Compsci websites abound with autographs and photos of 'the day I met Johnny Ball'. He was guest of honour at Imperial College's summer ball. Glasgow University gave him an honorary degree. Well, to me, it's clearly because science, although important, is boring, and Johnny Ball has the magic to make it entertaining, and pretend he's teaching people. Even living in the same house as him, Zoe grew up to be a TV presenter, although he protests to me that another son turned out to be an engineer.
Science is hard to teach in schools.
Kids need to use their lungs and play sport, not be shut up all day - they need to run around and laugh. He wants to put simple wonder back into science. Everything's mathematical, I believe there's maths in learning to drive, there's logic in that. Agatha Christie's plots, if you look at them you'll find they're mathematical too. She's not, of course.