Cheltenham Festivals news

Cheltenham Festivals news archives

10 minutes with… Brian Cox

2 months
1 week ago

During the Science Festival we caught up with particle physicist Brian Cox, and asked him about his recent rise to fame and what it’s like to be a Guest Director.

Brian Cox cr Conor Cahill

What does it mean to you to be Guest Director of the festival this year?
A: It’s wonderful because it is the biggest science festival in Britain and I assume it will get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. It’s the 10th anniversary next year isn’t it? So I’ll probably be asking to be Guest Director again because I’ve enjoyed it. It’s brilliant! I’ve done a lot this weekend. The Wonders [of the Solar System] event was great. I did two of those. [The Infinite] Monkey Cage, which I really wanted to do live – well, it was the first time we’ve done that in front of a live audience and it was brilliant, so brilliant that I think we want to do it always in front of an audience now. And I gave my usual talk, except it wasn’t my usual talk because I decided to invent a new one for Cheltenham and did a load of relativity and made it really hard. So I think everyone sat there going ‘Oh God, it’s maths’. I actually did vector identity. The vector, the differential form of Maxwell’s equations and derived the space-time interval. So there we go. I think it was alright.

Why do you feel events like this are important?
A: Science is of primary importance. I honestly think that economically and culturally speaking, it’s the most important thing to be doing in Britain. I think we should make Britain the best place in the world to do science. I think that should be an aspiration. David Cameron should stand up as Prime Minister and say ‘I will make Britain the best place in the world to do science’. The thing is, it’s affordable. We only spend, in total, about ten billion a year on universities, about three and a half billion on R&D. If you were to be bold and double it, Britain would be the best place in the world to do science and you wouldn’t notice in the bottom line of the country. Well, it wouldn’t impact the bottom line downwards. What it would do is impact the bottom line massively upwards. But I think in order to evolve and want to do that in Britain, you need massive public support because it’s a great bold project. And so things like Cheltenham and science on TV are building support for science. We’re going to lead the revolution and make Britain a better place in the world to do science and it will start here. In fact, this is probably the capital of the new Britain. It’ll be Cheltenham Town Hall if I have anything to do with it! Is that a bit overly ambitious?

Is this your first visit to the Cheltenham Science Festival and what do you think of it?
A: No, I was here last year. I did some stuff with Jim Al-Khalili. It’s brilliant. I actually like the fact that it’s quite informal. I like the fact that there’s this room in the Town Hall and everyone mixes together. There’s not a kind of a separation between speakers and the public and there often is at big festivals because it kind of has to be arranged that way. But I like here the fact that you just meet everybody.

Congratulations on your OBE. How does it feel to have shot to fame so quickly?
A: It’s actually beyond odd now. I was in a band before and we had a number one single so I’ve seen it a little bit, but not actually on the scale of after Wonders of the Solar System. I actually have to change my lifestyle because it’s a lot of hassle. That’s good because what it really means is that people are engaging with science. I’m kind of lucky in a way because I seem to have been the first person for a while who has managed to take these wonderful ideas and I’ve been kind of conduit for them. And although a lot of people have been doing it for a long time, you get over critical mass with viewing figures with the BBC. That’s what it is. Usually, you’d get at most about two million people – if you’re lucky, three million – watching a big science show and we had six and a half, if you add them up, for each episode. It’s still on. They just keep repeating it so it’s just consistently picking up an audience. That makes a huge difference. I’m really surprised because suddenly, you do get genuinely noticed like a celebrity rather than a scientist. In fact, my wife found a blog where someone had written ‘The BBC should stop having celebrities like Brian Cox presenting science programmes, they should have scientists’. That’s the funny thing – you get an audience that don’t know who you are. They don’t actually know you’re a scientist. They think you’re on Jonathan Ross so therefore you’re some kind of television presenter. It’s kind of an accolade in a way isn’t it? There’s a definite jump which I wasn’t expecting that has been made because of that programme.

Do you think the media’s recent love of science has been responsible for your rise to fame and do you think that will continue to happen with more and more people?
A: Definitely. It was a conscious decision by the BBC to have the World of Wonder season – which is this kind of year of science – and commissioning programmes with scientists. I mean Kathy Sykes did programmes, Jim Al-Khalili has done them, Marcus du Sautoy, Alice Roberts. The great thing is, because of programmes like Horizon, you can take people who are academics and allow them to grow. It’s not automatic that you can make TV programmes. It takes some practice. You have to learn. And the BBC are excellent at doing that. So it’s not a random thing. I think it’s been building interest for a while and it is primarily down to the BBC I would say.

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We’ve tagged this post with , , , , , on Tuesday 22 June 2010.


Extra Science Festival event: Brian Cox — Wonders of the Solar System

4 months
4 weeks ago

Due to a huge demand for tickets we’ve added a second Brian Cox event, Wonders of the Solar System.

Join our Guest Director as Brian Cox and Executive Producer Andrew Cohen paint a breathtaking picture of a solar system that we are only just beginning to understand.

Buy ticketsWonders of the Solar System

Part of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival

We’ve tagged this post with , , on Wednesday 7 April 2010.


Announcing… Brian Cox

7 months ago

Brian Cox cr Vincent Connare

Cheltenham Science Festival welcomes two Guest Directors

Professor of Particle Physics, BBC science specialist and one-time top 10 rock star, Brian Cox has made time in his busy schedule to take on the role of Guest Director at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2010. We are thrilled to work with him, to pick his incredible brain and programme some truly diverse and must-see events for you at this year’s Festival.

…continue reading →

We’ve tagged this post with , , , on Thursday 4 February 2010.


Heston Blumenthal announced as Guest Director for Science 2010!

8 months
2 weeks ago

Heston Blumenthal

We have been very busy at Festival HQ making plans for The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2010. We are delighted to announce that Chef and TV personality Heston Blumenthal will be joining next year’s line up — as Guest Director! Famous for his eccentric dishes including snail porridge and parsnip cereal, the culinary alchemist will be programming some truly unique festival events.

His dedication and research into exploring the science of food and discovering innovative styles of cooking has earned him international success. His restaurant, The Fat Duck in Bray has won numerous awards, and in 2006 he was awarded an OBE for his contribution to British Gastronomy.

Heston is a huge supporter of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival and has made four appearances since the Science Festival was born eight years ago. Watch this space — we’ll be announcing more news about his Guest Director role very soon.

We’ve tagged this post with , , on Thursday 17 December 2009.


Jamie Cullum Interview

9 months
1 week ago

jamie-cullum-interview

“I’m a big fan of this festival…I think it’s one of the most interesting and forward-thinking jazz festivals in this country”

Jamie Cullum

The 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival programme is shaping up nicely — but one of the most exciting things about next year is that for the first time the festival will welcome Jamie Cullum as Guest Director.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire caught up with him during the Literature Festival — listen here to what he’s looking forward to about Cheltenham Jazz 2010:

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from BBC Radio Gloucestershire

We’ve tagged this post with , , , , on Tuesday 24 November 2009.


Tony Dudley Evans, Jamie Cullum and Jazz 2010

10 months
3 weeks ago

Jamie Cullum

Following the announcement of Jamie Cullum as Guest Director, Artistic Director Tony Dudley-Evans took some time to share his thoughts on the opportunity to work with Jamie this year…

‘I am delighted to be working with Jamie Cullum as our Guest Director for the 2010 Jazz Festival. Jamie has had a long relationship with the festival appearing first in 2003 at the Daffodil just as his career was lifting off and then returning to do an amazing concert in the Town Hall in 2004. But he has been a regular attender at the festival right from the beginning and I well remember him asking me not to book him for 2005 as he didn’t want to miss out of any of the gigs. Then indeed in 2007 he came as guest of the festival just to hang out and catch the gigs.’

‘The Cheltenham team will be working with Jamie to programme a number of events and of course Jamie will be appearing with his own band. We share very similar tastes and already Jamie has come up with some great ideas.’

Tony Dudley-Evans
Artistic Director.

We’ve tagged this post with , , , on Thursday 15 October 2009.


Jamie Cullum announced as Guest Director for 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival

10 months
3 weeks ago

For the first time the Cheltenham Jazz Festival will welcome a Guest Director, and we’re delighted that for 2010 this will be Jamie Cullum.

Jamie Cullum

Jamie will be working with the Jazz Festival team to create some truly special one off events — including international collaborations, club nights, showcasing the next big thing and of course playing a headline set himself.

Our full jazz programme and how to purchase tickets will be released in early 2010. Watch this space for more announcements and register for our eNews to keep bang up-to-date.

Cheltenham Jazz Festival 28 April–3 May 2010

We’ve tagged this post with , , on Tuesday 13 October 2009.


A very literary birthday celebration

11 months
1 week ago

Elizabeth_Jane_Howard

The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival is 60 this year, and we celebrate with a programme which welcomes back a host of past Directors to share their memories of Cheltenham’s impressive literary heritage. The very first Literature Festival was held in 1949, and consisted of just 9 events – the festival now hosts over 440 events, talks and workshops every year.

Elizabeth Jane Howard was made Festival Director in 1962, and produced an unforgettable event which has since been described as the ‘literary festival’s coming of age’. We are delighted to welcome her back this year to talk about her life and friendship with some of the most fascinating writers of our time, and her own unique relationship with the Festival. As former Festival Directors and judges of the Whitbread Prize both P J Kavanagh and Lawrence Sail will be back at the Festival, as they come together to read from their poetry collections.

Literature Festival 1949

The Cheltenham Booker Prize is an annual institution and this year debates the merits of four novels printed in 1969, the first year that the Booker Prize was awarded. It brings together Former Festival Director John Walsh and last year’s Guest Director Kate Adie with Mary Beard, Erica Wagner and Ion Trewin to defend their favourite titles.

As well as examining the Festival’s history we also celebrate this landmark year with a line-up led by ten fantastic Guest Directors. Each brings their own unique flavour to the programme: Alice Roberts has programmed events that relate to the creative aspect of science and art; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has gathered together some of the writers she admires most, including Diran Adebayo and Jackie Kay; and Rageh Omaar joins us to consider how journalism has changed over recent years. Don’t miss Richard Eyre, Sandi Toksvig, Anthony Horowitz, Jonathan Coe, Mark Watson and Monica Ali as each take to the helm for each of their own very special days of events.

View our Guest Director events →

We’ve tagged this post with , , on Wednesday 30 September 2009.