The essays contained in this volume were originally delivered as papers to a conference on the German-language broadcasting of the BBC, held in London in 2002. For over sixty years, the BBC German Service was Britain's most authoritative voice to the German-speaking world, representing a virtual paradigm of British cultural and political attitudes towards Germany and Austria - and helping to define their perceptions of Britain and the British.

Despite the BBC's enormous cultural standing and influence, however, this volume is the first to evaluate the Corporation's German-language broadcasting since the BBC German Service was closed down in 1999. The essays fall into three broad categories: German-language broadcasting during the Second World War, broadcasting to Germany and Austria during the Cold War, and finally a series of personal accounts from former employees of the Service. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students of broadcasting (including media studies) as well as those involved in German Studies and in German and Austrian Exile Studies.