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Inside the Brain of Gerald Scarfe

Factual: Science & Nature

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Inside the Brain of Gerald Scarfe

What is going on inside Gerald Scarfe's brain? 

4 Extra Debut. With the help of a neuroscientist, cartoonist Gerald Scarfe explores what’s going on inside his own creative brain. From 2017.

Gerald Scarfe's drawings have intrigued and alarmed for over 50 years but where do his ideas come from?

Professor Vincent Walsh of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience has a theory he wants to pursue. Vincent is an expert in the workings of the visual brain; he thinks that two specific areas may be talking to each other in an unexpected way, resulting in recognisable faces being mixed up with recognisable objects, hence Mrs Thatcher as an axe, a handbag, and even a shark.

Now, cartoonist and neuroscientist are going to meet. 

"I for one would be fascinated to know what's going on in my brain - please pursue this," says Gerald Scarfe.

Produced in Bristol by Miles Warde.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2017.

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