Saturday Afternoon at the Festival

 I've been enjoying the podcast Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, so I was keen to go to the free event at the Festival.  This time I was prepared for the crowds - I took a small folding stool along, and positioned myself outside the packed out marquee where I could hear everything but not see the stage (so, just like radio, then!).  The subject was Demeter, and Natalie Haynes took us through the original myth of Persephone, in which Zeus and Hades are far more creepy than later versions.  Also, bonus first named female comedian in history (or myth), Iambe, who tells jokes until Demeter can smile again.

Later in the marquee, there was a broadcast of You're Dead to Me, the history podcast.

I wandered off afterwards in search of something to drink, and ended up paying £4.50 for a half of cider (Festival Ferret from the Festival Bar) but at least I got to keep the decorative plastic glass.

I also bought a three pack of beer from Woofy's Brewery near Ross-on-Wye - they've brewed a special limited edition amber ale for the Festival, called Bibliophile, which I'm drinking now, and it's very pleasant.  I have yet to try the porter and the IPA.

Then I wandered round the stalls for a while (and had a Shepherds ice cream) until it was time for the event I had a ticket for - Stephen Moffat, Lucy Caldwell and Rob Appleby in conversation.  I didn't catch the name of the moderator of the panel, but I think he was from Comma Press, who published Collison: stories from the science of CERN.  The idea behind the book was to pair a writer with a scientist at CERN.  The scientist would tell the writer about the theories they were working on, and the writer would then write a short story about it.  Stephen Moffat and Lucy Caldwell were two of the writers involved, and Rob Appleby is one of the astrophysicists, and they talked about visiting CERN.  Lucy compared living there to some of the work she's been doing with young women who have vocations to enclosed monastic orders in Ireland - the living quarters being like monastic cells, and the sense of devotion to something greater than themselves.  They also talked about scientists who have spent their entire careers in one area of research - and if they succeed in making a breakthrough, they're likely to get a Nobel prize, but they also might spend 30 years working in obscurity, without discovering any new theories about the universe.  

Stephen Moffat read a portion of his story based on the theory of dark matter, about a person who had been wiped out of existence - in fact, had never existed at all - and added at the end that, if we'd paid a bit more for tickets, we could have got Peter Capaldi to read it!  Lucy Caldwell's reading was also based on the theory of dark matter, and involved a scientist going home to his family in Belfast.

Rob Appleby pointed out that all the scientific endeavour over the last few hundred years has led to us (as a species) learning about 5% of all matter in the universe.  There's 95% of stuff out there that we really know very little about, and that includes dark matter.  He seemed quite excited by this thought, as it means we have so much yet to discover.

It was a really interesting discussion, and it seems that Comma Press may be doing more similar collaborations in the future.