Stuart Jeffries on Brian Cox
"Even particle physicists have to watch their mass."
- Stuart Jeffries, writing in the Guardian
We're not sure if physicist and TV star Professor Brian Cox has gone galactic yet, but here in the UK he is shaping up to be the new Stephen Hawking and Elvis rolled into one. Stuart Jeffries, the regular Guardian columnist, recently had lunch with the rising science communication superstar and talked to him about fame, whether the BBC was spending too much public money flying him to exotic filming locales and why stodgy Northern food might not be the best menu choice for the telegenic waistline.
It's an interesting read - among other things, Cox talks about the tension between wanting to showcase the grand nature of his universal themes without descending into melodrama or cliché, and despairs that he cannot put critics of his TV style in their places the way he could with a dissenting academic researcher. Do take a look.