Horizon at 60 - Peter Jones

In February 1971 Producer Peter Jones brought the British public closer to the realities of the arms race in his seminal Horizon: 'Rumours of War'. In the 25 years prior to the making of his film more than 7,000 increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons had been developed, and the hours once available for calling off a bomber attack had been reduced to minutes with new missile systems.

For this edition of the programme, Horizon filmed at a missile base in Missouri, an H-bomb museum in New Mexico, and talked to scientists personally involved in the dynamics of the arms race. It was an experience Peter would never forget. His editor at the time was Peter Goodchild who sent him to United States to see what he could find.

Peter Jones had been watching Horizon from the very early days, soon after the studio based magazine format was phased out, and just knew he had to be part of the programme. By the late 60s he had made a formal approach, one which he has never regretted. It enabled him to combine his twin passions of science and writing.