Professor Hugh Montgomery talks to Aldenham Les Philosophes

Our May speaker was Professor Hugh Montgomery who spoke of Climate Change and its implications on health, population and the future. The talk was full of data and figures from sources such as NASA, and it summed up a somewhat depressing outlook. Professor Montgomery promised to pull no punches and he challenged many media led perceptions. With top soil blowing away rapidly, water availability , water and air quality all declining and population already at seven and a half billion, mass migration is a likely reality in the near future.

However the students were not down-hearted and instead were inspired to rise to the challenge of what they can do to resolve the global problems they have inherited from previous generations.

Professor Montgomery is a true polymath: he is the Director of the UCL Institute for Human Health and Performance; he was the first to discover a gene related to fitness; he is the world record holder for underwater piano playing , which inadvertently led to Yamaha changing its manufacturing techniques; he writes novels and children’s books; has submitted a script for a James Bond film; works a day a week for GOOGLE; the BBC is about to launch a series that he has written; he is an ultra-marathon runner and specialises in intensive care. He also has an impressive taste in music as can be discovered by listening to Desert Island Discs, where you can learn even more about a truly amazing individual.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vzhnz