Sorting through those papers has been a real eye-opener for me. The range of his interests and the breadth of his knowledge was simply staggering. It has allowed me to know him much better now than I ever did. In one single half hour of sifting through a large box of his papers, I travelled the gamut from the 'Aquatic Ape' theory of human evolution,  to the manifesto of the Euro-sceptic, UK-based Referendum Party; articles discussing whether Jesus Christ had been an accomplished Yogi, adept at reducing his bodily functions to minimal operation; ending up with human brain composition and the pluses and minuses of various prison systems!

Growing up was always interesting, because of this passion of his for so many different things. Family chit chat around the dinner table was never dull. My mother is her own woman and had her own opinions on things and so we were always exposed to interesting and different ideas and ways of looking at things.

His true passion was natural history and he loved the natural world in all its forms. I owe my own love of natural history to him. We would walk through the bush and he would point out interesting plants or insects and tell me fascinating and unusual facts about them, piquing my own interest. It is thanks to him that I am also a biologist.

He and my mother both loved to travel and see new places and meet new people. Being the youngest, I was usually fortunate enough to be taken with them on their peregrinations and so discovered that the world is a big place, full of interest. It is usually accepted that it is the task of parents to worry about their children as they discover the big, wide world on their own. However, in our case, it was usually the children wondering how their parents were faring, especially when they embarked on their adventurous overland trip from India to the UK!

He was a caring, family man and loved his daughters and his grandchildren when they came along. He was always game for a bit of fun. My husband and I would return from Hong Kong on leave every few years and we would share our time between the 'in-laws'. Tim was always prepared to spend time with his grandchildren, whether it was biking, swimming in the sea or discussing the merits of a particular ice-cream (of which he was very fond!).

Two incidents particularly stick in my mind which I think sum up his take on life. On one occasion, we were all on holiday together on the Isle of Wight. We went to a theme park for the day to amuse my two sons, Sam and Luke. This included a 'Luge' ride where you climbed aboard sled-type vehicles and careered downhill on a cross-country track until you arrived at the bottom. Tim shared a car with Sam, who was about 8 at the time. On the way down, they were going at such glorious speed that they came off on one of the corners, but merely picked themselves up and continued on down. Sam had no idea that this was not really intended to be a part of the experience and was fired up with the fun and excitement of it all!

On another occasion, we were again all on holiday together and had gone to a large indoor swimming pool with lots of adventure slides and tubes. At the end of one of the tubes, there was a lifeguard tasked with making sure that everyone surfaced safely in the pool receiving people after the final drop from the tube. I remember how indignant Tim was when the lifeguard, fearing for his elderly charge's life, hauled him spluttering to the surface after what seemed like several minutes under the water to those of us watching. He protested that he had only been enjoying the view from underwater!