I was watching the series Solar System on ABC iview the other day and suddenly felt a wave of enormous gratitude that such an assemblage of atoms called Professor Brian Cox exists to trek up a frosty mountain at dawn in order to explain the ice on a distant moon of Jupiter, whilst I sit on my cosy couch with a cup of tea.

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Then, I also thought it is quite strange that sitting on the same couch (perhaps with a glass of wine), I have delighted in the performance of another collection of atoms called Brian Cox, the gruff Scottish actor. He had to get up just as early to sit in makeup and remember his lines before spending hours in front of hot lights and cameras portraying the Murdochian character of Logan Roy in Succession. I wondered if these two very different Brian Coxes had ever met at an airport and how odd that would be. “Hello, Brian Cox.” . . . “Hello, Brian Cox.”

How many Brian Coxes are out there? Turns out there’s quite a few. There is a...