"... I started thinking about gravitational theories and Mach's Principle and so on, I knew already then, very slightly, Hermann Bondi and Tommy Gold, and I talked to them a bit about these things, I remember I asked Bondi to tea one day and told him the thoughts I'd had and I said, "Are they rubbish? What should I do?" He said, "Why not go on thinking about them?" I think that was very good of him, because I'm quite sure in retrospect it was rubbish what I said, as I was very immature at that time ..."