richard dawkins. dr. dawkins. why did you choose to write an auto biography? >> i'm getting on a bit. it seemed like a good moment to do so. my mother is -- [inaudible] tap her memories and being a world for experience and interviewing her to write the book seemed like the right thing to do it. this is impact just the first half. it's up to the age of 35, after ward i wrote a lot one which is a water shed in my life, i suppose. it made sense to divide it in to two boxes. -- books. this is a first one. childhood, school hood, university, early years. >> why was it a natural halfway point for you, in a sense? >> it changed my life. it was an ordinary -- [inaudible] then after that, i on the fact that -- [inaudible] went on teaching and doing research, but i became i suppose more of a public figure writing books more for a large audience. >> who were john and gene dawkins. >> they were my parents. they were -- my father was a biologist. he did -- at oxford. he career began -- the same kind of school fee paying and rather companyive i english through end of the sc