The actor Brian Cox and the professor Brian Cox have come face-to-face on BBC Breakfast.
The star of Succession and the physicist shared a sofa on Friday morning’s (18 November) episode of the morning show.
The pair told host Charlie Stayt that their identical names have led to a number of awkward incidents, one of which had happened the night before.
Actor Cox said they found themselves at the centre of a hotel room mix-up, and that he and Professor Cox almost ended up sharing a room.
He said: “Last night was very confusing when he arrived to the hotel and said there was two Brian Coxes so they said, ‘You’ve got two rooms.’
“He said, ‘No, I think there’s two Brian Coxes,’ and the hotel said, ‘We can’t have two Brian Coxes.’”
The academic chimed in: “They wouldn’t check me in! I had to change my name. I had to get a picture out on my phone and say, ‘This Brian Cox, he’ll be coming later,’ and he said, ‘I know neither of you. I don’t watch television.’”
Professor Cox joked that he might have had to share a room with the Scottish actor, quipping: “It might have happened because he was going to cancel – I had that in my mind!”
This is not the first time that their identical names have led to a misunderstanding.
“Sometimes I’ll get in a car and the driver will say, ‘Ah I love Succession, I don’t like this astronomy stuff,’” explained the professor.
The actor also said that people often expect to meet the physicist instead of him.
Cox – who grew up in poverty in Dundee – recently presented a documentary titled Brian Cox: How The Other Half Life.
The Channel 4 special explored the actor’s complicated relationship with money and wealth.
