I didn't get on a plane until I was 23, after I left Oxford and was teaching at Lucy Clayton Secretarial College in London.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In 1975 I decided that there was no future in flying (airline jobs were impossible to get, and who wants a job where you are judged only by seniority?) and headed off to grad school.
When I get on a plane these days, I go first class.
I always liked airplanes, and I decided I was going to go to school to study them.
I hated being a flight attendant. I did it for a month and then quit.
I spent my entire childhood living abroad because of my father's occupation, so we were on long-haul flights all the time.
My first ever job after college was as a flight attendant. I wanted to travel and could not afford it, so I decided to get myself a job where I could travel. I did it for two years and had great fun.
I got into New College, Oxford. The ethos was that you could work - or not.
I remember the first time that I flew on an airplane overseas, it was about when I was seven; it was 1969.
I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.
Before the BBC, I joined the Navy in order to travel.