Roger Highfield is Director of External Affairs at the Science Museum Group and was the outside editor on Craig Venter’s two books, ‘A Life Decoded’ and ‘Life at the Speed of Light’. This article has drawn on conversations with Venter that took place over more than two decades, beginning when the author first interviewed him for the ‘Daily Telegraph’. He has written two books with Peter Coveney and also sits on a committee for Genomics England.