Quentin Cooper (born 1961,

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

) is a science journalist and facilitator, who presented BBC Radio 4's '' Material World'' from 2000 to 2013. He speaks at science festivals and lectures, and works regularly with science and educational organisations such as the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Early life

Cooper attended

Wintringham school Oasis Academy Wintringham is a secondary school (academy) on Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. It is just off the A16 road (England), A16 Peaks Parkway just south-west of the A46 road, A46 crossroads next to the Lisle ...

in Grimsby, studied for a BSc in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism Studies at University College Cardiff.

Career

Broadcasting

At BBC

Radio Scotland Radio Scotland was an offshore pirate radio station broadcasting on 1241 kHz mediumwave (242 metres), created by Tommy Shields in 1965. The station was on the former lightship L.V. ''Comet'', which had been fitted out as a radio station in ...

, in Glasgow, Cooper worked as a producer in News and Current Affairs, and youth programmes such as ''Bite the Wax'', presented by

Armando Iannucci Armando Giovanni Iannucci (; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer, and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of ...

, then ''Hit The North'' which first united Mark and Lard aka Mark Radcliffe and

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...

for Radio 5 in Manchester. Moving to London he produced arts programmes, and presented ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when v ...

'', and a range of arts, entertainment, technology and science programmes across Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5Live and World Service. He was a film critic for 5Live then for Radio 2's Parkinson's Sunday Supplement. Cooper presented the series ''Science Fix'' for BBC Four and ''New Scientist Reports'' for

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

Quentin Cooper (interviewing two of the original Clangers)

From 1999 to 2013 he presented '' Material World'' on Radio 4. Described by the Radio Times as "the most accessible, funny and conversational science programme on radio" and by

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...

as "quite the best thing on radio", in the 2011 BBC Trust review of impartiality and accuracy of the BBC's coverage of science it was singled out for "particular praise". Cooper is an occasional presenter of the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

discussion programme '' The Forum'', and interviewer on the Transplant Links Community podcast.

Science communication

An advisor to many national and international science organisations and festivals and host of numerous recurring and one-off events and conferences, in 2011 he was given an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

, in 2012 he was the first radio presenter to be made an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

, and in 2013 the

awarded him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in recognition of his "major contribution to the public understanding of science and engineering".

Publications

In October 1994, he co-wrote ''Maypoles, Martyrs, and Mayhem: 366 days of British customs, myths and eccentricities'' () with Paul Sullivan, an

almanac An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other ...

of British customs, myths and beliefs across the year, described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as a "'A perfectly conceived compendium of culture' It was serialised by the

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

Cooper occasionally writes for national newspapers, and has been a columnist for publications including the ''

Fortean Times ''Fortean Times'' is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing (from 1991 to 2001), I Feel Good Publishing (2001 to 2005), Dennis Publishing (2005 to 2 ...

'', the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' and the now defunct international BBC site BBC Future

Personal life

On 26 September 2009, he married Suba Subramaniam at St Dunstan's church in

Monks Risborough Monks Risborough is a village and ecclesiastical parish in Buckinghamshire, England, lying between Princes Risborough and Great Kimble. The village lies at the foot of the northern scarp of the Chiltern Hills. It is south of the county to ...

, Buckinghamshire. She is a choreographer and artistic director of Sadhana Dance, as well as an education director for

Cape Farewell, UK Cape Farewell is an artist led organisation that works to create an urgent cultural response to climate change. Launched by David Buckland in 2001 with a series of ground-breaking artist and scientist manned expeditions to the Arctic, Cape Farewe ...

, an organisation which brings together artists, scientists and schoolchildren to help explore and tackle problems relating to climate change.

References

External links

BBC Radio 4's ''Material World'' (with audio archive of programmes)

''Connect''

Connect archive

Article by Quentin Cooper on Cape Farewell
*
His father

BBC Trust Review

Video clips

Presenting at the 2007 Cheltenham Festival of Science

News items

His wedding in September 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Quentin 1961 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English radio personalities People from Grimsby British science journalists Living people BBC Radio 4 presenters