WHEN I was nine years old I witnessed something that changed my life for ever. Along with millions across the globe, I watched the flickering, fuzzy black and white images of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.
It sparked a lifelong fascination with space travel, astronomy and the wonders of the universe. I sat with my dad in front of our TV screen on July 20, 1969, utterly enthralled as history unfolded before our very eyes.
It was all anyone talked about at the time — we were collectively moonstruck. At school we made astronaut costumes and lunar modules out of old cardboard boxes and tin foil.
Packets of breakfast cereals came with giveaway lunar maps and little plastic toys that would never get past health and safety laws today. My bedroom was plastered in huge colour posters of images of Earth taken from the lunar surface. I remember vividly thinking that anything was possible.
My favourite TV show, Star Trek — launched before Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind — looked as though it could actually come true. We might really go where no man had gone before.
Sadly, those dreams of humans reaching other planets, star systems and galaxies turned out to be little more than grey moon dust, but we didn’t know it back then and, despite the Cold War, there was real optimism about the future.
There was talk of a colony being built on the moon and a manned landing on Mars by 1984. But if you were too young to have lived through the space race and the triumphs and tragedies of the Apollo programme, there is still a way you can feel as if you were actually there.
First Man is an extraordinary film about Neil Armstrong, played by Ryan Gosling and the years leading up to when the Eagle landed on the surface of the moon.
Thankfully, this is not a Stars And Stripes, gung ho, cliched action film. It is an intelligent, thoughtful movie that never falls into the trap of stereotypical heroics.
You will, however, be on the edge of your seat, moved to tears and even laugh out loud as you get to know these incredible pioneers who risked everything for the moon mission.
Movie scenes inside the space modules on top of the giant rockets that took these men into space are so real that you will feel your teeth rattling. The bravery of sitting in a tin can atop what amounts to a bloody great unexploded bomb is astonishing.
There is tragedy at the start of the movie when Neil and his wife Janet — another star turn from our very own Claire Foy — have to endure the death of their little daughter from a brain tumour, but this is never over-sentimental or mawkish.
It’s all totally authentic and a reminder of the steadfast stoicism of the astronauts and their wives and families. As we now know, a combination of lack of funding and dwindling public interest effectively destroyed the manned space programme.
We still have the International Space Station, and British astronaut Tim Peake captured the public’s imagination with his mission there in 2015. He has gone on to work tirelessly in schools to inspire the next generation of space explorers and dreams of going back up there.
Nasa has continued to carry out unmanned missions to Mars and Jupiter, but it has been left to billionaires such as Elon Musk to fund “space tourism” for the super-rich who will mostly be doing it for the box-ticking and bragging rights.This is light years away from Starfleet and the idealistic United Federation of Planets imagined in the various incarnations of my beloved Star Trek.
I would rather have proper scientists and explorers up in space than a bunch of the spoiled super-rich guzzling champagne and complaining about the lobster being too tough.
I believe we have a duty to discover what else is out there and to try to find answers to the most basic questions — and we will only discover that through space travel.
This new film reminds us of what we might have had and what we have lost. But we should never lose sight of what it cost the first man on the moon and his family.
TV Rob is talking flolics
THERE’S been a lot of talk about homework this week and whether or not our kids should be doing extra work after school hours.
The debate was sparked by American comedian Rob Delaney, who thinks his seven-year-old gets too much homework at her school in England and should be out playing football and “frolicking”.
I love a frolic as much as the next person, but I do think homework is essential for children as it helps them to retain information and improves their knowledge and brain power.
It’s also good for parents to see first-hand what their children are learning and for them to be more involved, although I couldn’t make any sense of my daughter’s maths homework once she got past primary school.
It’s all about balance, and children shouldn’t feel overwhelmed or anxious about the amount of work they are doing at home. But if they are planning to go to college or university then learning to study by doing homework is even more vital.
I still do my homework to this day – out of office hours, researching guests, reading books, seeing movies and thinking up questions. If I hadn’t had the discipline of doing homework at school it would have been incredibly difficult at my age and I actually enjoy the process.
It’s good to have curiosity and to be learning new things every day.
We have to try to stop looking at homework as a chore to be got out of the way and give it some proper value, as well as making time for frolicking, of course.
Gaga’s a born star
LADY GAGA looks very much at home in the movie A Star Is Born. She’s a total natural and a lot of the scenes came across as if a real couple were falling in love.
Gaga, pictured at the British premiere on Thursday, obviously totally kicks ass in the musical numbers but it’s an impressive film debut that could see her as a serious Oscar contender.
My favourite version of this movie, however, will forever be the 1954 offering starring the incomparable Judy Garland and James Mason.
Garland belting out The Man That Got Away always gives me goosebumps and is one of the most impressive torch songs ever committed to celluloid.
No one can really compare to Garland, but Gaga does herself proud and, along with her co-star and director Bradley Cooper, she’s given us a modern-day version that will also stand the test of time.
How HRH became invisible
SO it can be done. Even a couple as high-profile as Harry and Meghan were able to bounce across to Amsterdam for the opening of a private club and a couple of boozy parties without anyone finding out.
They did draw the line at spending too long in the notorious, seedy and frankly depressing red-light district, but I’m sure the royal couple had plenty to keep themselves amused without visiting knocking shops and porno stores.It does prove that in these days of camera phones and social media, even the mega-famous can be invisible if they really want.
George Clooney once told me that when he first came to London he would wander around Leicester Square and Oxford Street in nondescript clothes and a black woolly hat.
He’d keep his shoulders hunched and his eyes down and nobody gave him a second glance. It’s obviously a bit more difficult for Harry and Meghan, as there are security protocols for royals.
But with a bit of effort they can have little pockets of relative normality that will certainly help Meghan adjust to life in the goldfish bowl.
A Wright result
IT was so good to see TV and radio host Matthew Wright and his wife Amelia bursting with happiness this week as they await the birth of their baby girl, due on Valentine’s Day next year.
They’ve gone through eight long years of failed IVF, miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, and had just one frozen embryo left. This was their last chance and, against all the odds, Amelia became pregnant.
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As anyone who has watched Matthew on TV will know, he has stated many times that he never wanted to be a parent and regularly complains about how annoying other people’s squawky brats are in restaurants and on planes.
Obviously we all realise he is going to fall completely head over heels in love with his baby girl, who will wrap him around her tiny little finger and create as much mess, noise and bedlam as she likes while he looks on dotingly.
It’s great news for a couple who really have been through the mill and won’t be able to completely relax until their little one is safely brought into the world.
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/new-film-about-neil-armstrongs-life-shows-the-small-steps-since-his-giant-leap/
News Pictures New film about Neil Armstrong’s life shows the small steps since his giant leap
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NINTCHDBPICT000433787471.jpg?strip=all&w=960
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