I Like Stirring The Pot - I

One Good Reason For Writing Novels Based On Your Life Is That You Have Something To Read In Old Age When You've Forgotten What Happened.

I Was Cleaning Out The Pigsty At A Farm In Wales, Where My Mother Had Rented A Room, When The Results Of My Final School Exam Were Handed To Me By The Postman, Along With The News That I Had A State Scholarship To Oxford. I Had Waited For This Letter For So Many Weeks That I Had Abandoned Hope, Deciding That I Had Failed Ignominiously.

People Who Don't Read Seem To Me Mysterious. I Don't Know How They Think Or Learn About Other People. Novels Are A Very Important Part Of Our Education.

I Would Hate To Live In The Country, Unless I Was Living On A Farm.

Life Isn't So Complicated For Children. They Have More Time To Think About The Really Important Things. That's Why I Occasionally Moralise In My Children's Books In A Way I Wouldn't Dare When Writing For Adults.