Tim Spector is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Head of the Department of Twin Research at King’s College London. He was one of the co-founders of the ZOE Covid Symptom study, which for which he was awarded an OBE. He has also written best-selling books about the relationship between what we eat and our health and well-being. Tim was born in London in 1958 into a medical family. His mother was a physiotherapist and his father was an eminent pathologist, although Tim initially resisted his father’s encouragement to follow him into medicine. Once qualified, Tim specialised in rheumatology before switching to epidemiology. In 1992, he set up a large-scale research study of twins which now has more than 15,000 identical and non-identical twins taking part. After a health scare in 2011, Tim became more interested in how we can influence the microbes in our gut to help us stay well. He has published several books on the science of eating well and is a pioneer in personalised food nutrition. Tim lives in London with his wife, who is also a doctor. DISC ONE: Life on Mars - David Bowie DISC TWO: Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 / Act 1 - 13. Dance Of The Knights Composed by Sergei Prokofiev and performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy DISC THREE: Paint it, Black - The Rolling Stones DISC FOUR: Dreams - Fleetwood Mac DISC FIVE: Puttin’ on the Ritz - Gene Wilder playing Dr Frankenstein, Peter Boyle as The Monster and Norbert Schiller as the announcer. Music conducted by John Morris from Young Frankenstein (Original Soundtrack) DISC SIX: All of Me (live) - Louis Armstrong DISC SEVEN: That’s Entertainment - The Jam DISC EIGHT: In the Ghetto - Elvis Presley BOOK CHOICE: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens LUXURY ITEM: A fermenting set CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: All of Me (live) - Louis Armstrong Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor
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Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast.
Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
And for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
I hope you enjoy listening.
My castaway this week is the scientist, Professor Tim Spector.
He's challenged long standing ideas about our diet and how it affects our health through his extensive research into the gut microbiome, the microscopic world inside each of us.
It's diverse, unique and intimately involved in the great medical mysteries of our age.
Rather like Tim Seavey.
He's professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and the founder of the Twins UK registry, one of the richest collections of genetic data in the world.
He's a pioneer of a food revolution, producing several bestselling books and a tech entrepreneur.
His Covid tracking app, allowing millions of us to record our health and symptoms, earned him an OBE during the pandemic.
Health and food tracking versions now have 4 million subscribers around the world.
He was born into a medical family and credits his mother's adventurous spirit with nurturing his aptitude for taking calculated risks in life and at work.
He says, when you change subjects, it's really risky.
You have to learn a new language and you have to get accepted by your peers and convince people to give you money without a track record.
But I like throwing myself in.
Professor Tim Spector, welcome to Desert Island Discs.
Hello.
So, Tim, let's start with the gut microbiome then.