Physicist and presenter Brian Cox has smashed the Guinness World Record for the most tickets sold for a science event, surpassing his own sales figures for a single show.
His ‘Universal: Adventures in Space and Time’ world tour stop at the 15,800-capacity Arena Birmingham shifted 11,433 tickets in February 2019.
This number beat his previous single show record of 8,787, which he set in May 2017 at the 12,500-seat SSE Arena, Wembley in London.
The Phil McIntyre Entertainments-promoted event is scheduled to return to the Midlands venue for an additional show in September, with tickets costing £40.75 from The Ticket Factory.
Craig Glenday, editor in chief of Guinness World Records, said: “Brian has surpassed his previous record by an incredible amount and it really exemplifies the brilliant job that he does of making science accessible for all ages, something that we try each year to uphold in the Guinness World Records book.
“Brian does an amazing job of educating and inspiring children and adults alike, and his record is solid proof of these efforts.”
He also holds the record for the most tickets sold for a science tour in total, achieving 158,589 for his tour throughout the UK between September 2016 and April 2017.
Cox has appeared in many science programmes for BBC radio and television, including In Einstein’s Shadow and the BBC Horizon series, as well as co-presenting Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage comedy and science programme.
Cox told the Guinness World Records organisation: “It’s gratifying. What it tells you is that there is a big audience for real science. If it was 1,000 people, or 1,500 people, it’s real cosmology or astrology geeks, but if you’re talking about 11,000 people it means families are coming.
“I had a question a few nights ago from a four-and-a-half-year-old. Then we also had a question from someone who came on their 90th birthday. That’s the difference when you’re talking about very big audiences, it’s the spread of people.”
Image: NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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