Marty Jopson: Big Bang Man

“I would be happy to meet,” writes Marty Jopson. “We can blow a couple of things up if you want, or just chat. Whatever takes your fancy.”

Blow a couple of things up? With this, Jopson has surely put himself in contention for the best ever response to an interview request.

Walking into George Square, you would never guess that the unassuming, slightly wild-haired man sitting on a bench is something of a TV star; watched by 5 million viewers every week on BBC’s The One Show. Jopson’s official title is "technology reporter", although he refers to himself as "the science bloke". He is Edinburgh for three weeks with Inventions Going Bang – an historical tour of explosive and implosive inventions, from the ancient Greeks right up until the modern day.

“If I could invent anything right now, it’s be a machine to automatically hand out flyers for my show,” Jopson says, looking pained. “Because I’m terrible at it. I’m far too polite and I hate to bother people.”

He is keen to point out, thought, that he is not an inventor. “I describe myself as a science communicator, because that’s the only title that covers all three of my income streams.” Those three areas are his extensive work in television, both behind and in front of the camera; his prop building for television programmes and museums; and his live performances and workshops.

“The live stuff, like I’m doing in Edinburgh, is the most fun, because there’s such an immediacy about it, there are people in front of you responding right away. My favourite thing to do at the moment is setting fire to my hand with gun cotton (nitrocellulose). It’s a great demonstration because the crowd loves it, and the jeopardy is genuine, there’s a real risk that I’ll burn my hand.”

“Sometimes the props don’t work, they fall apart, and that’s awful. I don’t think there’s an equivalent in other kinds of show – if you’re a comedian and you’re dying on stage it’s usually because your jokes aren’t good enough. If a scientific prop doesn’t work, it’s not often my fault, it’s just the nature of the thing.”

Despite this risk, Jopson is adamant that his self-built props (which he describes as being “made of wood, bits of plastic, gaffer tape, nails and string”) are an important factor in making science accessible. “If you can demonstrate something using everyday objects, it’s immediately more understandable. You can focus on explaining the harder bits, rather than spending a long time explaining the equipment that you’re using.”

The two other things that he believes are crucial to making science less mysterious are using the right language, and having a positive attitude. “People get scared of scientific words, which I think is wrong. Kids are used to hearing new words all the time. All it ever needs is someone who takes the time to explain the meaning of a new word clearly, and that gives people the confidence to use it. You don’t need to over simplify or patronise anyone, but nor should you try and dress science up as something difficult and mysterious, because then that’s what people will expect it to be.

"We don’t apologise for complexity of economics or politics; we just assume people will step up and make the effort that’s needed to understand them. Science is no different. Even the most ridiculously complicated quantum physics is something you can explain to an audience of eight year olds or fourteen year olds, if you take your time and break it down.”

This is sensible reasoning, and Jopson takes care to practice what he preaches. His enthusiasm is hugely infectious. “Liquid oxygen is blue. How cool is that?!” he gushes. “A beautiful shade of sky blue. I love playing with liquefied gases!” I find myself nodding away and grinning at the thought of it, despite not knowing what the heck he’s on about.

Throughout the interview he continues to drop in little snippets of information that are memorable, interesting, and entirely unscary – even for someone with as little science background as me.

“If you’re going to cut your toast up, you should cut it into square quarters,” he says. “Because if it slips off your plate, the physics of falling toast means it’s more likely to land butter side up. If a large piece of toast falls, because of rotational dynamics, it’ll land butter side down, but if you cut it up, it rotates more quickly and lands butter side up.” 

Unfortunately, Jopson has a radio interview to do, so there is not time for him to blow anything up as promised. He does, however, spend a good twenty minutes with a blowtorch and some spray bottles, creating some beautiful multicoloured flames for Fest’s photographer, and drawing quite a crowd in George Square. If that small taster is anything to go by, Inventions Going Bang will be a real treat.