Page 83 - 1939 News Today

Gripped you so much? having been born in 1939, two months after the onset of world war ii, ive always been pretty interested in dictatorships. and also, world war ii. so by the time i got round to being plunged into history, which would be in the �*50s, i had a context for all of this. and one of the things that has occupied me really quite a lot over time is, how did these dictatorships get going, and how did they maintain themselves? and also, how do they fall apart when they fall apart? so ...

So itjust ruined me, because here were these nice animals and they...and they came to tragic ends. and it was very, very upsetting. when it came to 1984, then, what was it about that book that gripped you so much? having been born in 1939, two months after the onset of world war ii, ive always been pretty interested in dictatorships. and also, world war ii. mm. er... so by the time i got round to being plunged into history, which would be in the �*50s, i had a context for...for all of this. er...

(crowd chanting in german) bird: in the 1930s, millions of americans were following the news coming out of europe in their local theaters, watching newsreels. and oppenheimer was horrified by the rise of hitler. nolan: his sense of his own jewishness made him immediately and massively aware of the danger of fascism. (bell tolling) bird: when the war started in 1939, he was a professor at berkeley. and that same year, one of his students comes rushing into his office to convey the news that fissi...

When he talks about what he loves, it was that human thing of passing knowledge around. this is negative particles, neutral, doubly charged, positive and positive... charles oppenheimer: his work on black holes should have earned him a nobel prize. sherwin: in 1939, oppenheimer wrote the first paper identifying the idea of collapsing stars, a black hole. so, black holes was his original idea. i mean, thats quite amazing. and if a real black hole had been identified before he died... ...he probab...

In their local theaters, watching newsreels. and oppenheimer was horrified by the rise of hitler. nolan: his sense of his own jewishness made him immediately and massively aware of the danger of fascism. (bell tolling) bird: when the war started in 1939, he was a professor at berkeley. and that same year, one of his students comes rushing into his office to convey the news that fission has been discovered. man: word has just come through from germany that the uranium atom under neutron bombardme...

You know, can we blame them? oppenheimer: we were all aware of the fact that, in one way or another, we were intervening explicitly and heavy-handedly in the course of human history. carr: by the time the laboratory was established, oppenheimer was a family man. he was married. he had a little boy. during his tenure as director at the laboratory, he had a little girl as well. bird: the summer of 1939, he was at a cocktail party in berkeley, and a young woman named kitty puening had spied him fro...

You know, can we blame them? oppenheimer: we were all aware of the fact that, in one way or another, we were intervening explicitly and heavy-handedly in the course of human history. carr: by the time the laboratory was established, oppenheimer was a family man. he was married. he had a little boy. during his tenure as director at the laboratory, he had a little girl as well. bird: the summer of 1939, he was at a cocktail party in berkeley, and a young woman named kitty puening had spied him fro...

It was that human thing of passing knowledge around. this is negative particles, neutral, doubly charged, positive and positive... charles oppenheimer: his work on black holes should have earned him a nobel prize. sherwin: in 1939, oppenheimer wrote the first paper identifying the idea of collapsing stars, a black hole. so, black holes was his original idea. i mean, thats quite amazing. and if a real black hole had been identified before he died... ...he probably would have won a nobel prize for...

Hmm. so he had quite a collection. but i first read animal farm cos it was in the house, my dad had it. hmm. and i thought it was going to be, "oh, good, animals! just like wind in the willows." talking animals? talking animals. what fun! er...but this is not what it was. and of course, i didnt understand that it was an allegory of the soviet union at that time, based on the show trials and so forth. um... because you were, what — nine, ten...? yeah. i had no knowledge of those things. so itju...

Thats one thing you couldnt take. - white audiences have been afraid of black comics, black comedy, because those comedians are truth tellers and sometimes you dont wanna hear the truth. - so what it meant was if you saw black characters on television, they were always gonna be subservient to allay white fears and to protect kind of white comfort. ethel waters was really the first black to have her own variety show. it was 1939, and later was hazel scott in 1950. but they did not last long on th...