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Greg Jenner explores a clip picked at random from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ archive in 1939 about a dance craze - The Lambeth Walk.

Hearing a clip from 1939 about the dance craze of the day, the Lambeth Walk, Greg Jenner turns to Stephen Fry for help in finding out what it was and how it brought happiness to a world in crisis, and talks to choreographer Dannielle 'Rhimes' Lecointe about the freedom of collective dance.

Marking the centenary of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s vast archive over the past 100 years. Public historian Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and uses it as a starting point in a journey towards the present day. The archive captures a century of British life in a unique way - a history of ordinary people’s lives, as well as news of the great events. Greg uncovers connections through people, places and ideas that link the archive fragment to Britain in 2022, pulling in help from experts and those who remember the time – and sometimes the speakers themselves, decades later - along the way. What he discovers are stories, big and small, that reveal how the people we were have shaped the people we have become.

Produced by Megan Jones for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Wales

Available now

14 minutes

Last on

Fri 7 Jan 2022 19:00

Broadcasts

  • Mon 3 Jan 2022 13:45
  • Fri 7 Jan 2022 19:00