Countdown to BLAST-OFF

The beloved broadcaster's reflections on life

- KEVIN MILNE

Looking back over an exciting journalism career, an issue still baffles me.

I was assigned to film aboard Concorde on its first demonstration flight out of Australia in 1972. We flew out of Melbourne, completed a massive U-turn that took us halfway to New Zealand and returned to Australia.

Elements of that flight are unforgettable. We flew to 60,000 feet – twice as high as Mount Everest, high enough to film the curvature of the Earth. It was like being in space. If you looked up in the skies, it was black. There was no turbulence at that height and it was relatively quiet. You leave the noise behind you.