With a background as a science teacher, becoming part of Johnny Ball's “Living History of Science” team combined all David's skills. Since 1996 he has been entertaining and educating audiences nationwide as a flamboyant Sir Isaac Newton. In 2001 he added
Isambard Kingdom Brunel to his repertoire and in the same year Sir Isaac opened the Southwold Summer Festival's lunchtime season to great acclaim. He has even proved very popular with the WI !

To find out more about the Living History of Science characters visit
Johnny Ball Productions
call 01753 643621
or email Johnny or David.

	Meet Sir Isaac Newton
	"Meet Sir Isaac Newton is a fast moving, often hilarious, yet hugely informative one-man-show conceived, written and directed by Johnny Ball , “Think of a Number” etc. and performed by the actor and former science teacher David Hall, English Shakespeare Co, the BBC's Big Toe Radio Show, Blue/Orange in London's West End and the Young Vic Theatre in London." Click here to hear Sir Isaac speak and here for some reviews...

Sir Isaac Newton explodes into the room and an hour later has told you of his life and achievements as well as demonstrated (frequently using members of the audience as volunteers) many of his ground breaking theories and discoveries - with many a squirmingly corny joke along the way..

..as well as the achievements of some of the giants upon whose shoulders he stood: Archimedes, Kepler and Galileo.

Meet Sir Isaac Newton is guaranteed to entertain and inspire even the least “scientifically minded” from age 7 upwards. You will be amazed what you can understand and how much fun science can be...!

Meet Sir Isaac Newton has been performed to universal acclaim in schools and colleges throughout the country, secondary, primary and special, as well as for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Kent's ASE, the Southwold Summer Festival, the Jodrell Bank Science Centre and even the WI...!

Comments received have included:

“All pupils, including a number of Year 6 pupils from visiting primary schools, were enthralled.”

“They gained knowledge not only of the wide range of Newton's theories but also the background history to the times.”

“A professional and well prepared show.”

“Sir Isaac Newton, played by David Hall, was a great hit. He brings enthusiasm, vitality and realism to the character and his audience were transfixed. This was Edutainment at its best. We'll certainly have him back.”

Dr David Lewis, Uppingham School, Rutland.

“The talk by Isaac Newton was discussed endlessly on the way home and again in class the next day. It made a big impression.”

Paul Ridd, Head of Science, Tonbridge School.

“What a complete joy it was, AND we learned a lot. It was a fab performance - totally captivating the room and making us all believe we really were in the presence of the great man”

Audience member, Southwold Summer Festival

“Brought science to life!”

Jan Greenhalgh, Gloucestershire SATRO

And from St Ives School, Cornwall :

Pupils

"Brilliant !! "

"I really learned a lot about what Sir Isaac Newton did! "

"I didn't realise that he did so much and invented so many things! "

"He was really funny! "

"I wish my science teacher was as good as him! "

Teachers

“Very interesting and I am not a science teacher! "

“I bet the kids have learned a lot of science without realising it! "

“Good pace and well presented! "

“I was enthralled from beginning to end! "

“He put across the discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton in a humorous but well organised thorough way. I was impressed! "

“Hope to see you again next year! "

As a man whose discoveries and methods influenced the arts, the sciences and changed the way mankind understood the Universe itself, and whose impact is still felt more than three centuries later, one of the world's greatest geniuses, what better way to inspire your imaginations than to...

Meet Sir Isaac Newton!

For booking enquiries click here

In his animated lecture David Hall as Brunel presents all his major achievements:

The magnificent Clifton Suspension Bridge, deemed by Telford to be over ambitious and impossibly wide.

The (literally) groundbreaking Thames Tunnel at Rotherhithe, a project of his father Marc from whom Isambard took over at the age of only twenty. The technology by which this tunnel was made through the waterlogged and porous soils under the Thames was adopted as the new tunnelling technique for the world. There were five floodings and dozens of deaths, yet Brunel persevered and after eighteen years the first tunnel in the world under a metropolitan river was opened. It is still there and still in use to this day! When even the great miner and engineer Trevithick failed even to sink a shaft, how did he do it? Brunel will explain!

The Great Western Railway, a railway that literally changed time as timetables had to be drawn up which worked from East to West and back again. Six weeks on horseback (at the age of twenty-six) to survey the route which became known as Brunel's Billiard Table. An adventure in architecture: not only did he create the means to build the railway, but Brunel designed all the stations and sidings along the way as an architectural tour form the Great Glass Arches at Paddington to the Castle at Bristol Temple Meads. Brunel's railway was wider, faster and safer than any railway before or since. Along the way he will explain the sweeping elliptical arches crossing the Thames at Maidenhead (made famous in Turner's epic “Rain Steam and Speed”) – they said it couldn't be done, but he did it! – and the famous two-mile long Box Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the world at the time (again deemed an impossibility).

The three Great steamships: the Great Western, the Great Britain and
the Great Eastern: the first the fastest passenger ship ever to cross the Atlantic (once in just 12 days and 6 hours!), the second a truly ground-breaking vessel, full of firsts – the first screw-driven ship, the first iron ship, the biggest ship in the world with the biggest engines ever made, an entirely new kind of rudder (which still compares extremely favourably with the most advanced designs of today), whole new construction techniques were designed to make her and she is the forerunner of all modern ocean-going liners of today. The Great Britain sailed 31 times around the world covering over a million nautical miles in her 90 years (!) of service - and Brunel conceived and built her! And finally The Great Eastern Steamship – 240 metres long, 30 000 tonnes, a propeller and paddle wheels, she could carry enough fuel to take her to the other side of the world and she required two neighbouring shipyards on the Thames to build her – her launch chains may be seen behind Brunel on his famous picture. But why build such a vessel ? Brunel will explain.

Through explaining his achievements and peppering them with his extraordinary adventures - and with the help of many members of the audience - Brunel covers many of the essential processes of Physics and Engineering, forces, bridges, arches and much more, but above all this he demonstrates how, if you put your mind to it and are not daunted by criticism or the possibility of failure, you can achieve anything!

"Just because it hasn't been done before, doesn't mean it can't be done!"  All you have to do is decide to do it, put your mind to it and begin !

A truly inspiring lecture by a man whose colossal achievements surround us to this day:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel !

For booking enquiries click here