Therefore, I reasoned that study of the cell cycle responsible for the reproduction of cells was important and might even be illuminating about the nature of life.

At age 11 in 1960, I moved to an academic state secondary school, Harrow County Grammar School for Boys.

I am still a keen mountain walker and an enthusiastic glider pilot.

I think it was this curiosity about the natural world which awoke my early interest in science.

It was during my time at secondary school that I abandoned religion.

My parents were born in Norfolk and spent their early years working in the big houses of that rural English county, my mother as a cook and my father as a handyman and chauffeur.

My parents were neither wealthy nor academic, but we lived comfortably and they were always extremely supportive of my academic efforts and aspirations, both at school and university.