Star quality: Why Hawking brought doughnuts to the party

Humour has really been at the heart of how Hawking communicated over the years, finding a way to be both self-deprecating and biting in the same sentence

Stephen Hawking died last week at the age of 76 Pic: Getty

Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Data are seated around a poker table. It’s 25 years ago, or 351 years into the future, depending on how you want to look at it.

Across more than 700 episodes of Star Trek in its many forms, only one person ever got the privilege of playing themselves.

That poker table scene encapsulated the crossover nature of Hawking.

It had him in an environment where he ...