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I was delighted to show this model of DNA in #LeedsCityMuseum (LCM) to my co-author Dr. Ralf Dahm when he visited from the Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany recently to give a talk to Leeds Phil and Lit Society at LCM about our new book ‘The Dawn Fisherman: Friedrich Miescher & the Discovery of DNA’. But having also visited the DNA sculpture at Clare College, Cambridge on his trip, Ralf was puzzled as to why there was nothing to tell visitors such as himself about the crucial role that Leeds played in the discovery of the DNA structure all thanks to its wool industries! Ralf and I would love to work together with Leeds City Museum to do something about this (especially with talk of a new film about this discovery on the way starring #NataliePortman!) and if anyone there is interested – please do get in touch as we’d be delighted to talk more!

And a big thanks too to the organisers of this year’s Ilkley Literature Festival and everyone who came along on Sat 10th Oct to hear myself, Ralf Dahm and Greg Radick share what may well have been the only discussion on the DNA story to also include The Great British Bake-Off (thanks to Dr. Syabira Yusoff’s wonderful 2022 semi-final entry!), the mating habits of the Rhine Salmon, and Sisyphus from Greek mythology rolling his boulder not up a mountain but the ascending coils of a DNA double helix! (Also a great opportunity to proudly sport my new ‘Eagle pub’ T-shirt!)

It sounds like the opening line of a joke…but on 28th Feb 1953, scientists James Watson and Francis Crick strolled into ‘The Eagle’ pub in Cambridge to celebrate their discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA (not achieved, it should be added, without the vital experimental X-ray work of Rosalind Franklin & Raymond Gosling!). We should probably take the dramatic recounting of this incident that Watson gives in his 1968 memoir ‘The Double-Helix’ and its subsequent portrayal in the 1980s BBC drama ‘Life Story’ of how they both burst into the pub and announced they’d found ‘the secret of life’ with a slight pinch of salt and my own suspicion that what happened in ‘The Eagle’ on 28th Feb 1953 was more like what happened there on 8th Oct 2026 when Ralf Dahm and I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon sitting in ‘The Eagle’ underneath the plaques that commemorate the historic discovery and chatting to visiting tourists over a pint of the pub’s delicious ‘DNA’ beer as a celebration of our new book ‘The Dawn Fisherman’ which tells the rather sad story of 19th century Swiss scientist Friedrich Miescher – who first discovered DNA back in 1869 whilst washing pus from discarded surgical bandages and why he would have been absolutely delighted to see the plaques that hang in ‘The Eagle’ today.

A massive thanks to general manager Julia Kimbell and all her team at ‘The Eagle’ for making Ralf and myself feel so welcome!

I’m looking forward to noon on Thur (8th) when Ralf Dahm and I will be enjoying a pint of ‘DNA’ beer in ‘The Eagle’ pub in Cambridge and talking to anyone who’s interested about why 19th scientist Friedrich Miescher who discovered DNA (and is the subject of our new book ‘The Dawn Fisherman’) would be absolutely delighted to see these plaques that hang on the pub wall. A big thanks to Julia the manager for her support and interest in giving us the opportunity to do this -and if anyone happens to be in Cambridge on Thur lunchtime, please do call in and say hello!