Gertrude Elion on the Nobel Prize Ceremony

"I think the banquet was maybe more exciting than the actual presentation, particularly when I walked down the grand staircase on the king's arm. Now that was something really special. Of course I was always thinking I might trip and bring the King down with me, but we made it to the bottom with no accident. It was all very much afterwards, 'Did it really happen? Was it all a dream?' My little grand niece said it was a fairy tale. It had a King and a Queen, and I think that describes it. It was like a fairy tale.