The Museum Of Curiosity. John Lloyd. Copyright: BBC
The Museum Of Curiosity

The Museum Of Curiosity

  • Radio panel show
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2007 - 2023
  • 106 episodes (17 series)

Radio panel show in which John Lloyd and his curators try to fill up their museum with curious objects. Also features Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Jon Richardson, Dave Gorman, Jimmy Carr and more.

Episode menu

Gallery 17, Episode 5 - Meeting One Hundred And Five

John Lloyd and Anna Ptaszynski are joined by physicist and advocate for women in STEM Dr. Jessica Wade, journalist Isabel Hardman and retired police detective sergeant-turned-comedian Alfie Moore.

Further details

Alfie Moore, a man who prior to becoming a stand-up comedian worked as a police officer for 20 years, dealing with among other issues a man who called up to complain about seeing an object as bright as the Moon, which turned out to be... the Moon, offers up a CHIS: a covert human intelligence source. This is the modern name for an informant, aka a stoolpigeon, and the police appear to be the only people who like them despite the fact they help solving crime, thus making us safer.

Jessica Wade, a research fellow in physics at Imperial College London, an author of books for adults and children, and creator of hundreds of articles on Wikipedia about forgotten scientists donates a raman spectrometer. It is a tool that shines a laser on a molecule or material which makes all the bonds in it vibrate. This can be used to tell what is in the material exactly.

Isabel Hardman, the assistant editor of The Spectator, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Week In Westminster, author, and a woman who has used excerise to help her PTSD, provides a bee orchid (Ophrys apifera), one of a genus of orchid which has evolved to mimic certain insects. Not only does a bee orchid look like a bee, it is furry and smells like a bee too.

Broadcast details

Date
Monday 20th March 2023
Time
6:30pm
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Sunday 26th March 2023 12:00pm Radio 4
Monday 27th March 2023 10:00pm Radio 4 Extra

Catch-up

Cast & crew

Cast
John Lloyd Host / Presenter
Anna Ptaszynski Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Jessica Wade Guest
Isabel Hardman Guest
Alfie Moore Guest
Writing team
Jade Gebbie Writer
Cameron Loxdale Writer
Production team
Sam Holmes Producer
Leying Lee Producer
Mike Turner Researcher
Lydia Mizon Researcher
Mandy Fenton Researcher
David Thomas Sound Designer

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