I met my wife Anne who was a sociology student, and her influence together with activities associated with the student movement of the time opened up my interests amongst other things into the theatre, art, music, politics and philosophy.

My 6 years with Murdoch were pivotal for my entire research career.

Scientific understanding is often beautiful, a profoundly aesthetic experience which gives pleasure not unlike the reading of a great poem.

This possibility bothered me as I thought it was not advisable to remain in one academic environment, and the long dark winters in Edinburgh could be rather dismal.

My family wasn't terribly affluent and looked upon money very carefully as something that had to be saved, not spent. My father built the ducting that took air into the copper mines and made about 6 d a yard in the Thirties, which was good money back then.

I don't appreciate Internet cyber bullying at all. It's not fair. With me, it gets hard because I have four children. My 8 year old son reads lies about his father, when I'm his hero.

My family has never understood why I play crazy, angry, depressed people because that is not the way they think of me. They see me as a totally messy, klutzy goofball - kind of weird and hyper.

I wish I could come home to a life that looks like a TV show. I wish I could see my television family waiting for me, where no one fights and no one screams, no one lies and no one leaves.