I think science is a foreign land for many people, so I think of my role as an ambassador's job.

The power of mathematics is often to change one thing into another, to change geometry into language.

I'm obviously attuned to pick up mathematics whenever I can see it. But in Mozart there is a lot of conscious use of mathematical symbolism and numbers in order to try and give messages.

But actually a code is a language for translating one thing into another. And mathematics is the language of science. My big thesis is that although the world looks messy and chaotic, if you translate it into the world of numbers and shapes, patterns emerge and you start to understand why things are the way they are.

Mathematics has beauty and romance. It's not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It's an extraordinary place; it's worth spending time there.

When people ask me what my religion is, I say it's the Arsenal.

I think my primary audience is in some sense an adult audience, because I think that will then have a knock-on effect for children.