麻豆约拍

The world renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking tells Sue Lawley about his life and work.

Stephen remembers growing up in St Albans, a "ridiculously easy" physics course at Oxford University, where he didn't fully apply himself, and his dark and apocalyptic mood when motor neurone disease was diagnosed in 1963.

The prospect of an early death made Stephen realise that life was worth living and he threw himself into his work, which includes the discovery of Hawking radiation and the best-selling A Brief History Of Time.

His music selections range from Mozart's Requiem in D Minor (his favourite) to Edith Piaf's Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien, a song which sums up his life.

First broadcast on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4 on Christmas Day 1992.