Look Who it Was Random video

John Bonner - Remembering my father (1/59)

1,098 views · Published 3 July 2017 · 2:02 · Indexed 30 October 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Science & Technology

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To hear more of John Bonner’s stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKbjMVfBA0&list=PLVV0r6CmEsFzJx77ir9rbTxVC9EnCyfHD

Born in 1920, John Bonner is one of the world's leading experts on cellular slime molds. His prime interests are in evolution and developmental biology and he uses cellular slime molds as a tool to understand both disciplines. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: 2007]

TRANSCRIPT: I think I'll start with my family, and tell you a little bit about that. Because in some ways they were unusual, in very nice ways, actually. My father knew everybody, and you couldn't mention anybody's name, and he didn't say, 'Oh, I know Carl', or whoever it was. And he did. And not only that but he was usually a good friend of… And we were home one evening with - I have three brothers - the boys were in the living room and my father was reading. And we were discussing between the difference between, which I - don't ask me about - but the difference between Trotskyism, Stalinism or Leninism, and so forth. And suddenly my father interrupted and he said, 'I knew Trotsky'. And we said, 'Oh, my God, you've gone too far this time!' It turned out that in a period in his life, not a very long period, he worked as a teller at his father's bank in Brooklyn. And Trotsky used his window. And so, they'd have these long conversations through the grill. I wish that we had a transcript of those. That would be fascinating.

But anyhow, he introduced everybody to all sorts of people. He was a remarkable man because you would tell him something, and then, he would say to you that's not what you told me last year, which was a little unnerving because he could remember better our conversations than I did.

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