“I once met an RAF pilot who told me of what he called a "bird strike". This, rather unfairly in my view, made it sound as if it was the bird's fault; as if the little feathered chap had deliberately tried to head-butt twenty tons of metal travelling in the opposite direction at just under the speed of sound, out of spite.”

English actor, comedian, and musician

Hugh Laurie is an English actor, comedian, and musician. Born James Hugh Calum Laurie, he first came to wider attention through his comedy partnership with Stephen Fry, in the double act Fry and Laurie. He and Fry worked together on several projects in the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. Laurie also appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder from 1986 to 1989.