My parents have been married forty-two years. I wonder how many of those were happy.

As I work in the afternoon on committing to paper some of my morning's thoughts, I find myself just about to close on the knotty question of whether or not I believe in God. In fact I am about to type, 'I do not believe in God', when the sky goes black as ink, there is a thunderclap and a huge crash of thunder and a downpour of epic proportions. I never do complete the sentence.

I saw novelists as being admirable people and I thought... I thought... maybe, one day, I could be one of them.

I mistrust total competence. I've always felt life is a series of small disasters we try to get through.

I've never particularly liked travelling with large groups or being told where to go by somebody else. I prefer to find out for myself.

Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

John Hall, my geography teacher at school inspired me to a lifelong interest in geography and a curiosity about our world which has stayed with me through my life. Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me geography is a great adventure with a purpose.