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INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN MAY AT THE LAUNCH OF “BANG! A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE”
MONDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2006, THE ROYAL SOCIETY, LONDON

DAVID MILLS: Some people might not realise that, as well as being a legendary rock guitarist, you’re also an astronomer of some renown. What first drew you to astronomy?

BRIAN MAY: [laughs] The Sky at Night, really. About the same age I got my first guitar, about seven years old. I begged to be able to stay up and watch Patrick Moore on The Sky at Night and that excitement has stayed with me ever since. I’ve always had the twin passions - I have many passions, I suppose, but the two big ones are music and astronomy.

DM: You’ve written this book with another legend - Patrick Moore - and a young gun of astronomy, Chris Lintott -

BM: Uh-huh, ‘young gun’, that’s a good expression, he is!

DM: What did you hope to achieve by writing the book?

BM: Well, part of it was the journey. As with many things, you have an aim but the actual business of doing it has been amazing. I just so much enjoyed working with these guys and learning so much, discovering so much on the way, and rediscovering some of the stuff which I’d really forgotten. And astronomy’s changed so much, you know, so really bringing myself up to date, was just a wonderful experience. But, the purpose of the book is really to bring the whole story of creation as we now think it runs to the general public and we felt it’s never quite been done. There have been some books that have attempted it, but they tend to be very difficult to understand, have lots of maths in and whatever. Or else they tend to skip the main concepts. So the challenge for us was to really look at every single stage of the Universe as we think we know it now from the Big Bang to the present day, 13.7 billion years of it, put it all in order, and in a way which everyone can understand. That was our brief.

DM: And I think you’ve managed it.

BM: Well, I’m thrilled that you think that! You’re one of the few people who’s read it so far, but that makes me very happy.

DM: Looking at the debate, there’s been a debate about how the Universe began, over the last century. You come down pretty firmly on one side, don’t you?

BM: Well we’ve, we’re not dogmatic about it but we’ve presented the case as we think it is at this point in time, supported by most of the astronomic community. Not all, not all. There are still astronomers who have grave doubts about the Big Bang, either in the grand essence or in details and things are being discovered every day which actually challenge the current view, but this is one of the rare moments in astronomy where most astronomers agree on the story on the grand scale.

DM: Now some people might say ‘It doesn’t really matter how the universe was created, what matters is the here and now’. What do you say to that?

BM: [laughs] Well, nothing really matters, does it, you know? Haha, I don’t know what matters. To me, knowledge for its own sake does matter. We are animals and I think we should be very aware of that, just the same as the rest of the animals on the Earth. But we have this capacity to enjoy knowledge, and enjoy art, music, poetry, and scientific knowledge is a beautiful thing. To know what is in the world around you. Whether it’s a flower, whether it’s another animal, or whether it’s the infinite, apparently infinite universe out there. Yeah, I think it’s absolutely worthwhile, otherwise, why are we here?

DM: One thing that does come through throughout the whole book is this humility about humans’ position in the great scheme of things. Do you think astronomy engenders that, produces that?

BM: Yes, yes I do actually. Astronomers have a good awareness of how small we are and it stops us getting too bound up in our importance. Yes I think that’s quite an important thing. To me there’s a great beauty about it as well. I’ve never lost that feeling of awe, looking up at the stars and thinking, “My God, isn’t it beautiful”, that’s never left me. So one of the great attractions for me in getting back into astronomy is that I can visit these beautiful observatory sites and just go there, and go “Wow”! [laughs]

DM: Unfortunately not everybody can go to these places, what’s you message to somebody who might be turned on to the idea of astronomy, but they’re in a big city, they might be in London, lots of light pollution.

BM: Yes, we’re robbed of most of the beauty of the heavens living in big cities. Yeah, the thing to do is to get out some place, where there’s not too much light. The nearest place to London where it’s reasonably good is out west, I would say, somewhere near Marlow you’re getting a dark sky, and then you can really see what the heavens ought to look like, you can see the Milky Way, you can see zodiacal light if you’re very lucky, and see many, many more stars than you would see in London. There was a comet a couple of years ago and a lot of people in London never saw it, you know. And it’s great, it’s rally worthwhile making the effort to get out and see a black sky, a dark sky.

DM: Finally, your many fans will be delighted to read the book and to get the book but they might be concerned that astronomy’s gain is rock music’s loss. Can you reassure them that you’ll be back out there?

BM: [laughs] Well, I’m in the studio at the moment, not this actual moment, but this whole week with Paul Rodgers and Roger , you know, I guess it’s a Queen and Paul Rodgers album which we’ve never attempted before. So it’s back to real studio creation, and full pelt. I have to say, a lot of passion there, it’s going to be some heavy stuff I think. [laughs]

DM: Well, thanks for talking to us this morning. Thank you.

BM: Thank you, great.

Published with kind permission - check out David Mills' Blog page.

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