Профессор Бранестоум: Невероятные приключения рассеянного гения

Children's book series

Professor Branestawm is a series of thirteen children's books written by the English author Norman Hunter. Professor Theophilus Branestawm is depicted throughout the books as the archetypal absent minded professor and his name is a variant of the word "brainstorm". The first two books in the series were first published in the 1930s, but the other 11 appeared much later, from 1970 onwards.

Many of the Professor's perils result from simple absent mindedness. In "The Screaming Clocks", he invents a clock that doesn't need winding up, but the omission of an important component ("I forgot to put a little wiggly thing in") means the clock doesn't stop at twelve but continues striking thirteen, fourteen and so forth until it can't keep up with itself. In "Burglars! ", the Professor invents an automatic burglar catcher, but forgets his house key, tries to get in the window and is grabbed and trussed up by his own machine so thoroughly that even Mrs Flittersnoop fails to recognise him and bashes him over the head for good measure. Many of the troubles that the professor experiences are the result of his inventions' rebelling and showing anthropomorphic personalities. For instance, the phrase "No Branestawm invention was going to stand for that" occurs several times in the series. Branestawm inventions frequently object to anyone's using them in ways for which they were not designed. For instance, in a story about the Professor's making cuckoo clocks for all his friends, a fight broke out between the clocks, resulting in the destruction of all of them.

The first book featuring Professor Branestawm was The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, first published in 1933 and illustrated by W. Heath Robinson. Heath Robinson was famous for his rickety contraptions, and the illustrations were a perfect foil to the outlandish plots of these short stories, each picture typically featuring the professor's unfeasibly large forehead. The original book contained a section called seventy six illustrations by W. Heath Robinson, each with evocative titles such as A telescope of his own invention or With nothing on at all but a big smile (referring to a picture of an extra specially young professor). The sequel was Professor Branestawm's Treasure Hunt, published 1937. The first edition was illustrated by James Arnold, with George Adamson illustrating the 1966 reissue. Adamson went on to illustrate The Peculiar Triumph of Professor Branestawm, Professor Branestawm up the Pole and the Puffin edition of Professor Branestawm's Great Revolution, as well as a Branestawm story in the Puffin Annual and two in Puffin Post. Professor Branestawm's Dictionary (with cover by George Adamson, Puffin, 1973). In 2014, a BBC hour long television film adaptation of Hunter's books, written by Charlie Higson and starring Harry Hill as Professor Branestawm, was broadcast on Christmas Eve. Filming for this took place in Shere, Surrey in early October 2014, then Wallingford in mid October, and included David Mitchell, Simon Day, Ben Miller and Miranda Richardson. In 2015, a sequel, also an hour long, entitled Professor Branestawm Returns aired on Christmas Eve at 5.20pm on BBC One.