Inquiry

Inquiry was a series of five short radio programmes for schools, "investigating self-interest and responsibility", according to the BBC Genome search listings. The BBC Year Book for 1970 (p.75) described it as follows: "A new series for the young school leaver called 'Inquiry' confronts its audience with moral problems, posing the questions rather than providing answers. It is supplemented by dossiers of press cuttings and other documentary material to stimulate discussions." The programme was compiled by Maurice Whitbread and went out on BBC Radio Four at 11.20 on Monday mornings.
The programmes were introduced by Peel in Radio 4's morning schools sequence, during September and October 1969. They were aimed at non-GCE pupils - a different audience from his Top Gear listeners, who included many students and sixth-formers, but this was an example of Peel's concern for the welfare of less privileged young people. The intention was to get teenagers to talk about the problems they faced, but the programmes attracted strong criticism from some quarters.
According to an article in International Times (IT 106, 1971-06-16, p.4) the programme was a victim of a "wave of censorship of schools programmes at [the] BBC: One of the first victims was amiable John Peel who in autumn 1969 introduced "Inquiry", a series of programmes for non-GCE schoolkids about "individual freedom and responsibility"." It continued: "Peel, who not long before that had trouble with his programme "Nightride", is now under a special contract which forbids him making comment on the radio, and also forbids him commenting elsewhere about the BBC or even his special contract."
In fact, Margaret Thatcher, then an Opposition politician, was reportedly "incensed" by Peel's comment on one of the programmes, criticising marriage as "an artificial device which tends to destroy relationships" (a remark which may have owed something to Peel's own family history as well as to the hippy philosophy of that era). She reacted to this by complaining to the BBC's Director General. (As described in Jean Seaton, Pinkoes and Traitors: The BBC And The Nation, 1974-1987. London, 2015, p.18)
==Programme List==
# 22 September 1969 - Self interest.
# 29 September 1969 - Claims on your conscience.
# 06 October 1969 - The limits of sacrifice.
# 13 October 1969 - Community spirit.
# 20 October 1969 (rpt 27 October) - Dedicated man.
Category:Shows