Orson Welles

This programme is part of Talk - a collection of interviews with some of the most influential figures of the 20th century.

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Press Conference was "a series where personalities who make the news answer impromptu questions from men who write the news." So begins this edition which seems to overlook the presence of Elizabeth Frank in the line-up! However, the programme contains many gems including Welles' anecdote following the now legendary 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds which "frightened half of the United States out of their wits" and into believing that a Martian invasion had begun. Welles reflects, "I think we underrated the prestige of radio at that moment, anything that was said on the radio was automatically true. After that nobody ever believed anything on the radio and, Pearl Harbour, the day of Pearl Harbour in America I was doing a radio broadcast which was interrupted with the announcement that Pearl Harbour had been attacked and of course everybody in America said it’s rather bad taste to do it again."

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