Ben Franklin's Kite-Flying Experiment Never Happened November 2, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/09/30/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything_Bill_Bryson

While Benjamin Franklin's numerous contributions to science and public life have elevated him to an "almost godlike" status in the United States, author Bill Bryson debunks the most popular myth about this Founding Father. Franklin probably never flew a kite in a storm, Bryson explains, though he did propose this hypothetical experiment to the Royal Society.

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Celebrated author Bill Bryson will give a lecture in the Great Hall at the Guildhall in honour of the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society.

Bill Bryson is the internationally bestselling author of many books, including Mother Tongue, Notes from a Big Country, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and A Short History of Nearly Everything, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, won the Aventis Prize for Science Books in 2004 and was awarded the Descartes Science Communication Prize in 2005. - Gresham College

Bill Bryson is a journalist, humorist and travel writer. Bill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, Notes from a Small Island, In a Sunburned Country, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, A Short History of Nearly Everything, which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize, and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.