Home, James

FIFTY years ago James Burke could come across as a bit full of himself. But the one-time Tomorrow’s World presenter’s relative absence since his finest hour, as anchorman of the Beeb’s Apollo 11 coverage, has been noticeable; and his brief return to TV and radio over the weekend has increased my admiration of him.

I’d assumed he’d had a science background originally, but he told us he was given the gig because of his degree in humanities — as was the policy then at Broadcasting House of cross-fertilisation!

Undeterred, he asked Nasa for every book they had on space travel, which, on receipt, he crammed for three months.

His newly acquired knowledge so impressed the space agency that, in the run-up to the launch, the BBC was granted unique access, not afforded even to U.S. broadcasters.

Additionally, Nasa considered our superior live streaming worthy of rebroadcasting the world over —though this didn’t stop the Beeb from subsequently wiping much of its footage on (then expensive) video tape.

Sadly, two giants of the day are no longer with us — and left a big hole in the celebratory proceedings: the remarkable Neil Armstrong himself, the first man to walk on the Moon — and our very own unique (amateur) astral enthusiast, Patrick Moore.

Just a couple of things I must call Mr Burke out on: Apollo 13 didn’t actually ‘blow up’ en route, and TVs weren’t ‘very rare in Britain’ in 1969.

Most families had one, although, funnily, we learned many colour sets were bought in the run-up to the event, despite the live footage from the Moon being in monochrome!

Don’t leave it so long next time, James.

TERRY HICKMAN, Southampton, Hants.