First Light At Jodrell Bank

This week's cover feature Neil McAllister visits Cheshire's most recognisable tourist attraction, the Lovell Telescope, as it celebrates its 65th anniversary.

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BRITAIN in the mid-1950s was a grey place. Years of rationing had only just ended, and life was as colourless as the picture for those lucky enough to own a TV set.

Cows on the Cheshire Plain near the village of Goostrey, used to a quiet life, looked up to see the horizon taking a new shape as a spidery steel framework was set in place.

Over the next three years the structure stretched skywards, supporting an immense dish almost as wide as it was tall.

The structure, weighing over 3,200 tonnes, was the brainchild of Manchester University academic Bernard Lovell, and could be turned and tilted with precision, thanks to the engineering skill of bridge engineer Charles Husband.

The original expectation was for a 10-year lifespan, but this Cheshire landmark celebrates its 65th birthday this year.

Its first use in 1957 was referred to as "first light", a moment reflected in the centre's new £21.5m First Light Pavilion, which opened this year in a giant structure the same size and shape of the famous dish, today known as the Lovell Telescope.

Within days of switching Ion, the dish was involved in the space race, tracking Russia's Sputnik satellite as it beeped its way across the heavens.

The launch was as much a Cold War propaganda victory as a scientific advance, and as visitors discover, this wasn't the only way the Lovell Telescope was used in those early days.

I'm sure many have peered at the night sky wishing for a clearer view.

Many might have used binoculars to see the face of the moon, or used an optical telescope to bring distant galaxies into focus.