{"id":776,"date":"2018-01-17T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=776"},"modified":"2020-06-19T11:58:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T10:58:46","slug":"using-oral-sources-skylark-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"Using Oral Sources: Recovering the history of the Skylark rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Millard, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, wrote the following blog entry on how historians can use oral history testimony to reflect on Britain\u2019s attempts to enter the \u2018space race\u2019 in the late-1950s for the Introduction to Historical Research Unit.\u00a0 The unit is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1957\u00a0Britain entered the space race with the launch of the Skylark<\/em> sounding rocket. Conceived at a time when the nation was seeking to develop ballistic missile capabilities Skylark<\/em> quickly positioned itself as a valuable research tool with which to help scientists unlock secrets from above the Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere. [1] So successful was it in this civilian role that it went on to be flown for nearly fifty years making it one of the longest and most successful rocket programmes of all time. [2] Yet few in Britain have ever heard of Skylark<\/em> and its presence within the documentary record remains sporadic. For this reason, space historian Matthew Godwin has openly acknowledged that, for Skylark<\/em>, \u2018the importance of oral history is clear\u2019. [3]<\/p>\n

\"\"

The launch of Skylark<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2001 Godwin helped organise a Skylark<\/em> witness seminar held at London\u2019s Science Museum. [4] Ten years later the Museum\u2019s former Director, Professor Chris Rapley, was interviewed as part of the British Library\u2019s An Oral History of British Science<\/em> project. [5] Within his testimony Rapley describes the development of Skylark<\/em>\u2019s on-board experiments whilst working as a young PhD researcher at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey. The interview, whilst offering insight in to the challenges faced by researchers working at the vanguard of British space science in the 1970s, also highlights several important issues that have dominated the oral history debate since it emerged as \u2018an international movement from the end of that decade\u2019. [6]<\/p>\n

Donald A Ritchie tells us that \u2018the ultimate value of oral history lies in the substance of the interviewee\u2019s story,\u2019 and what Rapley offers up is first-hand reporting of the instrumentation developed to investigate the presence and origins of x-ray sources in deep space. [7] What immediately strikes is the challenge oral history finds in adequately representing \u2018the role of visuality in the construction of\u00a0scientific<\/em>\u00a0knowledge\u2019. [8] It is a problem Tom Lean, an interviewer on the Oral History of British Science <\/em>project, has acknowledged. Humans, he tells us, express meaning as much through bodily action as spoken language and this is never more evident than when talking about complex technical subjects where \u2018hand movements and gestures reinforce words, conveying speed, scale, movement\u2019. [9] Whilst Rapley proudly recalls SL1203<\/em> being the first rocket to \u2018align itself on the earth\u2019s magnetic field and use moon sensors to orient its roll\u2019 it would be valuable, as historians, to know whether his arms were gesticulating at the same time to help illustrate the achieved motion. [10]<\/p>\n

Skylark was \u2018cutting-edge science\u2019 and Rapley hints as much when he states \u2018we were really pushing the limits, they didn\u2019t always work\u2019. [11] What surprises is the matter-of-factness of his oral response. There seems no evidence here of A. J. P. Taylor\u2019s \u2018old m[a]n drooling about [his] youth\u2019. [12] This may be explained by the fact that Rapley is a scientist of long-standing, a person who has spent his distinguished career actively seeking to be \u2018objective\u2019 not \u2018subjective\u2019 \u2013 a man highly trained to steer away from Alessandro Portelli\u2019s acknowledged journey into \u2018imagination, symbolism, desire\u2019. [13] His answers equally support Thompson\u2019s theory that oral responses differ depending on where the recording is made \u2013 whether that be at home, in the workplace or down the pub. Rapley\u2019s interview was recorded at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London where, as historians, we must assume \u2018the influence of work conventions and attitudes\u2019 prevail. [14]<\/p>\n

For John Tosh it is important for any user of oral recordings to remember that they are \u2018as full of pitfalls and difficulties as any other sort of historical material\u2019. [15] Neal R. Norrick agrees, reminding us that \u2018forgetfulness often occur[s] in oral history interviews\u2019. [16] Rapley shows that even scientists conversant in dealing with hard facts can fall victim to faulty memory. His testimony is full of forgotten information, dates and names, with his acknowledged warning \u2018it\u2019s a long time since I\u2019ve thought of this, I\u2019m struggling now\u2019. [17] This is not, in itself, unusual for \u2018narrators often experience difficulties in recovering names and details during stories\u2019. [18] Whilst historians once believed the fallibility of recall justified steering clear of \u2018individual memory\u2019, many now agree with Lynn Abrams\u2019 interpretation that while \u2018some details might fade [\u2026] the broad contours of the memory remain throughout life\u2019. [19]<\/p>\n

Perhaps most frustrating in Rapley\u2019s narrative is the presence of reticence \u00ad\u2013 conscious forgetfulness on the part of the interviewee \u2018to limit dialogue on particular matters\u2019. [20] Take his refusal to be drawn further on the link between his co-workers and communal living where he tantalisingly hints at the educated origins of 1970s commune life as outlined by social psychologist, Michael Argyle. [21] Yet Rapley is not alone in his refusal to answer the interviewer\u2019s question in full for, as Lenore Layman reveals, \u2018oral histories are peppered with examples of reticence presenting historians with both a methodological and interpretive challenge\u2019. [22] Reticence, she goes on to explain, occurs most often where \u2018the conventional bounds of social discourse\u2019 are breached, with interviewees reluctant to divulge personal detail about others. [23] Rapley substantiates her claim when he declares that \u2018many of them are still alive I think I\u2019d better not\u2019. [24] His reticence is understandable when one appreciates that \u2018part of what is communicated in the oral history interview is a view of [\u2026] one’s place in the group [or] community.\u2019 [25]<\/p>\n

Rapley\u2019s \u2018family\u2019 at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, we learn, consisted of some of the most high-profile names working in British space research today \u2013 from Peter Wilmore to John Zarnecki. This was Skylark<\/em>\u2019s over-riding legacy for it helped train a generation of space scientists who went on to work on larger orbital programmes including Ariel 1<\/em> the world\u2019s first international satellite. [26] Rapley himself moved on to NASA\u2019s solar maximum mission taking his knowledge of bent crystal spectrometry to help investigate solar flares and the Sun\u2019s active atmosphere. Here the offered testimony is again, noticeably brief with the interviewee admitting \u2018[I] could tell you a huge amount about it\u2019. [27] In this, Rapley offers the strongest affirmation of Portelli\u2019s widely-acknowledged belief that oral history \u2018always has the unfinished nature of a work in progress\u2019. [28] For Skylark<\/em>, Britain\u2019s little-known rocket, this, for now, is as good as it gets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

[1] Harrie Massey and M.O.Robins, History of British Space Science<\/em>, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986), 16-17.<\/p>\n

[2] Robin Brand, Britain\u2019s First Space Rocket: The Story of Skylark<\/em>, (Fordingbridge: New Forest Electronics, 2014), viii.<\/p>\n

[3] Matthew Godwin, The Skylark Rocket: British Space Science and the European Space Research Organisation 1957-1972<\/em>, (Paris: Beauchesne, 2007), 36.<\/p>\n

[4] Ibid, 7<\/p>\n

[5] Professor Chris Rapley, National Life Stories: An Oral History of British Science<\/em>, interviewed by Dr Paul Merchant, 27.04.11, British Library, London, C1379\/40, Track 3, 68-79.<\/p>\n

[6] Alistair Thomson, \u201cFour Paradigm Transformations in Oral History\u201d, The Oral History Review<\/em>, Vol. 34, Issue 1, (2006): 52.<\/p>\n

[7] Donald A Ritchie, Doing Oral History, A Practical Guide<\/em>, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 13.<\/p>\n

[8] Martin Hewitt, \u201cBeyond Scientific Spectacle: Image and Word in Nineteenth-Century Popular Lecturing\u201d, in Popular Exhibitions, Science and Showmanship<\/em> edited by Joe Kember, John Plunket and Jill A Sullivan 79-96, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), 80.<\/p>\n

[9] Tom Lean, \u201cBut of Course Your Little Box Can\u2019t See What I\u2019m Doing, Can It?\u201d, National Life Stories<\/em>, (London: British Library, 2010), 13.<\/p>\n

[10] Rapley, National Life Stories<\/em>, 73.<\/p>\n

[11] Ibid, 70.<\/p>\n

[12] A J P Taylor quoted in Brian Harrison, \u201cOral History and Recent Political History\u201d, Oral History<\/em>, 3, (1972):46.<\/p>\n

[13] Alessandro Portelli, \u201cThe Peculiarities of Oral History\u201d,\u00a0History Workshop Journal<\/em>, Volume 12, Issue 1, (1 October 1981): 100.<\/p>\n

[14] Paul Thompson and Joanna Bornat, The Voice of the Past: Oral History<\/em>, 4th<\/sup> Edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 213.<\/p>\n

[15] John Tosh, The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of History<\/em>, 6th<\/sup> Edition, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015), 254.<\/p>\n

[16] Neal R Norrick, \u201cTalking about Remembering and Forgetfulness in Oral History Interviews\u201d,\u00a0The Oral History Review<\/em>, Volume 32, Issue 2, (1 January 2005), 2.<\/p>\n

[17] Rapley, National Life Stories<\/em>, 70.<\/p>\n

[18] Norrick, Talking about Remembering, <\/em>12.<\/p>\n

[19] Lynn Abrams, Oral History Theory<\/em>, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), 89.<\/p>\n

[20] Lenore Layman, “Reticence in Oral History Interviews”,\u00a0The Oral History Review<\/em>\u00a036, no. 2 (2009): 207.<\/p>\n

[21] Michael Argyle, Cooperation: The basis of sociability, <\/em>(Hove: Routledge, 2013), 82.<\/p>\n

[22] Layman, Reticence, 236.<\/p>\n

[23] Ibid, 240.<\/p>\n

[24] Rapley, National Life Stories<\/em>, 78.<\/p>\n

[25] Neal R. Norrick, \u201cHumour in Oral History Interviews \u201c, Oral History<\/em>, Vol. 34, No. 2, War Memory (Autumn, 2006), 86.<\/p>\n

[26] Brand, Britain\u2019s First Space Rocket<\/em>, 601.<\/p>\n

[27] Rapley, National Life Stories<\/em>, 75.<\/p>\n

[28] Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History<\/em>, (Albany: New York State University Press, 1991), 55.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Millard, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, wrote the following blog entry on how historians can use oral history testimony to reflect on Britain\u2019s attempts to enter the \u2018space race\u2019 in the late-1950s for the Introduction to Historical Research Unit.\u00a0 The unit is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. In 1957\u00a0Britain entered the space race with the launch of the Skylark sounding rocket. Conceived at a time when the nation was seeking to develop ballistic missile capabilities Skylark quickly positioned itself as a valuable research tool with which to help scientists unlock secrets from above the Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[26,14,20,261,181,15,180,182],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning_in_focus","tag-archives","tag-history","tag-memory","tag-oral-history","tag-oral-sources","tag-primary-sources","tag-skylark-rocket","tag-space-race"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/history.port.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Skylark-slider-e1515960264648.jpg?fit=618%2C298&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p91PlX-cw","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}