Skeptics in the Pub

Skeptics in the Pub is an informal social event designed to promote fellowship and social networking among skeptics, critical-thinkers, and other like-minded individuals. It provides an opportunity for skeptics and rationalists to talk, share ideas in a casual, relaxed atmosphere, and discuss whatever topical issues come to mind, as well as having fun while promoting skepticism, science, and rationality.

The usual format is that a speaker is invited to give a talk on a specific topic, which is followed by a question-and-answer session. Other meet-ups are informal socials, with no fixed agenda. The groups usually meet once a month with the venue being a local pub. There are now as many as 50 different "SitP" groups running around the world.

History

The group's earliest and longest-running event is the award winning London meeting, established by Dr. Scott Campbell in 1999 . This group claims to be the "World's largest regular pub meeting", with around two hundred people in attendance at each meeting. Scott Campbell based the idea around Philosophy in the Pub and Science in the Pub, two groups which had been running in Australia for some time. The inaugural speaker was the editor and founder of The Skeptic magazine, Wendy M. Grossman in February 1999.

Campbell ran the London group for three years while on a teaching sabbatical in London, and was succeeded after his return to Australia by two sci-fi fans and skeptics, Robert Newman and Marc LaChappelle, then from 2003 - 2008 by Nick Pullar, who has made a television appearance as "Convener of Skeptics in the Pub" on the infamous BBC spoof show Shirley Ghostman. The London group is now organised and chaired by Sid Rodrigues, who has co-organised events in several other cities around the world. This group has conducted experiments on the paranormal as part of James Randi's million-dollar challenge and co-organised the UK's largest event for skeptics, An Evening with James Randi & Friends.
The ease of use of the internet via social networking sites and content management systems has led to over fifty active satellite chapters around the world, including over forty in the USA, and about fifteen in the UK.

Skeptics in the Pub would later serve as the template for other skeptical, rationalist, and atheist meet-ups around the globe, including The James Randi Educational Foundation's "The Amazing Meeting", Drinking Skeptically, The Brights, and the British Humanist Association social gatherings.

Notable guests

Over the past ten years, the London event has featured lectures by well-known scientists and skeptics. Rarely the guests are proponents of fringe or pseudoscientific views. Notable guests include:

• Simon Singh (No longer being sued by the British Chiropractic Association for criticising their activities in a column in The Guardian.)
• Victor Stenger (Author of God: The Failed Hypothesis)
• Jon Ronson (Documentary film-maker and author of The Men Who Stare at Goats)
• Phil Plait (Past-President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, author and blogger)
• David Colquhoun (Past holder of the A.J. Clark chair of Pharmacology at University College London and science/political blogger)
• Richard J. Evans (Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University and an expert witness at the Irving v. Lipstadt libel case)
• S. Fred Singer (atmospheric physicist and famous AGW skeptic)
• Ben Goldacre (medical doctor and journalist, and the author of the The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column)

Groups

• Birmingham
• Brighton
• Bristol
• Cambridge
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Hampshire
• Ipswich
• Leeds
• Leicester
• Liverpool
• London
• Nottingham
• Oxford
• Sheffield

External links

• Skeptics in the Pub website