I was born in Bangkok, but went to school in London at the age of six, since my parents went to England at the time. When I was 10 years old (1957), I went to Cheam School, a preparatory school near Newbury in the same term as Prince Charles, and as the only schoolboy with camera, have a rare photo of the Prince pretending to catch a tennis ball. Then, I spent nearly 5 years (1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965) at Rugby School, where I studied science, because my father thought that this was the subject of the future. This early background enabled me to acquire the English language like a native. I also enjoyed sports, which was essential to survive at a public school at that time and a contemporary whom I met 40 years later at a House reunion, recalled that I was ''fearless'' in tackling boys twice my size on the rugby pitch. Then, as a rather spoiled child at home, my spell in an English Public School helped me to integrate with the community and develop a sense of team spirit, as well as to acquire leadership skills as a prefect. My native English and sense of social responsibility developed during these early years may have predisposed me to later involvement in many international scientific organizations. Science teaching was very good at Rugby School then, so many boys took science and performed well. With good grades at GCE ''A'' and ''S'' levels in Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics, I was asked to take the Scholarship Examination to Trinity College, Cambridge. However, I wrote back that I preferred to take the Common Entrance Examination instead, since there were so many excellent science students from Rugby School competing in the Scholarship Examination. Whereupon, Trinity College, Cambridge accepted me directly, so I must be one of the few students accepted into Cambridge University without taking any entrance examination or being interviewed.
Cambridge was an eye-opener, especially for someone brought up in the confines of a Public School environment. I remember vividly philosophical discussions with strangers at parties on the meaning of life and the equality of man, attending concerts, plays and debates, and strolling by the river with my girlfriend while ''in love. '' The Natural Sciences Tripos (1965-1968) at Cambridge was a very concentrated program, so I took Chemistry, Cell Biology, and Physiology in first year Part IA, Advanced Chemistry and Biochemistry in second year Part IB, and just one subject Biochemistry in the last year Part II Honours program. To say that I became a biochemist because I was not good at other subjects is probably an over-simplification. Certainly, I dropped Physics and Mathematics from the start because I was rather mediocre at these subjects. But the Cell Biology course was probably the turning point. Hardly ever having taken biology at school, I was amazed by the chemistry and molecular biology of living systems, remember, this was just after two Nobel Prizes were awarded in the same year (1962) for discoveries by Watson and Crick on DNA structure and by Perutz and Kendrew on hemoglobin and myoglobin structure. The course itself was really enjoyable, a multidisciplinary effort involving various departments, involving both lectures and laboratory, which really captured the imagination of