Nick T. Spark is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. Films he has written, directed or produced include '' Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines'' (2001) the Emmy award-winning ''

The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club ''The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club'' is a 2009 American documentary film that chronicles the life of aviation pioneer Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes. Production ''The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding ...

'' (2009) and '' Right Footed'' (2015). In addition to being a contributing editor to ''Wings'' and ''Airpower'' magazines, his articles have appeared in the '' Annals of Improbable Research'', ''

Naval History Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large lan ...

'', the ''Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society'', and ''

Proceedings In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings is a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confere ...

''. People he has interviewed include President Gerald Ford, British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, Secretary of State Colin Powell, disability activist Jessica Cox and numerous test pilots including Charles "Chuck"

Yeager Yeager is a mostly American surname, a phonetic transcription of the common German surname Jaeger (Jäger), meaning hunter. Ya ...

. In 2007 Spark was interviewed on National Public Radio, concerning an article he wrote about the USS ''Panay'' incident, and he appeared on PBS'

History Detectives ''History Detectives'' is a documentary television series on PBS. It features investigations made by members of a small team of researchers to identify and/or authenticate items which may have historical significance or connections to important h ...

in 2011 as an expert on the Navy's World War II drone, the TDR-1. Spark's four-part article ''Why Everything You Know About Murphy's Law Is Wrong'' details the history of Murphy's Law. This article was later adapted into a short book ''A History of Murphy's Law'', exploring the genesis of the popular adage which apparently originated at Edwards Air Force Base during the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

's Project MX981 to research high g-force issues in 1947–1949 under the direction of "The Bravest Man in the Air Force", physicist and medical doctor John Paul Stapp. Spark appeared on Japanese broadcaster

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

concerning the Law in 2000.

Career

Nick Spark attended University High School in Tucson, Arizona where his classmates included Congresswoman

Gabby Giffords Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...

. He worked as a teen columnist for the

Tucson Citizen The ''Tucson Citizen'' was a daily newspaper in Tucson, Arizona. It was founded by Richard C. McCormick with John Wasson as publisher and editor on October 15, 1870, as the ''Arizona Citizen''. When it ceased printing on May 16, 2009, the daily ...

, and served on the board of a non-profit transportation museum Old Pueblo Trolley, Inc. In 1988, a research paper he published about a World War II mustard gas disaster in Bari, Italy won the Special Naval Award at

National History Day National History Day is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland that operates an annual project-based contest for students in grades 6-12. It has affiliates in all fifty states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, American Sam ...

. Subsequently, through Spark's efforts, the subject of his paper Dr. Stewart F. Alexander was recognized by the

Surgeon General of the U.S. Army The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department (United States), Army Medical Department (AMEDD). By policy, the Surgeon General (TSG) serves as Commanding General, United States Army ...

for his meritorious actions in the aftermath of that incident. Spark attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

as a Flinn scholar, from which he received a degree in creative writing, with Honors, with a minor in media arts. While at the University of Arizona, he made ''Just Puttering Around'', a 1992 documentary about octogenarian folk artist William Holzman,Tucsonweekly.com
/ref> for which the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded him a 1992 student Emmy Award. He then attended the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

's School of Cinema-Television where he received a Masters of Fine Arts degree (MFA) in film production. Subsequently, he received a second student Emmy Award and the

Cine Golden Eagle Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer ...

br>
both for the documentary ''Upholding the Promise'', a film about federal judges directed by Ted Iredell. He is also known for the film, "Right Footed" featuring Jessica Cox.

References

External links

*
Four Part article
detailing initial researches into the origination of Murphy's Law.
The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club
— documentary film website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Spark, Nick T. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Arizona alumni USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni American documentary filmmakers American military writers American film editors