One of the things I've been unable to blog about, of course, is the audience's point of view of the Fairground: Thrill Laboratory events. Thank goodness, then, for Malcolm Marr, who attended all three weeks and blogged about the events splendidly.

Malcolm's view of week one.

Malcolm's view of week two.

Malcolm's view of week three.

He also had kind words to say about my book.

Thanks, Malcolm!

Alex Taylor, on the left, is a sociologist who works for Microsoft. His job at the Fairground: Thrill Laboratory events was to be our first test subject. With him is Helena Csarmann of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, who spoke about the similarities of the Ghost Train ride to a production line.


Here is the audience's view of Alex on one of the rides, shot with the helmet-mounted infra-red camera.




Richard Cadell was great -- he did a presentation about his lifelong obsession with Ghost Train rides, and ended with the gory illusion of nearly chopping off his arm. Very charming, a great public speaker, and really passionate about amusement park rides. Along with his brother, he owns and operates Brean Leisure Park in Somerset.

Finally, after my return from my London trip, I'm finding the time to properly blog some photos and my reflections on the Fairground: Thrill Laboratory events. I may repeat some things I blogged in my earlier posts.

Bright and early on Tuesday, the 17th of October, my first full day in London, I went to a press event at the Dana Centre. The Miami Trip ride was our guest of honor for the first few nights, and members of the press vied for the chance to ride it while wearing the telemetry rig.



Here's Brendan Walker, the creator of the event, holding the telemetry jacket for a reporter.


The reporter being "kitted out". The jacket contained monitors for heart and breathing rates, and an accelorometer to measure g-forces, as well as various Wi-Fi and Bluetooth widgets to transmit the signal to the audience.



Now she's wearing the helmet, with its tiny infra-red camera pointed at her face. This allows the audience to see to see facial expressions of the test subjects.


Here she is, no doubt feeling a bit Bridget Jones, on the ride.


When we were nearly finished, this tabloid twerp finally got his chance to ride, after whining that there were very few other passengers left to ride with him, so his photos would look bad. I got the distinct impression that he was one of the runts of the press litter, and was used to being last in line -- and was not the sort to take that gracefully.


Here's Brendan with the press officer for the Science Museum, Lauren Gildersleve.