In 1920, during a record-breaking test flight in a single-engine fighter plane, things almost went fatally wrong for the pilot Major Rudolph 'Shorty' Schroeder. He lost consciousness but came round just in time to land at McCook Airport in Ohio State. When his colleague Lieutenant John MacReady pulled him out of the cockpit, he was shocked to see that Major Schroeder’s eyeballs had frozen. It was the catalyst that led Lieutenant MacReady to embark on a mission to help design protective eyewear for military pilots that resulted in Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses.
In the ninth episode of Torn Gus Casely-Hayford charts the history of Ray-Ban sunglasses, and explores how a piece of protective equipment designed for pilots, evolved to become an iconic fashion item worn by presidents, actors and rock stars looking for a dose of classic cool whilst shielding their emotions or their hangovers from paparazzi and the public.
 Casely-Hayford finds that Ray-Ban owe their success to embedding themselves with a powerful ally, first the US military, then with Hollywood, that has catapulted their sunglasses far beyond function and firmly into the realm of fashion.

With anthropologists Aron Cromwell and Sally Applin, and pilot Ben Jenkins.

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Presenter: Gus Casely-Hayford
Executive Producer: Rosie Collyer
Researcher: Zeyana Yussuf
Production Coordinator: Francesca Taylor
Sound Design: Nicholas Alexander Show less