BBC locals mark centenary of the Spanish Flu

BBC English Regions are marking the centenary of Spanish flu in partnership with Wellcome Collection, Imperial War Museums and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

BBC Local Radio stations and regional television in the South West will highlight the epidemic on Thursday 20 September and Friday 21 September with interviews, features and programmes revealing the impact of the disease on people living in the cities, towns and villages in their local areas as well as investigating the legacy of the pandemic.

The BBC Local Radio programmes will reveal statistics based on medical reports recording how communities in many parts of England – including places such as Cornwall, Exeter, Jersey and Guernsey – were affected by the virus which killed 228,000 in the UK.

PhD Researcher at Imperial War Museums, Hannah Mawdsley, said: “I hope that the BBC Local Radio programmes help people understand more about a relatively poorly-known aspect of early twentieth century history, and to reveal the voices of ordinary people that lived through this pandemic – as well as help us to understand that we as a society are still vulnerable to global pandemic threats today.”

BBC Local Radio Stations in the South West will be telling the human story behind the statistics using letters containing first-hand accounts of what it was like to live through the most deadly pandemic in human history.