On his 90th birthday: “I don’t have any political affiliations or leanings. I stand for equality, justice, fair play, freedom and honesty.

“In varying degrees, the political parties here theorise on these things and to some extent they try to practise them. I try to relate to what I see them doing.”

On Theresa May becoming British Prime Minister: “What we witnessed in the last few days was indeed the manifestation of good old-fashioned British democracy at its best in which Rule Britannia, via the governing Conservative Party, the hallmark of a well-oiled political machinery, was able to resuscitate itself from a self-induced hairline fracture and shift the political paradigm back on course.

“The passage of time shall reveal how the new prime minister shall pivot from a relatively unknown — at least overseas — into a quintessential, hard-nosed British bulldog, snarling her way through the hallowed halls and lofty chambers of the House of Commons, fighting both friend and foe.

“The most pertinent issue of the day shall be the imminent withdrawal from the European Union and the format set for the invoking of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.”

On the 1977 Pitt Report into public disorder: “There were a host of recommendations proffered by the commission to combat the historical legacies of political, economic and social inequities, the substantive nature of which were undergirded by a culture of systemic racism.

“To bridge the gaps, a collaborative effort over the past four decades has been undertaken by the governments and major stakeholders to perfect an equitable social paradigm, out of which was the birth of Heritage Month and Bermuda Day, both celebrated in the month of May.”

On being appointed an MBE at Buckingham Palace in 2000: “There’s no point making believe that going to Buckingham Palace to receive an MBE from the Queen is ‘no big thing’, because it is a big thing anyway you look at it.

“It is an enviable, once-in-a-lifetime experience for a select few.”

Reflecting on the Belco riots of 1965 in 2015: “Regrettably, I see Bermuda lurching towards another showdown. Today, as in the 1960s, there’s trouble on the waterfront, with postal workers and hospital workers restive.

“That is similar to how it was in the lead-up to and aftermath of the Belco riot. And we see Government resorting to the courts to bail them out. How interestingly the circle is being repeated.”