[Q] Was it the Isaac Newton Institute or Trinity College which lured you back to Cambridge?

Well it was… a combination of the two. Primarily Trinity College I think; and if it hadn't been for the... the Mastership of Trinity I might or might not have made the move to go. I was involved in supporting the development of the Isaac Newton Institute, you know, in the previous negotiations; I thought it was a good thing to have a national institute and all that. And I might have considered, sort of, moving and taking charge of it, and if I had done, of course, that would have been a pretty full-time job and I would have spent most of my time doing it.

Then the Trinity thing came up and totally transformed the scene in a way, so that naturally they came together. And then of course there was the Royal Society… came in shortly after that, and that made life even more complicated, because whereas before I could see myself, sort of, being in Trinity and doing the Isaac Newton Institute as a kind of part, half-time job; with the Royal Society as well it was clear that my involvement in the Newton Institute would have to be very, sort of, small. Somebody else would have to do most of the work, all I could do would be to help to oversee it; and so that shifted me away. So they all happened together. It was a very... very, sort of, sudden change and so as you say, high energy mathematics had to rather take a back seat.