I don’t need to say that Mike was an outstanding scientist - anyone who has ever read one of his papers already knows that he was a brilliant thinker and writer. And anyone who has ever met Mike knows that being an outstanding scientist was just the tip of the iceberg for what made Mike special. So instead I will write about how he changed my life the very first time I met him. Mike’s enthusiasm for science got me the day I first met him - when I was visiting him to talk about doing a PhD on fly vision. I remember sitting on the train on the way home afterwards, reading a draft of his tea making paper thinking two things: that I wanted to work with him and that I wanted to work on mobile eye tracking in real world settings - a very different plan from the one I had started the day with! At the end of my PhD I wasn’t ready to leave and still felt I had a huge amount to learn from Mike and I was lucky enough to be able to spend a further three years in the lab as his postdoc. Mike exemplified everything I respect and aspire to as a scientist: his infectious enthusiasm, his ability to write in such a clear and compelling way, his generosity in making time for people and the way that he treated everyone as an equal, whatever their stage in career. He was enormous fun as well! A true role model of how academics should be. It was a privilege to work with Mike and to continue to write together after I moved up to Scotland. Mike will be missed by many of us as someone who made them think differently about things, inspired them and reminded them how much fun research can be. We have lost a great man and a great friend.