LOLITA: MY MOST DIFFICULT BOOK Christopher Sykes 2015-09-18 | From a 1989 VHS. The story of how the great Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov conceived and created his masterpiece 'Lolita', told in his own words and those of writers Antonia Byatt, Martin Amis, and Edmund White, his son Dmitri Nabokov, and biographer and pre-eminent Nabokov scholar Brian Boyd. Also Maurice Girodias of the legendary Olympia Press, the original publisher of one of the most controversial books of all time.
New! FEYNMAN AND THE BOMB - audio only Christopher Sykes 2023-08-06 | Here the American physicist Richard Feynman talks about how, although very young, he came to be involved in the WW2 atomic bomb project. He shares his thoughts on the moral dilemmas that faced him and his fellow scientists, including Robert Oppenheimer. This audio recording is largely outtakes from the filming for a BBC TV Horizon documentary called 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out' (1981). The film negative and work print for this unused material were junked after transmission of the finished programme as was the practice at the time - film cans took up a lot of space! But you can see the accompanying picture for the sections included in the final film at the BBC Archive website if you live in the UK, or on Vimeo worldwide - search for 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out'
THE LAST MOGULS: Golan & Globus of Cannon Films in1986 Christopher Sykes 2021-06-04 | At Cannon Films HQ, Legendary Israeli movie legends MENAHEM GOLAN and YORAM GLOBUS are at their Hollywood peak in the spring of 1986. Orginally shown on BBC Omnibus. The first in a documentary trilogy about Golan made by Christopher Sykes. The second is SHOOTING VERSACE (1988) youtu.be/kKv8COaMe4g and the third is GOLAN: A Farewell to Mr Cinema (2015) youtu.be/YN1fTUunc0c
PHILIP ROTH on SEX Christopher Sykes 2021-04-08 | On publication day for Blake Bailey's magnificent biography of the great American novelist, here are a few minutes of Roth talking about his early sexual experiences. Recorded in 2011 at his apartment in Manhattan. From the Web of Stories archive webofstories.com/people/philip.roth
Arena: TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS IN BEIRUT (1983) Christopher Sykes 2020-08-27 | Poor quality VHS tape of an interesting film about war photography and reportage as practised by ALAIN MINGAM (French) and FOUAD ELKHOURY (Lebanese). Directed by Tristram Powell and originally broadcast in 1983 on BBC TV Arena.
HD Feynman: FUN TO IMAGINE complete (with optional Chinese subtitles) Christopher Sykes 2020-08-24 | New HD upload of all six episodes of the BBC series FUN TO IMAGINE with physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman enjoying himself talking about science. This was originally shot on 16mm film at Feynman's house in Altadena, California, and first broadcast on BBC2 in July 1983. With Chinese and English subtitles courtesy of Lee Jale.0:00 Intro0:50 Jiggling Atoms7:18 Fire12:08 Rubber Bands14:53 Magnets22:29 Electricity32:05 Mirror and Train puzzles37:46 Seeing Things43:43 Big Numbers55:01 Ways of Thinking
VILLAGERS - scenes from rural life in India Christopher Sykes 2020-08-14 | From a 40 year-old VHS: glimpses of Indian village life without anybody telling you what to think! Made up from documentary out-takes, photographed on 16mm film by the great John McGlashan in Karnataka, Maharastra, and Haryana in 1980.
Trainspotting UK: GB Railfreight goods train at Barnes Christopher Sykes 2020-03-10 | My first trainspotting video: GBRf diesel-electric locomotive Class 66 No. 66732 pulling 19 VTG container wagons, probably carrying coal, through Barnes station, south-west London, 10 March 2020 at about noon.
VMAX: Magnum Force (2001) the biggest, baddest bike on the block Christopher Sykes 2020-03-02 | Not For Everybody - the cult Yamaha Vmax 1200 motorcycle up close and personal, told by the guys who own and ride them. Filmed in the USA March/April 2001.
JONATHAN MILLER - some thoughts on love [July 2008] Christopher Sykes 2019-11-28 | From the Web of Stories video archive, where you can see Jonathan Miller (and many other extraordinary people) talking about their life and work webofstories.com/people/jonathan.miller
JOAN FEYNMAN (born 1927, 92), astrophysicist, on science and the pleasure of finding things out... Christopher Sykes 2019-11-12 | Dr Joan Feynman is the younger sister of the theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. Inevitably overshadowed by her famous brother, she is herself a brilliant scientist. You can find her talking at length about her life and work at Web of Stories webofstories.com/play/joan.feynman/1 - free to everyone to watch - or here on YouTube youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFwoLHwaKDx9oOReqjwdUa9S
WEST OF BANGALORE (1981) - alternative technology in village India Christopher Sykes 2019-10-19 | An old VHS of a BBC 'Horizon' film about a group of remarkable scientists and technologists from Bangalore, south India, trying their best to help poor villagers live better lives. Poor quality but a historical document...
EAST OF BOMBAY (1981) - revolutionary medicine in village India Christopher Sykes 2019-10-19 | A old VHS of a BBC 'Horizon' documentary about a remarkable and inspirational couple trying to revolutionise medicine and health care in a group of poor villages in Maharastra, 200 miles east of Bombay. Perhaps of great historical interest...
THE SLATEMAKERS (1980) Christopher Sykes 2019-10-19 | A very old VHS tape of a BBC 'Horizon' documentary about the slate manufacturing communities of North Wales, the industry itself and the rich culture that grew up with it - both now in long, slow decline...
New! Four FEYNMAN documentaries on VIMEO - click link below... Christopher Sykes 2019-07-08 | You can now watch these Feynman films for free on Vimeo: vimeo.com/showcase/6114853
The complete FUN TO IMAGINE with Richard Feynman Christopher Sykes 2018-11-01 | You can find an HD upload at youtu.be/nYg6jzotiAcAll the original 'Fun to Imagine' episodes and stories in one video - total 66 minutes. Recorded on 16mm film at Feynman's home in Altadena, California, in 1983 and first broadcast on BBC2. Feynman was a theoretical physicist and lover of life who, along with his many other accomplishments, won a Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics.0:00 Intro0:50 Jiggling Atoms7:18 Fire12:08 Rubber Bands14:53 Magnets22:29 Electricity32:05 Mirror and Train puzzles37:46 Seeing Things43:43 Big Numbers55:01 Ways of Thinking
Feynman: Magnets (and Why?) FUN TO IMAGINE 4/ higher quality version! Christopher Sykes 2018-09-04 | NEW upload of classic 1983 Feynman piece on how magnets work. Original upload (1.4m+ views) and all Comments (3000+) is at tinyurl.com/b47hvys "Water, fire, air and dirt/ F*cking magnets, how do they work?/ And I don't wanna talk to a scientist/ Y'all motherf*ckers lying, and getting me pissed" - Insane Clown Posse, Miracles (2009) Here, physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman explains to a non-scientist just how difficult it is to answer certain questions in lay terms! A classic example of Feynman's clarity of thought, powers of explanation and intellectual honesty - and his refusal to 'cheat' with misleading analogies... From the BBC TV series 'Fun to Imagine'(1983). You can watch higher quality versions of these FUN TO IMAGINE episodes on the BBC website at www.bbc.co.uk/archive/feynman Also the 1981 'Horizon' and 'Nova' Feynman documentary THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT
John Julius Norwich RIP Christopher Sykes 2018-06-02 | John Julius Norwich - historian, writer, broadcaster and lover of life - glimpsed at the piano, autumn 2017. He died, aged 88 and much loved all over the world, on 1 June 2018. NEW! You can now watch John Julius telling the story of his life at Web of Stories for free here: webofstories.com/play/jj.norwich/1
FEYNMAN: THE QUEST FOR TANNU TUVA (1988) Christopher Sykes 2018-05-14 | 100th birthday present! Richard Feynman (1918-88), physicist, and his friend Ralph Leighton became fascinated by the remote and mysterious Asian country of Tannu Tuva, a country "where the reindeer meets the camel". This is the story of how they tried to go there... Made for BBC TV 'Horizon' and filmed a few weeks before Feynman's death. The PBS 'Nova' version is called 'Last Journey of a Genius'
Palestine and Israel: AFTER THE MASSACRE (Beirut, 1983) Christopher Sykes 2018-04-27 | From an old VHS. 1983 BBC1 documentary about young British soldiers stationed in West Beirut in the aftermath of the massacre of civilians in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. A sequel to BEFORE THE MASSACRE (Beirut, 1982) youtube.com/watch?v=9437Yn80NTw
Faking It - Fashion Photographer Christopher Sykes 2018-03-05 | Can David do it? Can he learn to be a top photographer in four weeks?An episode of the 'Faking It' series (Channel 4 UK) in which people are hoiked out of their normal lives and dropped into another world...
DANNYS CLOCK OF THE LONG NOW - Part 3 of 3 Christopher Sykes 2018-02-28 | (cont...)From Web of Stories: Danny Hillis, computer scientist and inventor, tells the story of how he and Jeff Bezos of Amazon come to be building a huge clock, unlike any other clock, under a mountain in West Texas - a clock whose 'cuckoo' comes out only once every thousand years... You can also see Danny tell his life story for free at Web of Stories webofstories.com/play/danny.hillis/1 and on YouTube at http://bit.ly/2FbFbyg
DANNYS CLOCK OF THE LONG NOW - Part 1 of 3 Christopher Sykes 2018-02-28 | From Web of Stories: Danny Hillis, computer scientist and inventor, tells the story of how he and Jeff Bezos of Amazon come to be building a huge clock, unlike any other clock, under a mountain in West Texas - a clock whose 'cuckoo' comes out only once every thousand years... You can also see Danny tell his life story for free at Web of Stories webofstories.com/play/danny.hillis/1 and on YouTube at http://bit.ly/2FbFbyg
DANNYS CLOCK OF THE LONG NOW - Part 2 of 3 Christopher Sykes 2018-02-28 | (cont...)From Web of Stories: Danny Hillis, computer scientist and inventor, tells the story of how he and Jeff Bezos of Amazon come to be building a huge clock, unlike any other clock, under a mountain in West Texas - a clock whose 'cuckoo' comes out only once every thousand years... You can also see Danny tell his life story for free at Web of Stories webofstories.com/play/danny.hillis/1 and on YouTube at http://bit.ly/2FbFbyg
Sacred Relics? PRINCESS DIANAS DRESSES Christopher Sykes 2017-08-25 | In June 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, auctioned off 79 of her dresses for charity. Two months later she died in the car crash in Paris. What did the new owners of her dresses feel now? A 1999 documentary for BBC TV and HBO.
CECIL COLLINS: Fools and Angels (1983) Christopher Sykes 2017-07-18 | From an old VHS tape. A short film portrait of the English visionary artist and teacher Cecil Collins (1908-1989), made for the BBC2 TV series 'One Pair of Eyes'.
Consciousness: How Like an Angel? Christopher Sykes 2016-10-20 | The dark side of human consciousness. WARNING: violent and disturbing scenes and ideas. The brilliant experimental psychologist NICHOLAS HUMPHREY has been exploring the evolution of human consciousness for most of his life and this is what he was thinking in the early 1980's"Human beings have evolved the capacity to imagine other people's lives from the inside. Then how can they sometimes become so blind to human suffering, especially the suffering they themselves are responsible for? This disturbing film documents what happens when insight and empathy fail."Part 6 of his Channel Four series, 'The Inner Eye' (1986)
GOLAN: A Farewell to Mr Cinema (2015) Christopher Sykes 2016-10-01 | "Hollywood is a money animal". The final chapter in the extraordinary life and career of MENAHEM GOLAN, legendary Palestinian-born Israeli movie director, producer, mogul and "madman". Now in his eighties and living in Jaffa, Golan looks back to his great Cannon days in Hollywood, forwards to a new blockbuster with Al Pacino – and dreams of the Oscar he has always wanted... This is the third and final part in a trilogy about Golan. The first was 'The Last Moguls' (1986, BBC) youtu.be/UgAojBDzPqQ and the second was 'Shooting Versace' (1998, BBC) youtu.be/kKv8COaMe4gGolan died suddenly, in the street in Jaffa, in August 2014, still talking about his plans for the future. His wife Rachel, who appears in the film, died in July 2015.
1918: The Day the Guns Fell Silent - Part One of Two Christopher Sykes 2016-08-06 | The first part of a 1998 BBC TV film about the Great War, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Armistice at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, November 1918. Told by relatives of those who fought and died, and narrated by Timothy West. Original music by Ian Butcher and Steven Faux. Filmed by Richard Ranken. Edited by Christopher Swayne.
KUBRICK, BARRY LYNDON and MY NERVOUS BREAKDOWN Christopher Sykes 2016-07-28 | From Web of Stories. Here the great film production designer KEN ADAM talks about how he was persuaded - against his better judgment - to work on Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 'Barry Lyndon', and how the job brought him to a nervous breakdown.... and an Oscar too! Ken Adam (1921-2016, aged 95) was one of the giants of cinema history, creating the war room for 'Dr Strangelove', and the huge sets for several Bond films including 'Dr No', 'Goldfinger and 'Diamonds are Forever'. He won two Oscars, for 'The Madness of King George' and 'Barry Lyndon'.Recorded in London in 2010/11 and photographed by Julian Sykes, this is an extract from Sir Ken's remarkable life story as told to Web of Stories. You can watch it all for free at http://www.webofstories.com/people/ken.adam
Palestine and Israel: BEFORE THE MASSACRE (Beirut, 1982) Christopher Sykes 2016-04-28 | A BBC documentary about medical volunteers and their patients at the Gaza Hospital in West Beirut in the aftermath of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the siege and bombardment of West Beirut, home to the PLO and the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. The filming took place in the days immediately before the infamous Sabra-Chatila massacre, carried out by Lebanese Phalangist troops inside an area under Israeli military control.
A Julia Othmer song Christopher Sykes 2016-04-13 | Julia Othmer sings after supper at a friend's house in Encino, CA, in February 2016. See and hear more of Julia at http://juliaothmer.com
GOLAN: A Farewell to Mr Cinema TRAILER Christopher Sykes 2016-03-25 | NEW! See the film youtube.com/watch?v=YN1fTUunc0cA new documentary about former Hollywood mogul and movie-legend, MENAHEM GOLAN, the Israeli-born producer, director, writer and head of CANNON FILMS. An intimate portrait of an extraordinary man whose whole life was cinema... See also youtube.com/watch?v=jyBz8Up0bmM
GOLAN: A Farewell to Mr Cinema TRAILER! Christopher Sykes 2016-03-24 | See the whole film youtube.com/watch?v=YN1fTUunc0cThe opening of a new documentary (74 mins) about the extraordinary life and career of Hollywood mogul and movie-legend, MENAHEM GOLAN, Israeli head of CANNON FILMS with his cousin and partner YORAM GLOBUS. Up close and personal, an intimate portrait of Golan in the last months of his life. See also youtube.com/watch?v=evRsJy8GxrU
Marvin Minsky and the Useless Machine Christopher Sykes 2016-01-27 | This is the strange box that appears in 'Fargo' Season 3! You can meet the late great Marvin Minsky (who died on 24 January 2016, aged 88) and watch him tell his life story for free at www.webofstories.com/people/marvin.minsky
Consciousness: The Ghost in the Machine Christopher Sykes 2015-10-13 | The mystery of human consciousness. The brilliant experimental psychologist NICHOLAS HUMPHREY has been exploring it for most of his life and this is what he was thinking in the early 1980's. Part 3 of his Channel Four series, 'The Inner Eye' (1986). From VHS.
BRIAN SEWELL: Illicit sex in the 1950s Christopher Sykes 2015-09-29 | WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE. The late great art critic and master raconteur talks here about casual sex on the River Thames towpath and elsewhere, in the days when homosexuality was still strictly illegal. Enjoy more of Brian Sewell's extraordinary life at Web of Stories, for free, at www.webofstories.com/people/brian.sewell
ARTHUR C. CLARKE: Seven Wonders of the World Christopher Sykes 2015-09-26 | Arthur C. Clarke, the great science fiction writer and visionary, chooses his own seven wonders in a special edition of the BBC TV series (Season 2), 1997. Filmed in Sri Lanka. Thanks to V25021 for the individual wonder-timings!1) Saturn V 6:042) The Rock Fortress of Sigiriya 16:513) Microchips 24:434) The Mandelbrot Set 27:595) Music (Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D minor) 33:026) The Giant Squid 37:277) SS433 40:55
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER? Aubrey de Grey Christopher Sykes 2015-09-23 | Aubrey de Grey, brilliant computer-specialist-turned-gerontologist, sets out his vision for a brave new world in which we live for as long as we like... A 2007 Channel 4 documentary.
TIM PAGE: Mentioned in Dispatches (BBC Arena, 1979) Christopher Sykes 2015-09-20 | Tim Page is the legendary British war photographer immortalised in Michael Herr's Vietnam reportage classic, from which the title of this documentary is taken.
The inimitable BRIAN SEWELL (1931-2015) Christopher Sykes 2015-09-20 | Brian Sewell, Britain's most famous, provocative and colourful art critic, died at home in London yesterday, aged 84. This is a brief clip from a BBC3 'Mischief' documentary called 'Circumcise Me?' (2006) See youtube.com/watch?v=3w6g3b2TClY
1918: The Day The Guns Fell Silent - Part Two of Two Christopher Sykes 2015-09-16 | The second part of a 1998 BBC TV film about the Great War, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Armistice at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, November 1918. Told by relatives of those who fought and died, and narrated by Timothy West. Original music by Ian Butcher and Steven Faux. Filmed by Richard Ranken. Edited by Christopher Swayne.
Wittgenstein: A Wonderful Life (1989) Christopher Sykes 2015-09-04 | From old VHS. A BBC 'Horizon' film about the remarkable life of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He was born in Vienna in 1889 and died in Cambridge in 1951, having turned philosophy upside down and inside out...
GETTING TO DYLAN (1986 documentary) Christopher Sykes 2015-08-27 | NB. Some Sony-copyright music had to be removed. A BBC Omnibus film about Bob Dylan's starring role in the movie HEARTS OF FIRE', directed by Richard Marquand and co-starring Fiona and Rupert Everett.
MENAHEM GOLAN, MOVIES and MONEY Christopher Sykes 2015-04-02 | See the whole film youtube.com/watch?v=YN1fTUunc0cThe late great legendary Hollywood producer/director/mogul Menahem Golan tells how it's done. A brief clip from an upcoming documentary about his life and work. See TRAILER here:youtube.com/watch?v=jyBz8Up0bmM
Kongar-ol-Ondar, Tuvan Throat-Singer Christopher Sykes 2014-12-06 | An impromptu after-dinner performance with a borrowed guitar by the late great Tuvan virtuoso, Kongar-ol-Ondar, co-star of "Genghis Blues" and inspiration to physicist Richard Feynman and his friend Ralph Leighton in their quest for Tannu Tuva... See Ralph Leighton's new book "The Legend of Ondar the Groovin' Tuvan" in the Apple iBooks Store now! itunes.apple.com/us/book/legend-ondar-groovin-tuvan/id944346654?mt=11&ls=1
CIRCUMCISION - NO JOKE? A serio-comic documentary... Christopher Sykes 2014-08-21 | An sort of road-movie investigation into why some people insist on circumcising little boys. Made for the BBC3 documentary series 'Mischief' (2006). Starring Brian Sewell and Ben Dover.
PIG MUSIC Christopher Sykes 2014-08-19 | 'Frere Jacques' performed on rubber dog-toys by Ms SYLVIA EMPSON - Vettershaga, in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden, August 2014
PHILIP ROTH on LOVE Christopher Sykes 2014-01-13 | From the Web of Stories video archive. This surprise came at the end of a long recording with the novelist Philip Roth talking in depth about his life and work. You can watch all eight hours of him at webofstories.com/people/philip.roth for free. Recorded in Manhattan, June 2011.
