Transcript
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The ​‘True History’ of Flight
From ancient rockets to personal balloons
Legend tells of an early pioneer of rocketry who, in 1633, blasted off over Istanbul in celebration of the birth of the Sultan’s daughter. There are stories of an eccentric French couple flying horses and bulls into the sky to entertain the masses. There were inventors who saw the future of travel in personal balloons that allowed us to bound across the landscape as if we were an astronaut on the moon. These tales my sound absurd by they are the ‘True History’ of mankind’s obsession with flight. Join us as we discover some of history’s craziest people who put entertainment and progress ahead of their mortality!
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Intelligent Speech 2022 and news
We are talking at the Intelligent Speech 2022 conference. We are joining some big name podcasts and can’t wait to share our presentation with you! Use the code ‘curiosity’ when booking for 10% off tickets.
Book tickets and more
We were interviewed for Podcast Magazine and feature in the June 2022 issue, it was great to talk with them and exciting for us! Anton hasn’t only been written about, he’s been writing too and was awarded second prize in the Guernsey Literary Festival WriteStuff competition for his story Guilty Chocolate. We’ll be releasing a recording soon. The competition was judged by Anthony Horowitz who is one of Anton’s heroes, his comments are below.
Anthony Horowitz commenting on Anton’s storyThis is a very dark and mature story that relates closely to world events right now. The title nails it and the whole piece is horribly believable. I particularly liked the guest speaker in his suit and tie and comic characters - Tintin and the Thompsons – being subverted. At the end, the narrator has learned a huge lesson. But too late.
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Lagâri Hasan Çelebi, Ottoman rocket man
In 1633 Ottoman aviator Lagâri Hasan Çelebi lifted into the sky aboard a gunpowder powered rocket. Little more than an oversized firework he travelled 300 metres in 20 seconds before using wings strapped to him arms to glide safely into the waters of the Bosphorus.
Lagâri Hasan Çelebi to Sultan Murad IVO my sultan! Be blessed, I am going to talk to Jesus!
Little known in the west many dispute the authenticity of the flight but in Turkey it’s viewed as true and we hope it is. Why couldn’t a man fire himself into the air on rockets?
Further reading
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Alberto Santos-Dumont, charming the skies
Alberto Santos-Dumont was a charismatic Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor who fell in love with flight. A leading figure in both lighter and heavier-then-air flight he performed many firsts in aviation. For him flight would lead mankind into a better future.
The first person to fly?
Adored in his native Brazil as the first person to fly an aeroplane the real story is far more complicated with many people contributing to the development of flight. Regardless of who lifted off first it can not be denied that Alberto Santos-Dumont was a key figure who should be better known today.
In Paris his regular public flights (and crashes!) lead to him becoming one of the most famous people in the city. The press and the people loved his daring attempts to tame the air!
Alberto Santos-Dumont speaking of a near crashThe descent was at a speed of 4 to 5 m/sec. It would have been fatal if I hadn't had the presence of mind to tell the passersby, spontaneously suspended from the dangling cable like a real human cluster, to pull the cable in the opposite direction to the wind. Thanks to this manoeuvrer, the speed of the fall decreased, thus avoiding the greater violence of the shock. I thus varied my amusement: I went up in a balloon and came down in a kite
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Always well dressed and mannered he was the ultimate aviator of his day. Self-taught as an engineer Santos-Dumont freely shared the designs of his dirigibles and aircraft.
Alberto Santos-DumontThe happiest days of my life, when I exercised myself in making light aeroplanes with bits of straw, moved by screw propellers driven by springs of twisted rubber, or ephemeral silk-paper balloons.
Further reading
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When cows will fly!
Not exactly pushing the envelope of flight like our other features Monsieur and Madam Poitevin took to the air aback horses and bulls.
They’re included as it’s a quirky if cruel spectacle and they might just be very distant relations of Anton and me!
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Thousands of people would turn out to watch their flights over Paris and news of them spread far and wide as this article from the Sacramento Transcript shows.
However, when they visited London not everyone welcomed them as they were fined £5 for animal cruelty after flying a bull.
Essex residentWe were astonished at seeing a bull fall from a balloon - a thing not seen every day in Essex
Further reading
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Balloon jumping is the future
Originally developed as a way to inspect and repair airships balloon jumping soon caught of for the freedom it offered. What could be better than bounding across the landscape? If you’re not convinced then watch the video and you’ll soon be sold on the idea!
Joplin News Herald:How helpful this sort of thing would be. We could strip the spring cherry tree without endangering our legs. We could dispense with elevators and enter our offices on the third or fourth floors by merely leaping up to the window and crawling in. We could do a thousand and one things easily that we now do with difficulty.