Background
Peter Ritchie Calder was born on 1 July 1906 in Forfar, Angus, Scotland.
journalist university professor writer
Peter Ritchie Calder was born on 1 July 1906 in Forfar, Angus, Scotland.
After moving to London before World World War II, he accepted an appointment as the Director of Plans and Campaigns at the Political Warfare Executive branch of the Government, which was responsible for the allied war propaganda effort. He wrote propaganda posters and leaflets and speeches for allied leaders. In 1941 he became popular with his book Carry on London, which described the effects of the German bombardment of London, Coventry and other cities in Great Britain.
He worked also with the United Nations and was President of the National Peace Council and of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
He also worked for the News Chronicle newspaper as Science Editor. Sir Lawrence Bragg"s original announcement of the discovery of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid was made at a Solvay conference on proteins in Belgium on 8 April 1953 but went unreported by the United Kingdom press
He then gave a talk at Guy"s Hospital Medical School in London on Thursday 14 May 1953, which resulted in an article by Ritchie Calder in the News Chronicle of London on Friday 15 May 1953, entitled "Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life".
Calder was an ardent peace activist and humanist.
In 1955, Calder recorded and released an album on Folkways Records entitled, Science in Our Lives. He was also one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto. He also taught International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, from 1961 to 1967.
Calder died on 31 January 1982, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Calder first worked as a journalist in Dundee and Glasgow, where he became noted as a socialist and peace activist. As Science Editor of the News Chronicle, he wrote under the name of "Ritchie Calder". After the war Calder returned to his former activities as a writer and specialised in internationalism, the peace movement and in the public understanding of science.
He was a member of the 1941 Committee, a group of liberal politicians, writers and other people of influence in the United Kingdom.