Geek Calendar a project is about geeks, by geeks, in support of geeks. It's a celebration of nerdishness in all its glory. And it's raising money for a very good cause: Libel Reform.
"A porn calendar for brainy people."
- Professor Richard Wiseman
"A charming calendar of nerdy celebrities and celebrated nerds."
- The Independent, ten best celebrity calendars 2010
All money goes to the Libel Reform campaign.
The pitch
Geek Calendar showcases the UK's geek heroes in ways you will have never seen before. This is not a 'pin-up' calendar in the traditional sense (and no, they are not naked), instead it features interesting photos of intriguing people, reminding us of each person's ideas, achievements and creativity.
Some of our geeks are famous, some are not, some are scientists, some are artists. All are nerds to the core.
“Geeks are fascinated by the tiniest and yet most wonderful things. I’m a geek. I used to spot buses.”
-- Professor Brian Cox
The geeks
- Simon Singh, author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Big Bang.
- Jonathan Ross, broadcaster (The Jonathan Ross Show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross).
- Chris Addison, comedian and actor (The Thick of It, In the Loop).
- Brian Cox, phycisist and presenter of BBC’s Wonders of the Solar System, and Gia Milinovich, TV presenter, media consultant.
- Ben Goldacre, Guardian columnist and author of the best-selling Bad Science.
- The UK Science Press Pack: Roger Highfield (Editor, New Scientist), Nigel Hawkes (health journalist, former Health Editor of The Times), Mark Henderson (Science Editor, The Times), Hannah Devlin (Science correspondent, The Times), Ed Yong (blogger, Not Exactly Rocket Science).
- Aleks Krotoski, presenter of the BAFTA-winning BBC series The Virtual Revolution; technology journalist, The Guardian; research associate, the Oxford Internet Institute.
- Adam Rutherford, science writer (The Guardian), broadcaster (BBC’s The Cell), Editor, Nature.
- Evan Harris, former Lib Dem MP, and Sabrina Chevannes, UK chess champion
- Alex Bellos, author of Alex’s Adventures in Numberland (shortlisted for the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction) and Matt Parker, mathematical comedian
- Sydney Padua, comic book artist and creator of The Thrilling Adventures of Babbage and Lovelace.
- Petra Boynton, sex educator, agony aunt and academic, UCL.
- Imran Khan, Director, Campaign for Science and Engineering.
- Lewis Dartnell, astrobiologist, Centre for Planetary Sciences, UCL.
- Kat Akingbade, co-presenter of Channel 4’s The Science of Scams.
The calendar
Geek Calendar is a glossy all-colour 30-page, 14-month calendar (December 2010-January 2012). Each page features a short biography of the subject and explanation of their photo shoot.
And that's not all: alongside the traditional public holidays, the calendar also includes geek anniversaries, birthdays and key dates of geek interest, all crowd sourced from the UK geek community itself.
What does it look like?
Layouts:
Product shots:
Ok, WANT. How can I get one?
Each calendar costs £11.75 (plus P&P) and all profits go toward the Libel Reform Campaign. The calendar lasts you until January 2012 and geekifies any room it graces. It's the perfect gift for any geek in your life (including yourself)!
Why Libel Reform?
English libel law is preventing freedom of expression, both in the UK and around the world. It imposes unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on free speech, with chilling effect across publishing and journalism in the UK. And it's not just a case of gagging the media: as the cases of Simon Singh, Peter Wilmshurst and Ben Goldacre have shown, libel laws threaten the debate and discussion on which science and medicine are based.
Moreover, because of the way our law works, people from all over the world can sue in London, which has led to a culture of 'libel tourism'. The law serves the rich and powerful, and does not reflect the interests of a modern democratic society.
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right yet is stifled by English libel law. The Libel Reform Campaign is dedicated to changing this.
For more information see www.libelreform.org
Team Geek Calendar
Organisers: Alice Bell, Louise Crane, Mun-Keat Looi
Photographers: Ben Gilbert, Greg Funnell
Designer: Cosima Dinkel
Videographers: Greg Foot, Barry Gibb, Tom Ziessen
Designer: Cosima Dinkel
Videographers: Greg Foot, Barry Gibb, Tom Ziessen
