My childhood in Corfu shaped my life. If I had the craft of Merlin, I would give every child the gift of my childhood.

There is no first world and third world. There is only one world, for all of us to live and delight in.

We stared at the odd garment and wondered what it was for. 'What is it?' asked Larry at length. 'It's a bathing costume, of course,' said Mother. 'What on earth did you think it was?' 'It looks like a badly skinned whale,' said Larry, peering at it closely.

They were maps that lived, maps that one could study, frown over, and add to; maps, in short, that really meant something.

In conservation, the motto should always be 'never say die'.

Zoos should concentrate more on the preservation side of things.

Tea would arrive, the cakes squatting on cushions of cream, toast in a melting shawl of butter, cups agleam and a faint wisp of steam rising from the teapot shawl.