The Loch Ness Monster: a creature that should have died out with the dinosaurs, or a legend built on hoaxes and wishful thinking?
Drawing extensively on new material, including the unpublished papers of Sir Peter Scott, Gareth Williams takes a wholly original look at what really happened in Loch Ness – and at the cast of colourful characters who did extraordinary things in pursuit of one of evolution’s wildest cards.
Bio
Gareth Williams MD ScD FRCP FRCPE is Emeritus Professor and former Dean of Medicine at the University of Bristol. He graduated from Cambridge, trained in London and Geneva and specialised in diabetes and obesity, building up an internationally recognised research group in Liverpool.
He has published over 200 papers on diabetes, obesity and neuroendocrinology, and edited and contributed to 20 medical textbooks including the prize-winning Textbook of Diabetes and the chapter on diabetes for the Oxford Textbook of Medicine.
Since retiring, he has written books for general readers about the history of medicine and science: Angel of Death: the story of smallpox (shortlisted for the Wellcome Medical Book Prize 2010), Paralysed with Fear: the story of polio (2013), A Monstrous Commotion: the mysteries of Loch Ness (2015), and Unravelling the Double Helix: the lost heroes of DNA (2019).
He is currently finishing Super-Bomb: how British scientists created the Manhattan Project.
Gareth has served as President of the Anglo-French Medical Society and Chair of the Trustees of the Edward Jenner Museum, and is proud to be an Ambassador of the British Polio Fellowship.
He is often to be found playing classical music or jazz on the flute and saxophone.
Standard Stuff
Talks are usually (December is always an exception) on the 4th Wednesday of every month, at 7:00 for 7:30, at The Winchester Club in Winchester. Please take a look at the FAQs for more info.
Admission is £5 which also gives you an entry in the book raffle. We take cash and major cards (cards preferred).
The event is in two parts – the talk and then a Q&A after the interval. We encourage you to support the venue by indulging in the available drinks before and during the event.
You are also welcome to join us for a drink in the bar after the event.