Professor Stephen Hawking is being remembered as a genius, a family man and brave following his death, aged 76.

His biographer Kitty Ferguson knew Professor Hawking better than most and says he showed great courage in the way he battled his medical condition for so many years.

The physicist was just 21-years-old when he was diagnosed with a rare, slow-progressing form of ALS, which is a type of Motor Neurone Disease.

Ms Ferguson tells Steve Price he continued to shocked medical experts with his survival and then went on to shock the world with his intellect.

“It is a shock to have him die, but you know we had him so many more years than we should have considering his condition.

“You know the bravery of him, coming through all those years for all of us.

“He just had such bloody-minded courage. He always said, ‘it’s not courage, what choice did I have’.

“But he did have other choices. He could have sat in a nursing home for the rest of his life, but he got out there and did more than most people did in his timeframe.”

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