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‘I had not taken writing as an option seriously until Dava Sobel’s Longitude, but…’
* * *
Science and history have been at the forefront of successful publishing for many years. Have any books particularly influenced your own writing?
Probably the greatest practical influence was Dava Sobel’s Longitude. I had not taken writing as an option seriously until then, but this showed there was a huge appetite for a well-written personal true story from history or science. I was thrilled because this was just what I wanted to do and suddenly the market opened up.
Chronologically you’ve moved forwards. Now that you’ve reached the twentieth century, what comes next?
I’ve written a great deal about strong – some would say dominating – male characters and am longing to have a good female lead. I think that will be my next project and I don’t mind which era; it just has to be a great true story.
LIFE at a Glance
BORN
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August 1955 in London
EDUCATED
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Guildford Grammar School; University of Sussex; University of Oxford
CAREER
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BBC researcher (trainee) 1978–9; researcher 1979–82; TV producer 1983 onwards; author
PREVIOUS BOOKS
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The Feminisation of Nature, The Dinosaur Hunters, The Lost King of France, Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
TOP TEN BOOKS
A Man in Full
Tom Wolfe
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Citizens
Simon Schama
Schindler’s Ark
Thomas Keneally
The Crimson Petal and the White
Michel Faber
The Sea, the Sea
Iris Murdoch
Half a Life
V.S. Naipaul
Arthur and George
Julian Barnes
Star of the Sea
Joseph O’Connor
Fingersmith
Sarah Waters
A Writing Life
When do you write?
When I get a chance.
Where do you write?
In the studio at the top of our house – and I often review the text the next day in a coffee shop.
Why do you write?
Why doesn’t come into it. It just happens.
Pen or computer?
Computer. I love the computer because it’s so informal. You can test out an idea and then change your mind or move it around so easily. It makes the whole process so fluid. I normally do several full passes of the whole manuscript before I’m ready to show my editor. Years ago, I did my first story on a typewriter – and I can’t think how I managed.
Silence or music?
Silence for drafting. For reviewing and editing text it does not matter.
What started you writing?
I started seriously when I received an approach from a publisher who wanted to turn a film I had done for Horizon into a book.
* * *
‘For me story is key. I like to block out the whole plot – to see the entire narrative shape on a few pages.’
* * *
How do you start a book?
For me story is key. I like to block out the whole plot – to see the entire narrative shape on a few pages. Then I still won’t start writing until I have plotted the storyline in detail across each chapter, exploring the relationship between the characters and the action to create the most satisfying narrative shape.
And finish?
The last full stop is wonderful. We always have a family celebration.
Do you have any writing rituals or superstitions?
No.
Which living writer do you most admire?
Tom Wolfe.
About the Book
Making Space Race
by Deborah Cadbury
FOR ME Space Race very nearly began and ended in Ilford – when the police rang with an urgent message. It was just a few days before three months of filming was due to start in Romania. The cast was flying into Bucharest. This in itself was quite a feat. One of our Russian starlets had insisted that the entire schedule was changed so that she could travel to location from Moscow by train not plane – complete with bodyguard and boyfriend. Nonetheless, the idiosyncrasies of the cast had been accommodated, locations were booked, props and sets designed, and the directors, Christopher Spencer and Mark Everest, were already in Romania with a crew – when one quiet Sunday night, our production manager, Victoria Gregory, received a call: the lorry carrying all the props for filming had vanished in Ilford – presumed stolen.
At first I could not quite take in this bizarre information. The props lorry contained countless Nazi uniforms, period Soviet and NASA space suits, a replica of the first Russian satellite and oddest of all, a life-size V-2 rocket – in pieces but when assembled all of three storeys high. It was hard to see what any thief could possibly gain from this odd – and very distinctive – assortment of items. At the same time, as series producer, it was beginning to sink in just what a nightmare we faced.
No filming could start without the props and costumes. It had taken the design team the best part of three months to build the V-2. If they had to start again, we would have to stand down the cast and crew. Yet they had been scheduled and booked in a mammoth feat of organisation led by line producer Jules Hussey. Now they would have to be re-hired. However I wrestled with the circumstances, the BBC could not afford to pay for the filming twice. It began to look as though the whole enterprise would have to be shelved. And for me that would be a great loss because we had unearthed a remarkable story.
In over a year of research we had very good access to Russian archives and had been able to explore the Soviet side of the story in full for the first time. I had long been fascinated by the mastermind behind the Russian space programme, the shadowy ‘Chief Designer’ Sergei Korolev. Such was the fear Korolev would be assassinated by Western intelligence that his real name was a closely guarded secret during his lifetime. It was as though he did not exist. He was rarely seen in public, his name never appeared in official records and he could only publish occasionally under a pseudonym. Korolev’s life seemed to epitomise the extremes and random punishments of Soviet rule – a dramatic personal story largely unknown to the West.
* * *
‘I was mesmerized when the first man was launched into space, the first probes reached the moon and the first hazy images of its bleak surface reached the earth.’
* * *
Associate producer Svetlana Palmer and assistant producer John O’Mahony had gone to great lengths to track down Korolev’s former colleagues and friends to investigate his true story. John was literally knocking on doors in the outskirts of Moscow when he had a major breakthrough. Korolev had an official biographer, Yaroslav Golovanov, who had been permitted to publish in Russia after his death. Golovanov was survived by his son, who took John into his father’s study. There, piled high, was a roomful of files, letters, personal details of Korolev, much of which had never seen the light of day.
I invariably get very excited when we can track down original primary sources. I knew Korolev had been denounced by his own colleagues during Stalin’s purges and sentenced, without a trial, to ten years’ hard labour in the Gulag where he nearly lost his life. We were able to obtain letters he wrote to Stalin from the notorious Kolyma camp in Siberia protesting his innocence and begging for his release, heartbreaking letters to his wife and even the confession he was forced to make when arrested by the NKVD.
* * *
‘Such was the fear Korolev would be assassinated by Western intelligence that his real name was a closely guarded secret during his lifetime. It was as though he did not exist’
* * *
But there were strange anomalies in his story. Despite the extremes of suffering in his yo
uth, Korolev rose to serve Stalin with a fervour and commitment that makes little sense to Western eyes. Broken from the Gulag, and physically weakened, he emerged more driven than ever to put all his energy into something he could believe in – and in the process he led Russia to a series of spectacular firsts. These were great moments that I could recall from my own childhood. Although too young for Sputnik, I was mesmerised when the first man was launched into space, the first probes reached the moon and the first hazy images of its bleak surface reached the earth. It seemed an era of infinite possibility and to find the truth about the man who, through almost superhuman determination, created the Russian space programme against a background of enormous difficulty was very moving.
Yet this is also an unusual tale of scientific rivalry. Piecing together von Braun’s character from the threads of evidence was endlessly fascinating; amongst the team we debated each new twist that came to light. There was no doubt that he had been well aware of the horrific conditions of the concentration camp slaves building his V-2; he even helped to recruit skilled labour. How did this fit with the charismatic leader who emerged later in America? As word spread of our production, some of his former colleagues rang us up to explain just how much he was liked and respected. All this was hard to square with his past.
As the characters began to take shape, we were able to explore the true story of the space race in very personal terms, arguably for the first time, mapping it against the bigger picture of superpower rivalry and the Cold War. Above all with new records, we could show how close run the race was – right up until that final mind-bending voyage to the moon.
* * *
‘Above all with new records, we could show how close run the race was – right up until that final mind-bending voyage to the moon.’
* * *
The weeks before the shoot are invariably the most frantic – and this production was no exception. I’ve learned never to be surprised by anything – but the theft of the V-2 rocket was a bolt from the blue. After several agonising days of sightings and subplots worthy of the actual story, the props lorry was found, its strange cargo barely disturbed. The only satisfaction I could gain was imagining the look on the thief’s face when – having thought he had stolen something really valuable – he prised open the door to find he had acquired a mock-up of a V-2 rocket. The police escorted it from an industrial estate in Ilford, then began our own personal race to complete the series.
Read On
Have You Read?
Other Books by Deborah Cadbury
The Feminisation of Nature
As sperm counts fall, and reproductive cancers increase, evidence suggests that some species are becoming ‘feminised’. The main cause of this is humanity’s increased exposure to chemicals found in everyday life, chemicals which can mimic hormones. In this, her first book, Deborah Cadbury examines recent changes in human reproductive health and their ominous implications for the future.
The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World
Another tale of bitter rivalry, this time between Gideon Mantell, who became obsessed with the lost world of the reptiles, and Richard Owen, who claimed Mantell’s work as his own, naming the extinct creatures and securing international acclaim for himself.
The Lost King of France: The Tragic Story of Marie-Antoinette’s Favourite Son
Aged four, Louis XVII was heir to the most powerful throne in Europe. Yet within five years, he was to lose everything. During the French Revolution, his family was imprisoned and, following the execution of his parents, the Revolutionary leaders declared Louis dead. But was he really?
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
Seven Wonders tells the stories behind world-changing machines and monuments – and the people like Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Joseph Bazalgette who made them.
If You Loved This, You Might Like…
Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith
Between 1969 and 1972 twelve men made the journey to the moon. Only nine of them, at the time of writing this book, were left and Andrew Smith set out to interview them all to find out what it was like to reach the heavens, and what it was like to come back down to earth.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Winner of the American Book Award for non-fiction, Wolfe’s narrative details the stellar achievements and the human frailties of the first US astronauts.
Who Really Won the Space Race? Uncovering the Conspiracy That Kept America Second to the Russians by Thom Burnett
As Space Race makes clear, Wernher von Braun was prevented from working on a rocket for many years. Burnett focuses on the conspiracy that stopped him and explains how it led directly to the election of John F. Kennedy.
Star-crossed Orbits: Inside the US–Russian Space Alliance by James Oberg
An examination of more recent space history, the development of the International Space Station. Oberg used to work for NASA, is considered an expert on the Russian space programme and thus has a unique perspective on the relationship between the US and Russia and detailed knowledge of what each country has brought to the alliance.
Find Out More
Many websites offer insights into the history of space exploration and its future. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum site www.nasm.si.edu offers information on exhibitions, lecture series and what’s on at its planetarium but is mostly of interest to those visiting the museum. NASA’s site www.nasa.gov has shuttle launch news, a picture gallery, podcasts of ‘This Week at NASA’ and videos of launches (such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). The best treats are an earth observatory, pictures of lakes, mountains and glaciers as seen from space, and a piece of software called ‘Worldwind’ that allows virtual touring of (and zooming in to) the earth from space. Finally, for those unlikely ever to reach the heavens, http://hubblesite.org/ (NB no www in this address) offers a tour around them, as seen by the Hubble telescope. Try some of the virtual tours through galaxies and nebulas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEBORAH CADBURY is the highly acclaimed, bestselling author of several books, including The Dinosaur Hunters, The Lost King of France and Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. She has also won numerous international awards as a TV producer for the BBC, including an Emmy for Horizon. She lives in London.
PRAISE
From the reviews of Space Race:
‘This fascinating book illuminates the complex relations between Germany, America and Russia during the space race of the Cold War years … Heroes, villains and victims populate this gripping story’
MAGGIE GEE, Daily Telegraph
‘Cadbury has had the excellent idea of constructing a dual biography. Chapters alternate between Von Braun and Korolev, sketching in colourful detail and historical context in the manner of [a] thriller’
Guardian
‘Lucid, pacy and readable’
BRYAN APPLEYARD, New Statesman
‘A story of treason and back-stabbing, international espionage, propaganda and often disaster … From the first small steps to the final giant dance Cadbury provides a stellar read’
Sunday Business Post
‘This is an utterly engrossing book’
Foreign Affairs
‘Finely honed, consistently compelling … In the end this is a cautionary tale, a story of what happens when the dreams of humankind are hijacked by the darker aspirations of politics’
Publishers Weekly
‘A swift, exciting history of the race to the moon, from Sputnik to “The Eagle has landed”…Cadbury’s prose is heart-racing as she describes the individual missions, poignant as she acknowledges the loss of American and Soviet lives. First-rate research and reporting’
Kirkus Reviews (starred)
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
The Feminisation of Nature
The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
COPYRIGHT
Harper Perennial
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Space Race Page 44