Mars in culture by its dramatic red color and by nineteenth century scientific speculations that its surface conditions not only might support life, but intelligent life. Thus originated a large number of science fiction scenarios, among which is H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds", published in 1898, in which Martians seek to escape their dying planet by invading Earth. A subsequent US radio adaptation of "The War of the Worlds" on October 30, 1938 by Orson Welles was presented as a live news broadcast, and became notorious for causing a public panic when many listeners mistook it for the truth. Influential
Orson Welles after the success of the "Harry Lime" radio show. Harry Alan Towers offered Welles another series, "The Black Museum", which ran for 52 weeks with Welles as host and narrator. Director Herbert Wilcox offered Welles the part of the murdered victim in "Trent's Last Case", based on the novel by E. C. Bentley. In 1953, the BBC hired Welles to read an hour of selections from Walt Whitman's epic poem "Song of Myself". Towers hired Welles again, to play Professor Moriarty in the radio series, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", starring John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. Welles briefly returned to