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5 - The Local Reminiscence

An Oldham Journalist Remembers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2023

Fiona Kisby Littleton ,
Susan Bewley  and
James Owen Drife
By
Janice Barker
Fiona Kisby Littleton
Affiliation:
University College London Institute of Education
Susan Bewley
Affiliation:
Emeritus, King's College London
James Owen Drife
Affiliation:
Emeritus, University of Leeds
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Summary

In this chapter, a reporter who was a member of the media team who got the very first scoop on the ‘test-tube baby’, taking the newspaper and Oldham out to the rest of the world, reflects on the local story and how it broke. It contains Barker’s original write-up of the 1979 lecture in the Oldham Chronicle and features new information on local women who volunteered for the research programme.

Keywords

OldhamOldham Evening Chroniclemedicine and the mediatest-tube babymedia controversylocal journalismearly IVF patientscheque-book journalisminfertility patient stories
Type
Chapter
Information
Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby
The Edwards and Steptoe Lecture of 1979
 , pp. 179 - 200
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Edwards, RG, Bavister, BD, Steptoe, PC. Early stages of fertilization in vitro of human oocytes matured in vitro. Nature 1969;221:632–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
A much-wanted child. Radio Times 1970;2415:25–27.Google Scholar
For Steptoe’s ward rounds, see also Crashley, S. The Testimony of an IVF Guinea Pig. Gisborne, New Zealand: Loveley Books, 2014; 6–22.Google Scholar
Brown, L, Brown, J, Freeman, S. Our Miracle Called Louise: A Parents’ Story. London: Paddington Press, 1979.Google Scholar
E&J, 9.Google Scholar
ML, 143.Google Scholar
First test-tube baby in the world: count down to historic birth. OEC. 1978;20:1.Google Scholar
See Archives Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, GBR/0014/EDWS AS 3/1, Test-Tube Baby, the First Birth, August 1978, narrated by Patrick Steptoe for the Department of Health and Social Security on the birth of Louise Brown.Google Scholar
Second test tube baby safely born. OEC, 15 January 1979.Google Scholar
OEC, 29 January 1979. The Chronicle subscribed to the Press Association to obtain national and global news. Our office obtained a newsfeed via a teleprinter service, which transmitted text and pictures. People working in the copy room would check through these; and journalists would then use them as they were or follow them up locally.Google Scholar
The gynaecologist who looked after me was Ms Evans, mentioned by Max Elstein in the Reminiscence in Chapter 4.Google Scholar
Johnson, MH, Elder, K. The Oldham Notebooks: an analysis of the development of IVF 1969–1978. VI. Sources of support and patterns of expenditure. Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online 2015;1:63.Google Scholar

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