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Free-thinking Brian is not one for playing by the rules when it comes to science
"People have often told me I should have gone in to politics, but I never wanted to," said Brian Ford as we sat chatting in the living room of his home in Eastrea, near Whittlesey.
"People have often told me I should have gone in to politics, but I never wanted to," said Brian Ford as we sat chatting in the living room of his home in Eastrea, near Whittlesey."People have often told me I should have gone in to politics, but I never wanted to," said Brian Ford as we sat chatting in the living room of his home in Eastrea, near Whittlesey.
Although we haven't been talking long, it's easy to see why politics wouldn't have suited him: he has spent his life challenging accepted ideas and is probably one of the last people in the world to tow an agreed political line.
Brian was educated at King's School, in Peterborough, and went on to study biology at Cardiff University where he quickly became dissatisfied with the direction science was taking.
"Information you are given at school and university is not always accurate," he says, "yet there's trouble if you point that out. I came to the conclusion that the academic world exists to create enthusiasm in its students about a state of current knowledge, but that it's a bad system for teaching you to discover things for yourself.
"Innovations are done by independent people, not universities: wherever you look it's true. I've always been excited by pursuing entirely new areas and asking questions no one has ever thought of: virgin snow research, which no one has tackled before."
In one sense this approach is not dissimilar to that of the early 20th-century explorers of the Arctic and Antarctic, whose spirit of adventure drove them to face all kinds of dangers in order to be able to find information about the world that was quite unique.
Brian has, in fact, visited the Arctic, although not as an explorer. Travel is one of his passions, and he's been round the world twice.
But then his interests are exceptionally diverse. After leaving university he secured a job at the Medical Research Council for three years, then became a science columnist for the South West Echo, moving to work for the BBC in 1962.
Once established in the broadcasting world he quickly launched two of his own programmes – Science Now and Where Are You Taking Us? – as well as presenting Food For Thought and hosting Computer Challenge, the first television computer games show.
Broadcasting is the area he is best known for, and his ability to find themes that capture the imagination of the public is one of the hallmarks of his work.
Look at the titles of the television programmes he made in 2007 – Weird Weapons Of World War Two, Behind The Da Vinci Code, Great Dictators, Is She Really Going Out With Him? – and you'll see what I mean.
His books demonstrate the same populist attributes. Allied Secret Weapons was published in 1967, and more recent works include Patterns Of Sex, BSE : The Facts, Sensitive Souls and The Cult Of The Expert.
"When I researched Allied Secret Weapons I was lucky enough to be given access to wartime science archives in East Berlin and England," he says.
" The most astounding thing I realised was the tremendous speed with which scientific discoveries were made during the war. New scientific developments were a priority, and money and resources were poured into creating them.
“It makes you wonder what life would be like if that same level of urgency about science existed all the time.”
His book Sensitive Souls attacks the theory that human beings are superior to other living things.
“All forms of life have their own languages that we are usually completely unaware of,” Brian explains. “Plants may not feel pain in the ‘ow’ way we do, but they have senses and instincts we know very little about and can send messages to each other remarkably fast.
“If a parasite lands on one side of a wood, for example, trees on the opposite side will change their metabolism to resist it, because they’ve received a message through the roots of the trees being attacked.
“Even single cells have remarkable levels of intelligence. They can heal themselves, fly, swim, and build homes. Biologists often look at small parts of cells, but I’m far more interested in how whole cells relate and behave as organisms.”
Has his individualism in scientific research made him feel isolated? “Not really, because I’m friendly with so many people in the scientific world. It’s never simple working on your own though. Academics are well funded and have far more security.”
It’s not a surprise to find that Brian’s IQ is at genius level and that he’s served as the director of Mensa twice .“Mind you,” he comments, “testing IQ levels is just a way of judging whether you’re good at IQ tests; it doesn’t stop people behaving like blithering idiots.”
He says he’s never been bored and is bemused that his life has always been so busy, yet it’s obvious that he is always initiating new theories and has a vast range of contacts and connections which help him present his ideas to the public.
This vitality and drive keeps him vibrantly alive and unafraid of being controversial, although many would agree with his view that the National Curriculum is uninspiring, that its overwhelming emphasis is to pass exams, and that this at the cost of not teaching pupils to think for themselves.
Brian was 70 last month and this year marks the 50th anniversary of his first regular column in a newspaper, the 40th anniversary of his first book being published and the 30th anniversary of his first round-the-world-lecture tour.
He has a life crammed with interests, yet some aspects of his personality are contradictory. Despite his love of travel, he’s happiest being in Eastrea with his family. Despite his ambitious work schedule he thinks that having kids is the most exciting thing you can achieve.
Much of his work has been home based, giving him time to help bring up his six children; and he’s deeply involved with local issues, breaking off our interview twice to answer phone calls about a campaign to build a village hall.
As I leave he tells me that the BBC will be round in half an hour to film an interview about this subject, but although he clearly knows how to make things happen, he doesn’t recommend everyone being like him.
“I’d advise most people just to enjoy themselves as much as they can in what is a very difficult world,” he said, showing for the first time a darker side to his character.
“When you come up with new scientific ideas everyone rubbishes them at first, and it’s an uphill struggle to be taken seriously. It’s a paradox that the more you find out, the more questions it raises, which is why I wouldn’t want to live to be older than 100. One thing I’ve learnt is that you can discover questions far faster than you can discover answers.”
n For more information about Brian Ford or to find out more about his books, visit www.brianjford.com
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