I was the BBC’s Greek programme organiser when the BBC radio drama producer John Theocharis, who died earlier this year, applied to us for a job, having graduated from Rada. We had no vacancy and could only offer him some freelance work. We immediately saw that this was a man of great talent. He got the first vacancy that arose.
Born in Alexandria, he spoke Greek, French, Italian, English etc. I soon came to the conclusion that our little Greek service did not give him the opportunities he deserved. I spoke to Martin Esslin, then head of BBC drama – a personal friend. “Oh,” sighed Martin, “I get offered half a dozen geniuses every week.” At my third attempt, Martin agreed to give “Theo” a brief trial. And only moments later Theo was in a top job in BBC domestic radio. I had, however, lost my best Greek broadcaster!
Theo’s talent was spotted at a distance by Mikis Theodorakis, then Greece’s most admired singer. He heard Theo sing a hymn at our Easter service and got a message to us: “That man has the right voice to sing my new songs.” In the remote village to which the dictators had “rusticated” Theodorakis, he had been allowed a recording machine. He was also allowed the occasional visitor. He recorded his songs on tape, then found a lady visitor who had a coat with large buttons. Bits of tape were wrapped around the back of several of her buttons and smuggled out to us. I spliced them together (badly) but there was enough that was audible for Theo to learn the songs. They became a great success. We even booked a large hall for a public performance. That, however, was not a success. John’s voice was excellent for recording, but not powerful enough to fill a large hall.
Peter Fraenkel
Controller, BBC European Services, 1959-66
