Famed astronaut and Army Air Corps officer Tim Peake is to headline an award-winning festival just a short drive from Liverpool.
Bluedot Festival is making its much anticipated return this summer, kicking off on July 21. Now in its fifth year, the award-winning music, science and culture festival will take place at Cheshire’s Jodrell Bank Observatory.
The UK’s pioneer astronaut Tim Peake has been confirmed as a headliner for the festival's family programme, alongside Clangers, Brainiac Live and The Space Shed. Bluedot is held at the site of the impressive Lovell Telescope, which is one of the biggest telescopes in the world and an icon of global astronomy.
READ MORE: I tried the £16.50 fish and chips at Gordon Ramsay's Liverpool restaurant
Former International Space Station crew member Tim Peake is sure to be a big hit among science fans. The 49-year-old beat 8,000 applicants to be selected as a European Space Agency astronaut. He endured several years in intensive training before joining the crew of the International Space Station in 2015 for two consecutive missions, totalling more than six months.
The astronaut completed around 3,000 orbits of the Earth and travelled more than 78 million miles. During his time in space, he also managed to run the London Marathon from the ISS treadmill and present legendary singer Adele with a Global Success award at the 2016 Brit Awards.
The festival is equally popular among music fans, with an exciting lineup of headliners including Björk, Groove Armada and Mogwai. The astronomical Space Shed will also return to Bluedot for 2022 with stories, interviews and DJ sets to keep ticket holders entertained.
The Actual Reality Arcade, a life-sized interactive game zone suitable for children of all ages, is a nostalgic treat bringing retro games to life for families to enjoy. Pop Up Puppet Cinema will also be bringing its popular adaptations of classic Hollywood films to Bluedot, mocking the originals with its trademark humour and entertaining use of puppetry.
There'll also be a series of dance workshops, discos and parades over the course of the festival weekend, with organisers keen to offer something for everyone. Merging music and science, Twisted Time Machine will take audiences on an interactive journey through time and space, highlighting the best music decades from the 1920s through to the modern day and beyond.
Beloved Bluedot favourite the Luminarium will also return, with an immersive light tunnel maze experience, while Bluedot’s fire garden will be reinvented as the Origins experience. Suitable for all members of the family, the award-winning baby-wearing dance class, Dance Like a Mother, the family edition, also joins the family programme.
There'll also be more than 30 hands-on science stalls and workshops with highlights including live science shows from guests including Chester Zoo, Ancient Antarctic Ice Cores with British Antarctic Survey and 'meet and learn' sessions from scientists including Sarah Crowther and The Volcanologists. Celebrating the legendary setting of the festival, families will also be able to walk beneath the Lovell Telescope, take in late-night stargazing sessions and explore the wider areas including Woodland Glade Nature Trails, the Whispering Dishes and The Jodrell Bank Arboretum.
Other confirmed family acts at Bluedot 2022 include film screenings with the much-loved, award-winning Aardman Animations - of Wallace & Gromit fame - alongside a specially-curated bill of family films, Hengercise, Big Fish Little Fish presenting their Cosmic Disco, Twilight Parades with Global Grooves, Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids and Bhangracise, plus much more.
Festival director Ben Robinson said: "After a two-year hiatus, our fifth instalment of Bluedot looks set to be one of our best yet. Welcoming Tim Peake to Jodrell Bank to excite and inspire families under the Lovell Telescope is going to be really special. Tim has lived the dreams of so many of our visitors, young and old, and we're delighted that he'll be here.
"We have a packed line-up of activities and experiences for festival-goers. While our musical acts are a massive draw and promise spectacular performances, Bluedot offers so much more. Jodrell Bank is a jaw-dropping location and the perfect place to be inspired as a family by the wonders of science and culture, with hands on workshops, electrifying experiences and hilariously engaging shows. We can't wait to be back in action."
Bluedot 2022 will take place from July 21-24. Named Best Medium Festival at the UK Festival Awards, it has quickly gained a position as one of the most hotly anticipated festivals in the country for families and music-lovers alike.
You can buy tickets here.
Get the top stories straight to your inbox by signing up to one of our free newsletters
