27. Christmas Lecturer

Short Stories
of Science and Invention

A Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering

Weekly, from September 1942 to July 1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the radio broadcasts of the General Motors Symphony of the Air.

Kettering invented the first automobile self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory for General Motors.

These radio talks are a fascinating legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the war-time period in which they were written.

These web pages now preserve some of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks. (Reprint, March 1959)

27. Christmas Lecturer
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering

Newsboy

     There is a scene in the story, "A Christmas Carol," in which Ebenezer Scrooge leans out of his window on Christmas Day and calls to a small boy in the street to get him a turkey. If Scrooge had looked a little further down the street, he probably would have seen another small boy, a newsboy.

     When a boy delivered a paper in those days, he gave the paper to his customer and waited patiently outside while the customer read it. You see, the boy had only one paper.

     In the early 19th Century following the upheaval in Europe times were very turbulent. Technical progress had almost been stopped. Scientists were often exiled and sometimes beheaded because they did some original thinking.

     That is why we want to tell the story of a newsboy of this period, Michael Faraday, who, despite the handicaps of the period, developed the principles of modern research.

     Faraday's father was a blacksmith and, when the boy was five, the Faradays moved to rooms over a coach-house in London. The family was quite poor, and at an early age Michael had to help earn his living.