On 31 January 1950 President Truman gave the order to create the hydrogen bomb. To mark the anniversary of this event, listen to physicist Edward Teller sharing, in his own words, the fascinating story of his part in its creation, which changed the world forever.
Edward Teller, the late Hungarian-American physicist, is famous for having helped to develop the atomic bomb and providing the theoretical framework for the hydrogen bomb. His long and, at times, controversial career spanned decades, leaving behind him a legacy, including contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy and surface physics, that remains relevant today. He was a staunch advocate of nuclear power and also of a strong defence policy, calling for the development of advanced thermonuclear weapons. more...

Anniversary of Ava Gardner's death: Web of Stories presents Billy Williams' recollections of working with the screen siren.
Relish a rare peek behind the scenes of Hollywood as Oscar-winning cinematographer Billy Williams shares his incredible experiences, including working with screen siren Ava Gardner. This week is the anniversary of American screen legend Ava Gardner’s death on 25 January 1990 and, to mark the occasion, why not visit Web of Stories to watch Oscar-winning cinematographer, Billy Williams sharing his experience of working with the Hollywood great? more...

Watch Quentin Blake tell his life story and how he started work on the As Large As Life exhibition at London's Foundling Museum at WebofStories.com
An exhibition entitled As Large as Life by Quentin Blake, the much loved illustrator of many of Roald Dahl’s books, has opened at London’s Foundling Museum. The exhibition shows 60 previously unseen works specially commissioned by four hospitals in the UK and in France. The series took five years to complete and coincides with the recent release of a commemorative collection of stamps depicting Blake's most famous illustrations used in the Roald Dahl classics. Anyone interested in learning more about Quentin Blake should visit the Web of Stories website at www.webofstories.com/quentin.blake, which contains video recordings of Blake telling his life story and talking about how he started work on this ambitious project. more...

On Tuesday 10th January, Donald Ervin Knuth, the American computing pioneer and author of the classic The Art of Computer Programming, celebrates his 74th birthday.
As with all Web of Stories contributors, the 7.5 hours of Knuth's recording are divided into a number of short stories of between two and ten minutes, with a fully searchable transcript. In one of the stories, Knuth talks about why he decided to write The Art of Computer Programming. more...

Thirty years ago on December 13 1981, martial law was declared in Poland. This drastic step, taken by the then Prime Minister General Wojciech Jaruzelski was intended to suppress political opposition and restore communist party control throughout the land. A shocked world watched as high-profile oppositionists, including Jacek Kuroń and Jan Józef Lipski, vanished in the crackdown.
The news that Poland was under martial law came after months of escalating social and economic unrest in that country. Although the ferment, particularly following the founding of the independent Solidarity trade union in August 1980, meant a response from the communist government was likely, the crackdown, when it came, surprised many. Outside observers had been focusing on the possibility of a Soviet invasion especially after Soviet armed forces had moved into Afghanistan two years earlier. This fear was shared by many Poles for whom the influence of the Kremlin on Poland’s domestic policy was frighteningly predictable. The CIA, however, concluded that at such a critical phase in the Cold War, Poland’s communist rulers would use martial law to deter Soviet invasion. In fact, what the communist leaders in both Warsaw and Moscow were intent on was the reassertion of control over society. more...

Monday 5th December marks the 110th birthday of the late Walter Elias 'Walt' Disney, the American film producer, animator and co-founder of the Walt Disney Company.
In 1938, Jules Engel was asked by Walt Disney to work with them on what became the much-loved Disney classic, Fantasia. He was appointed the task of storyboarding the final dance sequences of the Russian sprites and Chinese mushrooms to the music of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Engel's passion for dance and art made him the perfect candidate to choreograph the sequences. Although much controversy still surrounds the fact that Jules Engel was never credited for his work on these sequences, here he describes what it was like working for the Walt Disney Company and meeting Walt Disney himself. more...

Greenwood and Earnshaw’s Chemistry of the Elements has today been translated into several European and Asian languages, and is widely regarded around the world as being one of the most influential chemistry bibles of our time.
Norman Greenwood was born in Australia in 1925 and graduated from Melbourne University before going to Cambridge. His wide-ranging researches in inorganic and structural chemistry have made major advances in the chemistry of boron hydrides and other main-group element compounds. He also pioneered the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to problems in chemistry. He is a prolific writer and inspirational lecturer on chemical and educational themes, and has held numerous visiting professorships throughout the world. more...

Alice Herz-Sommer, the renowned Czech pianist and the oldest known survivor of the Holocaust and the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp, celebrates her 108th birthday this weekend.
Theresienstadt opened on 24th November 1941 and operated for three-and-a-half years, serving as a transit camp for Czech Jews who were artistically and culturally talented. It was used in a propaganda function as a 'show camp' for the Germans to justify to the rest of the world the deportation or resettlement of Jews from Germany to the east. In reality, it served as a ghetto, a concentration camp and a holding bank for Jews before their deportation to killing centres in Eastern Europe. Now, 70 years later, it retains its reputation as a place in which many gifted writers, musicians, academics and actors were incarcerated and forced to give performances and lectures in an effort to create an impression of normality to the rest of the world, and although teaching was banned, many children were taught by these exceptionally talented individuals. Over 90 per cent of these children, however, were later murdered in death camps. more...

Web of Stories is delighted to announce the availability of a unique series of videos of Sir Ken Adam talking candidly about his life and career from childhood to the present day.
Sir Ken Adam pioneered the art of production design and created some of the world's most celebrated and iconic sets which include the war room of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and, in 1977, the supertanker set of The Spy Who Loved Me, which became the largest sound set the world had ever seen. Sir Ken Adam paved the way for British and international cinematic design, and has set the standard with a career spanning seven decades. His work on over 75 films has won him a Lifetime Achievement Award, two BAFTAs, two Academy Awards and in 2003 the honour of being knighted by the Queen for his services to the film industry. more...