1938
OCTOBER
30
Orson Welles broadcast a radio drama based on HG Wells’
The War of the Worlds.
• Over one million people tuned in to the broadcast.
• Listeners were convinced that Martians were really
invading the U.S.A. and caused mass panic as they
fled.
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• H. G. Wells was partly inspired to write the original
novel when the Italian astronomer Giovanni
Schiaparelli reported seeing canals on Mars.
panic Sudden mass fear over anticipated events; from the Greek
panikós (from the god Pan who
caused terror).
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“I began at the top and I”ve
been working my way down
ever since.”
Orson Welles
Oh no! Research by the city’s building and safety
department has discovered that your school is
built 49 feet (15 m) too close to the street! The
only solution is to lift up the entire school with
huge hydraulic jacks and move it back. Write a
fake news story about the situation. Look at some
real news stories for ideas. Include an interview
with building and safety department, the principal, and comments from the local board of education.
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Invasion: Earth!
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Answer: Whoops. Mars at its closest distance is 55 million kilometers. The poor old Martians are 5 million kilometers short.
The Martians are invading! They’re
fed up with seeing themselves portrayed on Earth TV as horrible twoheaded monsters (when actually
they’re horrible three-headed monsters), and they’re out for revenge.
They’ve filled up their spaceship tanks
with gas and headed here as fast as
they can. But will they make it? Their
tanks hold only 50 million kilometers
worth of gas and Earth is . . . . How
far away is Earth? Follow the maze to
Earth and find out.
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