The marriage of statistics and seismology

Daryl Daley has kindly invited me to write some prefatory words, autobiographical in character, to the collection of articles which follows. I am very happy to do this, but first let me express my appreciation of the efforts which Daryl, Peter Thomson, and the contributors have put into the making of this volume. It is a wonderful tribute, which I greatly appreciate. May I also take the opportunity to acknowledge the help of all of those colleagues, whether or not they have contributed directly to this volume, whose support, professional advice, knowledge, competence and companionship have made my years as statistician and tyro seismologist extremely rewarding. To all such, a big thank you.