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Piero Angela | |
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 Angela in 2013 | |
| Born | (1928-12-22)22 December 1928 Turin, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 13 August 2022(2022-08-13) (aged 93) Rome, Italy |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1952–2022 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Alberto Angela |
| Awards | Kalinga Prize (1993) |
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Piero Domenico AngelaCavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (Italian:[ˈpjɛːroˈandʒela]; 22 December 1928 – 13 August 2022)[1][2] was an Italianscience journalist, television host, andessayist, with a brief early professional career also as ajazz musician andpianist.
He started as a radio reporter, then became a foreign correspondent, and established himself as the host of theRAI newscast. He is best known as the creator and presenter of broadcasting programmes modelled onBBC andDavid Attenborough documentaries, to whom he has been often compared, and also for his scientific journalism published in numerous publications.[3]
Angela wrote thirty-three books, which sold over three million copies, received many honorary degrees, made over sixty documentaries and hundreds of television episodes, won sevenTelegattos, and eight times won the national television directing award.[4]
Angela was born inTurin, the son of Nella Maglia andCarlo Angela, an anti-fascist doctor, who was awarded the Medal of theRighteous Among the Nations on 29 August 2001.[5]
At the age of one, Angela nearly died from pneumonia. Several years later, he had a broken leg reconstructed without anaesthesia and at the age of 12 underwent anappendicitis operation; the surgery went on for two and a half hours due to complications.[6]
Angela attended the classical high school in Turin.[7][8] Angela wrote that rationality was taught to him by his father.[9] According to his colleague Gigi Marzullo "his perfect self-control and his sympathetic friendliness is a reflection of his shy nature and encoded in the genetic code of this Piedmontese education in rationality and tolerance".[10] Angela did well in almost all studies, but he did the minimum of work required.[6] Angela said he received "a very Piedmontese education: very rigid, with very strict principles, including that of diffidence, never exhibiting".[10] Angela wrote referring to his school education: "Personally, I got bored mortally in school and I was a bad student. All those involved in teaching should constantly remember the ancient Latin motto 'ludendo docere', that is, 'teach with fun'."[11]
Individuals who are most successful (and not only women) are usually strong inside and courteous outside. It's a bit like the piano. I always remember what my old piano teacher used to say to me: to have a good touch you need steel fingers in velvet gloves ... Maybe in life it is like that.[9]
— Piero Angela
Angela began taking private piano lessons when he was seven years old; he later developed an interest injazz music. By 1948, he played in variousjam sessions in Turin jazz clubs using the name Peter Angela.[12]
In 1948 he was noticed by the then young entrepreneurSergio Bernardini [it], who invited him to play on the opening night of the Capannina inViareggio.[13] By the early fifties Angela formed with drummerFranco Mondini and various double bass players a jazz trio. The trio was often joined by soloists, such asNini Rosso,Franco Pisano,Nunzio Rotondo, and the former cornetist ofDuke Ellington,Rex Stewart. Angela and Mondini played withNunzio Rotondo's quartet for some time.[14] He also played at this time withFranco Cerri, with whom in 1946, they would ride their bicycles to hear the concerts from outside of a Turin restaurant because they were unable to buy tickets.[15]
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At the end of 1951, Angela began collaborating on a programme on the history of jazz forRAI. By 1952 he stopped playing music and began working full time as a journalist. First as a reporter and contributor. Angela has spent nine years in Paris, four years in Brussels as a correspondent and toured America as a correspondent for RAI.[citation needed]
His wife, Margherita Pastore, gave up her career as a dancer, married Piero when she was 19, and went with Angela to Paris. According to Margherita, "We didn't make a decision, but the strange thing that you have inside and that makes you act sometimes not completely rationally, but beautifully. That same thing that had already bewitched us at first glance, during a birthday party in the home of mutual friends." While in Paris their daughter, Christine, and son,Alberto, were born. Angela had an audio recording of the birth of his two children.[6]
Fabiano Fabiani asked to come to Rome to work on television. Fabiani said to Angela, "Enough with the speaking the news on radio, I want the journalists on television." In 1968 Angela was the first anchor alternating withAndrea Barbato on the National Television News at 13.30, the lunchtime edition of the news.[4]
Angela wrote 33 books which have sold over three million copies, received many honorary degrees, made about sixty documentaries and hundreds of television episodes, and won seven Telegacts and eight times the National Television Directing Award.[6][4]
In 1969 Angela left RAI newscast with the idea of making longer more detailed programs: "I realised that what really interested me was doing not deal with ten news items a day, but the news for a year."[6]
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Influenced by the documentary lesson ofRoberto Rossellini, in 1968 Angela produced a series of documentaries entitled "The Future in Space", on the theme of the Apollo program; during the filming carried out in the United States he also made numerous live connections for RAI on the occasion of the launch of theSaturn V carrier which brought the first astronauts to the moon.[6] Then began a long activity of scientific disclosure that in the following years led him to produce numerous information transmissions includingDestinazione Uomo ('Destination Man'),Da zero a tre anni ('From zero to three years'),Dove va il mondo? ('Where does the world go?'),Nel buio degli anni luce ('In the darkness of light years'),Indagine critica sulla parapsicologia ('Critical investigation of parapsychology'), andNel cosmo all ricerca della vita ('In the cosmos in search of life'). Starting from 1971 he hosted, forRai 1, a series of scientific TV programmes about astronomy, biology, global economy, parapsychology, and others.[3]
In 1981 he started his most famous show,Quark [it], which, as of 2022, is still active although in different forms.Quark was hosted weekly until 1983, and spawned a large number of specials and spin-offs dedicated to several scientific topics, fromdinosaurs to human biology, from history toanthropology, fromastronomy andcosmology to economy.[citation needed]
"The title is a bit curious and we borrowed it from physics, where many studies are in progress on certain hypothetical subnuclear particles called, precisely, quarks, which would be the smallest bricks of matter known so far. It is therefore an exploring into things", explained Angela during the first episode in 1981.[16]
TheQuark formula was at the time particularly innovative: all the technological means available and the resources of television communication were used to familiarise them with the topics covered: the BBC and David Attenborough documentaries, the Bruno Bozzetto cartoons used to explain the most difficult concepts, the interviews with the experts exposed in the clearest possible language compatible with the complexity of the topics, the explanations in the studio. From the basic programme, several spin-offs were born, some of which are still produced: naturalistic documentaries (Quark speciale [it] andIl mondo di Quark [it]), financial (Quark economia), and politicians (Quark Europa).[citation needed]
In 1984 Angela producedPillole di Quark ('Quark's Pills'), a thirty-second spot on technical, scientific, educational, social, and medical topics, which was broadcast at variable times on Rai 1. In the same year, Angela created the first talk show for mixed entertainment for scientific dissemination: six first nights live from theForo Italico, with guests from the world of culture, science, entertainment and sport on stage to interact with the audience.[citation needed]
In 1995Quark was succeeded bySuperquark [it], lasting two hours instead of one. Starting from 2000, Angela and his sonAlberto introducedUlisse, a monographic show dedicated to human history and discoveries.[17]
In 1986 and 1987 he conducted two prime-time shows on climate issues from the Turin Palazzetto dello Sport, in front of eight thousand spectators: atmosphere and oceans, followed by three television series that exploited new computer graphics: a journey inside the human body ('The Wonderful Machine'), in prehistory ('The Planet of the Dinosaurs'), and in space ('Journey in the Cosmos'). These series, created in collaboration with his son Alberto, were translated into English and sold in over forty European, American and Asian countries, including Arab and Chinese countries.[citation needed]
In 1988 he was also involved inQuark, a series of documentaries of nature, environment, exploration, and animal world produced and made by Italian authors, including Alberto Angela [his son] himself, who made some documentaries in Africa.[citation needed]
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In fact, in 1995Superquark was born, during which, on 4 June 1999, two thousand episodes of theQuark project and related subsidiaries were celebrated. That same year are also theSpeciale Superquark [it], monothematic evenings on subjects of great social, psychological and scientific interest, and the collaboration in the television programmeDomenica in, in which Angela was the anchor of a space dedicated to culture. In 1997Quark Atlante – Immagini dal Pianeta was born from a Quark rib.Immagini dal Pianeta – RaiPlay was born from aQuark rib.[citation needed]
Finally, since 2000 Piero and Alberto Angela have been authors of Ulysses, a monographic instalment programme concerning historical and scientific discoveries.[17]
Parallel to the popularising activity on television, Angela has carried out publishing activities, always with information content. He has long been the editor of theScienza e società ('Science and Society') column in the weekly TV seriesTV Sorrisi e Canzoni ('TV Smiles and Songs'). Angela was also the founder and supervisor of the monthly magazineQuark, which he founded in 2001 and dissolved in 2006 due to lack of funds. The monthly magazine, inspired by the television programme dealt with scientific topics in a manner accessible to the public. Angela is also the author of over thirty books, many of them translated into English, German and Spanish, with a total circulation of over three million copies.[17]
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In 1989, Angela was one of the founders ofCICAP, a scientific committee to promote scientific education and critical thinking and devoted to verification of allegedly scientific disciplines such asparapsychology. In May 2016, he was appointed Honorary President.[17][18] A slogan of the association, "We must always have an open mind, but not so open that the brain falls to the ground", has become a phrase frequently attributed to Angela, although in reality it is attributed to many people.[19]
In 1996, theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) presented Angela with theResponsibility in Journalism Award.[20] In his program Investigation on parapsychology (1978) he revealed methods and tricks used by mediums and gurus in their activities; the interest to debunk the quackery was the basis of the birth of CICAP (Italian Committee for the Control of Claims on Pseudosciences), of which he was still honorary president.[6]
In 2000, Angela was sued for defamation by two homeopathic associations (FIAMO and SIMO in a civil case and a criminal case), following the broadcast of Superquark of 11 July 2000 in which the homeopathic medicine was said to have no scientific foundation. Angela, defended by lawyers Giulia Bongiorno and Franco Coppi, was acquitted in both cases and the judge recognized the unscientific nature of the discipline.[21][6]
Angela has also written a large number of popular books, starting withL'uomo e la marionetta in 1972. Many were in collaboration with his son Alberto.[citation needed]
On religions and deities, Angela had an agnostic approach and considered death a "nuisance".[6]
During his last years, Angela continued to work, hosting his TV programmeSuperquark [it] until 2022, when he marked 70 years of continuous activity inRAI. On 13 August 2022, Angela died inRome at the age of 93, after a long illness.[22] His death was announced on social media by his sonAlberto. After the funeral his body was cremated.[23]
Italy: Commander of theOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic (30 May 2001)[24] Italy:Italian Medal of Merit for Culture and Art (2 April 2002)[25] Italy: Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (26 May 2004)[26]
Algeria: Medal of the Algerian Revolution Friends (March 2021)[27] Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (26 April 2021)[28][29]All the following programmes have been broadcast byRai Uno.
