The BBCThe sound of the apocalypse would be soothing.Whereas prophets and novelists tend to imagine Armageddon as noisy - earthquakes, looting and whatnot - for the BBC, it would sound like Peter Donaldson.As documents declassified a few years ago revealed, he was the newsreader chosen to usher in the end of the world."This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons," he says, with velvet voice and perfect diction."Do not, in any circumstances, go outside the house."The broadcast adds a few more details.Food must be conserved.Water must be rationed ("It must not be used for flushing lavatories").Even in the end times, the BBC would not countenance the word "toilet".For many, this felt less unnerving than apposite.The organisation, which turns 100 this month, had announced the start of the second world war and its end.It had covered the liberation of Belsen and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Suez crisis and the Falklands war.For 100 years, the BBC has parcelled up disaster and defeat, then distributed them, after the pips and before the weather forecast, to the British.If Armageddon was to come, it felt right the BBC would announce it, probably after "The Archers", certainly in an rp accent.It was not, in the beginning, obvious that this would be so.The BBC was founded a century ago from pragmatism rather than idealism, the result of a lacklustre compromise to satisfy new radio companies (which thought they would flog more sets if people had programmes to listen to on them) and the General Post Office (which wanted to stop anyone from gaining a monopoly over the airwaves, but couldn't be bothered to oversee programmes itself).
英国广播公司（BBC）世界末日时的声音会让人感到安慰。尽管预言家和小说家倾向于将世界末日想象成一片嘈杂的景象――地震、劫掠等等――但对BBC来说，世界末日听起来就是彼得・唐纳森的声音。几年前解密的文件显示，彼得・唐纳森是被选中迎接世界末日的新闻播音员。“这个国家遭到了核武器的攻击，”他用天鹅绒般的声音和完美的措辞说。“无论发生什么，都不要到屋外去。”广播还提到了其它细节。必须节约食物。水必须限量使用(“一定不能用来冲盥洗室”)。即使在世界的最后时刻，BBC也不会说出“厕所”这个词。对许多人来说，这不会让人感到不安，反而是来得恰如其分。本月，BBC这个宣布了第二次世界大战的开始和结束的组织，将迎来它的100岁生日。它报道了贝尔森集中营的解放和伊丽莎白二世女王的加冕，苏伊士运河危机和福克兰群岛海战。100年来，英国广播公司把灾难和失败包装起来，然后在电台报时之后，天气预报之前播报给英国人。如果世界末日真的到来，BBC应该会宣布这一消息，可能是在《阿彻家族》广播剧结束之后，当然是用英国英语的标准发音。一开始，情况并不是这样的。一个世纪前BBC的创立基于实用主义，而非理想主义，它是为了满足新的广播公司(它们认为，如果人们有节目可听，它们就能出售更多无线电接收器)和邮政总局(它想要防止电视广播领域出现垄断，但不愿费心监督节目内容)的要求而做出的平淡妥协。
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