This week I was introduced to the amazing British Library Sound Archive. It’s full of pop music, political speeches, sound effects, interviews – everything you could possibly think of – and much of it is available to search and listen to online.

I’ve been itching to play you Walrus under ice, 1983, but it looks like you have to be in the library to access that particular clip. Still, for future reference, if you ever want to recreate the effect, it sounds exactly like someone beating a dustbin with a rolled up newspaper, while jumping up and down in a puddle.

Here’s another archive recording you might like instead.

In the 1920s, Daniel Jones (famous linguist) made a series of Linguaphone records aimed at learners of English as a second language. In this clip you’ll hear two voices discussing the wonders of the wireless. One is Arthur Lloyd James, who advised the BBC on spoken English and produced several booklets of Recommendations to Announcers during the 1930s. The other is JRR Tolkien (who bears responsibility for the dullest three hours I’ve ever spent in a cinema).

Stuff like this is the plunderphonist’s dream. Listen to more here.