Update 7/12: More names added – Eddie Izzard, Stewart Lee, Jo Brand, Richard Herring, Mark Gatiss, Amy Hoggard, Lawrence Leung and Ariane Sherrine, actors Kevin Eldon, Donna Lynne Champlin and Joel McHale, broadcasters Claudia Hammond and Helen Zaltzman, author Nikesh Shukla, climate scientist Tamsin Edwards, Antarctic zoologist Alexandra Dodds, singer-songwriters Zahara, Robyn Hitchcock, Charlotte Church and Diesel, archaeologist Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes, psychologist Bruce Hood, poet Ankita Saxena and there will also be some big name surprise guests throughout the show.
Update 19/11: The following have now been added to the line-up. Apollo 9 Lunar Module pilot Rusty Schweickart and fellow astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, Python Eric Idle, musician Nitin Sawhney, Australian music legends Delta Goodrem and Jimmy Barnes, comedians Shaun Micallef, Kiri Pritchard McLean and Milton Jones, actors Rachel House, Jessica McNamee, Eve Lindley and Reece Shearsmith, anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts, chemist Professor Andrea Sella and writer and performance artist Keisha Thompson.
Robin Ince’s annual variety night Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People is going online this year, once again mashing up science, comedy, music and more.
With this year’s shows in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh now unable to go ahead those clever people at The Cosmic Shambles Network were determined to come up with a marvellously unique alternative for everyone desperate for their annual fix of science, comedy and music.
They have hence decided to cram every little bit of creativity and curiosity from those shows into one phenomenal 24 hour show running from midday on 12th December to midday on 13th December (And yes, it will probably still overrun!).
Robin Ince will be there to host this blockbuster of a show for the full 24 hours and audiences will be able to watch live either online from the comfort of their own home or in limited, socially-distanced numbers at King’s Place itself (Government guidance permitting), Nine Lessons’ London Home. Robin will be joined by a variety of live in person co-hosts including Helen Czerski, Josie Long and Bec Hill and their guests will be joining them either live at King’s Place or virtually.
Among the myriad of guests on board already are Professor Brian Cox, Chris Hadfield, Helen Sharman, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Jim Al-Khalili, Sharon D Clarke, Tanita Tikaram, Rachel Parris, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ben Goldacre, Chris Jackson, Isy Suttie and many, many more. The show will also include a dedicated family hour.
Ince says: “We have been putting on science variety shows every Christmas for nearly 15 years now – with guests from Chris Hadfield to The Cure - part of the festivities have been watching a chemist accidentally spilling sulphuric acid on stage and cosmology being explained via experimental jazz. Of all the live events that have been cancelled this year, this is the one I feel saddest to lose - so we won't lose it - we are corralling scientists, astronauts, comedians, musicians and people with lasers from all around the world, from every continent.
During the 24 hours The Network are intending to cross to every continent on Earth at some point and will also be encouraging audience members to take part in some great experiments , actual scientific research, interactive events and competitions running throughout the show.
The livestream will be free to watch but donations will be encouraged and profits from the show will be shared between charities Turn2Us, Doctors Without Borders, Mind: for Better Mental Health as well as the Kings Place charity. A crowdfunder for the show, containing a number of unique and exclusive rewards for donating can be found at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/ninelessons
