Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future.
I’ve been lucky to have made a number of travel programmes with the BBC, the object being to see places off the beaten track. As a result, I’ve often had a guide who’s been able to show me things that you wouldn’t see with a tour group.
Now, what sort of person would write a scene where a young man stumbles upon a castle full only of beautiful young women? Answer: ME!
I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.
I would love to go to Iran. The island of Madagascar, everyone says is pretty exotic, or the wonderful Namibian desert.
I got my first lifetime achievement award years ago, and I was very excited, but then I got a sense of: Well, can one get a second lifetime award?
I know that we shall meet problems along the way, but I’d far rather see for myself what’s going on in the world outside, than rely on newspapers, television, politicians and religious leaders to tell me what I should be thinking.
I think some of the best modern writing comes now from travellers.
The human race should just slow down and think about what it is doing.
All I ask of food is that it doesn’t harm me.
I enjoy writing, I enjoy my house, my family and, more than anything I enjoy the feeling of seeing each day used to the full to actually produce something. The end.
I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.
I want people to know there is more to Somalia than looting and piracy.
There are many ways of seeing the world. You can hang upside down from a meteor, volunteer to be the fourth stage of a three-stage rocket, or simply get in a balloon and keep going. But if it’s sheer, unadulterated discomfort you’re looking for, just stay on land.
The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.
People are still crazy about Python after twenty-five years, which I find hard to believe.
I’ve never particularly liked travelling with large groups or being told where to go by somebody else. I prefer to find out for myself.
I’d got over playing a character. People accepted who I was, and if I was incompetent and useless, they felt quite endeared to me.
I have been unusually blessed in that I’ve been allowed to pursue two strands of a career that both delight me and seem to please the public.
I can be me, and people seem quite happy with that.