Stuart Petre Brodie Mais lived from 1885 to 1975. His wireless broadcasts for the BBC in the 1920s, 1930s and especially the wartime years of the 1940s, made him one of the most famous men in England, his peremptory but mellow voice betraying a mixed heritage. In the same way that J. B. Priestley and Wilfred Pickles became household names, so S. P. B., or Petre as he preferred to be called, was, at the height of his broadcasting career, receiving 400-500 letters a day from listeners all over Britain, as his Kitchen Front and Microphone at Large programmes gained huge audiences.The only child of an impoverished clergy family with tenuous links to the English aristocracy, S. P. B. experienced the earthly paradise that was Edwardian Oxford before becoming one of the most innovative and charismatic teachers of his time, teaching English at the best public schools and writing novels in his spare time. Sacked from the RAF college at Cranwell, where his verve and passion had offended the authorities, S. P. B. started a new career at the age of 35, working as a Fleet Street journalist and meeting the all the famous and notorious figures of his times.In the early days of broadcasting, S. P. B.'s quick wit and authoritative sergeant-majorly voice quickly attracted a large following.
