Daniel Radcliffe Beats Stage Fright to Recite Periodic Table on BBC

Daniel Radcliffe sings "The Elements" - The Graham Norton Show - Series 8 Episode 4 - BBC — BBC

BBC

Daniel Radcliffe proves his party trick can withstand live television despite severe performance anxiety keeping him awake the night before his rapid-fire delivery of Tom Lehrer's song.

AI-assisted summary of Daniel Radcliffe sings "The Elements" - The Graham Norton Show - Series 8 Episode 4 - BBC — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2010-11-12

Key ideas

Daniel Radcliffe showcases his party trick on The Graham Norton Show by reciting Tom Lehrer's rapid-fire song 'The Elements'. (0:00)
Radcliffe proclaims Tom Lehrer as a personal hero and the cleverest, funniest figure of the 20th century. (0:00)
The performance adapts the periodic table to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Major-General's Song'. (0:00)
Despite admitting that severe nerves kept him awake the night before, Radcliffe delivers an uninterrupted, high-speed rendition from memory. (0:31)

Detailed notes

## Background Published on YouTube by the BBC on November 12, 2010, this clip from Series 8 Episode 4 of The Graham Norton Show highlights actor Daniel Radcliffe. According to the page description, the Harry Potter star demonstrates his personal party trick by performing "The Elements" by musical humorist Tom Lehrer.

## TL;DR Daniel Radcliffe shares his admiration for Tom Lehrer, describing the musical humorist as his hero and the cleverest man of the 20th century. Radcliffe reveals that his go-to party trick is reciting Lehrer's rapid-fire song "The Elements," which catalogs the periodic table to the melody of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Major-General's Song." Despite admitting that nerves over the live television performance kept him awake the night before, Radcliffe launches into a rhythmic, breathless recitation of the song's verses. He navigates the tongue-twisting list from antimony to sodium, wrapping up the performance to delighted applause from Graham Norton and the audience.

## Atmosphere & style The clip has an endearing, high-energy atmosphere characterized by Radcliffe's genuine modesty and relatable performance anxiety. As he shifts from nervous, self-deprecating pre-song banter with Graham Norton into rapid-fire delivery, the mood turns electric and thrilling. The studio audience and Norton offer warm, vocal encouragement, making Radcliffe's breathless, determined race through the elements feel charming, spontaneous, and triumphantly entertaining.

## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Daniel Radcliffe showcases his party trick on The Graham Norton Show by reciting Tom Lehrer's rapid-fire song 'The Elements'. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Radcliffe proclaims Tom Lehrer as a personal hero and the cleverest, funniest figure of the 20th century. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) The performance adapts the periodic table to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Major-General's Song'. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) Despite admitting that severe nerves kept him awake the night before, Radcliffe delivers an uninterrupted, high-speed rendition from memory.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Graham Norton and Daniel Radcliffe poll the studio audience to see who is familiar with musical humorist Tom Lehrer. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Radcliffe identifies Tom Lehrer as his hero and considers him the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Radcliffe explains that Lehrer, a mathematician and scientist, set the names of the chemical elements to Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Major-General's Song'. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Radcliffe reveals that memorizing and reciting 'The Elements' serves as his personal party trick. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Radcliffe admits to experiencing intense anxiety and losing sleep the previous night over performing the song on live television. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Norton playfully questions whether he should feel guilty for putting Radcliffe on the spot before the recitation begins. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) Radcliffe launches into verse one at a rapid tempo, starting with antimony, arsenic, and aluminum. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) The first verse concludes with elements such as gold, protactinium, indium, gallium, and thallium. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) Radcliffe briefly pauses for mid-performance banter and tempo checks before diving into verse two. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) The second verse powers through elements including helium, phosphorus, lead, platinum, plutonium, and curium. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) Radcliffe navigates a complex run of synthetic elements, actinides, and noble gases, including einsteinium, nobelium, and krypton. - [00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) The performance finishes successfully with chlorine, carbon, cobalt, tungsten, tin, and sodium, earning enthusiastic applause from the audience.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Introducing Tom Lehrer and the Party Trick

Graham Norton and Daniel Radcliffe ask the audience if anyone knows who Tom Lehrer is, drawing a cheer from a few enthusiastic audience members. Radcliffe is thrilled by the recognition and explains his deep admiration for the musical humorist, describing him as a personal hero. Radcliffe explains that Lehrer, who was also a mathematician and scientist, wrote a song called "The Elements," which strings together the names of all the chemical elements known at the time to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Major-General's Song." Radcliffe reveals that reciting the song is his personal party trick, though he admits to feeling immense stage fright about pulling it off on television.

Radcliffe warns the host and audience that the piece is quite long and tells them to stop him if it gets tedious, confessing how anxious he had been in anticipation of performing it on the show. Daniel Radcliffe shares, “Tom Lehrer, in my opinion, is the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century.” He further admits to Norton, “This kept me up last night. I was so nervous about doing this.” Norton jokingly asks if he should feel bad for putting him on the spot, but Radcliffe quickly gathers his composure to begin.

- Tom Lehrer is introduced by Radcliffe as both his hero and the cleverest, funniest figure of the 20th century. - Radcliffe's party piece consists of reciting Lehrer's song "The Elements," which catalogs the periodic table. - Radcliffe openly confesses that the anxiety over performing it live kept him awake the night before.

[00:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=31s) Performing "The Elements"

Radcliffe launches into a rapid-fire, rhythmic recitation of the song's opening verse, reeling off antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and rhenium, before powering through nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, lanthanum, osmium, astatine, radium, gold, protactinium, indium, gallium, iodine, thorium, thulium, and thallium. As the audience and Norton react with delight, Radcliffe banters mid-performance before kicking off the next verse.

He picks right back up with holmium, helium, erbium, phosphorus, francium, fluorine, terbium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, magnesium, dysprosium, scandium, cerium, and caesium, followed by lead, praseodymium, platinum, plutonium, palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, cadmium, calcium, and curium. Entering the final stretch, he momentarily pauses to regain his rhythm and quiet the room before nailing sulfur, californium, fermium, berkelium, mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium, argon, radon, neon, krypton, xenon, zinc, rhodium, chlorine, carbon, cobalt, tungsten, tin, and sodium to enthusiastic applause.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Daniel Radcliffe's Performance Flow of The Elements accDescr: Sequence of Daniel Radcliffe's performance of Tom Lehrer's song The Elements on the show.

subgraph Intro ["Introduction"] A["Audience check & Lehrer tribute"] --> B["Radcliffe prepares & sets tempo"] end

subgraph Verse1 ["Verse 1"] B --> C["Antimony through Thallium"] C --> D["Mid-song banter & audience cheer"] end

subgraph Verse2 ["Verse 2 & Conclusion"] D --> E["Helium through Curium"] E --> F["Brief recovery & tempo check"] F --> G["Sulfur through Sodium finale"] end ```

- Verse one covers elements ranging from antimony, arsenic, and aluminum through to gold, protactinium, indium, gallium, and thallium. - Verse two powers through holmium, helium, erbium, phosphorus, lead, platinum, plutonium, potassium, polonium, tantalum, and cadmium. - The closing sequence features the heavier actinides and noble gases, concluding on chlorine, carbon, cobalt, tungsten, tin, and sodium.

## Notable quotes > [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Tom Lehrer, in my opinion, is the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century. — Daniel Radcliffe

## Mentioned Daniel Radcliffe, Graham Norton, The Graham Norton Show, Tom Lehrer, The Elements, Major-General's Song, Gilbert and Sullivan, BBC, BBC iPlayer, Harry Potter

## Video description Subscribe and 🔔 to the BBC 👉 https://bit.ly/BBCYouTubeSub Watch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/iPlayer-Home http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vzzxk Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe performs his party trick, which is singing "The Elements" by musical humorist Tom Lehrer.

#bbc

[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs)

中文简报

丹尼尔·雷德克里夫克服怯场，在BBC节目中背诵元素周期表丹尼尔·雷德克里夫证明了自己的派对绝技经得起直播考验，尽管前一晚因严重的演出焦虑而彻夜难眠，他依然快速背唱了汤姆·莱勒的歌曲。丹尼尔·雷德克里夫表达了对汤姆·莱勒的钦佩，称这位音乐幽默家是他的偶像，也是20世纪最聪明的人。雷德克里夫透露，自己的拿手派对把戏是背唱莱勒的快节奏歌曲《元素》（The Elements），该曲借用吉尔伯特与萨利文的《少将之歌》（Major-General's Song）旋律，将元素周期表编排成词。尽管承认由于对电视直播节目的紧张而前一晚失眠，雷德克里夫仍展开了一段充满节奏感且一气呵成的歌词背诵。他顺畅地念完了从锑到钠这段绕口令般的清单，表演在格雷厄姆·诺顿及全场观众欢快的掌声中收尾。丹尼尔·雷德克里夫在《格雷厄姆·诺顿秀》中展示自己的派对绝技，背唱了汤姆·莱勒的快节奏歌曲《元素》。 (0:00) 雷德克里夫宣称汤姆·莱勒是自己的偶像，也是20世纪最聪明、最风趣的人物。 (0:00) 该表演以吉尔伯特与萨利文的《少将之歌》为曲调，填入了元素周期表的内容。 (0:00) 尽管承认严重的紧张情绪让自己前夜难以入眠，雷德克里夫依然凭借记忆完成了一段未中断的高速背唱。 (0:31)

Detailed notes — zh

## Background 该视频由BBC于2010年11月12日发布在YouTube平台上。根据页面简介，这是《哈利·波特》主演丹尼尔·雷德克里夫（Daniel Radcliffe）在《格雷厄姆·诺顿秀》（The Graham Norton Show）第8季第4集中展示他的派对绝活——演唱音乐幽默家汤姆·莱勒（Tom Lehrer）创作的《元素之歌》（The Elements）。 ## TL;DR 节目开场时，丹尼尔·雷德克里夫向观众表达了对偶像汤姆·莱勒的崇拜，称其为20世纪最聪明、最幽默的人，并介绍对方曾写过一首涵盖几乎所有化学元素的《元素之歌》。尽管他坦言自己因要在现场表演这首派对保留曲目而紧张到前一晚失眠，但他随即以惊人的超快语速展开背诵演唱。从锑、砷、铝等一路飞速唱到稀有气体与重元素，丹尼尔展现了极强的记忆力与节奏感，最终在观众与主持人的惊叹与欢呼中完成了这段高难度的连珠炮表演。 ## Atmosphere & style 整段表演洋溢着欢快、热烈而又充满戏剧性张力的现场气氛。丹尼尔·雷德克里夫既有粉丝面对偶像作品时的单纯兴奋，又有上台展示绝活时按捺不住的紧张与自嘲，与主持人格雷厄姆·诺顿的机智接梗形成了默契的幽默互动。当他开始连珠炮般快速吐字时，观众的情绪被牢牢抓住，在屏息凝神的期待与叹为观止的掌声中，整个演播室沉浸在一种既极客又极具感染力的狂欢之中。 ## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 丹尼尔·雷德克里夫在《格雷厄姆·诺顿秀》上盛赞音乐幽默大师汤姆·莱勒为20世纪最聪明、最风趣的人，并展示自己的派对拿手绝活。 - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 丹尼尔透露为了在节目中完整背诵莱勒的经典名作《元素之歌》，自己前一晚紧张得彻夜未眠。 - [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 丹尼尔以极快的语速完整唱出化学元素周期表中的大量元素，即便在后段稍有停顿也迅速调整重归节拍，展现出惊人的记忆力。 ## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 丹尼尔·雷德克里夫在节目开场积极与观众互动，询问是否有人认识其偶像汤姆·莱勒（Tom Lehrer）。 - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 丹尼尔高度评价汤姆·莱勒，称其在自己心目中是20世纪最聪明、最风趣的人物。 - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 汤姆·莱勒曾是一名科学家，他创作的《元素之歌》将化学元素周期表里的元素几乎全部写入了歌词。 - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 背诵并演唱《元素之歌》是丹尼尔在派对上的个人“保留曲目”（party piece）。 - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 丹尼尔坦白自己在登台前非常紧张，甚至因此整夜未眠，并自嘲若观众听烦了可以随时喊停。 - [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 丹尼尔在第一段以极快语速一气呵成报出锑、砷、铝、硒、氢、氧、氮等数十种化学元素。 - [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 现场观众被他精准连贯的飞速演唱折服，在段落间隙报以热烈掌声与欢呼。 - [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 在第二段中，丹尼尔继续挑战高难度，顺畅列举了氦、磷、氟、锰、汞、铂、钚等众多元素。 - [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 虽然在唱到锎、锫、锘等元素时出现轻微停顿，但他迅速调整节奏并成功接回歌曲。 - [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 整场表演展示了丹尼尔·雷德克里夫令人赞叹的复杂长文本记忆力与快节奏说唱功底。 ## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) 丹尼尔·雷德克里夫介绍偶像汤姆·莱勒与拿手绝活丹尼尔·雷德克里夫（Daniel Radcliffe）在节目开场时向现场观众呼吁，如果有人知道汤姆·莱勒（Tom Lehrer）是谁就大声喊出来。当听到台下有观众热烈响应时，他兴奋地表示自己简直不能更激动了。丹尼尔毫不掩饰自己对汤姆·莱勒的崇拜之情，将其视作人生偶像，并给予了极高的评价，正如他现场所言：“Tom like Tom Lara in in my opinion is the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century.” 丹尼尔向主持人格雷厄姆·诺顿（Graham Norton）和全场观众解释道，莱勒曾经是一位科学家，创作了一首名为《元素之歌》（The Elements）的歌曲，其歌词基本涵盖了化学元素周期表里的每一个元素名称。这首歌正是丹尼尔在派对上的“保留曲目”（party piece）。在准备开唱前，他既兴奋又难掩紧张，半开玩笑地提醒大家这首歌相当长，如果大家听腻了随时可以叫停，同时他还坦白道：“It's quite long so do stop me if you just get bored. Okay. But I will this kept me up last night. I was so nervous about doing this.” 主持人格雷厄姆·诺顿随即机智地打趣回应，笑称自己可不会因此感到愧疚。 ### [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=30s) 飞速背诵并演唱《元素之歌》调整好状态后，丹尼尔·雷德克里夫迅速切入节拍，开始以极快的语速连珠炮般地演唱这首著名的《元素之歌》。在第一段中，他毫无停顿地一气呵成报出大量化学元素：从锑（antimony）、砷（arsenic）、铝（aluminum）、硒（selenium），一路唱到氢、氧、氮、铀、镍、钕、镎、锗、镅、钌、铕、锆、镥、钒、镧、锇、砹、镭，再到金、镤、镓、碘、钍、铥、铊、钆、硅、银、钐、铋等。现场观众被他惊人的语速与准确度深深吸引，在他稍微喘息、自嘲是否无聊的间隙报以掌声和欢呼。紧接着丹尼尔立刻开启了下一节的演唱，列举出氦（helium）、钬（holmium）、铒（erbium）、磷（phosphorus）、钫（francium）、氟（fluorine）、铽（terbium）、锰、汞、钼、镝、钪、铈、铯、铅、镨、铂、钚、钯、钷、钾、钋、钽、锝、钛、碲、镉、锔等元素。尽管在后半段唱到锎（californium）、锫（berkelium）、锘（nobelium）以及稀有气体氩（argon）、氡（radon）、氖（neon）时略微打了个趔趄，但他迅速稳住节奏，示意大家稍等片刻后立刻重新接上，顺畅地唱完氪（krypton）、氙（xenon）、锌（zinc）、铑（rhodium）、氯（chlorine）、碳（carbon）、钴（cobalt）、钨（tungsten）、锡（tin）和钠（sodium），展现了令人惊叹的记忆力和说唱功底。 ## Notable quotes > [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&t=0s) Tom like Tom Lara in in my opinion is the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century. — 丹尼尔·雷德克里夫 ## Mentioned 丹尼尔·雷德克里夫, 汤姆·莱勒, 格雷厄姆·诺顿, 《元素之歌》, BBC ## Video description Subscribe and 🔔 to the BBC 👉 https://bit.ly/BBCYouTubeSub Watch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/iPlayer-Home http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vzzxk Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe performs his party trick, which is singing "The Elements" by musical humorist Tom Lehrer. #bbc [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs)

Source quotes

[0:00] 丹尼尔·雷德克里夫: Tom like Tom Lara in in my opinion is the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century.

Source quotes

[0:00] Daniel Radcliffe: Tom Lehrer, in my opinion, is the cleverest and funniest man of the 20th century.

Original transcript

[0:00] Give a big shout if you know who Tom [0:01] Lara is. [0:03] Yes. Know Tom. Yes. So over there. Yes. [0:06] I couldn't be more excited. Okay. Tom [0:08] Tom like Tom Lara in in my opinion is [0:10] the cleverest and funniest man of the [0:12] 20th century. And I just he's kind of my [0:14] hero and he wrote a song called the [0:16] elements because he was a scientist and [0:17] it's basically it's the name of every [0:18] element in the periodic table. Um and [0:21] that's that's my party piece. It's quite [0:22] long so do stop me if you just get [0:24] bored. Okay. But I will this kept me up [0:26] last night. I was so nervous about doing [0:28] this. Um, oh, do I feel bad now? No. [0:31] Okay. Okay. So, there's antimony, [0:34] arenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen [0:35] and oxygen, nitrogen, and uranium, and [0:36] nickel, neodyium, neptunium, geranium, [0:38] and anam, marium, rethium, uranium, [0:40] europium, zuconium, retium, benadium, [0:41] anthium, and arsenium, and acetine and [0:42] radium, and golden protectium and [0:44] gallium and iodium, thorium, and thium [0:45] and thallium. There's [0:48] it boring, [0:50] galadium, silicon, silver, barium, [0:52] bismouth, broth, bidium, and barium. And [0:54] let's start the next verse. There's [0:56] helium. [0:57] There's holy helium and herbium [0:59] phosphorus and fratin and florine and [1:00] turbium magnesium mercurium magnesium [1:02] disprosium and scandium and serium and [1:03] cesium. There's lead podium platinum [1:05] plutonium potassium plonium tantium [1:07] tesium titanium delium and cadmium [1:09] potassium curium. There's sulfa [1:12] California and became also menium argon [1:15] radon neon ah and argon hold [1:20] quiet sulfonium and firmium becelium [1:22] also meant to leave myium noelium and [1:24] argon radon neon krypton xenon zinc and [1:26] rodium and chlorine carbon cobalt [1:28] tungsten tin and sodium