It's extraordinary how self-obsessed human beings are. The things that people always go on about is, 'tell us about us', 'tell us about the first human being'. We are so self-obsessed with our own history. There is so much more out there than what connects to us.

I'm luckier than my grandfather, who didn't move more than five miles from the village in which he was born.

Well, I'm having a good time. Which makes me feel guilty too. How very English.

No one will protect what they don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.

Nature isn't positive in that way. It doesn't aim itself at you. It's not being unkind to you.

You can only get really unpopular decisions through if the electorate is convinced of the value of the environment. That's what natural history programmes should be for.

It never really occurred to me to believe in God.