It gives me the greatest of pleasure to put this up as I’m having a lovely time currently dipping in and out of Are Angels OK?, one of the books just out from Victoria University Press (I'm still doing the same with Sport 34 - that Kirsten McDougall - oh my god). Imagine my delight when the lovely Heather of said venerable literary institution sent us an account written by Glenda Lewis of the Royal Society of NZ about the trip taken by herself, Paul Callaghan, Witi Ihimaera, Jo Randerson and Kim Hill to take the AAOK roadshow to the UK. They presented a session at the Cheltenham Science Festival and sessions at Cambridge and then London. This is delectable stuff, almost scratch'n'sniff, especially the river and the pub... sigh. England my England. Not.

Glenda:

Cambridge 12 June

The singular appearance of Martin Lord Rees signifies genius. Moon silver skin and hair, twisted spine and elfin insubstantiality seem consistent with a cosmological occupation. He is an oddly beautiful man (see above with Kim Hill in the drawing rooom mentioned below).

Lord Rees is President of the Royal Society of London and Master of Trinity College. He has written some of the best popular texts on cosmology including Our Cosmic Habitat and Just Six Numbers. Radio New Zealand presenter, Kim Hill, has come to Cambridge University to interview Rees, not about the cosmic Dark Age, but the odds of human civilisation surviving its own. In his 2003 survey of possible disasters, Our Final Century, he gave it a no better than 50/50 chance of lasting to 2100. His pessimism is restrained compared to Dr James Lovelock’s recent warnings about climate catastrophe.

The interview takes place at the Master’s Lodge at Trinity College. Hon Margaret Austin, who has joined the New Zealand party for a couple of days and is staying at the Lodge, meets us at the entrance, immaculately dressed in black and cream. We crunch across the gravelled expanse on one of the hottest days England has experienced this century. The striped lawn discourages shortcuts. Gigantic purple clematis - the sort that Wellington Garden Centres cynically sell to novice gardeners - bloom perfectly in these stifling cloisters.

The Master’s Lodge is a several roomed formal apartment. Kim and producer Eva Radich are ushered into a drawing room of fabulous austerity. White walls, a large mahogany table, and one portrait – that of an unnamed gypsy woman. Lord Rees enters, greeting us in his quiet and distracted manner. The fine long bones in his hand are strangely pliable. We present him with a copy of Are Angels OK? – the result of a collaborative project between NZ writers and physicists, which he put his name to as referee.

I try to listen in on the interview outside the room. What this man says counts. I want to ask him if it’s true that there could be up to 26 dimensions of space time, somehow folded together in grains. I retire to the light and airy drawing room and send banal postcard texts back home, where the first June storm has really set in. Elizabeth 1, newly restored, and Rees’ predecessor, Sir Isaac Newton, look on disapprovingly. Newton was a hard task-master when he was CEO of the Royal Mint, but even more demanding of himself. He was knighted in this room.

Kim and Eva emerge. Photos are taken with Elizabeth, Newton and Rees, who will be next to join them on these walls. We go to the Chapel to see the presiding portrait of Henry V111 by Holbein. In the Cathedral-proportioned dining hall, we find a portrait of Rutherford in a sunny window casement.

It is now 30 degrees at least. Ex-pat astronomer Gerry Gilmore bisects the quad. He is Kim’s next interview subject. Gerry has made important findings on the nature of dark matter – its temperature (it doesn’t get hot, but it moves fast) and distribution. Gerry weighs galaxies, a relatively trivial task, he says. Europe’s largest optical telescope project is proceeding under his direction. A far remove from his Canterbury childhood on the family farm.

After Gerry, we walk over the Cam to the gardens of Kings College, where the New Zealanders have been invited to a garden party organised by the rather grandly titled Cabinet of Natural History. New Zealand student, Francis Lucian Reid, whose thesis is on the history of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1867-1905, delivers a formal presentation on science in 19th century New Zealand newspapers. We sit under the trees, drinking sparkling wine and cassis, eating salmon and strawberries. The catering is classy. Francis is adamant that he is coming home when he has finished his studies. His Italian-born wife is expecting their first child.

Auckland Grammar Old Boy and gifted physicist at the Cavendish Laboratory, Professor Mark Warner, takes us on a tour of the Museum of Classical Archaeology, showing the progression of sculpture from the Archaic through High Classical to Roman period. The temperature by this time is in the late thirties inside. Kim and Eva are indefatigable, intelligent. I long to throw myself in the Cam. We have tea afterwards in the blissfully dark and cool Fellows’ Room at Corpus Christi, Paul Callaghan’s old College where we are staying.

In the early evening, Kim, Paul, Witi Ihimaera, and Jo Randerson present Are Angels OK? to a largely ex-pat audience. We recognise their footwear, their complexions, their readiness to connect with each other. The presentation is funny, interesting, original, dynamic, and emotional. It ends with the final scene from Whale Rider – the waka is launched to music that makes breathing difficult.

The entire audience, it seems, adjourns to the Eagle Pub across the lane. The tobacco-coloured ceilings are covered with the autographs of World War 11 pilots – a final sign off for some.

On the way to dinner in the still light, hot evening, we discover a wall-mounted plaque commemorating Rutherford, and stop for a photo. (Group photo left to right: Tim Benseman (NZ physics student at Cambs), Francis Lucian Reid, Witi Ihimaera, Jo Randerson, Kim Hill, Paul Callaghan and another ex-pat scientist, Paul Austin and the Hon Margaret Austin is on the right.)

Over dinner, I ask Paul how many degrees of night sky we share with England, at latitude 52.5. He works out the answer on a serviette in about three minutes flat (I have been thinking about the problem for days). The degree of shared outlook on other matters is more problematic. I am aware, travelling with this group of exceptional New Zealanders, of the growing contrast between the UK and New Zealand personalities.There is energy, unsuppressed physicality, a freedom and naturalness of manners, and a joie de vivre that marks them out. They make a big impression.

…As did Kim Hill I’ll bet, with her holey red rubber clogs. Good on you Kim. I’ll be listening to that one. Kim Hill’s interviews with Martin Rees and James Lovelock will go to air on National Radio this Sunday 16 July at 4pm, and will be repeated on Tuesday 18 July at 9pm. And a thousand thanks to Glenda Lewis for that lovely article.