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"I would say my father's standard of classical knowledge was about that achieved by a lower second B.A. in Classics today."

"I remember my father introducing me to the joys of exploring the tube in 1944-5, and I think, got a fair picture of what it meant to him.... He would never willingly have missed the opportunity to see the night sky from a town, and one might add that though he preferred the tube to buses, he equally firmly preferred taxis to tube (he had greater skill in getting a taxi in London than anyone else I have ever met.) My father's attitude to the tube was much the same as Mr. Gladstone's: it was a fascinating new mechanical toy. I think he knew the exact depth of every central London station. The mystery of the engineering was added to a delight in train which, with my elder son, has now shown up in all four generations of the family who have grown up since railways began." "I believe my father's central bald patch dated from very early: it certainly dated from before my first memories."