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BBC Focus on Africa 
is 60 years old.
It really is something to understand the impact that it has had across the continent. @ngweedale trawled the archives and brought together some of the programmeâs key figures to celebrate. Listen and enjoy!
BBC Focus on Africa is 60 years old. It really is something to understand the impact that it has had across the continent. @ngweedale trawled the archives and brought together some of the programmeâs key figures to celebrate. Listen and enjoy!
Former BBC West Africa correspondent Elizabeth Blunt @BluntSpeaking recalls that Focus on Africa was âvery entertaining, very interesting and obviously absolutely compelling because at 5 oâclock everything stopped while everyone listened to Focusâ.
. @BluntSpeaking recalls how she found herself in the thick of a huge gunfight in Monrovia during the civil war in Liberia. The next day it was her voice that told Liberians that their president, Samuel Doe, had been carried off and killed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08n6ng1
âAlmost every day there was something immense going on in Africa and often we were the only people covering those storiesâ, recalls Focus's longest-serving editor, Robin White. Nelson Mandela was released from jail âperfectly" before the last edition. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08n6mm5
Asked if he wished heâd done anything differently as editor of BBC Focus on Africa, Robin White says: âI wish Iâd got rid of the signature tune⊠Itâs awful.â
It's certainly distinctive, and hummed across the continent to this day.
It's certainly distinctive, and hummed across the continent to this day.
How did Focus on Africa become a fixture on the BBC schedules 60 years ago? Long-time voice of the programme @pablobach tells the story of how it came to be. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08n6l0h
become a fixture on the BBC schedules 60 years ago? Long-time voice of the programme @pablobach tells the story of how it came to be. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08n6l0h
Focus on Africa presenters and reporters played a huge part in their listenersâ daily lives. @Josephineonike recalls a surprise encounter with a listener in Malawi, who said she admired Josephineâs tenacity so much sheâd named her daughter after her. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08ncpn9
Former Focus on Africa editor Robin White interviewed the late Milton Obote in Uganda in 1985. âGo and distort anything you wantâ, Obote said at the end of the interview. But the BBC put all of it, about half an hour, on air. Obote wasnât pleased. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08nnck9
Neither was the then UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, interviewed by Elizabeth Ohene for BBC Focus on Africa ahead of an Africa visit. âWould you be brave enough to wear some African clothes during your trip?â, Elizabeth asked. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08nfgd1
Often Africans tuned in to the BBC to find out what was going on in their own countries. Elizabeth âPermanently Outragedâ Ohene recalls how she got the scoop that President Sani Abacha had died, long before any Nigerian stations had broadcast it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08n6nt9
Former Focus on Africa editor Rachael Akidi, who joined the BBC aged 22, recalls how a BBC interview was used by the authorities in Nigeria to strip their ailing president of his executive powers. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08n83f1
"Even if they werenât always happy with it, African governments respected the programme," Rachael says.
Former editor Robin White and deputy editor Elizabeth Ohene explain why it was important for Focus on Africaâs audience to hear their enemies as well as their friends. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08njxjt
Contrary to popular opinion, Liberian rebel-turned-president (and later convicted war criminal) Charles Taylor was only on Focus "a handful of times", says Robin. But he was a terrific broadcaster and his interviews were always memorable.
Former Focus on Africa presenter Uduak Amimo admits she found a daily diet of conflict âquite heavy goingâ. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08nnf11
While Anna Borzello, who spent eight years in Uganda and two in Nigeria, found reporting for BBC Focus on Africa turned her into something of a local celebrity. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08njxld
âIn the Focus on Africa newsroom of the BBC everybody was everybodyâs friendâ recalls Sola Odunfa. âMy Yoruba diction, my Nigerian diction was acceptable. When I heard myself on the radio I was proud of the way I was speaking English.â https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08nnhq8
That's BBC Focus on Africa at 60; some key moments remembered. An inspiring glimpse into the archive from @ngweedale with @hassanarouni & Uwa Nnachi. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08n1j6y
And BBC Focus on Africa is on three times a day, Monday to Friday. You can catch up as well as listen live via the BBC News website (Africa section) and on radio stations across Africa. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gbjvb/episodes/player
is on three times a day, Monday to Friday. You can catch up as well as listen live via the BBC News website (Africa section) and on radio stations across Africa. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gbjvb/episodes/player
Celebrating 60 years, BBC Focus on Africa has got a new spruced-up logo too. 
But the theme tune remains unchanged; for now! 
ENDS
ENDS
