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BBC News
7 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Why JFK flew to Lincolnshire for a deeply personal visit
US president John F Kennedy was one of the most influential figures in the 20th Century and his assassination in 1963 was a watershed moment in American and world history. Just months before that tragedy, he embarked on his final overseas trip, packed with diplomatic talks with world leaders and ground-breaking oratory. What is less well-known is an undisclosed detour to a Lincolnshire air station for a deeply personal visit to a quiet English month of June 1963 was a punishing one for John F in Berlin – where he delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner speech" – he went on to Ireland, then the UK, before heading to Italy and a trip to see Pope Paul VI at the national media followed his every move except, it seems, for a small detour he made in Britain on 29 June. One sunny day, Air Force One landed on the runway at RAF Waddington, near Lincoln. The president stepped out for what was to be a very personal pilgrimage. Waiting for him on the runway was a welcome party including station commander Gp Capt Finch, the chief constable of Lincolnshire and members of the ground crew. But the president was not there for diplomacy.A US Sikorsky military helicopter then took Kennedy to Derbyshire. There he would visit the grave of his younger sister, Kathleen, who was buried in Edensor church on the Chatsworth had been married to William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington and heir to the dukedom of Devonshire, but had been tragically killed in a plane crash in 1948. Christopher Dean, from the RAF Waddington Heritage Centre, explains that the base was chosen because it was the "largest close airfield to Chatsworth House".Although the visit was kept relatively quiet, locals from the Lincoln and Waddington area remember the day Air Force One touched down in the Wells, from Waddington, was 12 at the time. "As I recall, he landed on a Saturday so we were not at school. On any other day we would wander about the base freely, but on that day we were not allowed because of the tightened security."I remember the Boeing aircraft landing and the helicopter taking off. There was also a second escort helicopter, but I wasn't sure if that was to confuse people as to which one he was actually in." In terms of security, although the visit was an addition to the official schedule, planning would have been meticulous, Christopher says."He would not have suddenly popped in unannounced, there would have been a huge itinerary."Peter Cake, another local boy in 1963, recalls how his grandfather, Sidney, an employee of the telephone company that later became BT, had a particular part to play in the security arrangements."He told me that they had secured all the phone lines for JFK's visit so nobody could listen in," he even has the letter his grandfather received from the White House thanking him for the role he played that day. The president's party that day included his sister Jean and his defence secretary Robert man who was present was BBC reporter Sharon Edwards' father, David, who was working in air traffic control at Waddington."My dad always said that when President Kennedy landed at RAF Waddington he was on duty and he was the one that gave permission for the plane to land," Sharon a few hours the president and his entourage made the return journey to Waddington, where they reembarked on Air Force One and flew on to Sussex to meet Harold Macmillan, the prime minister. It was not the first time one of the Kennedy family had visited Lincolnshire. In 1938, JFK's father Joseph – then US ambassador to the UK – made his first major speech from the garden of Fydell house in Boston. He stressed the close connections between the Lincolnshire town and Boston in the US, where he was that visit, Kennedy senior also took part in a procession through the town and a service in St Botolph's Church, which is better-known as the Stump, followed by a meal at Boston Guildhall. Twenty-five years later, and JFK's visit to Lincolnshire would take on even greater significance as the last overseas trip for the president. Just a few months later, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November Lincolnshire stopover left a lasting impression on those who remember it."It's a slice of Lincoln history and my family's history, and the fact that my father told us about it means that it really meant something to him," Sharon to more podcasts from the Secret Lincolnshire to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Star Wars' 'Looks Terrible' in Screening of Long Lost Original 1977 Version
A long-lost original print of 1977's Star Wars was recovered from an archive and screened for a group of cinema aficionados and die-hard fans. An audience was finally permitted to watch the first released version of the film — nearly perfectly preserved and unfaded — that creator George Lucas famously suppressed from being publicly shown on a big screen for 47 years. The British Film Institute event was introduced by Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, who joked that the screening was 'not illegal.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Colin Trevorrow Talks Producing 'Deep Cover,' the Return of 'Jurassic World' and Star Wars Detachment Carrie Fisher Had to Encourage Mark Hamill to "Embrace" 'Star Wars': "Get Over Yourself, You're Luke Skywalker" Mark Hamill Rules Out Doing More 'Star Wars' 'What you're going to see is in fact the first print, and I'm not even sure there's another one quite like it,' Kennedy said. 'It's that rare.' And the result? An attending film critic from The Telegraph who attended the screening last week admitted the unaltered original 'looks terrible' by modern standards. While fans understandably tend to focus on Lucas' most intrusive creative moves (adding the jarring CG version of Jabba the Hutt, having Greedo shoot first, stuffing distracting CG creatures and droids into Mos Eisley), the amount of subsequent polish and tweaks over the years is so extensive that many aspects of the original look just as noticeably fake as the egregious CG. 'I felt like I was watching a completely different film,' wrote Robbie Collin, who called the print a 'joyously craggy, grubby, stolidly carpentered spectacle' that 'looks more like fancy dress than grand sci-fi epic.' 'Every scene had the visceral sense of watching actual people photographed doing actual things with sets and props that had been physically sawn and glued into place. The slapstick between C-3PO and R2-D2 looked clunkier, and therefore funnier; the Death Star panels were less like supercomputers than wooden boards with lights stuck on, and so better attuned to the frequency of make-believe. It felt less like watching a blockbuster in the modern sense than the greatest game of dressing up in the desert anyone ever played.' A vlogger for Cinema Savvy, George Aldridge, who says he's seen A New Hope at least 100 times said the screening was 'incredibly special,' but likewise made him realize 'there are so many great changes to the Star Wars films; it's the ones we dislike that have always overshadowed them.' He, too, noted the print was so radically different that 'it felt like watching the film for the first time.' 'From day one, George Lucas has been making changes to these films,' he said. 'It hasn't just been here's one big scene change there. It's been the little nuance. It's been the sound effects, it's been the smallest details — which you do not notice until now you don't see it.' Aldridge noted differences 'like R2-D2 isn't hiding behind rocks when the Tusken Raiders come for them … there are so many little things that I noticed the cantina … there's been cleaning up of James Earl Jones' voice [as Darth Vader]…' So, ironically, a version of Star Wars that Lucas for so long didn't want to shown seems to give viewers more respect for Lucas — due to gaining some appreciation for his extensive and controversial tinkering. Both reviewers noted, however, that the theater burst into applause when Han Solo (Harrison Ford) shot first during the Greedo confrontation. Enthused Aldridge: 'Han Solo was so much cooler.' Lucas' tweaks to the print began with the very first theatrical rerelease of Star Wars in 1981. Until now, the studio has only permitted the screening of various Special Editions. BFI negotiated with Disney and Lucasfilm for the rights for a back-to-back screening on the festival's opening night. This particular BFI print was stored for four decades at a temperature of 23 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve its quality. Lucas, over the years, has been rather firm about not screening the original and, when asked in 2004 by the Associated Press why he doesn't simply release the original version along with the Special Editions, rather grumpily shot back, 'The Special Edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. I'm not going to spend the — we're talking millions of dollars here — the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw a half-completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Gizmodo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
The Future of ‘Star Wars' May Not Be as Connected as We Expect
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had some encouraging yet surprising thoughts about the future of the franchise. One of the best, and worst, things about Star Wars in recent years is just how connected everything has been. It meant characters who may have at first seemed tangential, like Cassian Andor in Rogue One, could be greatly expanded in something like Andor. It also meant audiences who had never watched an animated show like Clone Wars or Rebels might be left confused with the stories in something like Ahsoka. In those cases and others, there always seemed to be some kind of guardrails on what was possible in a galaxy far, far away. But, if a new quote is to be believed, that may be changing. Recently, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy spoke at a screening of the original Star Wars in London (you can read about the event here) and she commented on how the future of Star Wars is moving from the interconnectivity that has driven the recent history of Star Wars. 'I really think that now we're in a position where it's broadened the possibility of stories and filmmakers we can bring in to tell stories that mean something to them,' Kennedy said at the event. 'It doesn't necessarily have to connect to every little thing thats been done in Star Wars; it can actually be a standalone story that then builds into many, many other stories.' The first example of this is Star Wars: Starfighter, the 2027 release that starts filming in September. Shawn Levy directs, Ryan Gosling and Mia Goth star, and while we don't know the specifics of the plot just yet, everyone has been insistent that the story is standalone and is unlikely to connect to anything else in the Star Wars universe. Which is easy since it takes place five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. That'll be harder for other upcoming Star Wars projects such as Ahsoka season two, which is currently filming, and The Mandalorian & Grogu, which will be out in May. Those will, clearly, be connected to other stories, as will other confirmed projects such as the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Rey movie and Dave Filoni's Shadow of the Empire movie. The films that seem to speak more to Kennedy's statement are James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi movie, which will take place millennia before any other Star Wars story, and Simon Kinberg's trilogy, which is said to be the next phase of the overall Star Wars story. Also, maybe the Taika Waititi movie that is still in the works. The key to Kennedy's statement, though, is the end of it. To reset itself, to make itself into the power it once was, Star Wars needs fresh faces and stories, which can only be achieved through unique, original. standalone stories. From there, though, those ideas will have to 'build into many, many other stories.' So the idea is almost a reset so that they can get back to where we have been the last 10 years or so. The interconnective nature of Star Wars isn't going away, it's just being rebuilt. Are you confident Kennedy is telling the truth here? Will these new Star Wars movies be standalone? Or will that, in some way, hurt the franchise? Let us know below.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy Assures Fans That Screening of Original Cut of 1977's Star Wars Isn't 'Illegal'
The British Film Institute just screened the first print of the original Star Wars, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy was on hand to make sure fans knew the screening of George Lucas' sci-fi masterpiece was not, in fact, illegal. As spotted by GamesRadar, Kennedy joked during her introductory remarks before the iconic movie screened at the BFI Film on Film Festival in London on June 12: "I'm here to… make sure that you don't think that this is an illegal screening." She added about the print: "It's incredible folklore. I have to say that even when I came into the company, there was endless conversation about where everything was, and what was in fact the first print? And it's quite remarkable, what you're going to see is in fact the first print, and I'm not even sure there's another one quite like it. It's that rare. There's so much tinkering that's gone on over the years, and things that George [Lucas] decided, 'I'm gonna change this, I'm gonna try that.' And then, everybody kind of lost track of what it was." This showing was the first time the first print of the 1977 classic was publicly screened since 1978, though this particular cut had been made available on VHS a few times over the years. According to a report from The Telegraph back in April, the reels were stored at 23 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve quality and the viewing experience. "In these very special screenings, we present the film exactly as experienced by audiences on its original 1977 release," the BFI explained. "Screening from one of the precious handful of dye transfer IB Technicolor prints produced uniquely for the first British release, and preserved in the BFI National Archive, this has some of the wear that comes with an archive print, but its colour is gloriously unfaded. Truly unmissable."Interestingly enough, Lucas has been vocal in the past about keeping the original cut of the film in the dark, so much so that he made tweaks to that cut shortly after release and those cuts went on to become the Special Edition. That Special Edition, released in 1997, is what has been made readily available to fans over the years. Photo by PA Images via Getty Images. Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Geek Tyrant
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy Shares Smart New Direction for STAR WARS Movies — GeekTyrant
While there have been reports of Kathleen Kennedy being replaced at Lucasfilm as some point, right now she is still in charge of all things Star Wars and she has a new plan for the future of the franchise. Appearing at the BFI Film on Film Festival in London, Kennedy introduced a rare theatrical print of A New Hope and offered insight into the evolving strategy for the Star Wars film universe. For fans tired of franchise fatigue and forced interconnectivity, her comments might feel like a breath of fresh Tatooine air. She shared: 'I really think that now we're in a position where it's broadened the possibility of stories and filmmakers we can bring in to tell stories that mean something to them – it doesn't necessarily have to connect to every little thing that's been done in Star Wars ; it can actually be a standalone story that then builds into many many other stories.' That's a big shift. For a franchise known for its dense lore and rigid continuity, Kennedy is now embracing something more open-ended—stories with personal vision, not just legacy checklists. After the lukewarm reception to Solo and the divisive Star Wars sequel trilogy, it's a strategy that might finally let creators tell cool and interesting untethered stories. The approach seems to be playing out with filmmaker Shawn Levy ( Free Guy, Stranger Things ) and his upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter film, currently in development, and set to release in 2027. Levy shared: 'When Kathy Kennedy brought me on board to make a Star Wars movie, her central mandate to me was, 'I want a Shawn Levy movie. I want a story and a tone that reflects you and your taste and what you bring to your movies — with a Star Wars story.' So I have felt extremely empowered.' That's the kind of creative freedom fans often hope exists behind the scenes of making these movies, but we've all heard the horror stories of studio interference and mandates that need to be followed. If Kennedy is serious about hiring filmmakers to make their movies rather than committee-driven products, it could lead to a much-needed new era for Star Wars in theaters. To help maintain the spirit of Star Wars , Kennedy still insists on one non-negotiable… every filmmaker must study A New Hope . She calls it 'the gold standard' for story and character. 'I would say this is the film everyone starts with when we start talking about story, [George Lucas'] intent, and what it is we're trying to build off of.' It's been nearly six years since a Star Wars film hit theaters, and while Disney+ has kept the franchise alive, many fans have been wondering when and how the cinematic side of the galaxy would return. Now we have our answer, and it sounds more filmmaker-driven and story-first than ever before. Next summer brings The Mandalorian & Grogu to theaters, with Starfighter following in 2027. I actually like this new strategy, and I hope that Lucasfilm can actually pull it off! Via: Variety
