Its dark and dull outside, the Christmas tree has expired and festive cheer is but a memory as the nation drags its bloated self back to work. We are need of a pick me up.
So, what better time to reflect on delightful experiences and plan for fun to come? Brian & Robin’s Christmas Compendium of reason is an utterly joyful night; an annual festive fixture to celebrate, share and anticipate. so get it in the diary now as 2017 tickets are already selling at breakneck speed.
The incredibly diverse line-up is kept a highly- guarded secret. Robin and Ince and Brian Cox expertly orchestrate a show that includes stars of music, comedy, television and of course, science. And the occasional astronaut.
The 2016 Compendium included everything from beaver glands to gravitational waves to eighties pop icons, and all delivered with such glee and passion it is impossible to leave this show without a smile on your face.
2016 saw Ince and Cox generously give most stage time to their illustrious guests, so after welcoming the buzzing audience and introducing the excellent science themed band Public Service Broadcasting, their perfectly pitched double-act is confined mainly to compering duties. Fresh from a sell-out stadium tour, their quick wit provides the thread that pulls this wide ranging and diverse show into a coherent event. It gallops along at a breathless pace, with an incredible calibre, variety and number of guests.
Highlights include the bubbly bubble physicist, Helen Czerski, who shared her love for the mysterious blue oceans that are so vital to our planet. Some of the funniest moments, came, somewhat surprisingly, from computational biologist Andrew Steele who pointed out the follies of human nature.
Everybody’s favourite comedy geeks, Festival of the Spoken Nerd brought us laughter, music, fire and even more mayhem than normal with retro visuals from recalcitrant slides.
BAFTA award winning naturalist Steve Backshall shared fascinating animal tales, before Adam Rutherford deftly deflated Danny Dyer’s delusions of grandeur at discovering he has royal blood. Via the joy of Genetics, Rutherford explained the vast numbers of us who can trace our ancestry back to Charlemagne. We discover Mr Dyer’s lineage isn’t really that special. Clever and funny, my favourite mix, Rutherford passes the baton to another favourite broadcaster.
Chris Lintott made a welcome return to the Compendium, and was fascinating on the science story of the year, the discovery of gravitational waves. (Who doesn’t love hearing about black holes?) The science continued in a very different guise, smashing the stereotype of what a Professor looks like. Professor Alice Roberts portrayed a non-interventionist deity in a blonde wig and pink angel wings. Ben Garrod was such a convincing caveman as she explained the foibles of evolution, I suspect he may have more than the average percentage of Neanderthal genes.
With our heads full of genetics and evolution, a musical interlude with a science theme was called for. This was ably provided by a fabulous cover of Bowie’s Life on Mars by Nitin Sawney and Eva Stone. This was a particular highlight for the Bowie fans in the audience. That would be pretty much all of the audience.
The musical treats continued with the brashly brassy Hackney Colliery Band, infectiously upbeat and energetic, before Sophie Ellis Bextor changed the pace with a moving cover of “Nothing Compares 2 You.” The penultimate homage to a musical megastar who left us in 2016 was Clifford Slapper and David McAlmont’s delightful version of Bowie’s “Sweet Thing”.
Reflecting the awesome variety of the show, we swooped from musical talent to cosmology in a single breath. In a lovely “Monkey Cage Live’ style moment, Ince and Cox were joined on stage by Paul Abel and Chris Lintott for a panel discussion answering audience questions on science and the mysteries of the universe. The panel took highly complex concepts and made them accessible and enlightening. They spoke with such passion and enthusiasm, I was entertained even when I didn’t fully understand. This could have happily gone on for hours, but there were many more guests to squeeze in before the curfew.
Returning guest Lucy Cooke brought the most original prop of the evening – a pair of beaver bum glands. This is not a euphemism. These were actual beaver glands. As always, she was entertaining and energetic, myth busting, and enlightening about biology and what may be lurking in your vanilla ice-cream.
Ben Goldacre is a beloved regular to compendium, fast and furious as always, leaving the audience wanting more.
Greg Foot proved that there’s no such thing as a stupid question in science. He roped in Matt Parker for an experiment that looked more like dangerous folly than hard science. Parker’s credits include Stand up mathematician, one third of Festival Of The Spoken Nerd and now stunt man. Science and laughter and things going bang are always popular.
More comedy was provided by stand-up and writer James Acaster, and the perennially crazy haired Milton Jones. Jones was punny and funny, his razor- sharp one-liners eliciting tears of laughter.
The Hammersmith Apollo had become the happiest place in London, and yet unbelievably Ince and Cox were set to lift spirits higher as the show approached its big finish.
They sprung a final surprise by introducing last minute addition, music loving astronaut Chris Hadfield. As always Hadfield was urbane and eloquent describing how it feels to go up into space, looking back on planet earth.
This turned out to be the cue for a song, and the strains of Planet Earth from wild boys Duran Duran signalled the big musical finale. The eighties pop megastars delivered a generous, indulgent, crowd pleasing set. In addition to their own global hits that had audience and performers alike dancing in the aisles, they performed a cover of Bowies’ ‘Space Oddity’ in fitting tribute. They closed the show to the iconic Rio, with the confetti cannonballs firing, in the best Christmas Party moment of the festive season anywhere.
The 2016 show has set the bar almost impossibly high, but such is the audience faith in the curating powers of Ince and Cox, more than half the 2017 tickets have sold already.
The Compendium is a bargain £35 for four frantic hours of incredible entertainment. Add to that the cockle warming knowledge that you are contributing to Charities including Medecins Sans Frontieres and The Sophie Lancaster Foundation. These golden tickets once purchased will shine a bit of light in the January gloom. Buy them for yourself, or for a loved one in need of cheering up. I defy anyone with a pulse not to have fun.