The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

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The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry

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Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Science sleuths Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry investigate everyday mysteries.

Science sleuths Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry investigate everyday mysteries sent by listeners.

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The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry: Series 14: Stephen Fry's Identity Crisis

Stephen Fry's Identity Crisis

Series 14

BBC Radio 4 - The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, Series 14, Stephen Fry's Identity Crisis

Stephen Fry asks the duo to investigate why he struggles to remember faces.

Stephen Fry wants to know why he struggles to remember faces. Science sleuths Drs Rutherford and Fry investigate. From 2019.

Stephen Fry (no relation) asks Adam and Hannah to investigate the following question:

"All my life I have been mildly plagued by the fact that I have a quite appalling ability to remember faces. I cut people I should know well dead in the street, or at least fail to recognise them in a way which must often be hurtful. 

At a party I can talk to someone for ten minutes and then see them again twenty later and have no idea who they are unless I’ve made an effort to fix some accessory or item of their dress in my mind. If I see them the next day in another context I’ll have no idea who they are. It’s distressing for me in as much as I hate the idea that people might think I am blanking them, or think little of them, don’t consider them significant and so forth. 

I’d be very grateful if my sister-in-surname and her eximious partner Adam could investigate prosopagnosia for me and offer any hint add to as to its cause or even possible – I won’t say “cure” as I am sure it’s chronic and untreatable – but at least any interesting ways of relieving it."

Hannah and Adam call in the experts, neuroscientists Sophie Scott and Brad Duchaine. Why is it that some people struggle with prosopagnosia, whilst others never forget a face?

You can find out more about Face Blindness, who it affects and how to cope with it by visiting www.faceblind.org.uk/

Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2019.

The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry: Series 14

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry investigate science mysteries sent by listeners.

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Series 14

Stephen Fry's Identity Crisis

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