‘I love radio as a medium. I watch TV with my eyes closed — it sends me to sleep. But with radio you can concentrate on words and sounds, without the distraction of gimmicky pictures.’

In the mid-1990s, Ann Lingard freelanced (as researcher and presenter) for Radio Oxford, with her own regular Saturday morning slot on ‘countryside matters’, covering topics from drystone walls to wild mink, insect pests of oilseed rape to pigeons, fossils on farmland to silage and straw. She also devised and presented a 60-minute documentary (now archived in the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies at the Westgate Library, Oxford) about Otmoor, to the North of Oxford: its geology, history, wildlife - and its farming communities.
‘Nature’s Magic’ a five-part series on  BBC Radio 4 ─ produced in Edinburgh by Louise Dalziel and broadcast in August 2003 ─ was devised and researched by Ann, who also acted as Scientific Consultant. The series mixed readings of 18^th- and 19^th- century accounts of unusual animal adaptations with scientists talking about the use for that adaptation in modern biomedical science. Philip Henry Gosse found piles of the luminescent jellyfish Aequorea thrown up by a storm in 1854 and now the genes for ‘green fluorescent protein’ are used as visible markers for switched-on genes: the anti-coagulant hirudin from medicinal leeches, the electric organ of the ray Torpedo, luciferase from fireflies and glow-worms, and fly’s eyes — these objects of awe now provide valuable tools in helping biomedical progress and our understanding of how cells work. Photographs, text and the radio programmes themselves are available on the BBC Radio 4 website.

Words and Pictures: Explaining Science

In 1997, Ann had the idea of introducing scientists — especially students about to launch into their scientific careers — to the many ways of ‘communicating’ the excitement and value of their science, through listening to and observing artists and writers: and thus the first Words and Pictures conference took place — at Wolfson College, Oxford, on February 28th, 1998. Speakers included Susan Greenfield, Tim Hunkin, John Carey and Ian Stewart, and the conference was sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, Pfizer UK, the Oxford Trust and New Scientist. The capacity audience of 100 heard about writing and illustrating science, about using scientific ideas in fiction and to inspire performance and video art, and — importantly — where to get help, funding, advice, and ideas.

The first Words and Pictures poster Oxford 1996; New Scientist donated the artwork, from one of their front covers

This concept subsequently evolved into the aim of the second Words and Pictures, which was to bring together practitioners amongst creative artists, scientists, and facilitators and funders, so that all could learn about each other’s way of working and thinking, and be stimulated to set up interdisciplinary collaborations. This Words and Pictures: Explaining science through art and writing, was held at the Cumbria Institute of the Arts at Carlisle in April 2003. Amongst the speakers were artists Thérèse Oulton and Cornelia Hesse-Honneger, science popularisers and authors Professor Richard Fortey and Professor Ian Stewart, cartoonist and exhibition designer Tim Hunkin, the radio broadcaster Geoff Watts and, as keynote speaker, Siân Ede of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, who has a particular interest in the creativity that crosses the science/art boundaries. Textiles and designs were loaned by the Wellcome Trust, Dr Cathy Corbishley and New Scientist. The conference was sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, Pfizer UK, The Biochemical Society, Cumbria County Council and Cumbria Institute of the Arts, and the conference proceedings, Words and Pictures, are published by Cumbria Institute of the Arts (2003; ISBN 1-86997913-3)

Talking Science in Cumbria

Wearing her other ‘hat’ as Dr Ann Lackie, Ann has collaborated with Dr Tom Shakespeare, Outreach Director of the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Unit (PEALS) at Newcastle University on a Wellcome Trust-funded project, Talking Science in Cumbria. During 2004-2005 she gave nearly 60 talks to community groups (eg. Womens’ Institutes, Young Farmers’ Clubs, Rotaries, Humanists and U3As) and schools in Cumbria on modern biomedicine and its social and ethical implications — with the aim of enabling people to understand some of the basic biology involved, so that they can try to make informed judgements about the dilemmas to which this knowledge gives rise. Talks included: Garry, the green fluorescent mouse; The Human Genome Project; Making Eyes (cells and stem cells), and Selection Pressures (from genetic selection to genetic modification).

Café Scientifique

Ann and John set up Cumbria’s first Café Scientifique in Cockermouth in 2004, with help and sponsorship from Jennings Brewery.