JOHN Walker’s famous friction match will make an appearance in a popular BBC series.
The friction match, invented by the Stockton chemist in 1781, has been faithfully recreated for an appearance in the next series of Great British Railway Journeys.
Its reproduction was filmed by the BBC when the show’s host Michael Portillo visited Preston Park Museum in October.
An episode to be screened on BBC2 at 6.30pm on Wednesday, January 4 will show Teesside University lecturer Dr Joe McGinnis reproducing the chemical formula using manuscripts almost 200 years old.
Dr McGinnis said: “When you strike a match, you don’t really think of it as initiating a chemical reaction, so it’s been fascinating to find out what’s going on from the chemist’s viewpoint.”
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