It's in capitals because it's important and I want to shout it out.
When did this all start? Probably on the tele with Fireball XL5 (probably my first hero was Steve Zodiac above), Doctor Who, James Burke and the Apollo missions, Tomorrow's World and Star Trek.
I was there near the beginning, hiding behind the couch. Not from the Daleks who were just another crowd of Baddies, but from the Cybermen. They scared the bejesus out of me.
Then things settled down.
I am amazed that anyone being brought up in the 60s could not be interested in science in some form or other. I mean we had tea-cards all about nature, technology, history, sociology....TV was coming to life, albeit on 3 channels,...the whole world was ours for the taking...
Anyone else remember collecting cards from this stuff?
Us children had Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Space 1999 and UFO. It didn't matter if the science was crap (oxygen pills for breathing in a vacuum), it was escapism pure and simple. Something to get us all worked up. Boys Own stuff way before the PC came in.
The Golden Age of science fiction had already been and gone by the time I got into it if the encyclopaedias are to be believed, but my Golden Age was just beginning - and it was beginning with my traditional Golden Age.
My first real foray into the world of science fiction was with a series of books by E.E. "Doc" Smith. It started with The Galaxy Primes but quickly moved on to his Lensman series. What was called Space Opera. This was quickly followed by Isaac Asimov's Robot stories. Easy going for an early teen. Then I moved on to many others and I would spend many a Saturday in the local book shop just re-reading the blurb on the back covers. I couldn't afford to be buying them all.
Another boyhood hero.
Then there were the old B and White movies: Frankenstein, The Day the Earth Stood Still... and the colour ones too: 2001, The War of the Worlds...
So what came first the SF or the science? Hard to say really, I think they went hand in hand. Back in the 60s, there wasn't much science to be talked about in the school curriculum - it was really the three Rs. Maybe it was a part-work that my parents bought - Mind Alive it was called. Sad that back in my early years it was TV that led my interest in a shallow TV sort of way
Secondary school was different. Again, back in the day, it was O grades and Highers - none of this Standard Grade stuff. Proper subjects - chemistry, physics, biology and engineering. We had some great teachers at school. They knew their stuff and were more than happy to teach it to us lot who were more than willing to listen and learn.
The Masters:
Would I be where I am today without those three above? Not sure about that but they certainly played a huge part.
James Burke - historian of science and technology. Got me thinking about the hows and whys and how they are linked.
Sir Patrick - you don't need to be a genius or a boffin to have a passion.
Sir David - use the power alluded to by JB above and used the power of TV to open the eyes of the masses.
I had a feeling back then that chemistry was where I wanted to go and not just because I liked the smell of paraffin or the colours of the transition element salts.
I stuck in and let the subject go wherever it was going but the SF - well, I could choose where that went. It didn't go to the science fantasy stuff - Hobbits and their ilk left me cold. But the SF bug petered out. Oh, I still like some of it and re-read some old stories but I moved away from planets, moons, stars, robots and faster than light travel to the more mundane spy stories.
I'll tell you about that at another time.
