University is great, but it wasn't right for me.

It's awkward going back up to Edinburgh to see my old friends, because I'm not on the same wavelength.

I have always joked that I have three mothers. I couldn't get away with anything as a kid. Whether I got a bad mark or was told off, it would always end up getting back to my parents.

My sisters were very successful and confident. It was, 'Oh, you are Pippa's brother! Are you Catherine's brother?' And so I was automatically put into the top sports teams and academic sets.

My family and I were some of the first people to be genotyped.

My mother brought me numerous times to visit Orton as a child, and I have visited the gardens with my children many times. Orton is a gem on the Cape Fear River and I am excited about our restoration efforts to bring it back to its original landscape.

It's very strange that most people don't care if their knowledge of their family history only goes back three generations.

In terms of the Eastern Europe stories, my family is originally from there; even as a kid, it was the Russian writers I loved most, and I've spent a substantial amount of time there myself, traveling and on research grants.