Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1996, and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My cost away this week is a scientist, a brilliant student he became an Oxford professor at the age of 35,

from which position he's ever since commanded enormous influence through his

research and through the way he's tried to communicate the world of science to the public at large.

His main work has been concerned with the workings of the human brain.

He views mankind as no more than another animal species, but that hasn't endeared him to animal rights activists

who frequently attack him for his experiments. A prolific author, recipient of many

awards and the next president of the British Association, he says modestly, I like doing experiments,

I have a feel for it, but I know lots of people cleverer than I am.

He is Colin Blakenmore.

You make it sound rather simple Colin as if it's just as kind of knack you have.

Is it as simple as that?

Well actually I think doing science is not something that's easily learned.

I think you either have it or you haven't the ability to go into an

experiment and fiddle around and somehow come out with an answer. Is that an element of

luck in there then? I think there is but also an element of a particular way of

thinking about problems problems a knack for

knowing how things ought to be somehow. But at the same time you're often spoken of

as some kind of genius and I don't want to diminish your reputation in any way but do you think that's partly because we allow ourselves to be blinded by science so that if we find if we come across somebody like you who not only knows about it but can talk about it and make it feel accessible,

somehow we feel you must be incredibly clever.

Yes I don't think you'd find many scientists who'd call me a genius, I'm a very ordinary

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