Johnny Ball

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Johnny Ball circa 1998 - Birmingham

Johnny Ball (born May 23, 1938 in Bolton, Lancashire is a British television personality and a great populariser of mathematics. He is the father of former BBC Radio 1 DJ, and TV host, Zoë Ball.

He was a regular fixture on children's television in the 1970s and 1980s, presenting several series of popular science and technology programmes intended for children (including Think of a Number; Think Again; Think Backwards; Think...This Way and Johnny Ball Reveals All). He was also one of the hosts of infant education programme Play School. All of these shows (except the ITV programme ...Reveals All) appeared on the BBC. Johnny's shows were renowned for presenting scientific and technological principles in an entertaining and accessible way for young people.

He was Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow from 1993 to 1996.

In 2003, he appeared on The Terry and Gaby Show in which he answered viewers' questions, though he prefers radio interviews to TV appearances, of which he makes very few.

In July, 2004 he was named in the Radio Times list of the top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time.^{[citation needed]}

Johnny is in favour of nuclear power and has given many talks and speeches arguing for the development of nuclear power.

Still many years since his career started, he visits schools throughout the country, to give educational talks.

In November 2006, Ball voiced his opposition to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, which would require any adult working with children to be vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he said: "It is like George Orwell’s 1984... a quarter of adults will have to be checked... The fear we are instilling in [children] is abhorrent."^[1]

[edit] Bibliography

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Ball, Johnny (2005). Think of a number. Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 1-4053-1031-6.
Ball, Johnny (2005). Go Figure!. Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 0-7566-1374-4. (American edition of "Think of a Number")
Ball, Johnny (1982). Johnny Ball's Think Box. Puffin. ISBN 0-14-031545-4.
Ball, Johnny (1987). Johnny Ball's Second Thinks. Puffin. ISBN 0-14-031819-4.
Ball, Johnny (1983). Plays for Laughs. Puffin. ISBN 0-14-031548-9.
Ball, Johnny (1979). Think of a number. BBC. ISBN 0-563-17755-1. (different from the 2005 book of the same name).