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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Book of the Week: Richard Holmes - Falling Upwards

Richard Holmes

Jill Waters

Rory Kinnear

Book of the Week: Richard Holmes - Falling Upwards: Episode 5

Factual: History

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Falling Upwards

Episode 5

Richard Holmes - Falling Upwards

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Richard Holmes - Falling Upwards, Episode 5

The story of Salomon Andree and his efforts to reach the North Pole by balloon in 1897.

The story of Sweden's ambitious balloon adventurer Salomon Andree's audacious attempt to reach the North Pole in 1897. From May 2013.

In this heartlifting book, the Romantic biographer Richard Holmes floats across the world following the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, from the first heroic experiments of the 1780s to the tragic attempt to fly a balloon to the North Pole in the 1890s.

In a compelling adventure story, dramatic sequences include an unscheduled early flight over the North Sea, the crazy firework flights of beautiful Sophie Blanchard and the heart-stopping escape of two families from East Germany.

Early balloons also played a role in warfare - with the legendary tale of sixty balloons that escaped Paris during the Prussian siege of 1870, and a memorable flight by General Custer in the American Civil War.

These are stories where scientific genius combines with extraordinary courage and the power of an imagination that dares to claim the airy kingdom for itself.


Episode 5 (of 5):
Perhaps the most daring and ambitious of all the balloon adventurers was the Swede, Salomon Andrée, and his efforts to reach the North Pole by balloon in 1897.



Read by Rory Kinnear.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters.
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

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By Richard Holmes. Stories of the first balloon aeronauts. Read by Rory Kinnear

By Richard Holmes. Stories of the first balloon aeronauts and mankind's timeless yearning to be airborne. Abridged by Jill Waters. Read by Rory Kinnear

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