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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.

Aeroplanes interested me, and at the outbreak of the Second World War, I joined the RAF as a volunteer reservist. I took the opportunity of studying the books which the RAF made available for radio mechanics and looked forward to an interesting course in radio.

I stayed in the Navy until July of 1946.

The day after the Oscars, I flew back to London to film a television play for Anglia. It was a big mistake because you never really get acknowledged for wanting to work in England, as I did.

I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.

After the war, in which I served as a pilot in the Air Force, I took up films.

I was a child of World War Two . I saw films of pilots taking off from aircraft carriers and decided that was the only thing I wanted to do. And it had to be flying from sea carriers. Airfields were not enough.

I grew up in a Navy family.

I'm quite grateful to the BBC. They helped me back onto the touring circuit.

I received my parents' permission and went into the Navy on June 3, 1941.