My real passion is physics, but I knew I needed to be a strong mathematician to be a physicist, so I always worked hard at my maths. I was lucky enough that my secondary school maths teacher stretched me to breaking point, so I was properly prepared when I started my physics degree (where a third of my lectures were about maths). My top tip for budding nerds is to do as much maths as you can when you are a teenager, and that really means going way beyond the standard school curriculum and continually pushing yourself. I eventually completed a PhD in physics and spent two years at CERN, but then I used my understanding of maths and physics to do lots of different things. If you work hard at maths and physics then you think differently, and you are not scared of difficult or weird problems, and you develop an intellectual stamina that helps take on major challenges in many different areas. Using those core skills, I have made award-winning TV shows, presented radio and TV shows, and written books about maths and science. My book Fermat’s Last Theorem became the first book about maths to become a No.1 bestseller in the UK. I have also appeared in theatre shows in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and New York, and given talks at the Hammersmith Apollo in front of 3,000 people. I also spent two years defending a libel action against one of my newspaper articles, and then I spent three more years helping to change the libel laws so that there is more protection for free speech. This all sounds like a random catalogue of jobs and projects, the CV of someone who can’t make up their mind. However, everything I have ever done has been linked to sharing my love of maths and physics, and it has all been built on the maths foundation that my school teachers provided for me. Right now, I am trying to find ways for schools to stretch keen mathematicians, so that they are continually challenged and develop courage, determination, stamina and curiosity. In short, I want today’s students to have the sort of school experience I was lucky enough to have back in the 1970s.