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Episode 41: April 9th 2011: Yuri Gagarin and Reg Turnill

By Gurbir Dated: April 9, 2011 5 Comments

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Reg Turnill joined the BBC in 1956 with the remit to cover aviation and defence. The launch of Sputnik 1 in the following year expanded his remit to include space. He is particularly well known for his coverage of the American Apollo program. In the UK, his name and face, along with that of Patrick Moore and James Burke, is associated with the commentators who covered live the Apollo Moon landings on the BBC.

In April 1961, Reg was sent to Moscow for Gagarin’s first post flight international news conference. It turned out to be a fascinating story of cold war politics as well as leading edge space technology. In his own words Reg describes this as “ a phony press conference, an entirely choreographed event designed to humiliate the west” and he summarised the whole press conference as “good humoured evasion”. Interacting through an interpreter and restricted to pre submitted written questions, he had to put aside his usual analytical approach. However he recognises that this was “a great achievement”. This interview was recorded on January 19th 2011 at his home on the south coast of England.
________________________

Today’s quote is from Reg Turnill’s book “The Moon Landings: An Eye Witness Account”. Following John Glen’s second spaceflight in October 1998, Reg at 83 the oldest working space correspondent, asked John Glen, the oldest man in space, a question. In part Glen answered
“Old folk have ambitions and dreams too, like everybody else. So why don’t they work for them? Don’t sit on the couch. Go for it”

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Reg Turnill talks about Yuri Gagarin’s first press conference from AstrotalkUK on Vimeo.

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Filed Under: Astronomy online, Gagarin, History, journalism, podcast, Rocket, space, Spaceflight, video, Vostok, Yuri Gagarin Tagged With: History

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  1. Episode 46 - Yuri Gagarin in Lonfon and Manchester | AstrotalkUK says:
    7th April 2012 at 14:55

    […] those recollections are the subject of this episode. It includes clips from Captain Eric Brown and Reg Turnill, longer versions of which are available in episodes 40 and 41.  My thanks to those who contributed […]

  2. Reg Turnill, Wernher von Braun, NASA, Rocket says:
    15th February 2013 at 10:35

    […] was the BBC’s representative in Moscow at Gagarin’s post flight press conference and told me in episode 41 of his experience when I went to meet him in January […]

  3. Virgin Galactic, Virgin no More | elcidharth says:
    29th April 2013 at 20:01

    […] Reg Turnill, Wernher von Braun, NASA, Rocket on Episode 41: April 9th 2011: Yuri Gagarin and Reg Turnill […]

  4. Smart, 'Cheerful,' And Easy On The Eyes: Russia Publishes Soviet Documents On Pioneering Cosmonaut Gagarin | Radio Free says:
    12th April 2018 at 17:07

    […] “He was so quick to learn and had such an easy personality that he was very popular among the top brass, because he could be relied on to play ball and not to give away any secrets,” added Turnill, who covered Gagarin’s first international press conference in Moscow following his flight — an event he called carefully staged and designed to “humiliate the West.” […]

  5. Russia Publishes Soviet Documents On Pioneering Cosmonaut Gagarin – The News Turk says:
    13th April 2018 at 00:23

    […] “He was so quick to learn and had such an easy personality that he was very popular among the top brass, because he could be relied on to play ball and not to give away any secrets,” added Turnill, who covered Gagarin’s first international press conference in Moscow following his flight — an event he called carefully staged and designed to “humiliate the West.” […]

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