Personal comments on the history of nuclear astrophysics

The author reviews his personal career in nuclear astrophysics from just before World War II to 1966. It concentrates on the work carried out in conjunction with colleagues, especially those in Cambridge and at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, on the development of various models to explain nucleosynthesis and the evaluation of stars. The paper also covers a wide variety of other topics, touching on isotope abundances, the helium abundance in particular, and the relict radiation. (UK)