Always flying: we’ve had flights where the engine’s been on fire; where we’ve nose-dived.

I had a bad heart attack 20 years ago: I think I slid off the mortal coil for about 30 seconds.

When I was 13, I was on a bicycle and got hit by a taxi in New York.

Near head-on collision driving from Oklahoma to California back in the 70s.

Well, I’ve completely reneged on that one and within a very short time, I think within three or four years.…Well, it has now been shown that it occurs very commonly in fishes, particularly cichlid fishes. So here’s another thing where my intuition was wrong.

One of the answers is that very often I see a statement made by somebody which clearly to me is wrong, and then I work out what is the real right answer, and this happens to me very often.

Very often I had to fight for the recognition of my ideas, particularly since, in those earlier days, I wasn’t in any prominent position where people would listen to me.

Birds are still very much my hobby

Primarily to show, and you will think that this doesn't need showing, but lots of people would disagree with you. To show that biology is an autonomous science and should not be mixed up with physics. That's my message.

What in a way pleases me and makes me very proud, and I probably shouldn't be, is that I am an honorary fellow of the five oldest academies of the world, all five of them and I don't know whether there's anybody else who can say that.