GOODCHILD, Peter 1939-

PERSONAL: Born August 18, 1939, in Windsor, England; son of Douglas Richard A. (a senior manager of a chemical firm) and Lottie May (Ager) Goodchild; married Penelope Jane Pointon-Dick (a teacher), July 20, 1968; children: Abigail, Hannah. Education: St. John's College, Oxford, B.A. (with honors), 1963, M.A., 1974.

ADDRESSES: Home—White Hall Cottage, White Hall Ln., Checkendon, Oxfordshire, England. Office—British Broadcasting Corp., Kensington House, Richmond Way, London, W.14, England. Agent—Bolt & Watson Ltd., 8-12 Old Queen St., Storey's Gate, London, SW1H 9HP, England.

CAREER: Television producer and writer. British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC-TV), London, England, trainee, 1963–65, producer, 1965–69, editor of television series "Horizon," 1969–76, producer of television series "Marie Curie," 1976–78, editor of special drama projects, 1978–80, head of science and features department, 1980–.

MEMBER: Royal Society of Chemistry (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS: Best factual series award, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1973 and 1975, for "Horizon"; best drama series award, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1977, for "Marie Curie," and 1980, for "J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds."

WRITINGS:

J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1981.

(Editor) Raven Tales, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 1991.

The Spark in the Stone: Skills and Projects from the Native American Tradition, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 1991.

Survival Skills of the North American Indians, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 1999.

Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove (biography), Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Author of numerous television scripts, including Marie Curie, BBC-TV, 1977, and J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds, BBC-TV, 1980.

Also author of television documentaries on cancer and smoking, the testing of ethical drugs, the future of space exploration after the Apollo missions, the activities of scientists during the Second World War, and a biography of Lord Charewell. Contributor of articles to magazines, including Listener and New Scientist.

SIDELIGHTS: British author and television producer Peter Goodchild began working for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1963. From 1969 to 1976 he worked as an editor of the BBC series "Horizon," which won more than thirty national and international awards. His production of 1977's Marie Curie won the 1978 British Academy Award for Best Drama Series.

Goodchild once told CA: "For much of my working career I have specialized in biographies in one form or another, ranging from television dramatization through books and articles to television documentaries. I find nothing more intriguing than the building of an internal model of a person that you can never meet. All the people that I have worked on exist in my mind as strongly as most of the people I know well in real life. It is building those pictures which gives me my greatest satisfaction."

One of Goodchild's biographies is 2004's Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove. Here Goodchild chronicles the life of Edward Teller, a physicist who many have called the "father of the hydrogen bomb." Beginning with Teller's birth in 1908, Goodchild follows the scientist through his escape from Germany prior to World War II and his work as a defense adviser to numerous U.S. presidents. The author pulled his information from Teller's personal correspondence as well as interviews with colleagues, friends, family members, and Teller himself.

In response to Edward Teller some reviewers found Goodchild's biography unique in its ability to reveal a softer side of Teller. "Goodchild captures what no other observer—impartial or otherwise—ever has: Teller's humanity," commented a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists contributor. Other readers lauded the author's efforts to produce a well-researched and revealing look into Teller's life. Goodchild "offers a detailed, studiously balanced portrait drawn from archives and interviews with Teller himself and many who knew (and loved or loathed) him," wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 2004, Bryce Christensen, review of Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove, p. 371; December 1, 2004, Donna Seaman, "Top 10 Sci-Tech Books," p. 632.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March-April 2005, review of Edward Teller, p. 69.

Guardian Observer, November 1, 2004, Robin McKie, "Megaton Megalomaniac."

Library Journal, September 15, 2004, Jack W. Weigel, review of Edward Teller, p. 80.

Nation, November 1, 2004, Jeremy Bernstein, review of Edward Teller, p. 31; December 27, 2004, Peter Goodchild and Jeremy Bernstein, "The Three Faces of Dr. Strangelove," p. 2.

New Statesman, June 7, 2004, Peregrine Worsthorne, review of Edward Teller, p. 54.

Publishers Weekly, September 6, 2004, review of Edward Teller, p. 56.

Queen's Quarterly, winter, 2004, J. W. Grove, review of Edward Teller, p. 562.

Science News, March 26, 2005, review of Edward Teller, p. 207.

Spectator, May 8, 2004, Ray Monk, review of Edward Teller, p. 40.