I REMEMBER...Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson (64) is one of the world's most eminent astrophysicists. As he publishes his latest book, he looks back at growing up in the Bronx, witnessing the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and interviewing Katy Perry.

-  Simon Button

MY EARLIEST CHILDHOOD THE MEMORY IS WATCHING MICKEY MOUSE CLUB on the lower level of a bunk bed with my brother and mother. I would have been nearly four at the time and I vividly recall it was a Sunday evening and Mum was pregnant with my sister. At first we lived in the Castle Hill middle-income housing project in the Bronx and it felt like a real community, with playgrounds and playing fields amid all the buildings.

WHEN MY FATHER'S INCOME INCREASED WE MOVED TO RIVERDALE, which was a more plush part of the Bronx and, prophetically perhaps, our building was called Skyview. One day I came home and there were people protesting against Black families moving in. That was in 1964, when I was six years old, and that seemed so odd to me. I thought, Why do people feel this way? because when you're a kid you can't process complex issues, you just observe things.

MY FATHER WORKED FOR THE NEW YORK CITY MAYOR'S OFFICE under Mayor Lindsay and he became a commissioner for the manpower and career development agency, which was very much plugged into the Civil Rights Movement. Keeping New York a liveable and safe place that was free from unrest was a heroic effort at a very difficult time. There were severe riots related to equal rights and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcom X. Although New York had a few dustups, my dad helped keep the city calm in the face of disturbances of the peace.