Hi there, I'm Brady Harron. Welcome back to the NumberFile podcast where today's guest is Simon Singh.

Some of you may know Simon from our NumberFile videos, usually as the guy talking about mathematics in the

Simpsons TV show he's written a whole book on the topic but Simon's equally well

known for best-selling books about for Mar's Last Theorem code breaking the Big Bang he's

been a filmmaker for the BBC where he, what I reckon is the definitive documentary

about Andrew Wiles' proof of Femar's Last Theorem.

And if that's not enough, Simon's also worked as a physicist at CERN,

and he found himself sued for defamation in a court case that changed the legal landscape in Britain.

These days, Much of Simon's focus is on mathematics education.

He wants to shake up the way it's taught in British schools, and we'll be talking about that later on.

But first, let's talk about money. So Simon, when I told people I was

coming to meet you today, lots of people know who you are, mathematical people, but people who didn't

know who you were, the thing I told them that impressed them most was that he's on this committee

that's going to decide whose face is going to be on the

new British 50-pound note. How did you end up on that committee? That sounds amazing.

I have no idea. No idea. I'm pretty excited about it too. So every so often we change our money,

and I think there's a big push at the moment for plastic money in order to increase security. And I guess with

the 50-pound note, you want a really secure 50-pound note. And so they've decided it's going to be

a science-y-type person. And there are a few of us that have been brought together. I'm hugely

honored to be part of that committee. And it's going to be fun and interesting. And I think we've

had a record number of suggestions from the public, of scientists from the past, right up to people who've recently passed away

like Stephen Hawking. To be on the 50-pound note, you need to be deceased and you need to be a real

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