Tyneham - The Ghost Village (Report from 1970 by Bob Langley)

In September 1970, UK viewers of the BBC’s Nationwide were treated to an unusual sight: presenter Bob Langley taking a dip in the calm waters of Worbarrow Bay, on the Dorset coast. One has to wonder whether his dip was included in his report as a result of fan male (he would probably have been referred to as “rather dishy” in 70s parlance).  Regardless, at the time, this was something few civilians could experience (the dip, not the presenter). Access to the bay was restricted for most of the year, as it lay within the Ministry of Defence’s Lulworth Ranges.

Just inland stood Tyneham, a village frozen in time. On 17 December 1943, the residents of Tyneham were told to leave, their homes requisitioned for military training with the promise they could return after the war. They never did. By 1970, when Langley reported from the scene, Tyneham had already been deserted for almost three decades, its people still (quite reasonably in a very British sort of way) campaigning for a return that would never come.

Did they get their village back? Sadly, no. The MOD retains control of Tyneham and its surrounding countryside to this day. Public access is now easier than it was in 1970, with more weekends and holiday openings when the ranges are silent. Farming never returned, and the landscape has become a haven for wildlife, with chalk grassland and coastal habitats thriving in the absence of modern agriculture. The village church and schoolhouse have been preserved, serving as poignant reminders of a lost community.

As for Bob Langley himself, he remains very much with us. Known to UK audiences in the 1970s and 80s as a broadcaster on Nationwide and Pebble Mill at One, he later reinvented himself as a novelist. His thrillers and adventures, such as The War of the Running Fox and Falklands Gambit, show a storyteller’s eye for intrigue. It’s a long way from that seaside dip in 1970, but Langley’s work - like Tyneham - endures.

Watch Bob Langley’s 1970 report below.