SEXY SCIENCE WITH TV DOC IN THE BORO!

Dr Christian Jessen from TV’s Embarrassing Bodies gave an impassioned keynote speech to launch the first official Peterborough Science Festival.

Peterborough Regional College (PRC) joined University Centre Peterborough (UCP), Thomas Deacon Academy (TDA) and Aim Higher to organise the event which included workshops designed to make science sexy.

And Dr Christian gave the festival a rousing start by highlighting how science touches every aspect of our lives in his keynote address at TDA on Monday March 7.

The celebrity doc also attended a number of exciting workshops that had been prepared by staff and students, including a ‘don’t try this at home’ experiment by PRC Scientist, Dr Jonathan Majewicz.

Dr Jonathan wowed onlookers when he successfully drove away his Land Rover – run on chip fat.

At a press conference attended by science students and journalism students at PRC, Dr Christian told of how he desired to become a theatre director.

With a family obsessed with science and who considered a career in the arts a frivolous one, Dr Christian eventually moved into medicine.

He told the audience how he developed an interest in chemistry and biology, but confessed to being poor at maths and physics – something that was a source of embarrassment to him as his father was a physicist.

As many Embarrassing Bodies viewers know, Dr Christian is a HIV and sexual health specialist.

He told the festival audience: “I enjoy being a doctor because I like the humanity and communication with my patients.”

Asked if he would go on Embarrassing Bodies himself, Dr Christian replied: “No!”

He said: “People come on the show because they feel they can trust us. They feel they know us. It’s a bit like someone who relates to a soap opera character.”

On landing the Embarrassing Bodies job Dr Christian said: “I was in the right place at the right time.”

Although he is now a TV celebrity, he still finds time for his clinic work, two days a week as “it’s nice to be away from the cameras”.

The Peterborough Science Festival hopes to be the first of many annual science festivals. Hosted on Monday 7^th – Friday 11^th March 2011, the festival aims to provide Peterborough students with an exciting lead up to the National Science Week running the week after.

By Samantha Kohter, Abigail Ferrell and Amy Rutter