Steve Backshall

“I have deliberately stung myself with a small section of box jelly tentacle, and it felt like being burned by a steam iron. Larger stings can lead to cardiac arrest, and mind-blowing pain.”

“I'm not a great technical climber, but over the years it has given me the opportunity to see wonderful corners of Britain that I wouldn't have been able to experience any other way.”

“And there are very few wild animals that can't run down a human being; the big predators would run down Usain Bolt without even thinking about it. So your only chance is to stand your ground!”

“Fences split up the territory that a hedgehog has to forage in so having a little hole in your fence could well enable it to move in and out of your garden.”

“Fiction was a massive, massive part of my formative years, far more so than television ever was, and I always hoped that my future would lie with writing.”

“In the Himalayas, I spent some of the most exhilarating moments of my life, shooting white water rapids in a kayak.”

“I appreciate that I'm in the privileged situation of getting to spend my entire life outdoors with wildlife, and I know first hand how good it makes you feel, and it's a message that I have to try to get across to kids because as an adult, I can see the dangers that normal modern life exacts upon children.”

“I don't think your life can be complete without a dog.”

“Climbing is never going to be 100% safe, but the climbing I do with work is done under much stricter guidelines than the climbing I do in my spare time.”

“My favourite climb is St Kilda, west of Benbecula in Scotland's Outer Hebrides. It's incredibly remote, with the highest sea cliffs in Britain.”

“People do get hurt by jellyfish, as they do by sharks and spiders, and I have great sympathy for the anguish and pain these effects may cause, but if you pay any attention to the statistics it is clear that nature is not out to get us.”