This New Noise: The Extraordinary Birth and Troubled Life of the BBC - Softcover

The book could scarcely be better or better timed. It is elegantly written, closely argued, balanced, pulls no punches and yet wears its respect for the BBC on its sleeve. (Melvyn Bragg The Observer)

Exactly observed and beautifully written, her book is a series of thematic essays mingling past and present to show how a tiny radio establishment from less than a century ago - more village than city - because the megalopolis that inspires such intense affection and hostility today. (Francis Wheen Mail on Sunday)

A thoughtful paean to the BBC ... a pleasingly intricate jigsaw of biography, politics, and opinion, and the author is at her best when sketching bohemian characters from the BBC's early days. (Julie McDowall Independent on Sunday)

Charlotte Higgins's excellent and enthralling book could hardly be better timed ... If it is to survive in anything like a recognisable form - and it would be a national tragedy if it did not - the BBC needs to reinvent itself again. It also needs its friends to make their voices heard, and in this context Higgins's informative, educational and entertaining book makes a powerful contribution. (Alwyn W Turner The Guardian)

A very good book that recaptures the spirit of the BBC as a pioneer but also the roller coaster ride of its adolescence and maturity. This is a stirring, spirited narrative of the human individuals who led the corporation through those changes (Charlie Beckett, Prof of Media and Communications, LSE Polis)

An engrossing exploration of key figures and flashpoints ... Should the BBC be abolished, reduced, sold off? Is the licence fee unfair? Whither the World Service? Higgins's book is a timely and useful airing of such questions. It reminds you how unique, remarkable and utterly flawed the corporation is and makes you realise, too, that its self-mocking satire W1A doesn't tell the half of it. (Nick Curtis Evening Standard)

A loving portrait of the BBC's journey from doughty start-up to dominant media force ... This New Noise ... is written in beautiful, light prose, and never creaks with excessive chronology. (Henry Mance Financial Times)

A fantastic book, wonderfully written (Ed Vaizey)

Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian's chief culture writer, steps behind the polished doors of Broadcasting House and investigates the BBC. Based on her hugely popular essay series, this personal journey answers the questions that rage around this vulnerable, maddening and uniquely British institution. Questions such as, what does the BBC mean to us now? What are the threats to its continued existence? Is it worth fighting for? Higgins traces its origins, celebrating the early pioneering spirit and unearthing forgotten characters whose imprint can still be seen on the BBC today. She explores how it forged ideas of Britishness both at home and abroad. She shows how controversy is in its DNA and brings us right up to date through interviews with grandees and loyalists, embattled press officers and high profile dissenters, and she sheds new light on recent feuds and scandals. This is a deeply researched, lyrically written, intriguing portrait of an institution at the heart of Britain.