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Calder, Ritchie

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

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(1906-1982) Scottish journalist, academic and author, active from 1922. He is of relevance to sf for his life-time advocacy of the science-driven creation of a peaceful future (see Futures Studies), from a left standpoint which, always moderate, never led him into any of the twentieth-century ideological bearpits into which the left (and the right) toppled so grimly and so often. His first book, The Birth of the Future (1934), is significant for its slightly wary presentation of the future as dependent on good science and Technology well deployed, and for an emphasis on proper nutrition for all; Eugenics is evoked, but with welcome caution. Scientists are seen as a natural elite, who should be persuaded to govern the planet. Calder was appointed OBE in 1945 for his propaganda work during World War Two, and was created a life peer in 1966. [JC]

Peter Ritchie Calder, Baron Ritchie-Calder

born Forfar, Forfarshire, Scotland: 1 July 1906

died Edinburgh, Scotland: 31 January 1982

works (highly selected)

  • The Birth of the Future (London: Arthur Barker, 1934) [nonfiction: published with two alternative dustwrappers: hb/Mendoza]

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