As a kid, I lived in a fantasy world. I used to believe ants could talk. Not once did they say thank you.

I became obsessed with making more and more tiny things. I think I was trying to find a way of compensating for my embarrassment at having learning difficulties: people had made me feel small so I wanted to show them how significant 'small' could be.

I work between my heartbeat. I have one-and-a-half seconds to actually move. And at the same time I have to watch I don’t inhale my own work.

At home, when the heating pipes made noises, I imagined a tiny person was in there skipping with a rope. The fantasy world of tiny things became my escape.

People find it very, very difficult to believe what I've done. Scientists have seen my work and they can't explain it. Even nano-scientists have seen it and been totally shocked. But if any man on Earth wants to challenge me, I'm ready. Bring it on.

When I first heard that Barack Obama was going to be the first black president, I wanted to do the smallest, biggest tribute in history.

My teacher said my brain was the size of a pea. He made my life miserable by singling me out in the classroom as a failure.