Private Passions

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Private Passions Podcast

Discussion & Talk

Music: Classical

Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical loves and hates

Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical loves and hates, and talk about the influence music has had on their lives

Private Passions: Robin Shattock

Robin Shattock

BBC Radio 3 - Private Passions, Robin Shattock

Michael Berkeley’s guest is vaccine scientist Professor Robin Shattock.

Professor Robin Shattock is at the forefront of vaccine research and development in this country – in fact, in the world. For 30 years now he’s been researching how to develop a vaccine against HIV, and with his team at Imperial College London he’s been developing new vaccines against Ebola, Chlamydia, Rabies, Lassa Fever, to name just a few. They are working on a new improved vaccine for Covid that aims to be cheaper to mass-produce in the developing world. And the technology they’ve developed will, they hope, lead to vaccines against heart disease and cancer within our lifetime.

Robin Shattock didn’t come to scientific research via a conventional route. He spent his twenties trying to make his living as a rock musician and then as an actor, and only became interested in science when he got a job in a medical lab to pay the mortgage. After that he worked for an undergraduate degree, and then a PhD, part-time, on day-release; as he tells Michael Berkeley, it’s really the practical application of science that motivates him.  

Music choices include Handel, Puccini, Beethoven and the Soweto Gospel Choir. 

Produced by Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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