Monday, 2 October 2023 Contact us

WELCOME TO THE QUANTUM WORLD OF GROUPIES… 11.00AM

Sir Roger Penrose - black holes - quantum everything

So Sir Roger Penrose is very highly spoken of…
Not only is he one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists but, according to a woman I met while queueing to get in to the Sheldonian (and I’d estimate she was in her fifties), he’s very charismatic too (I wouldn’t have called her a ‘groupie’ but I’d swear I later saw her touching up her lippy in the front row).
Anyway, suffice to say, I was impressed by her obvious adoration, so looked forward to picking up a few tips. And with a talk whose title included in its first four words ‘Fashion, Faith and Fantasy…’ I saw plenty of opportunity to do so.
Suffice to say it was a packed house for a packed brain; a brain whose size if measured would stretch from outside Debenhams to the farthest known reaches of the universe.
And gratifyingly, the audience was not only made up of ageing groupies but an entire alphabet of of ages and backgrounds, from someone who looked four to someone who could easily have qualified as ‘Father Time’.
As it happens I read a book Sir Roger wrote when I was a teenager all about Black Holes and what I didn’t understand then I still don’t understand now but who cares - it was, and is, fascinatingly beautiful and poetic.
“Quantum” this and ‘Quantum” that were bandied around with gay abandon but I did manage to understand a few of the ‘in-science’ jokes.
A brilliant, brilliant speaker and a perfect way to kick off the festival.
I loved it (thought I still can’t understand “Quantum gravity”).

FT Weekend Title partner University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme BBC World Service International radio partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Supporters of the festival green room Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme The Feathers Hotel Woodstock festival hotel John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Emily Rose and James Marrow Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson George Warren Pank Koria CEO of Project People Lucian Hudson Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Marlene Hauser Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner TORVA Books which change you, your mind, your world Transworld Doubleday Doubleday Bantam Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily The Oxford Times Regional media partner BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford Critchleys Accountants to the festival The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford Brookes University Siren Communications Siren Communications - corporate consultants OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Chêne Bleu Wines of Provence La Leccia Flip through Flanders Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society The Wild Geese

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

FT Weekend Title partner University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme BBC World Service International radio partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Supporters of the festival green room Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme The Feathers Hotel Woodstock festival hotel John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Emily Rose and James Marrow Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson George Warren Pank Koria CEO of Project People Lucian Hudson Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Marlene Hauser Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner TORVA Books which change you, your mind, your world Transworld Doubleday Doubleday Bantam Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily The Oxford Times Regional media partner BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford Critchleys Accountants to the festival The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford Brookes University Siren Communications Siren Communications - corporate consultants OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Chêne Bleu Wines of Provence La Leccia Flip through Flanders Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society The Wild Geese