A biography for Alexander Armstronghasn’t been written yet.
“The nearest village was a place called Pauperhaugh which was a village in the sense that it had a phone box and a bridge. By the time I got down south I had decades to catch up on. We only got colour television in 1978.”
“I always have my lunch watching Tim Wonnacott doing 'Bargain Hunt'. I get quite twitchy if it's not on for whatever reason.”
“I grew up the son of the village doctor, so my father was quite well known. At home in Northumberland, frankly Dad is the famous one.”
“I'm a bit of a floating voter actually - I've voted for all parties.”
“I draw great comfort from remoteness and wildness. I suppose that is why I have always felt the lure of the Arctic so acutely.”
“I have a blessed life. I do a job that I really love and I have a really good close-knit network of friends and family.”
“There are plenty of reasons for disliking people, but this tribal aversion to anyone with a posh voice is very boring.”
“The minute you watch your voice back with its proper animated character saying the words, that's when you learn exactly what you need to do next time.”
“Genuine talent does shine through but, in my experience, ambition will get you much further than pure talent.”
“I suspect that you, like I once did, are picturing the Arctic as one endless Pingu landscape of flat ice, broken only by the occasional Berghaus-clad James Cracknell type striding manfully out of the spindrift.”
“I have a horrible capacity to be unctuous to people I want to impress.”
“I'd love a rule to be introduced that you can only ring up and complain about a programme if you can prove you've watched the whole programme.”
“I've been to Venice, Rome, and Dubrovnik, but none of them come close to Edinburgh.”
“Alpacas are much more biddable creatures. Llamas are horrible. As a species, it's probably for the best that they're wary of us. But on a personal level, I find it very hard to come to terms with.”
“Countdown came about at a time when we'd just had our first baby, and, if I'm entirely honest, it looked like an income - a salary - something I'd never had before.”
“I'm staggered when I look back at how, when I got to Cambridge, I didn't know anything of the world.”
“I'd take lying by the pool doing nothing over aimlessly wandering the streets clutching a guidebook.”
“The Arctic as a lesser-known region of the world was the ideal destination - beautiful, mysterious, lethal, enchanting and, crucially, populated with extraordinary death-defying communities who somehow manage to thrive there.”
“Well I am breaking the omerta and telling the world about how the Arctic is surprisingly full of bustling conurbations and comfy hotels so no explorer will ever speak to me again.”
“I've always been a keen waker-upper. I very quickly get bored just lying in bed.”