WAR HALL: A Theatre of the Mind uncovers the remarkable wartime and musical history of Walthamstow Assembly Hall — a concert venue built during the Blitz that became one of Britain’s most iconic recording spaces known for its legendary acoustics.
The series blends immersive sound design, rare archives, and performances recorded in the Hall. Its original score is created by Simon Mills — acclaimed producer, composer, and one half of the pioneering electronic duo Bent — weaving past and present into a distinctive sonic world.
Hosted by Angela Allen MBE, now 96 — a Londoner who lived through the air raids and one of Britain’s most respected script supervisors, with a career spanning from The Third Man to The Misfits — and historian Professor John Thomas, the podcast brings rare authenticity to a story where music, memory, and resilience collide.
In keeping with the themes of the series, the team encourages listeners to engage with the podcast on platforms that align with their own values around culture and conflict. WAR HALL is a story about the human cost of war, and the producers hope the project inspires thoughtful choices about the media we support.
Created for listeners seeking a deeper connection to political and cultural memory, WAR HALL asks what was built during the war, why it mattered, and what remains at risk today. It is a story about hope.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
WAR HALL: A Theatre of the Mind uncovers the remarkable wartime and musical history of Walthamstow Assembly Hall — a concert venue built during the Blitz that became one of Britain’s most iconic recording spaces known for its legendary acoustics.
The series blends immersive sound design, rare archives, and performances recorded in the Hall. Its original score is created by Simon Mills — acclaimed producer, composer, and one half of the pioneering electronic duo Bent — weaving past and present into a distinctive sonic world.
Hosted by Angela Allen MBE, now 96 — a Londoner who lived through the air raids and one of Britain’s most respected script supervisors, with a career spanning from The Third Man to The Misfits — and historian Professor John Thomas, the podcast brings rare authenticity to a story where music, memory, and resilience collide.
In keeping with the themes of the series, the team encourages listeners to engage with the podcast on platforms that align with their own values around culture and conflict. WAR HALL is a story about the human cost of war, and the producers hope the project inspires thoughtful choices about the media we support.
Created for listeners seeking a deeper connection to political and cultural memory, WAR HALL asks what was built during the war, why it mattered, and what remains at risk today. It is a story about hope.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
WAR HALL takes listeners back to 1939, as Britain stands on the brink of World War II and a working-class London borough prepares for the unimaginable.
In Walthamstow, an unfinished Town Hall complex is rapidly converted into a command centre for air-raid response — coordinating shelters, emergency services, gas-mask distribution, and survival during the Blitz. Drawing on The War Over Walthamstow, the extraordinary firsthand account of local civil-defence chief Ross Wylde, this episode reveals how local government, volunteers, and factory workers — many of them women — were mobilised for total war.
As bombs fall across London, factories switch to military production, women train as engineers, plans continue for a large public concert hall — raising the question: why invest in music and public gathering at the height of such destruction?
Through archival voices, personal memories, and immersive sound design, A Theatre of War explores how ordinary people resisted fear, fascism, and erasure — and how the foundations of the post-war welfare state were laid.
Selected audio excerpts featured in this episode:
Audio excerpts are used under UK fair dealing provisions for the purposes of criticism, review, and historical illustration. Full rights remain with the respective rights holders.
War Hall is an independent production. If we ever make a profit, half will go to War Child, with the rest supporting our small team. If you’d like to help us make future episodes, you can join our Patreon — even the smallest contribution helps us pay artists fairly.
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Some clips are used under fair dealing and fair use for historical illustration.
Music and sound design by Simon Mills.
Produced by Alison Williams, Professor John Thomas, and Susie Williams.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.