In My Own Time - Gregor Steele

Physics education officer with Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre
27th January 2012, 12:00am

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In My Own Time - Gregor Steele

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/my-own-time-gregor-steele

Books

- I’ve just finished And the Land Lay Still by James Robertson. In my opinion, it’s his best so far. People will be reading his books 200 years from now, not just for their literary merit but for the insight they will give into the way we lived in the early part of the 21st century. I read a lot of havers about polismen too. Karen Campbell is a crime writer I’ve recently come across, though I don’t think she deserves the “havers” tag.

TV and radio

- I don’t know any scientists who watch The Big Bang Theory and don’t find it hilarious, and I’m no exception. Mind you, I worked with a biologist who insisted it was a documentary. At the moment, my guilty pleasure is a box set of 24. As a pinko small-L liberal, I hate myself for enjoying it. I never miss I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue or Just a Minute on the radio.

Film

- My all-time favourite film is Gregory’s Girl. Most films get schools badly wrong. Having trouble with your class? Whip out an electric guitar and 10 minutes later they’ll respect you, plan a performance of your symphony and form a Dead Physicists Society. Gregory’s Girl is still fresh three decades on. Having a cameo by the wonderful Chic Murray is a bonus.

Music

- I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of the three-minute, three-chord rock number. Ever since Alice Cooper’s School’s Out played me into high school (it was cruelly released at the beginning of the English holidays and thus reached number one at the end of the Scottish summer break), I’ve been a sucker for that sort of thing. Lately I’ve come over all prog-rocky, but any drum solo longer than 30 seconds has me pressing the skip button.

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