Private Passions

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Music

Summary

Michael Berkeley's guests discuss their lives and talk about the influence music has had on their lives

Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Summary

Michael Berkeley is joined by space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, an authority on telescopes and space imaging who was part of Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope team. .She is also a passionate science communicator and a familiar face on TV screens as co-presenter of The Sky at Night. Here she talks about her life and career and picks pieces by Bach, Dvorak and Purcell, as well as music inspired by the Moon and distant planets

Review

Anna Jones

It’s not surprising that watching the TV coverage of the Apollo missions might have inspired the young viewers of more than half a century ago to take an interest in space — but whistling mice and grown men and women dressed in clinging man-made fabrics is another matter.

Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock rightly has no shame in telling Michael Berkeley that the Clangers and Star Trek were catalysts in her decision to become an astronomer. The co-presenter of The Sky at Night is now the go-to voice when media outlets want someone to make sense of inter-galactic developments. She has proved herself to be a skilled science communicator, so it’s refreshing to hear her share her passion for music.

There’s Bach, Dvorak and Purcell, but also selections inspired by the Moon and the planets.