Key details
Andy Popperwell
Post Graduate Research Student
After reading Physics at QMUL and a postgraduate year at the Royal College of Music, playing the ‘cello, I joined the BBC World Service as a Studio Manager (sound engineer). Over the next twenty years I worked on radio programmes of every kind in English and 40 other languages. I was also a science reporter, resources organiser and Recruitment & Training Manager. I spent time for the BBC in India and on Ascension Island. I also trained BBC staff in the Radio Training and Engineering Training departments.
A change of career in 1995 gave me twenty years as a Further Education lecturer and curriculum manager, teaching radio production and acoustics at Havering College in Essex. I taught adult education evening classes at Morley College for thirty years and had stints at Birkbeck and Goldsmith’s.
Since retiring, I’ve completed a Masters by Research in Historical Soundscapes at LSBU and I’m now taking this to the next level with my PhD at Greenwich. My interest is in the soundscapes of the 18th century at a mansion on the edge of Epping Forest.
In my spare time, I volunteer at the mansion, Copped Hall, and in the Essex Record Office Sound Archive where I work on quarter-inch tape collections. I have also been a volunteer Vaccination Steward during the pandemic.
My Public Address system is in frequent use at Copped Hall and also for other organisations, including the local National Trust group.
I also play cricket for the Bushmen, a team connected to the BBC World Service, for which I have been the Team Secretary for over thirty years
Research / Scholarly interests
The Historical Soundscapes of Essex (wt)
Using 18th century documents and artifacts to resound Copped Hall, bringing to life the people who lived and worked there in the 18th century. This involves transcribing a myriad of contemporary documents from the Essex Record Office and elsewhere as well as investigating the physical acoustics of the building in order to make authentic recordings. As part of my practice-as-research, I devise, curate and organise regular performances at the mansion under the title ‘Dark Tales & Strange Sounds’. These productions always make use of my transcribed documents. I have a particular interest in the well-documented connection between Copped Hall and a sugar plantation on St Kitts in the Caribbean.
It is my intention to broaden my investigation into other 18th-century Essex buildings and also to use my material to create sound installations to inform, educate and entertain visitors to such places.
Recent publications
Making Radio: A Guide to Basic Broadcasting Techniques (With Michael Kaye) Broadcast Books, 1992