘Britains Catherdrals’, with it’s ‘BBC’ code. We can infer from the catalogue price of 37/6 in 1970 (30/7 for staff) that this is price code B. It should really have been REB 16, but they clearly has some other ideas.

Doers this theory really hold up? If you allow that ‘Our Present Knowledge’ was not released properly till 1968 and ‘Music Maker’, ‘Britains Cathedrals’ and ‘Stay Young’ were a learning exceicise in needing a price code system, then it kind of does. I can also point to a gap between John Gillbe desiging the label for My Beloved Promenaders (REC 22) and ‘Our Present Knowldge’. Designers seem to have been freelance at this stage and they all did they own thing, or so it seems. Gillbe did REA 1, REA 19, REC 22, REC 24, REGL 2 (I think), REGL 3, REGL 4, REC 25 and others. That’s a whole run together and I suspect stroigly that REA 1 was done around the same time as those, in 1968, perhaps freelance or working full-time for a while.

In the end the catalogue numbering for label is only a guide to what order the releases were made in. I hope it’s clear where I am making logical deduction and where I am having to conjecture.

BBC Radio Enterprises Catalogue