“When you see a tumour in the brain, it's an ugly looking thing. It's kind of black, grisly and messy. Or it can be white. To see it taken away is just amazing.”

“My mother taught me what it is to have a sense of humour; my dad, who was a headmaster, everything you need to know about hard work. My dad is the most decent man you could come across.”

“I spend my money on holidays and eating out, and it allows me to be generous.”

“Perhaps our imagination needs crime stories to fulfill some craving we have, as a way to assuage a darkness in ourselves.”

“People love watching medical dramas - they also love watching documentaries about the workings of the brain.”

“When you see a tumour in the brain, it's an ugly looking thing. It's kind of black, grisly and messy. Or it can be white. To see it taken away is just amazing.”

“I've always been a family man and count myself as one of those who are lucky to have the comfort of a family.”

“In my life, I have made the occasional catastrophic choice, and it's just a case of moving on and learning from it.”

“Brain surgeons are dealing with the very last thread of life, and they have to be very confident, but I think they tend to remember their failures rather than their successes, and that must be very hard. Who do you share that failure with? That's why their personal lives are often disastrous.”

“On a beautiful clear Sunday morning, myself and James Nesbitt jumped out of a plane together at 18,000 feet.”