Heard the one about the blood donor scheme for bats…? - April 2 - 11.44am - 2022

Richard Dawkins discusses his new book ‘Flights of Fancy’

There were many insults but the one I liked best was “I would have you burned alive but I’m a Christian…”. Not that this was shouted out by an indignant member of the audience but rather read out loud by Dawkins himself after interviewer Matthew Stadlen presented him with some of the most abusive remarks made recently about him online. Dawkins is of course one of the world’s leading experts on evolution, author of such bestselling books as The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion. I liked him. I only mention this because having listened many times before to him, I’d always found him a tad curt and acerbic. But today, while not exactly ‘cuddly’, he was likeable and engagingly warm. Here to publicise his latest book ‘Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution’, he was both fascinating and insightful. For instance, his description of those scientists on the International Space Station who seem to ‘fly’ through their tasks was given a deliciously fresh perspective when he pointed out that they weren’t in fact weightless (due to still being close enough to Earth to be affected by its gravity) but rather “permanently in free fall around the Earth”. A gorgeous revelation to set the brain reeling. And if that weren’t enough, while focusing on Vampire bats for a minute or two, we learned, reassuringly I assume, that “human altruism goes further than bat altruism.” Fun and crowd pleasing, this was a great event with which to mark the final day of the festival.