History Briefs: Alvar Lidell. The voice of the BBC during the Second World War.

Alvar Lidell was the most recognisable voice amongst a small group of news readers employed by the BBC during the Second World War.
Before the Second World War all announcers and news readers employed by the BBC were anonymous. But, in 1940, to counteract German English-language propaganda broadcasts, especially those coming from the facilities at Radio Luxembourg, the BBC decided to ensure that the British audience could instantly recognize an authentic BBC broadcast by news readers adding their names to news bulletins.
As a consequence, "Here is the News and this Alvar Lidell reading it," became an inadvertent catchphrase in Britain during the War.
Alvar Lidell was one of this select team and, arguably, his voice would become the most well recognised. It fell to him to announce many of the great events of the period.
This video forms part of the History Briefs series from "Great Stories from the Past" which is designed to provide a quick yet reasonably detailed overview of famous people and renowned events in history.
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