Episode 46: 10th July 2011: Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester. New Book and Personal recollections

On his first visit outside the eastern bloc, Yuri Gagarin arrived
in London for a 5 day visit on Tuesday July 11th 1961. He was
greeted with a tumultuous and sincere warm welcome everywhere he
went, including his meetings with the Prime Minister and the Queen.
The British government juggled with acknowledging Gagarin's
personal courage and the Soviet Union’s historic technological
achievement whilst assuring its allies, the USA, France and West
Germany that the visit would not be exploited exclusively as a
communist propaganda opportunity. When the Manchester-based
Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers discovered that Gagarin had
trained as a foundry worker, they invited him to join their union
as a honorary member.  He came to Manchester on 12th July and
visited the union office, the Metrovicks plant in Trafford Park and
the city’s town hall before flying back to London six hours later.
During the late seventies, I had lived near this union office and
only discovered in 2010 that Gagarin had actually been there. I
looked but failed to find any books on the subject, so I decided to
write one. It is called “Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester” and
attempts to fill in a small bit of the Gagarin story. The first and
last chapters describe Gagarin’s flight, some of the key
individuals involved, the air crash that claimed his life in 1968
and his personal impact as an advocate of peace during the Cold
War.  In the remaining chapter – 2-7, I document the
background to his invitation and details of where he went and who
he met.  Some of those recollections are the subject of this
episode. It includes clips from Captain Eric Brown and Reg Turnill,
which are available in episodes 40 and 41.  My thanks to those
who contributed to this episode - Reg Turnill, Dame Kathleen
Ollerenshaw, Brenda Knowles, Marjorie Rose, Stanley Nelson, Captain
Eric Brown and Stanislava Sajawicz. Yuri Gagarin in London and
Manchester 185 Pages, 27 Illustrations ISBN 978-0-9569337-0-6
Paperback £10.00 (+postage) and eBook (iPad and Kindle) £2.50
available from publications@astrotalkuk.org Download a PDF of the
page of contents, Chapter 2 “An Uneasy Invitation” and the text
above or all three in a zip file. Recollections of Yuri Gagarin in
London and Manchester from AstrotalkUK on Vimeo.