Media
I appear regularly in television, radio and print journalism in various capacities, ranging from political interviews to my recognisable guest spots on Big Brother (see above). I am happy to talk about any of my topics or on subjects relevant to my expertise and research interests.
My most recent appearance is on the tastefully titled Songs To Have Sex To, which first appeared on 14 Aug 2015 on Sky Arts, hosted by Edith Bowman. It was, in fact, an intelligent meditation on what is it about music that can affect us so strongly, with a narrative tied together by the title. I ran an experiment on how Edith Bowman embodied her response to various songs, some sexy, some not. We also checked her response to photos of men (wearing clothing).
Prior to that, I appeared on Pipers of the Trenches (BBC Scotland, summer 2014), where I ran an experiment on the power of music on soldiers’ abilities and endurance. The very fit Scottish officer trainees were tested for their physical grip strength using hand dynamometry. We tested the effects of music (in particular, territorial music — see my book on music and territory) by having the soldiers run on a treadmill for 5 minutes (to create partial fatigue) in three music conditions: bagpipe music, contemporary classical/jazz music, and silence. After each run, the soldiers tested their grip strength, and for these Scottish soldiers, the pipe music was associated with significantly more grip strength. The implication is that Scottish regiments in World War I may have benefited from the presence of pipers on the battle field in terms of endurance and resistance to fatigue.