The 2017 BBC documentary “Concorde: Designing the Dream” at last reaches Australia, screening on SBS. The only reason I’m drawn to it is that I caught a Concorde flight in the early 90s, but as soon as I begin watching, I realize aspects of it fit into my book. The British push the button for a supersonic commercial plane in 1956, around the time they take the lead in “peaceful” nuclear power, and for the same reason, national prestige within a Cold War context of Soviet/U.S. rivalry for world ratification. How fascinating. Architectural critic/writer Jonathan Glancey wrote a book about Concorde in 2015 – I resolve to take a look.
