The annual Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution in London are, well, something of an institution in the UK. Established in 1825, the name perhaps most associated with them is Michael Faraday, who presented the lectures no fewer than nineteen times, including every year for a ten-year stint between 1851 and 1860. Coinciding with the filming of the 2014 RI Christmas Lectures, University College London put on a re-enactment of some of Faraday's classic lecture series The Chemical History of a Candle. Faraday presented this series on the chemistry and physics of burning candles on several occasions, and it was so popular that it was published as a book in 1861; it has remained in print ever since and has been translated into more than 50 languages.
Faraday's original series consisted of six lectures; the re-enactment entitled Keep the Candle Burning chose to present sections from the first and third of these. Presented in the format of an interview between a besuited and black bow-tied Steven Miller, Professor of Planetary Astronomy at UCL and 'Michael Faraday', played by Frank James in period Victorian costume. James is a Professor of History of Science at UCL whose research has included editing the complete letters of Faraday — no fewer than 5043 of them!
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution