Legendary 80’s TV presenter, Johnny Ball, who has inspired thousands of people to take up careers in Engineering and Maths, is coming to Biggar to share his love of numbers and all things mathematical, and mathematics is the language of the universe. This highly entertaining show is not “teachy” and is suitable for everyone.

​Johnny Ball has been talking to adults and young people for over 40 years, mostly on Maths and Science, which all started in his TV days. For 12 years before that he was a successful comedian and his infectious humour pervades all his talking, teaching and illuminating of what are sometimes seen as “dry” and “difficult” subjects. He brings with him excitement, magic, inspiration and a great deal of fun and laughter.

Johnny will recount being shown Russian Multiplication when he was 8 years old in a pub, and explains how it links directly to ancient Egyptian Maths and the Binary System which enables all our communication devices today. He will mention Aristotle, who was rated an idiot by later mathematicians who wanted to burn all his books. He will feature Hippocrates who has been totally missed by a whole swathe of Maths academics, yet who was more important than Euclid. He’ll show how an accurate Greek measurement of the Earth’s size was ignored, causing Columbus to mis-name The West Indies.

Tickets £10 from the Biggar Science Festival website