Objectivity reaches 200 videos

I’ll take the opportunity to reflect on some of the project’s highlights and thank a few people.

Most importantly, huge credit to James Hennessy who shoots and edits the videos. He puts real care and craftsmanship into every episode.

Also Keith Moore, head librarian at the Royal Society - the undoubted “star” of the channel. He has given so much of his time and vast expertise. A great guy and true professional (despite the corny jokes).

I’m sometimes asked what my favourite video is - if forced to choose, I’d pick this one about treasure chests.

I also love the videos in which some of my friends come along as guest stars.

Among the pioneers were Destin from Smarter Every Day, Michael from Vsauce, and the gang from the Festival of the Spoken Nerd.

And of course I must mention The White Gloves of Destiny - those lucky dips into the card catalogue which result in randomly chosen objects and documents.

Here’s the full playlist - but the one featuring astronaut Don Pettit is perhaps the most memorable.

The videos have resulted in a number of “white glove pilgrimages” to the Royal Society.

There are plenty of other people who have helped along the way - but I must say a special thank you to Tracey Hughes and Rupert Baker at the Royal Society, and Jake Chudnow at YouTube who really got things off the ground.

Also the various other organisations which have hosted us, including Nasa, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the AP Archive, and even the Clifton Suspension Bridge!

I’ve not named everyone - that would take weeks - but hopefully you know who you are.

And finally - a huge thanks to our Patreon supporters. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who takes the time to watch and interact with the videos - but our Patrons have been able to go a bit further a chip in a dollar or two and we really appreciate that.

Here’s a list of Patrons.

POSTSCRIPT: James tells me his favourite video is this one.