Magic, illusion and tigers

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.

For nearly 40 years, Siegfried and Roy wowed audiences in Las Vegas with death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers. But in 2003, their magic show came to a dramatic end when a tiger attacked Roy live on stage.

We find out what went wrong, and speak to magician and author Margaret Steele about the - sometimes dangerous - history of illusion and magic.

Plus, we learn more about the so-called ‘Ken Burns effect’; the technique of making still photographs that appear to be moving. In 2002, the method came to the attention of one of the biggest names in the field of technology, Steve Jobs.

Also, the New Zealand woman who was nicknamed ‘the Queen of the Skies’ for her record breaking flights of the 1930s. Jean Batten flew planes made of wood and canvas during the golden age of aviation.

And we go back to 1996 for Brazil's early adoption of electronic voting, and discover more about the experiments behind the creation of Greenwich Mean Time.

Contributors: Ken Burns - film maker Chris Lawrence - animal trainer Margaret Steele - magic historian, magician and author Carlos Velozo - lawyer Jean Batten – aviator Emily Akkermans - Curator of Time, Royal Museums Greenwich Keith Moore - the Royal Society of London

(Photo: Siegfried and Roy with a white lion cub, Las Vegas, 1997. Credit: Barry King/WireImage)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson,
0:09.8	the past brought to life by those who were there. This week, how history on film has been animated
0:15.9	by the Ken Burns effect. I refotographed, refilmed old still photographs as if they were alive and it wasn't
0:23.8	just looking at them. It was listening to them. Are the troops tramping? Are the workers yelling?
0:28.7	We'll hear about Brazil's early adoption of electronic voting. The electronic ballot machine brought
0:34.0	security and integrity to voting and speed in announcing the vote count.
0:39.6	It specially brought more legitimacy to democracy with practice.
0:44.0	Plus the experiments behind the establishment of Greenwich Mean Time and the New Zealand pilot
0:49.8	known as the Queen of the Skies for her record-breaking adventures in the 1930s.
0:54.9	Jean Batten smashed two records when she reached Portnettel, Brazil.
0:58.7	The 25-year-old New Zealand girl has set up the fastest time from Britain to Brazil,
1:02.9	and she is the first woman to fly the South Atlantic alone.
1:05.9	She carried no parachute, life-built, collapsible boat or wireless.
1:09.5	That's coming up later in the podcast.
1:11.7	But we start on stage in Las Vegas in the US,
1:15.6	where for nearly 40 years, Siegfried and Roy wowed audiences
1:19.8	with their death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers.
1:24.0	But in 2003, their magic show came to an abrupt and unexpected end.
1:29.7	Vicky Farncombe has been hearing about that terrifying moment.
1:33.9	It's the 3rd of October 2003, and at the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas, something has gone horribly wrong.
1:43.6	Roy went down on the ground.
1:45.3	There was starting to be, you know, calls over the headsets.
	...

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