New genetic study seeks to create "the face of Orkney"
Story dated: April 7, 2006

Channel Four programme makers are appealing for Orcadians to take part in a study for a new series, The Face of Britain.

The programme is aiming to decode the history of people’s faces, and with the help of the latest DNA analysis, carry out the biggest ever research project into genetic make-up.

The project, to be carried out by Oxford University and the Wellcome Foundation, uses the work of biologist, Sir Walter Bodmer, who has already begun the process of taking blood samples from rural communities throughout the UK, including Orkney.

Sir Walter Bodmer visited Orkney in 1994 to take blood samples from the local community as part of a genetic study into ancient genes, which featured in an episode of the BBC’s Horizon.

The Face of Britain will use Sir Walter Bodmer’s ground breaking work as a launch pad: it will be an exploration of Britain’s earliest history and our biological links with those first Britons.

It will be an investigation into why we look the way we do.  It will explore the secrets hidden in our faces and, in particular, attempt to reveal why certain regions have distinctive looks and why so many of us believe we can tell the difference between people from bordering regions – like Northumbria and Scotland.

A spokesperson for the series said: “We are hoping to reach a large proportion of the Orkney population, and we are asking them to send in photographs of themselves or family members if they believe they have the typical look of the region."

Tony Little, a face expert and biologist at Liverpool University, will then take a narrowed-down number of these photographs and use the latest technology in facial analysis to uncover the stereotypical Orkney female and male face. 

Anyone interested in taking part in the study can contact Sorrel May at: dnauk@wagtv.com or call 0207 5038606.