'Sometimes, in my job, you get the chance to meet a boyhood hero.
'Now, for some, this could be a football legend or a rock star.
'For me, it's someone quite different -
'and someone I've been waiting 25 years to meet.'
This might be hard to imagine,
but I was once a floppy-haired 16-year-old,
hiding behind his fringe
and dreaming of unlocking the secrets of the universe.
And I nagged my parents one particular Christmas
to get me the big science book that year.
This is it - the actual Christmas present from 1988 -
a copy of Brief History Of Time, by Professor Stephen Hawking.
Since that book was published,
Hawking has become not just the world's most famous scientist,
but a full-on pop culture icon.
Don't like it.
Far beyond the world of physics, people know his name
and possibly even more famously, his voice.
What is a black hole?
In 1963, doctors told him his motor neurone disease
would give him two years to live.
More than 50 years later, he continues to defy that diagnosis.
He communicates using a voice synthesiser
and the muscles in his face.
His is the ultimate story of the triumph of the human spirit.
So, of course I want to meet Stephen Hawking, but I also want
to spend time with the man behind the bright lights and the equations.
I want to meet the team of people that look after Stephen -
his friends, his colleagues,
and maybe even the actor Eddie Redmayne,
who won an Oscar for portraying him.
His face is perhaps the most charismatic face I've ever seen.
I'll also be meeting his children,
who rarely talk publicly about their father.
I think there's a bit of the old razzmatazz about him.
I think he actually secretly loves show business.
Who is this man - the genius, the husband, the father?
With a story so incredible that even Hollywood wanted to tell it.
He is, in many ways, the most unusual hero and star
this country has ever produced.
We're going to meet Professor Stephen Hawking.
'I'm meeting Stephen in a central London hotel today,
'a very special day.
'It's the premiere of the film about his life -
'The Theory Of Everything.
'As I arrive at Stephen's hotel suite, I'm a little nervous -
'not least because I'm not sure how easy it is
'to have a conversation with him.'
Hello. Hi, how are you? Hi, nice to meet you. A pleasure to meet you as well.
Hi, how are you? Hi. Professor Hawking, it's a pleasure to see you.
How are you?
Lovely to see you, by the way.
'I've only just opened my mouth and, already, I've misjudged this.
'Stephen speaks by spelling out his responses
'at an average of one word per minute.
'So I could be left here on one knee for some time.
'Sensing my awkwardness, Stephen's housekeeper Pat
'generously provides me with a chair.'
Ah, thank you very much. You're very kind.
'And while Stephen composes his answer, it's hard not to babble.'
It's very difficult not talk like an idiot in front of you.
Because you're going, "Oh, I must fill this gap, I must...
"I don't know how to be patient here. I must keep talking".
And you realise the limits of your own small talk very quickly.
I have no small talk.
Talking is such an effort.
That's a fair point.
'Quickly, though, you learn the gear change from small talk to patience
'and the conversation can start.'
By the way, how should I address you? Professor Hawking, or...?
How formal would you like me to be?
The tea lady calls me "Stephen".
That's good enough.
So, Stephen it is.
Do you want to ask your questions?
Yes, if I could.
I suppose the first question would obviously be,
how does it feel to have a film made of your life?
I was rather surprised that a major film company
should want to make a film about me.
At first, I was worried,
because it was based on a book by my ex-wife, Jane.
But I was reassured when I read the script,
and even more when I saw a first cut of the film.
It was surprisingly honest about our marriage
and my fight with ALS, or motor neurone disease.
The one regret I have is that it doesn't contain more physics,
but I suppose that was inevitable in a film for a general audience.
Were you happy to see Eddie Redmayne's version of you on screen?
I thought Eddie Redmayne portrayed me very well.
He spent time with ALS sufferers so he could be authentic.
At times, I thought he was me.
It is perhaps the closest I will come to time travel.
It would be a privilege for us
to spend some time with you this evening,
as you're getting ready for this event.
It will be a pleasure.
Good afternoon. Hello. I'm Patricia. How do you do?
How are you? Nice to meet you both.
'And now, here's something I wasn't expecting -
'Stephen has a stylist to help him get ready
'for tonight's big occasion.'
So, you're the...? I'm William Gilchrist, stylist.
Stylist, fantastic.
'William and Stephen's personal assistant, Jeanna Lee York,
'have brought his red carpet outfit.'
Stephen, if you remember, we had the double-breasted cardigan.
'William might be a professional stylist,
'but here, he's working to Stephen's brief.'
And then, scarf-wise, you had mentioned about a solid colour.
So, we have the polka dot...
The cashmere...
Keeping it elegant and keeping it simple.
The second scarf.
I like plain. OK.
Fabulous, you're all set. Good stuff.
'All the preparations made, the team head out to the movie premiere.
'An entourage of five people
'will be looking after Stephen for the big night tonight.
'And while he's been getting ready, so has Leicester Square.
'The stars of the film and assorted special quests
'have gathered for the fans and for the paparazzi cameras alike.
'It's the big opportunity for the film stars
'Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones to promote the film.
'Although frankly, anyone turning up with a vaguely famous face
'gets a camera stuck up their nose, including me.
'But the real star of the premiere is just arriving.'
Ladies and gentlemen,
the man whose life The Theory Of Everything is based on.
Please welcome to Leicester Square, Professor Stephen Hawking!
CHEERING
And so, this is the glitz and glamour of a Leicester Square movie premiere.
Light bulbs going off, music loudly playing...
This is about the life story of a theoretical physicist.
People don't make movies about theoretical physicists!
To solve that riddle, we should probably get out of here.
We should maybe go to Cambridge, meet Stephen Hawking
and his family where they live,
see where he works and find out who he really is.
MUSIC: Gloria In D Major, RV 589 by Antonio Vivaldi
'Cambridge is where Stephen has spent most of his life.
'Although he began his studies at Oxford,
'he came here to do his graduate work.
'It's where he made a name for himself in the academic world.
'It's also where he wrote his book, A Brief History Of Time,
'and where he raised his family.
'It's where he still lives with his support team.'
He's the longest living man ever with ALS, or motor neurone disease,
and that requires a large team around him
to help him survive, essentially.
It's an unusual lifestyle on many, many levels,
but there's a normal man at the heart of it
and that's the man we're going to see again, here in his home.
DOORBELL RINGS
Hey, how are you, pet? Good to see you.
Hello, welcome. Nice to see you. Good to be here.
Hello.
'Before my visit today, I sent Stephen my questions in advance.
'He needs the time to prepare his answers,
'because he has to spell out each word, letter by letter,
'using just the muscles in his face.'
Stephen, thank you very much for inviting us into your home.
I have a number of questions
that you've been very kind enough to answer for me.
My first question for you.
You were diagnosed with motor neurone disease
more than 50 years ago and you were said, at the time...
The diagnosis said that you had two years to live.
Essentially, the question is, how are you still here?
Obviously, I am not a typical case,
or I would have died half a century ago.
I think my survival against the odds
must have something to do with my commitment to science.
I am damned if I am going to die
before I have unravelled more about the universe.
I would have that printed on badges and T-shirts -
"I'm damned if I'm going to die
"before I know how the universe works."
Another question about the condition you have
and how it's affected your life.
Are you in pain?
Motor neurone disease doesn't cause pain,
but sometimes I get uncomfortable, because I can't adjust my position.
Of the things that this condition has taken from you,
what do you miss the most?
I would like to be able to swim again.
To swim again? That's an interesting one to miss.
When my children were young,
I missed not being able to play with them physically.
'Stephen gives impressively honest answers,
'even to the most direct questions.'
Stephen, you have said that you support assisted suicide
for people with terminal illnesses and that their family members
should be able to assist without fear of prosecution.
What condition would you have to be in for you to consider this option?
To keep someone alive against their wishes is the ultimate indignity.
I would consider assisted suicide only if I were in great pain,
or felt I had nothing more to contribute,
but was just a burden to those around me.
And, I suppose, maybe a more existential question than that -
are you lonely?
At times, I get very lonely,
because people are afraid to talk to me
or don't wait for me to write a response.
I am shy and tongue-tied at times.
I find it difficult to talk to people I don't know.
'Of course, not all of the great questions in life are about physics.'
We talk about the extraordinary life that you've had,
but there is something very normal about your life as well.
And by normal, I mean... messy, like anyone else's life.
I mean, two marriages, three children...
Are there any hopes of discovering the laws that govern love?
Or would that take the fun out of life?
Women are a mystery to me.
That is the fun.
DARA LAUGHS
As they are to me and all other geeks, as well.
'That normal, messy human life of Stephen's
'has been compelling enough to be turned into a Hollywood blockbuster,
'and Eddie Redmayne would go on to win an Oscar
'for his portrayal of Stephen.'
When stars are born
and when they die,
they emit UV radiation.
So, if we could see the night sky in the ultraviolet light,
then almost all the stars would disappear
and all that we would see are these spectacular births and deaths.
'The second that I was cast, I started researching him'
and what I find extraordinary is,
his face is perhaps the most charismatic face I've ever seen.
It's like all of the facilities that we have of, of gesture,
of tone of voice, of... All of those energies are channelled
into those few muscles that he's able to use.
Blink to choose the colour
of the group of the letter you want, Stephen.
Green...
..blue...
..pink...
..red.
'A huge influence on Eddie's portrayal
'was advice he had from two of Stephen's children.'
The great inroad to that was meeting Lucy and Tim,
and I spent a long time going to a motor neurone disease clinic
and really trying to educate myself on the disease
and many people who are suffering from it
and wanted to be absolutely authentic to the disease,
but I was being quite respectful and then Tim said,
"Yeah, but we did used to get into Dad's wheelchair and use it as a go-kart."
Or, "We did used to put swear words into the voice machine and press 'play'," you know?
That was just such a revelation for me, because that was like...
Of course, it's just a normal family!
And, you know, dealing with pretty extreme circumstances,
but with humour and with fun and...
Exactly, wind back the clock.
Wind back the clock.
Is that what you're doing?
'Stephen's first wife Jane is played in the film by Felicity Jones.'
Keep winding!
'She was touched by just how unusual their life together was.'
Keep winding...
I started to see...
Jane was someone who, when she met Stephen,
she never patronised him and I...
In some ways, I subconsciously absorbed that and then every time...
In the preparation of the film,
I'd find new things and contradictions in this couple,
who both lived extraordinary lives.
There.
That's better, isn't it?
Yes.
Did Stephen flirt with you?
Oh... I mean, he loves the ladies.
So, he was watching a scene we were doing and then he wrote
and asked if I would give him a kiss after we'd finished shooting
and I was like, "Of course, you're an icon," cos, you know... He's...
I don't think even an icon
is allowed to just write and demand a kiss!
I know! Only Stephen Hawking could get away with that.
But how accurate are these Hollywood biopics, anyway?
Only those who lived through it - Stephen's family -
can really tell you.
Stephen and his first wife, Jane, had three children.
The eldest, Robert, here on the left,
lives in Washington state, in America.
But Lucy, with her son, and Tim, live here in Britain.
So I'm heading to a school in London to meet Lucy.
She's a writer now
and some of her dad's passions must have rubbed off on her,
because she and he have co-authored together
a series of children's science novels.
STEPHEN HAWKING: 'So many things are possible, but you have to imagine them first.
'Can you imagine a future that no-one else has known of?'
'Today, Lucy is trying to get these primary school kids
'excited about the mysteries of the cosmos.'
And so, we have a mystery spaceship, in orbit around the earth.
Sometimes, this spaceship is invisible
and no-one knows who it belongs to.
I am about to complete my fifth book, written with him,
which actually makes me his most prolific co-author.
No-one else has written five books with him.
So, that's my little record-holding title myself.
Is he a helpful co-author?
We're aiming for a kind of scientific accuracy
and authenticity, and that really...
He plays a very important role in ensuring that -
that I'm not allowed to break the laws of physics
by going off on some crazy plot twist, and, yeah...
So, that's annoying.
Annoyingly persistent in his editing comments...
How has being Stephen Hawking's daughter affected your life?
Most people don't find their childhoods featuring
in Oscar-winning Hollywood films.
It just sort of underlines the point
that, really, there was nothing normal about that.
So, it's hard to sum it up.
I did read something that an astronaut said about,
"What's it like to be in space?"
And I felt a lot of resonance with his quote. He said,
"Being in space is a strange mixture of the really prosaic,
"like the everyday, and the deeply extraordinary."
Being in space, that's kind of how I feel.
That's what our lives with Dad are like.
They're that strange mix of incredibly ordinary
but deeply extraordinary at the same time.
How strange is it, watching the film of all of your lives?
Er... The first time, I saw it with my brother.
It was just the two of us when we watched it
and we saw it in a private room at the film production company
and I just bawled my heart out.
It was so astonishing to me,
to go back in time in the way that it did
and to see things that were just...
I mean, I saw my grandparents,
who have all died and there they are on screen.
I saw the house we used to live in.
I saw our whole story playing out in front of my eyes and I was...
I walked out, just stunned.
But the bit that really gets me is actually a bit that, funnily enough,
other people don't seem to like.
At the end of the film, my father,
played by Eddie Redmayne, is giving a lecture
and he goes into a sort of reverie at one point
and he gets up and walks and picks up a pen off the floor
and returns it to the young woman.
Oh, I can't even... I'm going to cry now.
That bit slays me, because I've never seen my father walk
and I have this sort of dream in which I see him walking
and when I watch that, I just...
I wanted it to go on for ever.
I wanted that bit to last for around 44 and a half years,
cos it was like seeing our father as he would have been,
without motor neurone disease.
So that was the bit that really broke my heart.
Actually, I asked, "Of the things that your condition
"has taken from you, what do you miss the most?"
And he did say, "When my children were young,
"I missed not being able to play with them physically."
Mmm... That's sad. That's really sad. Yeah. Did you miss that?
Yeah, I did. And, of course, I have a lot of friends now
who have small children, and especially with my male friends...
You know, I see them pick up a small child and it kind of really
reminds me that that was something my father couldn't do.
And that I found quite poignant and quite painful,
cos that would have been really nice.
'Stephen's children rarely give interviews,
'but I particularly wanted to speak to Tim.
'At 36, he's Stephen's youngest child
'and grew up at a different stage of his father's illness.
'Nonetheless, it must still have been unsettling
'to watch their story in a film.'
How weird is it, by the way, seeing your family life on screen?
It was a very, you know, very emotional...
A lot more emotional for me than I perhaps thought,
and I think particularly because, you know, not ever knowing my dad
as an able-bodied person, to actually see him as a young man...
I think, for me, that was perhaps
sort of one of the really lovely things about the film.
Actually, you grew up with him when he had already lost his voice.
Am I right in saying that?
Well, the thing for me was that,
for, like, about the first four or five years of my life,
my dad was able to...was able to speak with his natural voice.
If you are a long way off...
..you have ways of saying things.
But it was very, very difficult to understand what he was saying
and, obviously, for me, as a sort of three-year-old,
I had no understanding of what he was saying
and so, I didn't really actually have any communication with him
for about the first five years of my life.
And then, it was only when he got the speech synthesiser
that I was actually able to start having a conversation with him.
So it was kind of ironic, in a way,
that him losing his voice was actually the start of him and I
being able to form a relationship, really.
He did say that one thing which had an effect
is he didn't get the chance to physically play with his children.
He said that was a regret. Did you feel that lack, or...?
I think he helped wherever he could, you know?
We played board games, and he wasn't the easiest opponent,
particularly chess. Surely he let you win?
Well, no, there's no compassion there at all.
He was hugely... There's a point in parenting where...
..hugely competitive.
Ay-yay-yay...
Is there any one lesson you took from your father?
Well, I think... I remember as a 12-year-old sort of asking him
a question which I think, at the time, I thought was a bit silly.
"Are there lots of other tiny little universes, dotted around?"
And then he gave me the answer and then he said,
"Don't ever be afraid to come with an idea or a hypothesis,
"no matter how daft it may seem.
"Just have the confidence to follow it through."
And I think that's been a great lesson for me.
'Another way in which Stephen Hawking inspires
'is in his sheer work ethic, even at 73.
'Even after 50 years of motor neurone disease.
'If he's not working on new science,
'or attending a conference, or writing another book,
'he's got a full schedule of work and social events to go to.
'Today, Stephen is at the Science Museum,
'where he's hosting a tour for a competition winner.
'This constant flurry of activity couldn't happen
without the help of his technical assistant, Jonathan Wood.
'He's at Stephen's side to make sure things run smoothly.'
You are led down the stairs, down the ramp, to meet Adaeze...
'I handle all of Stephen's technical things - like, I prepare his slides,
'I look after his computer,'
I book his holidays.
LAUGHTER
I look after his car, I...
You know, anything that, obviously, Stephen can't do,
because he's in a wheelchair, I help him to do.
It's very obvious... You can tell that there is communication
that he can make with you that I don't see.
Yeah, I mean, to people sort of closest to Stephen,
he's very expressive with his facial gestures.
Just if he looks at me, I'll know whether he wants me to stay away
or if he wants some attention...
Cos the chair he's in is, to a certain extent, a life support machine.
Right, he's got a respirator on the back of his chair
that regulates his breathing
and a humidifier that helps humidify the air going to him.
And has his computer ever broken, or has the battery gone flat?
HE LAUGHS
Well, yeah. I mean, we run out of... forget the battery,
or it hasn't been charged up overnight
and we sort of get somewhere... The problem is that
the battery powers not just Stephen's chair,
but his computer and his speech.
So we end up being somewhere and suddenly Stephen'll kind of go,
"Bzzew," and it's all turned off.
And you can just run out of power? Yeah, and run out of power.
It has happened and we just have to
push him back to the nearest power supply.
Rarely - but on occasions.
And it's a great honour for me to welcome
London's official guest of honour to the Science Museum,
the home of human ingenuity.
'Adaeze Uyanwah is a very lucky American school teacher.
'She won a prize to get the greatest VIP tour of London.'
This is Apollo 10, which launched in May 1969
as a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 moon landing.
'Getting a personal tour of the Science Museum from Stephen Hawking
'might have been a bit overwhelming for Adaeze,
'but it's just one of the talks and personal appearances
'that Stephen does every year around the world.
'But how do you take Stephen Hawking round the world?
'One woman who's done just that
'was his personal assistant for ten years, Judith Croasdell.'
Judith, how are you? Hello. Nice to meet you. A pleasure.
'She retired in 2014, but still lives in Cambridge
'with her parrot and the mementos of her travels.'
I have travelled with him abroad to some very interesting places.
I've been to China with him.
I've been to Hong Kong, Israel and Chile.
Perhaps the most extraordinary place to travel with Stephen
was Easter Island.
Easter Island, I don't think
it had ever had a disabled person visit it,
because, you know, it's all gravel around the moai and all the sites.
But relentlessly, Stephen went out and saw all the moai
and it was wonderful, travelling somewhere like that with him.
You know, there wasn't anywhere that he couldn't go,
and I stopped thinking about him as being disabled as well,
because you think, "God, he's a lucky fellow!
"Look at all the amazing places he's seen."
And Stephen met Nelson Mandela.
I remember asking Stephen about this afterwards.
"So, what was it like, Stephen?"
So he said, "Well, at first I thought he was gaga.
"He was just staring at me."
And I said, "Well, it didn't occur to you that he may have thought,
"'What on earth is this? How am I supposed to talk to this man?'"
So I said I'm sure it was... They probably both looked at each other
as if they were from another planet!
And then, there was a lot of bleeping and squeaking and stuff
and then suddenly this voice booms out,
how nice it was to meet the great Nelson Mandela and...
I imagine, you know, "Oh, he does speak!"
Myself and Stephen share one achievement in common -
we've both done the Zero G Flight.
Oh, you've done it? I did it as well, actually, yes.
When Stephen went up, he did eight fantastic parabolas
and he adored it.
It was the most wonderful thing.
I mean, just being up in the air, free of his wheelchair -
he'll never get over it.
'It was amazing. I could have gone on and on.'
Does he take on too much?
Yes.
He does on occasions - and when that happens,
usually, his body gives up, not him.
He's ferociously...
But then, when he gets an infection or something,
that's it - he has to stop.
Dragged into hospital, bored to death,
and I always remember his colleagues -
grey-haired, venerable professors,
saying things like, "Well, he'll cheer up if we go and see him.
"We'll just burble science over him and he'll just breathe that in
"and that's how he'll get better," and they were quite right, actually.
They knew him very well. Oh, right?
And that's exactly what Stephen enjoyed most of all, I think.
'So, it's science that keeps Stephen chipper,
'and like Einstein before him, he uses pure mathematics and
'theoretical physics to come up with his theories about the universe.
'As a student, I studied both of these subjects,
'so I'm very excited, because he's invited me over to talk about them.'
Now, I'm not going to turn down the opportunity to talk science
with one of the greatest minds of our generation,
so I've come to Stephen's office here in Cambridge University.
Not the Cambridge University you're probably used to seeing
from all the films, or, indeed, The Theory of Everything -
not the one with all the stone cloisters.
This is the ultra-modern Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
Of course, they haven't ditched their history entirely.
One of the buildings is named after an old boy from here, Isaac Newton.
MUSIC: Closing by Philip Glass
'Stephen has worked in this office for 15 years,
'and decorating the walls are pictures and mementoes of his heroes
'and the people he's met,
'like Barack Obama, Steven Spielberg,
'the theoretical physicist Richard Feynman,
'and, of course, Albert Einstein.
'But what I'm excited by is what's on Stephen's blackboard.'
This is, in a nutshell,
one shot of why it's such a pleasure to spend time with Stephen Hawking.
On the one hand, you have stills of his appearances in The Simpsons...
..and you have, just below it,
Hawking radiation, which he discovered.
'Stephen's revolutionary breakthrough was discovering
'that despite their massive gravity,
'black holes send out radiation until there's nothing left.
'One person with an insight into how Stephen's unique mind
'comes up with these ideas is his friend and colleague, Kip Thorne.
'Kip has worked with Stephen since the early '70s.'
Although he could no longer draw diagrams on the blackboard,
he learned to create shapes,
geometries, typologies in his head.
Some of his greatest breakthroughs in science -
his discovery of Hawking radiation, for example -
that black holes can only grow, they can't shrink.
They came from manipulating shapes in his head
in ways that I can't do and nobody else can do.
He has shown to his colleagues and to the world
that physical impairment does not have to prevent one
from living life to the full
and having a huge intellectual impact on the world.
He is an inspiration to his colleagues.
He is an inspiration to the general public, for what he has achieved.
He's an inspiration to me, particularly, for his stubbornness.
He's the most stubborn man I've ever met, by a very large margin.
And that's a large part of what makes him succeed,
and I try to emulate him.
You simply don't give up - and if you don't give up
and you work hard enough,
you have a good chance of having some real big impact.
'And there's no sign of him giving up.
'Even at 73, Stephen is still working on new theories of physics.
'He's collaborating today with one of his former students,
'fellow physicist Professor Thomas Hertog,
'who has flown over from Belgium especially to work with him.'
He can think, right? He can think very hard.
He can think very well.
He has a very clear scientific vision.
So he feels cosmology is a mission he can fulfil,
despite his disability, and therefore,
that's what makes life worthwhile.
It is usually thought the exi surface is very irregular,
but we think the amplitude...
What makes him remarkable as a scientist
is the clarity of his vision.
He has an ability to see through all the clutter
and to focus on the core problems
and also, to abandon old ideas
which stand in the way of further progress.
'And even in the rarefied atmosphere of the Cambridge maths department,
'most of the best work is done in the canteen.
'And now, I'm excited, because when I studied theoretical physics,
'neither I nor any of my professors
'ever thought I'd be sitting down and talking physics
'with one of the greatest scientific minds on the planet.'
In physics at the moment, there are these two huge theories.
We have Einstein's theory of relativity,
which talks about the very big planets and galaxies
and gravity and how gravity affects them,
and then we've got quantum mechanics,
which deals with the very small and the tiny subatomic particles
and the forces that work for them.
The Holy Grail for some time has been,
"How can we draw these two together?"
It's what people refer to as "the theory of everything".
Do you think we'll ever achieve that?
I think we will eventually discover a unified theory,
though it may well take longer than the 20 years I predicted,
45 years ago.
Your work is at the very edge of what is theoretical
and what we're imagining.
Does it disappoint you that we might not have
an experimental proof of your work in your lifetime?
I am resigned to the fact that I won't see
proof of Hawking radiation directly.
I am now studying whether one might detect Hawking radiation
in primordial gravitational waves.
So I might get a Nobel prize, after all.
That's... That's great. That is a direct pitch to win a Nobel prize.
I like the chutzpah of it. I like the nerve.
One final question.
In 1992, you postulated the -
let me get the name of this correct -
the chronology protection conjecture,
which basically states that we can't travel backwards in time.
Thus, destroying the Terminator movies.
So, thanks for that.
But, even allowing you that...
..do you think there's any - and if you'll excuse the pun -
future for time travel?
Will we be able to use black holes, for example, to travel through time?
If you jump in a black hole, you will meet an unpleasant fate.
It will be little consolation
that your mass energy will be recycled as Hawking radiation.
That's tough news for a lot of dreamers, that one,
but they have to hear it.
This is something I had to bring along today, Stephen.
This is my copy of A Brief History of Time,
which was a Christmas present I got, cos I requested it when I was 16.
This is an enormously important item in my life,
cos it's managed to go through every house move I've made
to the age of 43, this book.
Is it possible to get you to sign this?
Yes.
'Stephen signs books by leaving a thumb print on them,
'which means that I am now a very proud little science nerd.'
What I'd love to do, obviously, is show it to 16-year-old Dara.
I think it would actually mean a lot to him,
to see this book signed by one of his heroes.
But unfortunately, I can't, because thanks to him,
I can't go back in time.
That's one of your great theories. So, I'm stuck here.
He'll never know. He'll never know, 16-year-old Dara,
that this happened, thanks to your chronology conjecture.
Lovely. Thanks. Thanks, Stephen. Thanks.
'This science icon, one of the most unlikely of celebrities,
'is in demand all over the world
'and he relishes the attention.'
Please give an astronomical welcome to Felicity Jones
and Professor Stephen Hawking!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
He enjoys a round of applause,
particularly if it's directed at him,
and the opportunity to express his sense of humour.
I am particularly pleased to be presenting this award
with the only person on the planet
more intelligent than Stephen Fry.
LAUGHTER
Yes - and better looking.
LAUGHTER
APPLAUSE
And that mischievous sense of humour is about to be put to use again -
and all for a good cause.
We're here in Cambridge again, but not for academic purposes.
He knows his own iconography,
but he's very happy to have that used for comic effect.
In the last year, he's done Monty Python,
he's done The Simpsons previously.
We're here today where they're filming for Comic Relief,
for a sketch that appeared on the last Red Nose Day.
Cos he knows there's something inherently funny about this,
and his impish sense of humour comes through.
'David Walliams is resurrecting his character Andy from Little Britain
'and Catherine Tate is playing an Irish nun.'
Astounding, to think the Lord created all this in just seven days.
Incorrect.
It took 13.8 billion years.
Well, let's not get bogged down in all that again.
The universe was created by a big bang.
I don't think so!
And after an initial expansion, the universe cooled.
He can go on like this all day.
DIRECTOR: Cut, thank you.
'Stephen has the starring role
'in one of this year's headline sketches for Comic Relief.
'It's such a big deal, in fact, that even the co-founder of Comic Relief,
'Richard Curtis, has come along.'
We hope that we're making a hilarious, very funny,
brilliant sketch, but I think what it will mean is
that if two million extra people watch the show, well, that really
will mean that something like four million extra pounds will get made.
And if you're very good, Stevie,
you can watch Peppa Pig.
Don't like it.
I thought you loved Peppa Pig.
You always said it was
an astute critique of contemporary family life in porcine form.
Yeah, I know. Well, then we'll watch Peppa Pig, then.
Hiss off.
What do you mean, "Hiss off"?
Ducking autocorrect.
Any more bad language like that, Stevie,
and I'll wash your computer out with soap and water.
Thank you. Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.
For both of you, the first time you've worked with Professor Stephen Hawking?
Certainly is. Yeah. How have you found it?
He's very warm, he's been really funny,
and very engaged with it all and very happy to be here.
Yeah. And he's got an amazing presence
and a very beautiful quality. It's a very special thing...
Yeah, he's got a real twinkle, actually. Yeah, he has, yeah.
Plus, you can now join the list which, er...
The Simpsons, Monty Python, John Oliver.
He does a lot of comedy. He does lots of comedy.
Yeah. Well, I think he genuinely loves it.
I think this is the one he was waiting to tick off the list, wasn't it, to be fair?
Yeah, I mean, you start with The Simpsons, you build up... Until you get asked.
LAUGHTER
After two hours of filming in bitterly cold winter weather,
Stephen's scenes are complete.
Hey... Thank you so much, Professor.
It's just been magical working with you.
As Stephen ages, though, his motor neurone disease
continues to take more muscle movement from him.
His greatest fear is that he loses the ability to control his computer.
If that happens, he won't be able to speak and then
he wouldn't be able to do the things that are so important to him.
So, his technical assistant Jonathan and computer specialists
are trying to come up with
even more ingenious ways of keeping him communicating.
Right now, the blink sensor is only able to detect this one movement.
So what we're trying to do here is use a camera to detect
the different gestures that he makes with his face.
We know he can make three different gestures,
so what we're really hoping to do with this
is be able to reliably detect these three gestures and then
we're able to really improve his interface and make it much faster.
'If all goes to plan,
'we'll continue to hear Stephen's voice for many years to come.
'The end of my time with Stephen is drawing near.
'After all the rushing about,
'it's quite nice just to relax in his kitchen,
'reading the newspapers with him.'
You have, as far as I believe, done submarines, Zero G...
'Stephen has dedicated his life to science
'and he's very proud of his achievements.
'Before I leave Cambridge, he wants to show off about one of them.'
Over here is my Fundamental Physics prize,
which I won in 2013.
More valuable than the Nobel prize.
DARA LAUGHS
'Yes, the Fundamental Physics prize
'is one of the biggest awards in science,
'bringing Stephen yet more acclaim for his life's work -
'and the small matter of 3,000,000 of prize money.
'But there's no end to his ambition.
'Now, he wants to conquer my world.'
Dara, I have a joke for you.
A photon checks into a hotel.
The receptionist asks, "Can I help with your luggage?"
The photon replies, "No, it's OK, I am travelling light."
DARA CHEERS
That's a top-quality nerd joke!
Thank you very, very much. That is... That's excellent.
Thank you very much.
What is a black hole?
I don't know. What is a black hole?
Something you get in a black sock.
LAUGHTER
Is that patented? Can I take that, you know? OK. 20/80 split.
20/80 split for that joke.
80/20...done.
I got A Brief History Of Time as a Christmas present when I was 16,
and when you're 16, you choose your heroes based on triumph or disaster
and you don't want to meet them, in case their humanity diminishes it.
Then you get a little older and you do meet your heroes
and you realise that what makes them great is that humanity.
It's meeting Stephen Hawking and seeing him as impish and geeky
and flirty or curious, or stubborn or warm.
Just an ordinary dad and grandad
who happens to have triumph and disaster in his life
and to have risen above it.
And the greatest achievement he has is his humanity and his normality,
and that makes him even more of a hero.
That is a wrap.