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BBC Four Talk Collection
This programme is part of Talk - a collection of interviews with some of the most influential figures of the 20th century.
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More about this programme
Press Conference was "a series where personalities who make the news answer impromptu questions from men who write the news." So begins this edition which seems to overlook the presence of Elizabeth Frank in the line-up! However, the programme contains many gems including Welles' anecdote following the now legendary 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds which "frightened half of the United States out of their wits" and into believing that a Martian invasion had begun. Welles reflects, "I think we underrated the prestige of radio at that moment, anything that was said on the radio was automatically true. After that nobody ever believed anything on the radio and, Pearl Harbour, the day of Pearl Harbour in America I was doing a radio broadcast which was interrupted with the announcement that Pearl Harbour had been attacked and of course everybody in America said it’s rather bad taste to do it again."
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About BBC Four Collection programmes
Programmes are selected, in part, for their historical context and reflect the broadcast standards and attitudes of their time, which may not accord to some current BBC editorial guidelines. We aim to select programmes which can be shown in their entirety but in some cases edits are required. In these cases, edits are kept to a minimum and are made only for technical reasons.
Credits
- Presenter
- Huw Wheldon
- Interviewer
- John Beavan
- Interviewer
- Elizabeth Frank
- Interviewer
- William Hardcastle
- Interviewer
- Rene McColl
- Interviewed Guest
- Orson Welles
Broadcasts
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Fri 14 Jan 1955 22:05 BBC Television Service
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Mon 17 Jan 1955 15:30 BBC Television Service
Featured in...
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Talk
A collection of BBC interviews with influential figures of the 20th century.
