H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine" brought to life at New Year's Eve Jive Dance in Chesterfield

The book, 'The Time Machine' was written and published by H.G.Wells in 1894 and describes a machine that could go backward or forward in time.

The plot of the book is the story of a Victorian Englishman who at a dinner party shows what he has been working on, a machine that could travel through time. He shows them a model which before their very eyes disappear. He explains he is working on a full size version so that a man could sit on the machine and go forward into the future or back into the past.

At a dinner the following week he shows them the full sized version and recounts a trip he has made on it to the year A.D. 802,701 where the inhabitants of the earth have split into two distinct species, The 'Morlocks' who are apelike troglodytes and live underground and the 'Eloi' who have lost spirit, intelligence and physical fitness.

Whilst away from his time machine the Morelocks take his machine, fortunately the time traveller has removed the control levers allowing him to escape.

Wound into the story is a romantic connection between the time traveller and Eloi Weena, one of the above ground species who the time traveller saves from drowning.

After this terrible adventure he returns to his own time arriving back in his laboratory after only being away for three hours relating his adventures to his disbelieving friends. But to help prove his account, produces two unusual white flowers that Eloi Weena had put in his pocket.

John's reconstruction of the Time Machine was unveiled at a Chesterfield Jive Dance on New Year's Eve 2024.