Time I Met Brian Cox. 

So I've found that when it comes to Brian Cox there are two types of people; the people who love him and the people who hate him. There may be some people in the middle but I haven't found them yet. I am one of the people who loves him. 

I was lucky enough, through my dad's work and his general awesomeness, to go to the Royal Institution (RI) to be part of the audience for the filming of 'The Science Behind Doctor Who'... Now I'm a fan of Doctor Who, the first four seasons though, you can't just replace Donna with another sassy red head and change the Doctor at the same time (sorry Matt Smith) but I wasn't as interested in hearing whether Doctor Who could ever exist as I was to hear Brian Cox speak.

The Doctor and Brian Cox meet...

Because this is Brian Cox. The Brian Cox. The Brian Cox. The one who got me into astronomy and astrophysics in the first place! 

When it came to the evening we were going to the RI for the filming I was so excited I think my entire school probably knew that I was going. Wearing an ensemble of black boots, black jeans and a red tank top over which was hastily thrown the black blazer my mother had brought when I realised I wasn't dressed as formally as I needed to be, I entered the RI absolutely brimming with excitement. Everywhere there were scientists. I ended up being whisked away by a biologist who took me to meet this wonderfully insane chemist. While I feel awful that I can't remember his name, I most definitely remember his appearance: tall and lanky, wearing a slightly ruffled suit, with dark brown hair that stuck out of his head in wispy tuffs and a pair of huge glasses. He was juggling an iPad, a glass of red wine he nearly spilled on his clothes about three times, and two or three hors d'oeuvres of which I believe he managed to eat all three. As he was performing his marvellous trick of balancing an iPad and a wine glass in the same hand, he was excitedly telling me about membranes which form when water and oil mix and how we still don't know how proteins fold or why they fold or what tells them to fold but they still fold! He captured my attention for the next twenty minutes as he explained quick as the speed of light why I should take chemistry A level (if you are reading this, oh my brilliant acquaintance,  I am indeed doing Chemistry A level, though I doubt you would remember me). 

When we were called in to take our places for the filming I looked at the red cushy seat in front of me, not ten meters from the very spot where Brian Cox would be giving his lecture, and knew I would be on the edge of my seat. As we let the BBC set up and be professional, I started talking to a mathematician who later gave me his business card and said he would happily give a lecture at my school (something I still need to organise with the maths department a year on). 

After a BBC person in charge of filming had filmed us clapping and laughing, and clapping and laughing some more, they started to film. 

The entire experience was magical. 

The first thing that Brian did was begin his lines sounding like Sean Connery (making the audience burst out laughing) and the BBC to have to begin filming again. Then he went from explaining how time curved, to the search for alien life, back to time travel. We saw Dallas Campbell mess up an experiment before making various things explode to demonstrate Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Conduction. We saw Charles Dance revert to a school boy as, with nought but a pair of safety goggles to save himself from danger, he turned a bunsen burner flame red, green and blue to show the presence of different metal ions. We sent Rufus Hound into The Eye of Harmony (the black hole which powers the TARDIS in Doctor Who). 

(A hilarious side story is that when Brian said he needed an assistant, me being a school girl, my hand shot up in the air as I yelled in my head 'I volunteer as tribute!'. My dad then pulled my hand down, saying 'Don't be silly', and I realised my mistake as Brian then called
Dallas Campbel to the stage who had obviously been picked before hand as he was one of Brian's friends. However I do have a suspicion that Brian saw me stick my hand up. I still don't know whether to be embarrassed or proud.) 

After the entire talk had been run through, and Brian had blown out the candle he'd been using the read Faraday's notes for one of the Christmas Lectures, the BBC had to decide what they wanted to refilm for where things had gone wrong or they wanted a different angle. Brian turned to the audience and said 'Does any one have any questions?' 

My hand shot up like an arrow. 

He picked me. 

I stood up, my mother quietly encouraging me to stand while my father quietly told me to sit down, and said in a loud but shaky voice 'What advice would you give to someone aspiring to do physics and astrophysics at University?' 

As Brian repeated my question and then answered it, telling me how important and vital maths was, he looked at me the entire time addressing the answer to me. I honestly think my mouth was open in shock. Here was one of my idols, one of my stars, the person who I'd seen on the TV, talking to me and answering a question that I'd asked. He didn't just say 'Do maths' and move on. He spent about five minutes carefully running through why we needed more physicists and how important it was to be a physicist and how maths was vital for that role. 

The rest of the filming was a rush for me. I leaned forward in my seat as if it was possibly for the words Brian was saying to diffuse into my skin if I tilted towards him enough. 

After the filming we took photos with the TARDIS (I believe it was the one used for filming on Doctor Who) I wanted to hang around. I'd been saying to some scientists before the lecture began how much I wanted to meet Brian and was hoping they'd pull through with something, as they'd told me they'd see what they could do. My parents, having convinced me there would be other opportunities and that it was getting late, were walking down the stairs with me when one of the scientists leaned over the bannister and yelled to me "Sophie! Do you want to meet Brian?" 

My response, I believe, was "Hell, yes!" as I sprinted back up the stairs and followed the scientist to the lecture theatre the talk had taken place in, my parents trailing behind us. As my mum handed me my copy of 'Why Does E=mc²' (which yes had been bought that day, but I proceeded to read with vigour) and the cover of my Force and Motion notes from Physics class (on which Isaac Newton sat proud) a boy about age eleven asked Brian why the speed of light was what it was (the speed of light being 299,792,458 m/s). As Brian replied that it was one of physics great mysteries all I could think was 'Oh God, I don't have a question like that for him to seem smart, I just want him to sign Isaac Newton's face!'

When he turned to me and said hi, before happily taking my book and notes cover to sign, he said "Good question by the way." This only helped increase my stuttering as I told him how inspirational he was to me and how he helped me get into astrophysics and how much I loved 'Wonders of the Solar System'. 

As he scribbled on my book he said 'So are you at university?'

I shook my head.

"A levels?"

I shook my head, then remembered I had the power of speech at my disposal. "No, GCSEs. But I'm thinking scientific A levels."

We talked a bit more as he signed my notes cover, adding at the bottom, with a smily face, a note which said 'Keep up the maths!'

Brian's Signature on my Force and Motion notes

Brian's Signature on 'Why does E=mc²?'

I thanked him profusely and left with my family, screeching first internally, then externally as I realised that I had just met Brian Cox. Even the thrill of walking passed Charles Dance was dimmed by such a realisation. As I hugged my dad he said good humouredly 'Oh, what have I done? She's gone to the dark side.' (I used to want to do A levels of French, Spanish, Latin and Ancient Greek. Much more to his liking than Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths. But that's a story for another time.)

So here I am, almost a year later. Doing Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths with aspirations of reading astrophysics at Cambridge.

So Brian, if you ever read this, I kept up the maths :).