New audio project records UK lives

People around Britain can save details of their everyday lives for future generations thanks to a new oral history initiative.

The Listening Project, set up thanks to a partnership between BBC Radio 4, BBC national and local radio stations and the British Library, allows members of the public to contribute a recording of a conversation with a friend or family member about a wide range of subjects.

As well as being available to explore in a series of radio programmes and online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/listeningproject, a number of these discussions are also set to be added to the British Library’s Sound Archive.

“The Listening Project will provide fascinating insights into contemporary Britain: what people from every corner of the nation think about their lives and loves, enthusiasms and disappointments, successes and failures,” says the British Library’s lead curator of oral history, Rob Perks.“By curating and archiving the recordings, the Library will be making them available in perpetuity for the public and researchers to listen to and access for generations to come, ensuring that they become an invaluable part of our oral history collections.”

► Find out more about the recordings at The Listening Project website