James Burke on Apollo

[onebigmonkey]

For those who haven't heard of him, James Burke was the go-to guy for British TV science programmes in the 70s and 80s. He managed to convey complicated material very simply without 'dumbing down'.

Thanks to a post on collectSpace I found this programme of his from 1979:

and also these:

The second one has a discussion between several Apollo astronauts.

Great viewing

[BertieSlack]

For those who haven't heard of him, James Burke was the go-to guy for British TV science programmes in the 70s and 80s. He managed to convey complicated material very simply without 'dumbing down'.

Thanks to a post on collectSpace I found this programme of his from 1979:

and also these:

The second one has a discussion between several Apollo astronauts.

Great viewing

My earliest memories of space travel are watching James Burke describe Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Viking. I loved his Apollo programmes. Still do. Along with Johnny Ball, he was the main reason I got into science. Science reporting/programming on TV has really declined in the last few years as ratings-desperate TV companies try to jazz up or dumb down, or ignore the science altogether and concentrate on woo-woo. We desperately need science reporters like Burke.

On an even sadder note: it's such a shame Johnny Ball is now a AGW denier. It really hurts when a childhood hero goes mental. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/6825502/Johnny-Ball-booed-by-atheists-over-climate-change-denial.html

[onebigmonkey]

Likewise - Johnny Ball was a superb children's broadcaster.

I used to watch things like 'Horizon' and have my head bent sideways by what they were describing, but nowadays they let fancy graphics do the talking and brush over the complex with a sugar glaze of fluff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having science explained to those who don't get it in an accessible way, but I need my brain stretching!

[smartcooky]

I loved James Burke's "Connections" series.

For those who haven't seen it, he takes some odd or unusual event or circumstance in history, that led to an invention that led to another invention and the results in some modern day device or system that we take for granted. For example in one episode, he looks at how the late 13th century "Little Ice Age" led in an unbroken chain to the gasoline engine due the invention of the chimney.

[Bryanpoprobson]

James Burke and Patrick Moore, were the face of Apollo for me, I was 11 when Neil walked on the moon, but I was allowed to stay up until the early hours of the morning to watch Neil's first steps.

[Bryanpoprobson]

Likewise - Johnny Ball was a superb children's broadcaster.

I used to watch things like 'Horizon' and have my head bent sideways by what they were describing, but nowadays they let fancy graphics do the talking and brush over the complex with a sugar glaze of fluff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having science explained to those who don't get it in an accessible way, but I need my brain stretching!

Johnny Ball did a show called "Think of a Number!" His co-host Celia Hoyles was my mathematics teacher at school. She is still the head of the mathematics department at Cambridge University.

[BazBear]

For those who haven't heard of him, James Burke was the go-to guy for British TV science programmes in the 70s and 80s. He managed to convey complicated material very simply without 'dumbing down'.

Thanks to a post on collectSpace I found this programme of his from 1979:

and also these:

The second one has a discussion between several Apollo astronauts.

Great viewing

Thank you very much indeed for those links, OBM! There are some great "new" interviews in these programs with the astronauts, engineers, controllers, and scientists.

[ipearse]

What an excellent find, thank you so much. I had quite forgotten how entertaining James Burke was. He had the knack for asking very deep questions, and the ability to make answers interesting as well as enlightening. I also remember the "Connections" series, absolutely fascinating.

[Luke Pemberton]

I used to watch things like 'Horizon' and have my head bent sideways by what they were describing, but nowadays they let fancy graphics do the talking and brush over the complex with a sugar glaze of fluff.

I always felt that the BBC dumbed Horizon down to make it accesible for the millions. I can understand that the BBC is a public service and  the programmes it makes should be inclusive, but I felt sacrifcing Horizon in this way was a real shame. I don't think that asking for 1 hour a week with a brain stretching science programme was too much.

Programmes like World in Action and Timewatch have also seen a similar decline. I guess the Lottery Show, Strictly, soap and chat formats in the style of Ross and Norton take priority.

[onebigmonkey]

Continuing in the vein of less well known documentary material, I came across this while looking for information to debunk Astronaut's talking about UFO claims, a 1989 Documentary called 'Other side of the moon', which interviews many astronauts (including some you don't see that often) on their feelings post-mission, and what they got up to after their space careers finished.

In 6 parts: