rocket man (steve, not elton)
it's very rare that you meet someone who has fulfilled their childhood ambition isn't it? in a fun little game of 'Once Round the Office' this week we have the following results
an actress
an operatic tenor
two vets
a bank teller
and an Assistant Producer on a Saturday morning programme at Radio 4 (JP Devlin, of course)
obviously only one of those people has fulfilled their lifetime ambition, although i could still make it on the Bureau de Change desk down at Barclays if this show doesn't work out.
thankfully this week we have someone who has made his dream a reality - and it's worth talking about on the radio. It's Steve Bennett who is Britain's leading rocket scientist. His rocket can go from 0 - 700 miles per hour in under four seconds. And he intends to travel in it in a few years time.
Make him welcome on the programme please, and do let me know how your childhood dreams turned out
Love and hugs as ever
Sorry about the mix of upper and lower case in this blog. my life is dull and this is a way of spicing it up you know.....
Fi
Thanks for letting me know what really goes on during the Newcastle University Caving Club trips. My son has been in that fraternity for 5 years now and always tells me that there's no danger. Luckily he rarely tells me BEFORE he goes underground, only afterwards.
Complain about this postHow good of him to break his leg whilst merely falling off a cliff, rather than when he was doing something dangerous. At least he enjoyed the trip in the air ambulance.
Why give the rocket man such an easy time? What will be the carbon footprint of each launch?
Complain about this postHaving talked about carbon neutrality, and not flying excessively, how ridiculous is the space tourism industry, and how on earth does the x-prize legitimizes this inherently wasteful activity.
Great, the huy has met his goal, but to whos detriment?
Complain about this postHi Fi
Just listened to your Rocket Man and his feelings that it is his "destiny" to bring space tourism to the masses - sorry -multimillionaire masses. He also spoke of Space Tourism as making trillionaires as opposed to the internet's simple billionaires. I was reminded of a few years ago when 2 internet millionaires who each wishing to give themselves the ultimate adreniline rush had bought trips into space. Just straight up and back down - like your rocket man is proposing to offer. One of these "tourists" said afterwards that viewing the earth from space made him feel "like an angel" I was inspired to write the following poem which you may wish to pass onto Rocket Man.
SPACE TOURIST.
As you escaped our mother earth's embrace
Leaving compassion on the launching pad
No roulette wheel or casino chip
But theme park space became your ego trip.
Did you not stop to think what you might do
To help those not as fortunate as you?
You had a fortune, spent it like small change.
Held in your hand you watched it slip away.
Like finely sifted sand where harvests fail
As weeping mothers watch their children die.
Countless as the stars in outer space
And still invisible to naked eye.
While waiting in the supermarket queue
To sing our Sunday praises to fine food,
I watch the tv set inside my head
As queues with empty bowls wait to be fed.
I see the hopelessness and the despair
For "check out" has a different meaning there.
A mother lifts her gaze up to the sky
White striped vapour trails on cobalt blue
That slowly melt and fade without a trace
As life and hope ebb slowly from her face.
She looks down at the child that's by her side,
Asks how his right to life can be denied.
Our politicians write Man's epitaph
In letters high across the void of space.
How Man could strut the moon with so much pride
While back on earth his children starved and died.
Could learn "how life ticks" unravel DNA
As millions sit and wait to fade away.
I search behind the mask to find your face.
Complain about this postHumanity startes back with soulless eye.
Reflected in your visor now I find
The face so full of hate I see, is mine.
What right my friend do I have to judge you?
Each day don't I see children dying too?
Clive Evans
Hi Fi
I am suprised at the self-deprecatory remarks about your life. I listen to your show regularly and consider your wit and your cute view on life very refreshing. You have a unique privelage to touch so many lives.
Talking about childhood ambition. I never knew what I wanted. I followed my heart. I have been on a real roller-coaster ride, going to University with a secondhand motorbike and nothing else. Running out of petrol and finding a place to stay on the first day.
Finishing my degree I was selected to do an annual expedition to the Antarctic for a year.
My life has been fun doing impulsive,adventurous things.
However, when 16 or 18 I remember looking out of a bus window, while the days events passed through my mind. I reflected that I could not and would not be able to live if I was paralysed below my neck.
Well this nightmare became reality. I am paralysed and I am "doing "the life. I live on my own now and I am determined to make a success of the rest of my life.
Thank you for your wonderful program on Saturday mornings .I hope to make your aquaintance one day
Julius
Complain about this postHi Fi: I just wanted to let you know that your blog about Rocket Man was great. Keep up the good work. I did not mean to go off topic but I wanted to let the 大象传媒 know that my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the missing 大象传媒 Correspondent in Gaza and the 大象传媒. I hope he is found and is safe. Cheers from Miami. Roberto
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