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Taken from research report - Mat Norman.

Another interviewee is Jack Hollinshead. I interviewed Jack last week at his home, and it was very illuminating and thoroughly enjoyable. Jack started working for the BBC (then a company, not corporation) in 1930, only a year after it’s move to from MV to the city centre. As a boy Jack was interested in radio, and like Donald tuned into 2ZY’s children’s corner on the family’s crystal set. After a visit to the Manchester Employment Exchange he was directed to the new BBC office in Piccadilly Gardens where he started work as a sound engineer… Jack saw an immense amount of change in the BBC and radio technology and helped and tutored many young sound engineers in his 40 years there. Jack has some great stories (his memory is astounding). One particular story jack recalled was when he was stationed in the Middle East during WW2. Jack had built his own small radio and one evening in Egypt he hooked it up to a battery from one of the army vehicles. This allowed the radio to have a more powerful receiver and after a few minutes Jack had picked up a British radio station. Although this was exciting, what Jack heard was very troubling. It happened to be the first night of the Luftwaffe bombings of the Manchester Blitz ,and Jack and his colleagues heard the news that Manchester had been heavily hit. Obviously with family and friends still in Manchester this was very worrying for the men.

The Luftwaffe targets included Manchester Docks and Trafford Park, in particular the MV factory – the Germans knew aircraft were being built there.

Jack was a mine of information. He has an original Radio Circle badge, a collection of newspaper and magazine cuttings and photos, and on leaving the BBC in 1970 was presented with an engraved original BBC microphone that the BBC used at the start of Jack’s career. At the age of 96 he is still as bright as a button!