Professor Robert Winston was a guest on BBC Radio 2 recently with Ken Bruce in ‘The Tracks of my Years’ feature, in which there was a surprise Millport link.

Professor Winston reminisced on his student days when he studied marine biology at the University Marine Station in Millport, when it was run by the University of London.

He said that it was the best place in Britain to study then. He remembered in his long haired youth, running along the road singing skiffle music, hence the chosen choice of a Lonnie Donegan track.

Professor Winston was, of course, a pioneer of IVF and he said he didn’t know then that studying sea urchins in Millport waters would lead him to his work now. The Marine Biological Station is now owned and run by the Field Studies Council.