iTuning through the 1980s the other night, I found myself wondering (again) what had ever happened to Magnus Pike since Thomas Dolby Robinson featured him on this 1983 hit. By that point, of course, Dr. Pike was already a familiar face on British Television, including the question-and-answer science show “Don’t Ask Me” where he became known for his enthusiasm (Science!) and the extravagent contortions he employed in his presentations, a tiny bit of which is preserved in Dolby’s video.
As they say, history remixes itself, but here (according to several evenings of Googling) is a man, a noted scientist and author, who has had a fellowship and lecture series named in his honour, who has even been incorporated into cockney rhyming slang, and yet nowhere online was I able to find even the barest of biographies, save a snippet near the bottom of this page. Sadly, my search did finally end with this Guardian article on a relatively recent study on the importance of guestures, which describes him as “the most famous British hand waver” . . . the late Magnus Pike.
To hell with the Internet anyway.
(The picture shows Magnus Pike with Mandy Brown, the Bloxwick Carnival Queen for 1981.)
