Like all sciences, chemistry is marked by magic moments. For someone fortunate enough to live such a moment, it is an instant of intense emotion: an immense field of investigation suddenly opens up before you.

To be perfectly truthful, I was not a very brilliant student, even at chemistry school.

Various circumstances, mainly to do with my military service, prevented me from doing a Ph.D., and I have often regretted it, though you do need to choose the 'right' supervisor in the 'right' discipline - no easy task when you are totally inexperienced.

My motto is more, 'If you want to find something new, look for something new!' There is a certain amount of risk in this attitude, as even the slightest failure tends to be resounding, but you are so happy when you succeed that it is worth taking the risk.

I have always been an avid reader of chemical literature, eager for what is new.

My grandmother was fond of painting and playing the piano. She had been given lessons by Emmanuel Chabrier, who used to spend the summer months in nearby Membrolle.