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At 70, Johnny Ball has lost none of his passion and enthusiasm for maths and science. And for presenting. The popular personality from 1980's tv recently visited ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Scotland's Pacific Quay to share stories and demonstrations with local children from Govan High School, Hill's Trust Primary, Holyrood Secondary and Milngavie Primary.

Of course school pupils of today may only know his face as an old guy competing with his daughter in an , but the star of Playschool, Playaway, Think of a Number, and Johnny Ball Reveals All needed no introduction to the teachers and on looking staff. How many times must he hear the "I remember you off the telly when I was a kid". At his age, he says, everyone is a kid.

With news stories declaring young people are , and the oft heard "but I'd never use it in real life", Johnny demonstrated in an hour, with a fair share of audience participation and interaction, how maths has been used over the ages from the to London's iconic ''. The cast included , , and , the greatest British scientist of all time according to Johnny.

Props, puns, bad jokes, good jokes, dodgy accents and a charming disregard for health and safety were all used in getting his message across - mathematics is the most important thing you learn in all your life. "Without maths there are no games. With maths there is no career not open to you."

In a separate session for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ staff, he shared secrets of successful writing and creative ways to engage young people. Or any audience. In fact, he's never written for a specific age group. Another clear message is 'don't think childlike for children'. "Don't tell me that children have any different ideas from adults. Their thoughts are only tempered by the knowledge they have."

Ask him, in fact try to stop him from telling you about what he thinks of programmes today and politicians using environmental technology issues for their own end. He is enthralled by science. He gets angry about bad science and bad reasoning. Not to mention anything that comes across as dumbed-down.

"Don't underestimate the kids. They know more than I ever knew at that age. Kids are more worldly than they've ever been; They know more about the world than we give them credit for. And if anyone says the attention span of a child is eight minutes then you're not doing it right."