Video didn't kill the Radio Star

Yesterday was an interesting day. It began at BBC Radio 4 and my appearance on the Saturday Live magazine show with the Reverend Richard Coles and Anita Anand and guest star Richard Osman of Pointless fame.

Great fun and lovely people. We discussed quizzes, Cornwall, policing and the curious subject of cows having regional accents, among other things. You can listen to the show or download it as a podcast here.

I then mooched around some bookshops and was delighted to see that the Connectoscope has started to appear on the shelves. I don't think I'll ever not be thrilled by seeing one of my books in the shops.

 

Then it was on to North East London and a video shoot for the new single by Emperor Yes. I've known the lads - multi-instrumentalists Ash Gardner and Hugo Sheppard and Three Trapped Tigers drummer, the mighty Adam Betts - for a few years. Their videos are always innovative and slightly bonkers, usually involving mad costumes, animation and nods to favourite film genres. Here, for example, are their videos for Wasps and Cosmos:

I won't issue any spoilers about the new video other than to say it centres around an apocalyptic party and some curious men in costumes. My role is the mysterious 'Straws Guy'. Intriguing, eh? I'll link to the video when it's released but, in the meantime, here are a few teaser photos from the shoot (apologies for poor quality - phone camera in low light) ...

Under the costumes you might recognise Museum of Curiosity producer Dan Schreiber (frog) and magician Pete Heat (polar bear). You might also, if you're a regular to this blog, spot my Carl Sagan cartoon behind the band:

More links to Emperor Yes here.

The Badger Hole of Ignorance - Episode 1 - Mummies, Jungles and Lost Properties

Last Monday (30th) the first episode in Series Five of The Museum of Curiosity was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It featured presenter John Lloyd CBE and new curator Humphrey Ker with guests Egyptology Professor Joann Fletcher, explorer and altruist Colonel John Blashford-Snell, and comedian and environmentalist Mark Watson.

Photo copyright: Stevyn Colgan

Here's The Badger Hole of Ignorance Episode 1 podcast in which producers Dan Schreiber and Richard Turner discuss the episode with host Ken Plume:



Secondly, here's Jo Fletcher's extraordinary documentary - in full - telling the story of how she and her colleagues revived 2000 year old techniques to mummify a modern man. Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret is the fascinating, touching and respectful story of a very brave man facing his own death and of the dedicated scientists who worked hard to make his death something special and celebratory while also increasing the sum of human knowledge.



Next up, here's the documentary The Mission: A Grand Adventure in which 'Blashers' delivers a baby grand piano to the Wei Wei tribe in the middle of the Guyanese rain forest. Glorious British eccentricity at its best (sadly, the sound quality is a bit rough but quite watchable):



And here's Mark Watson in Australia doing some fantastic stand up (NSFW!):



More next week.

Sir David Frost (1939 - 2013)

I was very sad to hear of the death of legendary broadcaster Sir David Frost yesterday. I had the great good fortune to work with him a couple of months ago when he appeared as one of our guests on the new series of The Museum of Curiosity. He was a delight to have on the show and, although he did look a little frail, he was sharp and witty and generous with his time and laughter. He had a way of making you feel that you were the most important person he'd spoken to that day; I guess that was the secret of his long success.

(LtoR - Sir David, Dr Paul Sinha, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, John Lloyd, (front) Humphrey Ker. Photo copyright Stevyn Colgan)

A sad loss.

The show will go out on BBC Radio 4 sometime in October.

My thoughts are with his family and friends.

Fourth Visit to the Museum

We recorded Episode 4 of Series 6 of The Museum of Curiosity last night at the Shaw Theatre in Euston. It's the first time we've used it for this show and it's a lovely venue. On the panel we had astrophysicist and satellite designer Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, ex-GP, stand-up comedian, champion quizzer and star of The Chase Dr Paul Sinha and the legend that is Sir David Frost.

Another warm, witty, intelligent and occasionally hilarious episode in the can.

Two to go and still some great guests to come.

Photo: Stevyn Colgan

Third visit to the Museum

We recorded show 3 of series 6 of The Museum of Curiosity last night at the BBC Radio Theatre. Host John Lloyd and curator Humphrey Ker were joined by comedian and author Mark Watson, explorer and all-round adventurer Colonel John Blashford-Snell, and BAFTA award-winning Egyptologist Professor Joann Fletcher who, as you may know, was involved last year in the first mummification of a human being (using ancient Egyptian methods) for 3000 years.

Another amazing panel. Another amazing show in the can.

Photo: Stevyn Colgan

Second Visit to the Museum

We recorded the second show of series 6 of The Museum of Curiosity last night with primatologist Professor Volker Sommer, comedian Andrew O'Neill and rock star Amanda Palmer.

As always, gloriously entertaining, fascinating and hilarious in equal measure. I'm very proud to work on this show and we still have some amazing guests to come.

It'll be broadcast sometime in October on BBC Radio 4.

Photo: Stevyn Colgan

The Museum of Natural Curiosity

Note: These photographs are rubbish and were taken without flash on my crappy phone. They will be replaced with better shots as I get them in.

Last night we staged our first ever properly live Museum of Curiosity at London's Natural History Museum. I say 'properly' as the BBC radio show is recorded in front of an audience so, technically, that could be called 'live'. However, the radio shows don't usually get broadcast until a month or so after they're recorded so there's time to edit, tweak and to make them as good as we possibly can. This was a 'proper' live event in that what you saw was what you got; there was no such safety net. I think it's fair to say that the audience got something very special indeed.

We couldn't have hoped for a more sparkling panel of guests. The radio show normally has three guests and lasts for half an hour. This has always been something of a frustration as each guest is fascinating enough to devote half an hour (or more) to. In fact, we usually record two hours' worth of material and it's absolute hell for producers Rich Turner and Dan Schreiber to have to whittle it down to just 30 minutes and to lose so much good stuff that never makes it to air. For this live show, however, we had no such restrictions and so we were able to put on two hour long shows featuring two amazing panels.

Part One featured comedian, writer and host of It is Rocket Science, Helen Keen, the museum curator's curator Professor Richard Fortey and the legend that is Sir Terry Pratchett.

Part Two starred the Natural History Museum's 'Fly Girl' Dr Erica McAlister, the magnificent Dave Gorman and former First Sea Lord and 'ruler of the Queen's Navy' Admiral Lord Alan West, Baron West of Spithead - a man who has the best after-dinner stories of anyone I've ever met.

The show was steered brilliantly as ever by our boss, the legendary Mr John Lloyd, and by Dan Schreiber taking his first ever turn in the curator's hotseat previously filled by Jimmy Carr, Bill Bailey, Dave Gorman, Humphrey Ker, Sean Lock and Jon Richardson.

The show - staged in the cathedral-like main hall and punctuated occasionally by roars from Dippy the Diplodocus - ran from 7.30pm to 10pm during which the audience was treated to tales of monstrous 2 metre long millipedes, Superman's desk ornaments, the prehistory of Discworld, parasitic flies, the man who ate the heart of a king, Darwin's pet tortoise, Naval slang, cursed lockets, nefarious goings-on inside a whale, flying stick insect eggs, the Piltdown cricket bat and the seaweed expert who was mistakenly sent to Bletchley Park but who, by a twist of fate, ended up helping us win the war. Fascnating, hilarious stuff in the tradition of The Museum of Curiosity and our sister show QI. And the audience seemed to love it.

At 10pm 'The Museum of Natural Curiosity', as we'd called the show, had to come to an end but we still had a few more treats for those who could stay a little longer. Scientist, comedian and TV presenter Simon Watt - best known for fronting Inside Nature's Giants - did a very funny set about why we should stick up for ugly animals that don't get the same love as pandas and other 'charismatic mega-vertebrates'. And then comedian and TV presenter Eric Lampaert of How to Survive a Disaster Movie gave us 10 minutes of bizarre but brilliant stand-up on the subject of early Man. The evening was the rounded off with 15 minutes of Q and A with John and a selection of the guests: Helen, Erica, Dave and Alan.

A wonderful evening spent with tremendous people. Will we do another one? I sincerely hope so.

Curioser and Curioser!

Some exciting news!

This year, I am officially one of the researchers for the fifth series of BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity.

Devised and produced by Dan Schreiber and Rich Turner, the show is hosted by QI supremo John Lloyd (above) and a guest curator. Three guests are invited onto the show to donate items to the museum that inspire curiosity and fascination. This has, so far, included the yeti, the death of Father Christmas, Spiderman, nothingness, the urge to press red buttons marked 'do not press', a walrus's penis bone, and God's wife.

Donators have included Sir Terry Pratchett, Jon Ronson, Philip Pullman, Clive James, Leigh Francis, David Eagleman, Neil Gaiman, Marcus Chown, Sarah Millican, Suggs, Professor Richard Wiseman, Brian Blessed, Alain de Botton, John Hodgman, and many many more from the worlds of science, literature, entertainment and academia. Each series has a different curator and, to date, the post has been held by Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Jon Richardson and Dave Gorman. This fifth season sees the appointment of Jimmy Carr, a regular on sister show QI and a very clever chap.

The show starts recording in a few weeks and will go out on the radio in the Autumn.