In his day job, John C Brown is regius professor of astronomy at Glasgow University. By night he is a stargazer, filled with awe for what he sees in the heavens. It is partly his gift for communicating that wonder to others that is recognised in his role as astronomer royal for Scotland.

Scepticism may be the conspicuous character trait of our society, but an evocative title suffused with mystical aura still catches the imagination. So, one almost expects to see the astronomer royal in a tall pointy hat, extravagant cloak and Arabian slippers with curly, upturned toes. No chance. At least, not on the day we meet, when Brown is sweatered and anoraked against a bitter wind as he makes his way on foot through Glasgow's west end to the university's Botany Gate and up to the sixth floor in the Kelvin Building.

There, in his cramped office with its wraparound windows, he looks out on a dramatic roofline soaring towards the sky. "A lot of people think of Blackadder-style wackiness when they hear the words astronomer royal'," he says. But references to mystic madness don't necessarily displease him. After all - in addition to pursuing a lifetime of rigorous scientific research - this is also a man who uses magic to demonstrate the marvels of physics.

Indeed, pinned to his door there is an old poster announcing that the professor will employ a little "abra-cad-astra" to bring together black holes and white rabbits for an entertaining act of cosmic hocus-pocus. It is something he conjures up on special occasions in Scotland, for children, amateur astrologers and professionals, and last year he included it in a major lecture before an international audience at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Did they applaud? "Absolutely."

Four years ago, Brown received a special award from the UK Institute of Physics for his outreach work, especially his Starlab planetary shows for schools, and his enchanting use of magic tricks to illustrate astronomical phenomena.

"In all good tricks there is some scientific principle based on geometry or physics. But, for me, looking at the sky and trying to understand what it's doing is like watching a giant cosmic magic show in itself. Essentially I'm trying to figure out what the magician up there is up to."

Brown was appointed astronomer royal by the Queen in 1996. He was the first Glasgow recipient of the title, which dates from 1834, and had hitherto always resided in Edinburgh. So, as much as it is an accolade for him and his university, it is also a distinction for Glasgow itself. "Originally the title belonged to the director of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh but in the mid-1990s it became an honorary position, carrying no remuneration."

Brown reflects, not without modesty, that someone on the appointments committee must have thought he had the necessary personal qualities to promote public interest in astronomy. Even after the first few minutes of conversation with him, it's evident that his "personal qualities" include not just an infectious enthusiasm for his subject but an abundance of bonhomie and community spirit.

It is this latter quality that has stirred his opposition to the commercial proposal to plant a nightclub in the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow. "When I first heard of it I thought that someone must be playing a joke. Quite honestly it struck me as so ridiculous it seemed like something out of Monty Python." But mirthful disbelief turned to outrage when The Herald revealed that the city council's executive committee had bypassed public consultation to approve the proposal from the G1 Group for a subterranean nightclub and cafe/bar on the site, within the gardens, of the old Victorian railway station and tunnel.

Brown cites Glasgow's Science Centre at Pacific Quay as "a fabulous example" of the good things that are happening in the city. "But then some crass idea comes along, like a nightclub in the Botanics, which will ruin the tranquillity and enjoyment of a very special educational facility."

If that development were to go ahead, Brown says he would be so disgusted with the ruling Labour council that he might consider resigning from the role of astronomer royal in protest. "But I would also have to consider whether, in throwing away the title, I was also throwing away the sword to fight a good cause.

"Some people in my position can be a bit aloof, and there's room for that. But I'm not one of those pompous professors. I enjoy a drink. I enjoy chatting to folk because at heart I'm one of the punters. I mean, originally I'm from Dumbarton."

Apart from his own academic work, Brown is currently engaged in establishing a project for Scottish primary and secondary schools which would give pupils access, via computers, to the robotic telescopes positioned in Tenerife, where the sky is majestically clear. The telescopes, set up and maintained by Bradford University, provide a worldwide educational service and are already being used by schools in England. "Essentially, a class keys in a request for a picture of a certain object, or, for example, a particular phase of the moon, and the telescope responds normally within 48 hours," he explains.

It was the scientist John Baruch, head of cybernetics at Bradford University, who first developed robotic telescopes in the 1960s, when computers were much more primitive. "At the time people thought he was crazy, but now it has become the big thing."

For the system to operate here, each high school and its feeder primaries would pay an annual fee of about £400 for access plus educational material.

There are three types of telescope, the first being a wide-field one for pictures of big bits of the sky showing vast numbers of stars. "And if it were a child's birthday, for instance, you could request a picture of the birth-sign constellation. Not really astronomy, but it's fun." The second telescope operates for closer-in pictures of galaxies or the moon, and the third provides even greater close-ups, zooming in on planets.

"Image-processing software comes with the package, so when a class gets the pictures back, it can adjust colours and contrast." Brown says that an Oban school, Rock Bank Primary, has already shown interest in the project and he hopes it may have a pilot programme running in the New Year. "Apart from being huge fun, the educational aspect is that it gives the kids the excitement of hands-on discovery. Somehow, our society regards science as terribly difficult and dull, but this is a way to engage pupils with the idea that science can be magical and thrilling."

Which brings us back to abra-cad-astra and black holes. Brown's interest in magic began was he was 10 but it wasn't until he was in his thirties that he heard of a Dutch colleague who set off a firecracker in a lecture to demonstrate a point. "That seemed a bit dodgy to me but it did start me thinking about how to include tricks in science in order to hold people's attention. Gravity is described in physics these days as bending space and the black hole trick is a good one to illustrate this."

Without giving away the secret, Brown explains that he places a layer of rubber over the rim of a tumbler, holding it tightly in place with his hand on the outside of the glass. Someone randomly selected from the audience then uses one finger to press on a coin in the centre of the rubber. Eventually, as finger pressure is increased, the coin vanishes to land with a ping in the glass. "But there is no hole in the rubber," says Brown with cryptic intonation.

During Brown's time as an undergraduate he was one of only three astronomy students in the honours class at Glasgow University. Today there are 35 in the class, a healthy sign that interest in the subject is in the ascendant. How ironic, then, that the physical sciences in Britain could be facing a funding crisis so severe it could devastate university astronomy and physics departments as well as Research Council laboratories in the UK.

His grave concern centres on the recent revelation that there is a shortfall in national funding of £100m. As a consequence, research could grind to a standstill just when Britain needs to remain at the forefront of international competition. "That would be a calamity which might require the shutting down of a third of everything we do."

The teaching would continue but, for the astronomer royal, the science depends on bright, young researchers coming through. As John Brown concedes, this black hole might prove too deep for any magic solution.

John Brown's CV

Born: 1947

Education: Dumbarton Academy; Glasgow University (undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy; PhD on hard X-rays from the sun).

Career: Lecturer at Glasgow University, becoming chair of Astrophysics in 1984; made Astronomer Royal for Scotland and regius chair of astronomy at Glasgow University in 1996; numerous research jobs around the world including at Berkeley and Cambridge.

Lifelong passion: John Brown's first memory of getting interested in the stars was as a child of eight, when he read a science-fiction story by Patrick Moore. In 1957, the year that saw the launch of Sputnik and Sky at Night (which has gone on to become TV's longest-running programme), that fascination was confirmed. His first telescope was homemade and consisted of a spectacle lens and a magnifying glass taped on opposite ends of two cardboard tubes.

Family: married to Margaret, a former biology teacher who works in educational evaluation; two children, Stuart and Lorna.