Dr Tim Boon

Dr Tim Boon is Head of Research and Public History for the Science Museum Group and a historian of the public culture of science. His books include Films of Fact and Material Culture and Electronic Sound.

Dr Boon is curating and presenting a British science film programme at the 360 Science and Technology Film Festival in Moscow, which runs 19-29 October. The British Council is a partner on the event.

What’s your connection to the British Council?
I'm very excited about my first collaboration with the British Council for the 360 Film Festival in Moscow this month. I've seen so many fascinating science films and TV programmes over the years, it's great to be able to share some of them in Russia.

What are you working on right now?
I'm just starting work on a book that brings together the history of science films and science museums.

What/who originally turned you onto film?
I used to go to the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff when I was a teenager; that was my cinematic education.

What has been your career high so far?
I'm very lucky to work at the Science Museum, so it's difficult to choose a career high. I'm very proud of my work on the 'Making the Modern World' gallery.

What was your first job in the film industry?
I used to programme the public film shows at the Science Museum back in the ‘80s.

What is your favourite British film?
I love Chris Petit's Radio On, but that's probably a generational thing.

If you could have been involved with any film ever made, which one would it be?
It would have been fantastic to be on set with Michael Powell on A Matter of Life and Death or The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

What’s the first film you remember seeing?
I must have seen that Laurel and Hardy piano-delivery film on the telly when I was about six. Memorable because it's unbearable. You know it's going to end in tears.

What’s your favourite scene from a film?
In The Man in the White Suit when we first discover Sidney's apparatus for making his unbreakable cloth: it's a sound gag of perfection.

Favourite screen kiss?
Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jr., learning to kiss from the movies.

Who’s your favourite screen hero?
I like a lot of Woody Allen's performances; he's fantastic as a small time guy in Broadway Danny Rose.

Who would play you in the film about your life?
As I'm a documentary expert, I think it would have to be me!