Marie Tapscott Slocombe MBE (1912–1995) founded the BBC Sound Archive in 1936.
Born in 1912, Slocombe studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she gained a First in French.
"[3] On discovering that these included speeches and readings by contemporary figures such as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Winston Churchill and others, instead of disposing of them, she realised their historical significance and resolved to preserve them.
[5] Her work was commemorated by a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Saving the Sounds of History, broadcast on 1 September 2007.
[3] In an essay, she regretted the BBC's lack of support for folk music, whilst acknowledging the opportunity to collect such examples.