Why kids should learn maths even if their doodles are next Wallace and Gromit

Wallace and Gromit needed maths to make them who they are today

There are probably many Scotsman readers who can remember being told off in their youth by a teacher with a stentorian roar for doodling. Some may remember particularly inventive doodles that stretched across many pages and entire afternoons. But few, we suggest, will have realised that an activity much frowned upon as slacking could actually lead to a career.

Offering some tips for young people looking to get into animation, Gavin Strange, director of Aardman, the firm behind the famous Wallace and Gromit, said: “Animation is all about bringing things to life. The opportunities are endless – you can draw, doodle, make origami or form characters out of plasticine, whatever you want.”

The success of Wallace and Gromit is down to mathematicians and computer experts as well as artists (Picture: MJ Kim) | Getty Images

However, youngsters thinking they now have a good excuse to deploy on being caught trying to doodle their way through double maths should think again because Strange added: “There’s so much more to the sector than being an animator alone... we need experts in computing and maths, making things to scale, metalwork, the list goes on.”

If your doodles don’t cut it, your maths skills just might so, come on now, pay attention at the back!