The War of the Worlds

Herbert George Wells, known as H.G. Wells, was born in Kent (London) at the 21th of September 1866. He is most known by his science fiction stories, in particular: The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Time Machine. But from 1895 until 1945 every year about two or three stories appeared from his hand. H.G. Wells died in 1946. The War of the Worlds is probably most known because in 1938 Orson Welles broadcasted a radio play from this story, creating a lot of panic in the population. The War of the Worlds made it to the movie screen at least twice: once in 1952 directed by Byron Haskin, and a second time in 2005 by Steven Spielberg, with Tom Cruise in a lead role, which tells something about how popular the story in itself is among movie makers. In both movies the time was moved forward to be the present time period. But key elements of the story stayed. Aliens from Mars come to Earth to wreak havoc. Tripods, boats, close encounters with alien beings. In 1978 Jeff Wayne's music became a world hit. He made an on-stage version of this and started to tour the world in 2006 and is still doing this to date (2024). Although the writing style is old, and we are used to something different nowadays, it is still a colourfully told story, which still captivates you from start to end.