'Nothing had ever been built like the radio telescope before, so that it is no wonder that I overspent ... The university thought that there would be a court case against me and that I was certain to go to prison, then the Russians launched Sputnik I, and that saved me completely!'
In conversation with Arthur Garratt, Sir Bernard Lovell, Professor of Radio Astronomy and Director of the Nuffield Experimental Station at Jodrell Bank, recalls the many vicissitudes experienced during his struggle to build what was then the world's largest steerable radio telescope.