1. What made you want to be a chemist?

I only took A-level chemistry because it completed a sensible set of three. Then, the first thing that we learned about was atomic structure. I can remember thinking that this was the most interesting thing that I had ever heard. From then on, I was hooked.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

I had always thought that I would be an aeronautical engineer. I had always loved aeroplanes.

3. How can chemists best contribute to the world at large?

Aside from the obvious contributions in terms of the products of the chemicals industries and understanding how the world works, I think that most chemists are well grounded, practical people who like to proceed on the basis of evidence. These qualities seem to be surprisingly rare in today’s world. Keeping these in the public discourse is really important.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

This is the question that I have found the most difficult to answer. Do you go for someone who has had huge impact on the world, a person of great beauty or famous charm or a damn good comedian? I don’t know.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

If you mean to have finished an experiment, it’s so long in the past that I can’t remember. I can remember very clearly when my two most experienced PhD students came to my office one day to speak to me on behalf of the group. They told me that whenever I came into the lab to do some practical work, I left things half completed and that they had no idea of what to do with the mess that I left behind and that I was slowing their progress. So, I stopped.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one CD would you take with you?

The CD is easy, it would be the complete collection of Round the Horne. I’ve always quite fancied reading the Mahabharata – at least it’s good and long.

Tom Welton is in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London and works on the effects of solvent-solute interactions on chemical reactivity, particularly in room-temperature ionic liquids.

Wildlife/nature programmes are highlighted in green, whereas science shows are in black.

Monday

7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. The evolution of the mobile phone. Or was it intelligent design?

8.00 HIGHLIGHT The Sky at Night, BBC4. Lunar exploration, the next generation.

9.00 HIGHLIGHT Life in Cold Blood, BBC1. Tortoises, turtles and crocodiles.

9.00 HIGHLIGHT Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe, C4. 20 years on from his most famous book, the Cambridge physicist looks at how far our theories have changed.

9.00 Bridging the Morphine Gap, Radio 4. Why Indians have virtually no access to morphine, despite being the world’s biggest producer.

Tuesday

11.00am World on the Move, Radio 4. Animal migrations.

3.00 Home Planet, Radio 4.

9.00 HIGHLIGHT Horizon, BBC2. The search for Earth-like planets.

Wednesday

4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.

8.00 Bill Oddie’s Wild Side, BBC2. Animals that sound like musical instruments.

9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Repeat.

Thursday

4.30 Material World, Radio 4.

9.00 Leading Edge, Radio 4.

9.30 In Our Time, Radio 4. Melvyn Bragg discusses Ada Lovelace, the mathematician daughter of Lord Byron.

10.00 The Big Bang Theory, C4. Comedy about a couple of physics nerds attempting to engage with the real world.

Friday

3.00 Shared Earth, Radio 4.

Saturday

5.20 Wildlife on Two, BBC2. Dragonfly: beauty or beast?

Sunday

4.00 Life in Cold Blood, BBC1. Repeat.