"IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER" Benedict Cumberbatch reads Bill Safire's memo to President Nixon's Chief of Staff (1969)
- 9 years ago
LETTERS LIVE: http://letterslive.com/
On July 18 of 1969, as the world waited anxiously for Apollo 11 to land safely on the surface of the Moon, speechwriter William Safire imagined the worst case scenario as he expertly wrote the following sombre memo to President Nixon's Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman. Its contents: a contingency plan, in the form of a speech to be read out by Nixon should astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become stranded on the Moon, never to return, followed by some brief instructions relating to its broadcast. Luckily for all those involved, the memo was never needed.
Benedict Cumberbatch reads the memo for LETTERS LIVE.
Benedict Cumberbatch, is a British stage and screen actor best known for his role in the BBC television show Sherlock. He has also appeared in Hollywood films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, Star Trek: Into the Darkness and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. He has won several stage and screen acting awards , winning an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play for Frankenstien and received BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for his role in the acclaimed 2014 Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game.
LETTERS LIVE is a series of live events celebrating the power of literary correspondence. Inspired by Shaun Usher's Letters of Note, Letters Live is an initiative by publishing company Canongate and Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company SunnyMarch. It has become a phenomenon wherever is has played in the UK.
The idea of LETTERS LIVE is simple: we ask talented, inspiring and high-profile artists from various disciplines to read letters out loud to our audiences. LETTERS LIVE celebrates letter writing and the art of correspondence first and foremost.
For more videos, please visit our website http://letterslive.com/
On July 18 of 1969, as the world waited anxiously for Apollo 11 to land safely on the surface of the Moon, speechwriter William Safire imagined the worst case scenario as he expertly wrote the following sombre memo to President Nixon's Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman. Its contents: a contingency plan, in the form of a speech to be read out by Nixon should astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become stranded on the Moon, never to return, followed by some brief instructions relating to its broadcast. Luckily for all those involved, the memo was never needed.
Benedict Cumberbatch reads the memo for LETTERS LIVE.
Benedict Cumberbatch, is a British stage and screen actor best known for his role in the BBC television show Sherlock. He has also appeared in Hollywood films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, Star Trek: Into the Darkness and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. He has won several stage and screen acting awards , winning an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play for Frankenstien and received BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for his role in the acclaimed 2014 Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game.
LETTERS LIVE is a series of live events celebrating the power of literary correspondence. Inspired by Shaun Usher's Letters of Note, Letters Live is an initiative by publishing company Canongate and Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company SunnyMarch. It has become a phenomenon wherever is has played in the UK.
The idea of LETTERS LIVE is simple: we ask talented, inspiring and high-profile artists from various disciplines to read letters out loud to our audiences. LETTERS LIVE celebrates letter writing and the art of correspondence first and foremost.
For more videos, please visit our website http://letterslive.com/