Chronology

25 thoughts on “Chronology”

1. Brilliant work chaps!

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2. The Archers was always in the background whilst I was growing up, but my first definitive memory is from around 1980 or 1981 when I was at university when Colonel Danby’s discovery of the remains of a medieval village or field system, possibly near Arkwright Hall, warranted a mention in a geography lecture. I started to listen more regularly in the 1990s. the earliest story line I recall from that period is Sid and Kathy Perks going to visit Sid’s daughter Lucy in New Zealand. Kathy got confused with the change in time zones for taking the Pill and was surprised to find that she was pregnant with Jamie. I think that would have been around 1994 or 1995.

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3. When I started listening I had no idea who anyone was so some events may have happened that didnt make much of an impression. Looking at the timeline, I recall Jim Lloyd arriving (or maybe settling in) b/c he was such an obnoxious know-it-all, David (I think) trying to help Alistair with his gambling addiction (it was very hard to figure out who was who and what the problem was). But the first new character who really made an impression was Vicky, who’s not on the list. I think this was around 2007/2008.

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   1. Phoebe, you have said everything I’ve been thinking. I had been calling myself a “Vicky,” but based on this timeline perhaps I’m a “Jimus.” I have no recollection of Siobhan’s death, or Sipho’s birth from that era, but I was perpetually confused for about five years.
      Sidenote: I was grateful for characters’ way of greeting one another by name, particularly Bert Fry and Joe (<3) Grundy's way of using full names.

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4. I have a couple or three reference books that were useful in creating the Chronology and they enabled me to include key plot points from way back in the past, long before I started listening. I don’t have any such sources for the more recent past i.e. post 2000.

   The Archers BBC website was also useful for some events, but unfortunately, there is no specific reference there of the year Vicky actually came on the scene. If memory serves me correct she was introduced as a ballroom dancing partner of Mike Tucker’s. Mike and Vicky married in 2009 so she was probably introduced in 2008 or 2007. I don’t recall it being a long courtship.

   If anyone can provide actual years for this or any other story line, please post your information here and we can add it to the Chronology.

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   1. You show Heather Pritchard dying in 2015 and 2016. She died on 28th September 2015 according to her profile on The Archers, BBC website. Thank you for very useful timeline.

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      1. Thanks for pointing out the duplication.

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5. The Archers was always on during my childhood and teens while my Mum was cooking tea (she’s been listening since it started in 1951). I first remember major events from the early to mid 1970s – I remember Neil Carter arriving and his fling with Shula; and John Archer being born (not included on your timeline) and for some reason distinctly recall the moment Eddie proposed to Clarrie – ‘Marry will you Clarrie me?’ I guess that was about 1980. I continued to listen to the Archers during the 1980s when I left home and lived in London. I remember Susan and Neil having to get married because she was pregnant with Emma. When I emigrated to Australia in 1992 the one thing I missed was the Archers so my mum sent me cassette tapes of the Omnibus, which I then sent on to my best friend, another Archers addict who had gone to live in China. I’m still in Australia and still listen to the Archers, but now as a podcast, via my iPhone when I’m driving to work or trying to get to sleep at night. And of course now listen to Dumteedum too. My mum is 94 and still living in her own home (like Peggy) and is still listening to the Archers too, every Sunday. I know not to ring her when the Omnibus is on! Keep up the good work!

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6. What an excellent summary! Thanks to all who put so much time and effort into compiling this.

   The following link may also be of interest:
   http://umra.wikia.com/wiki/Peter_Hesketh%27s_Chronology_of_The_Archers

   If it’s correct then I’m a Marjorie Antrobus aka “the dog woman”.

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7. Thank you for your hard work. I’m an American who discovered The Archers a few years ago. I had to Google “Elizabeth Roy Tent The Archers” to determine the year of my vintage. Officially I’m a Charlie-Jonny, but I’ll always be an “Elizabeth and Roy in a tent” in my heart.

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8. This is helpful, not only to judge my vintage, but also to get a handle on the lengthy backstory before I started listening in 2014. The first storyline I remember was Tony’s recovery after being gored by Otto, his bull. Charlie was already on the scene, so that makes me a Johnny.

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9. I started listening just before Nigel started going out with Shula. I remember him leaping into Phil and Jill’s bed one night but I’d been listening for a while before then. Any idea what year?

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   1. Nigel and Shula were going out together around about 1983 or 1984, I think.

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10. This is brilliant although I think Annette Turner (Greg’s daughter) arrived and lived with Helen was during 2007? Around the same time Usha Franks ran the marathon. Greater minds than mine have laboured long and hard on this timeline so I will of course stand corrected!

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11. Thank you for this; like a lot of other listeners the Archers were a background to my childhood; it went out out at 6:45 on – I think – the Light Programme, just before Radio Newsreel.
    My first specific memory was Tom Forrest proposing to Prue; I was in Junior School at the time, and one of the boys in the year below was cast as one of the two children they fostered.

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12. I’ve been a regular listener (to the weekly podcast) since 2007…. BUT…. that followed a fifty-year sabbatical. I remember sitting with my grandmother next to the radio set to listen to the first episode. I kept up with The Archers for years even as a child, I remember being rather traumatised by Grace Archer’s untimely death. But I suppose I found new interests. This timeline is pure gold because, frankly, all the names and relationships were a struggle for a returnee after all those years.

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13. Are you using Peter Hesketh’s chronology?
    https://umra.fandom.com/wiki/Peter_Hesketh's_Chronology_of_The_Archers

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14. As I grew up I was aware of The Archers as a programme my Mum listened to but I think I started properly listening when I left home to get married in 1980…. since then I have listened to the Omnibus every week although when it became available as a podcast I started to download it so I could listen to it when I was out walking the dog. I used to live in Birmingham and have met one or two of the writers when at the gym. Once, when I took my son to have his haircut at my friend’s Barber Shop (Ian Nudds) I recognised the dulcet tones of Mike Tucker sitting in the chair. I can’t believe I’ve only just found Dumteedum. Better late than never!

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15. Thanks for the fantastic timeline which represents hundreds of hours of work. I’m wondering if there is room in there for when Phoebe Aldridge either got her acceptance to Oxford or left for Oxford? I looked her up and they didn’t specify dates for those. Perhaps someone knows?

    Thanks

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    1. I’ve added Phoebe going up to Oxford to 2016. You’re right in that there is little online evidence of a precise date. Working on the dates – she was born in 1998 to would have turned 18 in 2016. Three years at university and she returns to Ambridge to embark on the Ambridge Re-Wilding project which was a significant storyline in 2019. I wonder how that little venture is faring amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. We’ve heard nothing from Phoebe, Pip or either of the Fairbrothers…

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       1. On Sunday 2nd October, 2016, Lowfield mentions Roy telling people at the cricket match that Phoebe has started her term at Oxford. I think actual term there started the following week that year, or at least, Week 2 started on 17th, so she will have gone up for Freshers Week I expect.

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          1. Thanks for the confirmation, Monica.

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16. I started listening in 1951, (the year I was married) just after The Archers began, when I stayed with a farming family who listened regularly to share with Dan and Doris Archer (and Walter Gabriel!) the postwar updates from the government or the NFU on farming methods. I was hooked for life.
    I am afraid I was bored with the Covid monologues but am now listening again, a little confused with the Phillip and Blake story, due, I think, to the length of time it has been forced to go on for. But I still love it, though Susan Carter bugs me!
    I must add that the awful jangle of fairground music that currently serves as a signature tune, does the programme no favours at all. Please back the old version.

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17. I would have been 1 1/2 months old when the first episode was broadcast, but I may well have heard it as the Home Service seems to have been on permanently throughout my childhood. The first new arrivals I remember are Jack Wooley and Sid Perks, but my favourite characters from the early days were Zebedee Tring and Walter Gabriel, and later on Nelson Gabriel. Still listening regularly – though usually on podcast catchup – after 70 years.

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18. I am pretty sure my earliest memory is Eddie and Clarrie getting married. My earliest recollection of listening is on a camping holiday to Cornwall when I was in the upper sixth form.

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