The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about.

If I were beginning my career today, I don't think I would take the same direction. Television is at a crossroads at the moment. And although I am not up to date technologically, I suspect that somewhere out there people are conveying things about natural history by means other than television, and I think if I were beginning today, I'd be there.

I'm a humanist. I'm neither one side nor the other.

The correct scientific response to something that is not understood must always be to look harder for the explanation, not give up and assume a supernatural cause.

London has fine museums, the British Library is one of the greatest library institutions in the world... It's got everything you want, really.

If I can bicycle, I bicycle.

People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure.