Jem Stansfield

Last updated

Jem Stansfield
Born
Jeremy Stansfield

December 1970 (age 54) [1]
Alma mater Bristol University
Occupations
Years active2001–present

Jeremy Stansfield (born 1970) is a British engineer and television presenter who is best known for presenting the BBC One science show Bang Goes the Theory .

Contents

Career

Stansfield has a degree in aeronautics from Bristol University and, before his television career, worked in a Czech school, as a shepherd in the Australian outback, and briefly in stand-up comedy. [2] Stansfield was an on-screen ballistics expert for the television show Scrapheap Challenge and went on to become a permanent part of the engineering team for subsequent series. [3] [4]

Among his inventions are a compressed-air powered motorcycle, and boots that walk on water (for which he won a New Scientist prize). [5]

In 2010, Stansfield used vacuum cleaners to create "Spider-Man style" climbing gloves, climbing 30 feet up a brick wall. [5] [6] He also drove a modified 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 210 miles from London to Manchester using coffee granules for fuel. [7] [8]

In 2013 Stansfield sustained injuries during filming of a segment for the series Bang Goes the Theory . The segment was about the safety of front-facing and rear-facing seats in car crashes. Stansfield was in a cart which crashed, simulating the impact of a car hitting a lamppost and suffered from spine and brain injuries as a result. [9]

In 2021 Stansfield was awarded £1.6m in damages after a High Court battle. [9] It emerged in court that the BBC had been warned of the dangers by crash test experts but this information was never passed to Stansfield. [9]

Filmography

Television

YearTitleCreditNotes
2001–2003 Science Shack Presenter
2002–2003Home On Their OwnInventor / Engineer [2]
2004Zero to HeroEngineer
2006 Scrapheap Challenge Staff EngineerBriefly credited as "Ballistics Expert"
2006 Men in White
2006Wild Thing: I Love YouPresenter / Aeronautical Engineer
2008 Planet Mechanics Presenter8 episodes
2009–2014 Bang Goes the Theory Presenter / Head of Engineering49 episodes
2010Explosions: How We Shook the WorldPresenterDocumentary
2010 Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention Science correspondent
2011Big, Bigger, BiggestPresenter / Engineer4 episodes
2012 Horizon PresenterApril 2012 episode entitled "Stuff: A Horizon Guide to Materials"
2012Stargazing ChallengesPresenter
2013 Newsround Judgefor "You Too Could be an Absolute Genius" segment

Film

YearTitleCreditNotes
1998 Lost in Space [2] Special effects technicianFor Magic Camera Company
1998 The Avengers [2] Special effects
2004 Van Helsing Special effects

References

  1. ↑ "Jem STANSFIELD". Gov.uk. Companies House. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Grimshaw, Vicki (6 July 2002). "Wacky Inventor Jem Stansfield Creates Amazing Gadgets to Make Kids' Dreams Come True in a New TV Series". Daily Mirror .[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ "BIOGRAPHIES: Planet Mechanics". National Geographic Channel. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Gould, Julie (November 2013). "Speaking to... Jem Stansfield". Speaking of Science. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  5. 1 2 Hough, Andrew (16 February 2010). "Jem Stansfield: 'human spiderman' scales 30 ft wall using only vacuum cleaner suctions". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Nosowitz, Dan (25 July 2009). "British Man Climbs Up Side of Building Using DIY Vacuum Gloves". Gizmodo . Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Bang goes the coffee in drive for science in Manchester". BBC News. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "TV host's coffee car nears finish". Metro . 11 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 "Jeremy Stansfield: Bang Goes The Theory host wins £1.6m BBC damages". BBC News. 1 October 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.