‘My mother died aged 95, still waiting for me to get a proper job’

‘I am extravagant in almost everything. I can be extravagant in the Oxfam shop or at the funfair’

‘If we retreat into tribalism, we’re stuffed’

‘No electricity, no hot water — that was Georgia in the 1990s’

‘You can’t be a great scientist without being slightly obsessed’

‘I’ve had experiences that could be described as spiritual — sometimes scary, sometimes beautiful’

‘Everything important I’ve learnt about life I learnt from my wife’

‘All my writing comes from a sense of lack of fulfilment’

‘I own six bikes. I realise to most people that seems ridiculous’

‘Politics does not define us — humanity does’

‘I’m not fit. Exercises are boring — malt whisky isn’t’

‘I’m driven by wanting to do things better — and the need to pay a mortgage’

‘One thing I learnt from Nora Ephron is the seriousness of being funny’

‘I find it puzzling that people finish studying. One should be an eternal learner’

‘I lost my phone — with all my photos from the 2014 World Cup on it. I’m still not over that’

‘If you are American, you have to stay awake. Every day is a civics lesson’

‘I’d like to own a time machine. I’d go back in history and speak to the right people’

‘Mandela told me my music helped him get through his prison days’

‘I’ve always been a kind of anarchist’

‘Going back into education completely changed my life chances’

‘My kind of politics? To reject set ways of thinking’

‘Nothing can compare to watching a volcano erupt. It’s such a raw display of power’

A Q&A with the founder of the ‘My Stealthy Freedom’ campaign

A Q&A with the award-winning Noma chef 

‘I don’t like ideologues. I much prefer skilful pragmatists’