Questions of science, science and progress.... Yeah doing a Phd doesn't really allow time for hobbies. Most of my spare time is spent shopping or eating or drinking or sleeping. Yes I am a boring, materialistic person!
Sir David Attenborough and Bill Oddie. They rule. Also like to meet Damon Albarn again of course. Erm various politicians so I can make them see sense! The other people I would like to meet are mostly dead though like Einstein, Darwin, George Braque, John Peel, the Woolly Mammouth, the sabre tooth tiger (!!) etc etc
It's indie rock 'n' roll for meeeeee!!! Yeah that pretty much sums it up. I love my guitar music though unfortunately I can't play a guitar. I should really learn one day. Maybe I can learn when I am an old lady and be a groovy granny in a band and play the local bingo hall! My favourite band are Blur. I love the fact that every album has a unique sound. They don't remain stationary and stuck in a rut like some bands and aren't afraid to experiment with new sounds. As they have grown up and musically diversified so have I. Parklife was the first album I bought and I still love it now as much as I did when I bought it. Can't wait for the new album, I am intrigued as to what it will sound like. Also loving the side projects as you can see from my pics with Damon's new band (apart from Alex James in Wigwam, what were you thinking?!)
I like depressing movies like The Green Mile and The Road To Perdition and The Shawshank Redemption is good. I love Tom Hanks. I think Pirates of the Carribean was excellent too and that is more upbeat. I'm not really a big movie person. Sad as it sounds, I just prefer to watch documentaries. I like to learn about the real world rather than fictional characters as it has more relevance. If you watch a crap film you feel cheated of a couple of hours of your life but watch a documentary and you never feel cheated if you have learnt something new. I would much rather watch Planet Earth or something like that more than most films!
I love trashy TV (Apprentice, BB, Desperate Housewives etc)!! I also love watching Newsnight and Panorama and Diapatches and Horizon though and any natural history or nature programmes like Planet Earth which was excellent.
OK this is where I show my complete ignorance and stupidity and subject myself to being lynched. I don't really read books much as I don't have time so I don't have a true favourite book. Maybe 1984, that is a good book. When I am older maybe I will go back to reading more again but at the moment I will just remain ignorant and spend my time staring at people on the tube rather than reading a book!!
Charles Darwin. I share my birthday with him which is maybe why I chose Biology as a degree and now I am studying in the Darwin building at UCL. Fate huh?! Other heroes...lots of people are heroic whether they are famous or just someone in the background making a difference that may not really be recognised the way it should be. Lots of scientists never get the recognition that they deserve and that is true of other professions also. It is only the people who shout loudest that get heard. I think a hero is just anyone who has the courage to go with their convictions and believe in something enough to make a contribution to society and to life as we know it and increase our knowledge and understanding of the world and ourselves and our existence whether that contribution is measured as big or small.