Desert Island Discs

Dame Wendy Hall

Radio 4 Series 1 Episode 1
First broadcast 1st August 2014, 09:00
Duration: 31:14
Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, Dame Wendy fought long and hard to prove that her type of web science was highly significant and here to stay. If algebraic topology and open hypermedia systems really aren't your thing, Dame Wendy is also in demand as a brilliant communicator on, what can seem to outsiders to be, impenetrable topics. Her parents were from humble beginnings and it was clear from the get-go that their first born had a budding flair for numbers: aged six she was charged with teaching a group of schoolmates maths. The first in her family to go to University she rejected Cambridge, judging it "too stuffy". She says, "I get too excited about stuff. I love my life and am passionate about web science, women in science and shopping". Producer CATHY DRYSDALE

Clips from this programme

Opening Title Music-Desert Island Discs, Computer Scientist Dame Wendy Hall

Duration: 00:17

Introduction-Kirsty Young interviews Computer Scientist Dame Wendy Hall, Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Algebraic topology, open hypermedia systems, a brilliant communicator on, what can seem to outsiders to be, impenetrable topics. The first in her family to go to University she rejected Cambridge, judging it "too stuffy". Passionate about web science, women in science and shopping

Duration: 00:54

Dame Wendy Hall: If not a Computer Scientist, still a 'people person' but computers don't distance us. Social Networks like Twitter. Not a programmer but passionate about Computer Science

Duration: 01:55

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall - Music no 1: The Beatles, Things We Said Today

Duration: 01:07

Dame Wendy Hall: The Web Observatory, mapping the Digital Planet, how the Web evolves and trends. The Right to expunge personal historical data on the web

Duration: 02:24

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 2: Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water

Duration: 00:59

Dame Wendy Hall: Born 1952, parents influenced by the war, father an accountant after the RAF, their first born had a budding flair for numbers: aged six she was charged with teaching a group of schoolmates maths, Brownies

Duration: 02:22

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 3: Adele, Skyfall

Duration: 01:13

Dame Wendy Hall: From Brownies, Prefect rebellion, Maths rather than medicine, The Joy of Pure Mathematics, thinking in N dimensions, in the abstract

Duration: 03:02

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 4: Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Fanfare for the Common Man

Duration: 00:58

Dame Wendy Hall: From Southampton, after PhD, teaching male engineers in 1977, Oxford Brookes, first brush with personal computers (Commodore Pet) for teaching Basic Programming. Inspired when BBC Micro Computer came out with pictures and video. Video Disc players with Video Discs, video onto the Apple Mac, Masters in Computer Science at Southampton University

Duration: 02:56

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 5: George Frideric Handel, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba ( Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Performer: Sir Thomas Beecham )

Duration: 01:51

Dame Wendy Hall: Southampton, 1980s- Microcosm, a hypermedia system (before the World Wide Web WWW existed), links between multimedia content (1989 demo), (Tim Berners Lee in Cern), women still facing glass ceilings, Wendy became Professor of engineering

Duration: 03:19

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 6: Genesis, The Brazilian

Duration: 01:01

Dame Wendy Hall: Respect from merit, Men resent and feel threatened by confident women, no children, no career gap

Duration: 02:43

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 7: Eric Clapton, Layla

Duration: 01:06

Dame Wendy Hall: The positive future for the Web, managing our personal data, who manages the Internet for the good of humanity. Internet Governance. Openness and transparency, government responsibility & regulatory issues. Social Networks in the future, teleconferencing

Duration: 03:04

Desert Island Discs, Dame Wendy Hall- Music no 8: The Beatles, Let It Be

Duration: 00:47

Dame Wendy Hall: Desert Island Discs book choice: Complete printed out pages of Wikipedia (Kindles not allowed), luxury choice: Spa and favourite spa products

Duration: 01:03

Desert Island Discs

Dame Wendy Hall

First broadcast: 1st August 2014
Duration 31:14

Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, Dame Wendy fought long and hard to prove that her type of web science was highly significant and here to stay. If algebraic topology and open hypermedia systems really aren't your thing, Dame Wendy is also in demand as a brilliant communicator on, what can seem to outsiders to be, impenetrable topics. Her parents were from humble beginnings and it was clear from the get-go that their first born had a budding flair for numbers: aged six she was charged with teaching a group of schoolmates maths. The first in her family to go to University she rejected Cambridge, judging it "too stuffy". She says, "I get too excited about stuff. I love my life and am passionate about web science, women in science and shopping". Producer CATHY DRYSDALE

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