[Q] It wasn't until the mid '80s when you were, you know, a mature artist, a mature man, that you first went to Greece. Why did it take so long for you to get to Greece?

Because I could see the terrible effect that it had on all the old guys and the Flaxmans and people it had... it was awful... it was awful – all those awful figures with plumes and things. And they... they... you know. Is it as bad as that, Greek art? And I knew it was going to have a big effect on me, and I thought: don't look at that; don't look at something which is so obviously going to... going to be... going to have an influence on your work that much. And I think, by the '80s, I felt I could handle it; I could get it. And it was wonderful; it was a totally wonderful trip that first trip, because we started off, apart from, you know, we landed at Athens, and we took the car and went straight down to Nafplion. And on the way we passed this amazing lump, bits of stone stuck about, which was a... which was a palace, and it was so crude.