Josephine McDermott
@JoMcDermott
Award-nominated presenter/producer for @BBCWorldService. Critics' pick for Fangirls & Teen Hysteria and Do You Speak English? @BBCRadio4. Also on bsky.
“I can’t even begin to do justice to the sheer joy of this hour. I urge you to seek it out on BBC Sounds” bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0… Wow! Fangirls & Teen Hysteria is a Pick of the Week from @lukewrightpoet Thank you! @DrLinda_P
50 years ago today, July 25, 1975: The landmark musical A CHORUS LINE opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre. The show, conceived & directed by Michael Bennett, won 9 Tonys and ran for a then-record 15 years. It became a tourist attraction and helped revitalize Times Square.
#Aspirationalsongs of #hope and #optimism from #Broadway to keep spirits lifted: One - A Chorus Line (1975) - youtu.be/CC92B0hV_XU?si… #edkeliban #michaelbennett
“I hope I get it, I hope I get it…” 🎶 It's 50 years since theatre history was made - the premiere of A Chorus Line. @Baayork who played Connie Wong in the original production witnessed it all @AChorusLineLDN @bbcworldservice bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…
The story behind the creation of Voice of America and its reporting in the 1940s was an important one to tell so I’m thrilled my @bbcworldservice programme was a @BBCRadio4 pick of the week
Barn owls, barnacled statues and the aurora borealis: @freyamcc on Pick at 1815 today, w/ @bbclysedoucet @acatherwoodnews @Rhidianbrook @JoMcDermott @pollymweston @AshAtalla @Ella_AlShamahi @NickyAACampbell @Rachel_deSouza @Marthakearney @RebeccaStott64 bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
In 1942 Eugene Kern walked into the @VOANews office looking for a job. He was put to work straight away producing a Finnish show unable to speak a word. Hear his account of the start of the dismantled broadcaster set up to counter Nazi propaganda bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…
“Back to the Future isn’t going anywhere!” ⚡️ Bob Gale looks BACK IN TIME with @BBCWorldService for #BackToTheFuture’s 40th anniversary!!!! 🤓⏱️
Today on @bbcworldservice and @BBCSounds ten years on from the start of Ni Una Menos, Agustina Paz Frontera shares memories of that first history-making protest in Argentina @NiUnaMenos_ bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/li…

Did you know Back to the Future's iconic time-travelling DeLorean was nearly a fridge? 🤯 It's been 40 years since high school student Marty McFly was accidentally sent into the past by his friend, Doc Brown, in a car. But it could have been a very different film and almost…
Great Scott! Back to the Future is 40 today! Watch co-writer Bob Gale explain how the DeLorean started out as a refrigerator @bbcworldservice youtube.com/watch?v=dCVGv-…

This summer on Witness History we have the joy of making the origin stories of two classic 80s films with big birthdays. @MegannJ brings us Making Jaws and on 3 July it’s my turn with Back to the Future @bbcworldservice bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…
Nigeria has pardoned Ken Saro-Wiwa 30 years after his execution. The writer stood up against oil producers in the Niger Delta. In 2014 Witness History spoke to his friend and fellow campaigner Ledum Mitee @bbcworldservice bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0…
@Eurovision starts tomorrow. But with Russia banned, President Putin has revived the Intervision Song Contest - the USSR's answer to Eurovision. I interviewed Marion Rung, who twice achieved top 10 Eurovision finishes before winning Intervision in 1980. Read on for one of the…
Archaeologist Khalil Hariri risked everything - and was even shot at - when he rescued 400 artefacts from the clutches of the Islamic State group 10 years ago in Palmyra. Today’s Witness History on @bbcworldservice bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…
🧪 In 1951, American chemist Harry Coover was working with a chemical that kept sticking his equipment together 💡 He realised its potential as an adhesive and super glue was born! 📻I spoke to his grandson for the @bbcworldservice: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…
It’s 10 years since a history-making phone call. President Goodluck Jonathan phoned his election opponent to concede defeat. It was the first time it had happened in Africa’s biggest democracy, Nigeria. President Jonathan’s media aide recalls the moment bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…
The Germanwings plane crash - General David Galtier recalls search operation in 2015. 🎧 Hear the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there bbc.in/4hEUNIR
Archive on 4 looks into the history of the BBC's language learning enterprise in Do You Speak English?, available now on @BBCSounds and presented by none other than the real-life daughter of 'Walter'! bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…
In the 1960s, two of Britain's biggest global stars were pretty much unknown in the UK. Walter and Connie (Brian McDermott and Anne Lawson) were the fictional couple that helped teach English to the world and were besieged by fans on personal appearances across Europe.
A cracking Witness History today from @VickyFarncombe Richard Nixon’s contingency speech in case the moon landing astronauts never made it home in 1969. Written two days before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon @bbcworldservice bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…