Publications
Many of the projects that we have personally carried out as oral historians have been published as books. These are a selection of the publications.
Stephen F. Kelly: British Soldiers of the Korean War, In Their Own Voices
Stephen F. Kelly, The Kop, End of An Era
Stephen F. Kelly and Judith Jones, Forty Years of Coronation Street
Stephen F. Kelly, Red Voices
Stephen F. Kelly: The Boot Room Boys
Stephen F. Kelly: You’ve Never Had It So Good
Current projects
We feel that as oral historians we should continue to develop our own projects as well as offering training and advice. Our current project is called ‘Granadaland‘
Granada Television was founded in 1954 by Lord Bernstein and began transmitting in 1956 to the North of England. It has been broadcasting to the nation ever since. Its heyday was probably in the period between 1960 until 1990 when the Broadcasting Act led to significant changes to the shape of British broadcasting. During this period Granada produced some of the finest television of its day including Brideshead Revisted, World In Action, What the Papers Say, Seven Up, Coronation Street and The Jewel In The Crown. During the 1980s The New York Times described Granada as ‘the finest television company in the world.’
The aim of this project is to begin collecting the memories of those who worked for Granada at its Manchester, London and Liverpool offices between 1956 and 1990. These interviews will include presenters, producers, researchers, directors, camera operators, stagehands, production assistants, accountants and many others who worked for the company. In particular, the project hopes to collect memories from the earlier years as many of these people are now elderly. If their memories are not collected soon they will be lost forever.
The project is being funded by the Manchester Centre for Regional History at Manchester Metropolitan University and the Granada Foundation. Once the interviews have been carried out, they will be transcribed and archived at Manchester Metropolitan University and on this website so that they will be available to researchers and the general public. We will also endeavour to collect photographs and other memorabilia, which will be similarly archived.
