On World Puzzle Day, celebrated in the UK on 29 January, St Saviour’s Primary School in Poplar welcomed TV personality, maths teacher and lifelong Hammers fan Bobby Seagull for a special maths workshop, inspiring young minds to see the real-world applications of numbers as part of the Premier League Primary Stars programme.
Seagull, who shot to fame after appearing on University Challenge in 2017, has since become a well-known advocate for education, using his platform to showcase the power of maths. From hosting his own BBC and Channel 4 quiz shows to winning Netflix’s Celebrity Hunted, he has always found ways to link his passion for numbers with everyday life.
“I’ve used my platform to showcase the value of education,” said Seagull. “I have lots of interviews in the media, meet cool celebrities, and I always try and bring it back to maths and education, which is why I love working with the West Ham Foundation.
“We go into schools like we did today at St Saviour’s, showing young people that the maths they learn in school can be applied to the real world by looking at heights, weights, comparisons and statistics.”
Through interactive activities, students explored how maths is present in football, from league tables to player statistics. By making these connections, Seagull aimed to ignite enthusiasm for a subject often seen as challenging.
“I think young people will hopefully leave today’s session thinking, ‘the things we learnt in class do have a real-life application’. Everyone loves football, and connecting football with maths really hooks young people into the lesson,” he said.
Affectionately dubbed ‘The Maths Man’ by former Hammers centre-back Angelo Ogbonna, Seagull’s passion for both maths and football have deep roots. Born in East Ham, just a short walk from Upton Park, he grew up attending West Ham matches and bought his first Season Ticket at 18. But beyond the highs and lows of being a football fan, it was his love for football stats that sparked his journey into mathematics.
“What got me into maths in the first place was football,” he recalled. “I used to love looking at league tables, points, stats and stickers. That’s when I realised that maths wasn’t just numbers on a page, it was something real.”
His journey took him from working as a trader at an investment bank to becoming a chartered accountant, but his true calling was in education. Now, he hopes to pass on that same enthusiasm to students across the country.
“With the children today, I hope they come away with a sense that maths can be fun and relatable,” he smiled. “They’ve got a passion for football, and now they can see how maths connects to all of that. When they go back into their maths lessons tomorrow, next week or next month, I hope they remember today’s session as a positive and inspiring experience.”
Speaking about the day, one year three student said: “I saw Bobby on the TV the other day, so to have him teaching us maths was really cool.”
From East Ham classrooms to quiz show stages, Bobby Seagull continues to prove that maths is more than just numbers, it’s a way of understanding and engaging with the world.
To find out more about the West Ham United Foundation, click HERE.
