Professor Chris Lintott appears on The [new] Harry Hill Show

Professor of Astronomy Chris Lintott was seeing stars of a different kind this week: he appeared on The Harry Hill Show. The new podcast, available on YouTube, showcases the comedian's surreal humour as he welcomes celebrity guests.

Together with comedian Phil Wang, the trio explored the Big Bang as part of the show's Theme of the Week.

Professor Lintott revealed he gets letters from people, often retired engineers, who think they have solved the mysteries of the universe, before discussing the physics of the Big Bang.

He talked about the birth of the universe, saying it was in a hot dense state that then started to expand outwards. Space stretching, he continued, is like raisin bread being kneaded and the raisins getting further away from each other. He also said that five per cent of the static on old televisions is actually leftover radiation from the Big Bang.

Professor Lintott admitted that the very beginning of everything remains a mystery to science.

He told Harry: "If the Big Bang is this moment at the beginning where everything started, that's also the place where physics breaks. We can go right back to just after the Big Bang and I can tell you sensible things about the universe, but that moment of the clock starting, time equals zero, we basically don't know what happened."

Other topics that came up included problems caused by pigeons on telescopes, and what annoys Professor Lintott about the film Interstellar.

The episode has generated significant positive feedback from viewers, with several comments praising his contribution to the show: One said that "Chris Lintott is a national treasure", while another wrote: "I'd love a beer with Chris to chat about physics."