ia_2009_b_maddie

=B. Summary of Evidence (500-600 words) Tips]=

**__Cold War mentalities:__** During the Cold War, international relations were ‘dominated by the superpower rivalry’ [|[1]] of the USA and the USSR. The causes of the Cold War can be pinpointed to differences in belief, aims and various events such as ‘the Yalta conference’, ‘Potsdam conference’, various actions on both sides, for the USSR; ‘Salami tactics’ which ensured communist officials to come to power and for the USA; the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall plan. [|[2]] The Cold War escalated to the point where the threat of nuclear war was rife. The battle between the USA and the USSR stepped up when the USA realised that ‘the United States no longer possessed overwhelming nuclear superiority’. [|[3]] The Nuclear threat and then the Space race enticed the people of various countries as movies, television, books and art appeared depicting the cold war. The life and work of Oliver Postgate: __** One individual during the Cold War captured the British public’s attention through his children’s television programmes; Oliver Postgate. Postgate is the creator of many programmes such as "Pingwings, Pogle’s Wood, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and Bagpuss [which] were all made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with Peter Firmin". [|[4]] Postgate and Firmin’s films were made in "Peter Firmin’s infamous cowshed" [|[5]] where hours, days and months of fun ensured the creation of many films described by Postgate: "All we could do was try to turn out two minutes of film that was fun to watch" and "heavenly bodies made from old Christmas decorations and made a moon for the Clangers". [|[6]] Apart from creating children’s television programmes, Postgate also supported the anti-nuclear campaign in the 1970’s and 1980’s. His interest in politics may have stemmed from his father and grandfather’s actions. Oliver Postgate’s father had "turned against the academic life and had embraced socialism" [|[7]] and he was "a conscientious objector in the 1914-18 war, and was imprisoned"[ 4], Oliver Postgate was ‘prepared to go to prison as a conscientious objector during World War II’ [|[8]]. Postgate’s grandfather was George Lansbury; ‘founder member of the labour party, a militant pacifist (and) a lifelong campaigner for social justice’. [|[9]] Oliver Postgate’s political activities, continued in the 1970’s with the writing of ‘lots of letters to newspapers’ [|[10]], in 1974 he made a ‘Non-Party Political Broadcast’ where he asked the Members of Parliament to ‘work together to seek agreement on the best way to save the country from committing industrial suicide’ [|[11]]. Postgate then made a short Clangers film entitled ‘Vote for Froglet’ which he describes as ‘a pleasant little Morality Play’ 9. Postgate has written a number of articles published on his website about his political beliefs such as, ‘What is Political Reality?’ and ‘What is Trident for?’ [|[12]]. “The Clangers” __** “The Clangers” is a children’s television programme ‘broadcast(ed) by the BBC … (in) 1969’ [|[13]] and ran until the mid 1970’s. The programme is narrated by its creator, Oliver Postgate, whilst a family of little pink space animals (“The Clangers”) encounter things from outside their planet, for example, Top hats, Froglets, Space men, Iron chickens and Purses [|[14]]. “The Clangers” communicate through a high pitch whistling whilst Oliver Postgate informs the viewers about the Clangers actions. The situations that the Clangers deal with are always quite realistic and there is always a original way to solve the problems they encounter. Describing the origins of the Clangers, in his autobiography, Postgate states that ‘Now, in the 1960’s, it was the conquest of outer space and rockets that held the public’s imagination.’ [|[15]] This is hardly surprsing as 'space and rockets' were a cold war package, in terms of nuclear activity and the race in technology. This ultimately became the purpose of the cold war as world superpowers tried to advance furthest in the technology race. An engineer from NASA also described the Clangers as ‘a valiant attempt to bring a note of realism to the fantasy of the Space Programme.’ [|[16]] 649
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[|[1]] Steve Phillips (2001), The Cold War, Heinemann (0435 32736 4) pg 1 [|[2]] http://www.johndclare.net/cold_war3.htm (16/08/08) [|[3]] Bradley Lightbody (1999), The Cold War, Routledge (0 415 19526 8) pg 69 [|[4]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Postgate (16/08/08) [|[5]] http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Oliverpostgateinterview.htm (16/08/08) [|[6]] http://www.oliverpostgate.co.uk/archive1.html (16/08/08) [|[7]] Oliver Postgate (2000), Seeing Things an autobiography, Sidgwick & Jackson (0 283 06363 7) pg 13 [|[8]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Postgate (16/08/08) [|[9]] Oliver Postgate (2000), Seeing Things an autobiography, Sidgwick & Jackson (0 283 06363 7) pg 12 [|[10]] ibid, pg 305 [|[11]] ibid, pg 306 [|[12]] http://www.oliverpostgate.co.uk/ (16/08/08) [|[13]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clangers (16/08/08) [|[14]] The Clangers series 1 dvd [|[15]] Oliver Postgate (2000), Seeing Things an autobiography, Sidgwick & Jackson (0 283 06363 7) pg 271 [|[16]] ibid, pg 278