It has been a privilege to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to see how it might help mankind in more practical ways.

I was never very good at exams, having a poor memory and finding the examination process rather artificial, and there never seemed to be enough time to follow up things that really interested me.

I was by far the youngest of the family, and at times it was like being an only child.

I think it was this curiosity about the natural world which awoke my early interest in science.

My parents were neither wealthy nor academic, but we lived comfortably and they were always extremely supportive of my academic efforts and aspirations, both at school and university.

At age 11 in 1960, I moved to an academic state secondary school, Harrow County Grammar School for Boys.

Scientific understanding is often beautiful, a profoundly aesthetic experience which gives pleasure not unlike the reading of a great poem.

This possibility bothered me as I thought it was not advisable to remain in one academic environment, and the long dark winters in Edinburgh could be rather dismal.

I am still a keen mountain walker and an enthusiastic glider pilot.

During the winter my attention was attracted to the changes in the stars and planets in the sky.

After an extensive interview he arranged for my weaknesses in foreign languages to be over-looked and so I started a Biology degree at Birmingham in 1967.

Ever since my famous battle with Python, I've had a phobia of scaly reptilian creatures. (Especially if you include my stepmother, Hera. BOOM!)

You’ve got the best of me

I ground my faith upon God's word, and not upon the church.

It's the ugly things I notice more, because other people tend to ignore the ugly things.

I get lonely when I'm a Playstation widow.

Poetry is the establishment of a metaphorical link between white butterfly-wings and the scraps of torn-up love-letters.

I've found that wherever there is one cockroach in plain sight, many more are lurking behind the corner out of view.

Surrender to a logic more powerful than reason.

I've always been interested in the rest of the world. My family is very eccentric; my parents have always been very supportive of travel and doing whatever I thought I needed to do.

I think people will read about anything if it's good or interesting or funny enough.