COMMENT

Hawking playing croquet. The gamekeeper was out shopping so he invited me to his room, put some music on and he made me a cup of tea. I tasted it and it was terrible. It turned out it was green tea, which was not very common in those days. He would speak to me until two or three in the morning.”

Prof Hawking married twice, first to Jane Wilde in 1965 and then to nurse Elaine Madson in 1995. On both occasions he turned to Prof Donovan to be his best man, with him returnlecture

“He taught me so much. He just always had ideas. He was a fascinating guy and was very modest”

ROBERT DONOVAN