Layers Of The Past

Time travel can be through history, to the future or within a character's lifetime. Poul Anderson covers less of that third option but Jack Havig does some of it in There Will Be Time, e.g., mentoring his younger self.

Some TV news is blog-relevant, e.g., recent coverage of Mars. Any historical coverage inherently raises Time Patrol issues. This evening, we were shown excerpts from the archives of the independent television company that covered the North West of England in the 1950s and '60s, which I remember. Further, the company broadcast from Didsbury, a residential suburb of Manchester, where I was a student in 1981-'82. Thus, here are two layers of memory.

The Patrol, or some other future-based organization, might require an agent to make full-sensory recordings as a member of a TV studio audience or as a Didsbury resident watching TV celebrities interacting with the locals in the pub opposite the studio. Meanwhile, in Liverpool, the Cavern Club, where the Beatles started, is in financial difficulties because of the pandemic. A time traveler from 2020 would be able to attend a Beatles performance in the 1960s and maybe to work in the Cavern bar throughout that period.

Just think of which twentieth century events you would like to attend or witness. But also remember that being there does not necessarily mean knowing what happened. See here.