History Head Start - Option 6
'They virtually worked like robots'
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/speakingarchives/makingmotors/
This is an audio recording of an interview with Alan Morris in 1983.
Alan Morris was born in 1931 in Birmingham. After a spell with Jaguar in Coventry, he began work at the Rover Solihull plant in 1955.
The interviews were conducted by Mr Paul Worm in 1982-1983 as part of a research project he undertook with Professor Steven Tolliday under the auspices of the King's College Research Centre, Cambridge. He was researching into the midlands automotive industry.
Listen to the clip entitled ‘They virtually worked like robots’, and answer the questions below: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/archives_online/speakingarchives/makingmotors
Once you've listened to the audio clip, answer the following questions:
- How does Alan Morris describe the conditions of the Land Rover production line?
- Can you write down 3 examples of emotive language that Alan Morris uses?
- How would you describe Alan Morris’s tone of voice? Do you think you could use his tone of voice as evidence about how he felt?
- Do you think Alan Morris’s interview is reliable as evidence of working conditions at Land Rover?
- What other sources could you compare this interview with?
General Information:
To help you think about these sources in a historical way, use the list of questions to guide your thinking.