ZANY programme maker and tax collector's friend Adam Hart-Davis has urged young scientists from Herefordshire to get their hands dirty and experiment.

The man who makes popular television programmes about science and stars in Inland Revenue commercials sent the message to youngsters at the start of the county's first schools' science festival.

Colleges, schools and further education institutions organised a programme of workshops and demonstrations at the Courtyard Theatre on the theme of sports science.

Activities intended to show that science could be fun were specifically aimed at youngsters at the end of primary school and the start of secondary.

They included the opportunity to build a solar powered vehicle, a room-sized planetarium and experiments to mark the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.