I wanted to be an explorer, but gradually found the world had been explored and that there was nowhere left, really. Once they climbed Everest in 1953, when I was 10 years old, I thought, 'Well, that's pretty much it now.' But the idea of travelling and exploring and adventure was very strong.

In the absence of fear there is little faith.

The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.

People say the most stupid things on the spur of the moment that they then have to retract.

Night falls over Machu Picchu to the sound of Abba's 'Dancing Queen'.

I'm aware that, if you feel down, it can be strangely unrelated to circumstances around you. That's just the way life is.

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.