{{short description|British presenter, stand-up comedian and musician}} {{use British English|date=January 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Helen Arney | image = Helen Arney, Winchester Skeptics - 13 December 12.jpg | caption = Arney at Winchester Skeptics in the Pub. | education = | alma_mater = Imperial College | occupation = Physicist | organization = | agent = | module = {{Listen|embed=yes|filename=Helen Arney voice.flac|title=<span align="center">Helen Arney's voice</span>|type=speech|description=<span align="center">Recorded November 2015</span>}} | website = {{official URL}} }}
'''Helen Arney''' is a British presenter, stand-up comedian and musician.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Downs |first=Elaine |date=June 29, 2015 |title=Festival Of The Spoken Nerd: Life, Oh Life |url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/h/33452/helen_arney?review=3247&type=1 |access-date=13 September 2015 |publisher=Chortle}}</ref> She has toured with the ''Uncaged Monkeys'' alongside comedian Robin Ince and Professor Brian Cox.
Described as a "geek songstress" by the Edinburgh Reporter, Arney plays the ukulele as one third of the Festival of the Spoken Nerd,<ref>{{Cite web |title=DVD review – Fringe Favourites "Festival of the Spoken Nerd" |url=http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2015/06/dvd-review-fringe-favourites-festival-of-the-spoken-nerd/ |website=The Edinburgh Reporter}}</ref> accompanied by stand-up mathematician Matt Parker and television scientist Steve Mould. She and Parker are also commentators on nearly every episode of ''You Have Been Warned'' (''Outrageous Acts of Science'').
After performing songs which she felt were "just quirky and different" at a science show organised by Robin Ince, she realised that she could "add science and music together in a meaningful way".<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 October 2015 |title=Speaking Geek with Helen Arney |url=http://manchestergirlgeeks.com/2015/10/28/speaking-geek-with-helen-arney/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029060009/http://manchestergirlgeeks.com/2015/10/28/speaking-geek-with-helen-arney/ |archive-date=October 29, 2015 |access-date=31 October 2015 |publisher=Manchester Girl Geeks}}</ref>
== Appearances == At the 2012 Boring Conference,<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 November 2012 |title=Surprisingly Interesting: a dispatch from the 2012 Boring Conference |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2012/11/boring_conference_a_dispatch_from_james_ward_s_annual_celebration_of_banality.html |work=Slate}}</ref> Arney gave a presentation entitled "Features and Specifications of the Yamaha PSR-175 Portable Keyboard (Discontinued)."
Arney presented a section of an episode of the BBC's natural history series ''Coas''t in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 August 2015 |title=Coast, Series 10, Caves and Coves |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b065x5rb |publisher=BBC}}</ref>
Arney was guest presenter on Episode 97 of ''No Such Thing as a Fish'' where she explained the fact that "Tomorrow will be the longest day of your life."
In January 2017 Arney appeared on BBC Radio 4's ''Museum of Curiosity''. Her hypothetical donation to this imaginary museum was a set of samples of the four most recently discovered chemical elements: nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Museum of Curiosity: Series 10: Episode 1 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087pvqk |access-date=15 January 2017 |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}</ref>
She sometimes collaborates with her sister Kat Arney, a science communicator.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kat Arney - Author - Education in Chemistry |url=https://eic.rsc.org/kat-arney/5436.bio |website=Rsc.org}}</ref>
== Writing == In 2013, Arney wrote a piece in the ''Financial Times'' entitled "You've got to laugh", in which she promotes the power of comedy in communicating scientific principles.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 October 2013 |title=Helen Arney: You've got to laugh |url=https://www.ft.com/content/56a1cea4-36ba-11e3-8ae3-00144feab7de |access-date=27 September 2013 |newspaper=Financial Times}}</ref>
In 2018, Arney published the book ''The element in the room: science-y stuff staring you in the face'' with her fellow Festival of the Spoken Nerd partner Steve Mould.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{official website}} * [https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/ Festival of the Spoken Nerd]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arney, Helen}} Category:Alumni of Imperial College London Category:British ukulele players Category:21st-century British comedians Category:Living people Category:British science communicators Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:British women comedians