What is your idea of perfect happiness? Stepping into the unknown and discovering it was worth the risk.
What is your greatest fear? That if I stop, everything will stall.
Which living person do you most admire? John Irving, for writing so well.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Stubbornness.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Raw, hollow, success-at-any-cost ambition.
Where would you like to live? I live in the East End of London. In an ideal world, I'd also have homes in Melbourne and New York.
What makes you depressed? Litter.
What is your favourite fantasy? Homes in New York and Melbourne.
Should the royal family be scrapped? I'm sure some of them are lovely people who do a lot of jolly good work, but since when has that been an argument in favour of such inequity? The tourists will still come for the history - they go to Stonehenge despite the lack of druids, don't they?
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? A sense of humour.
How do you relax? Coffee and a cryptic crossword.
How often do you have sex? The only person I currently have any desire to have sex with is a very long way away right now.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life? Closer proximity of that person.
How would you like to die? Feeling that I'd squeezed everything out of life, rather than life having squeezed everything out of me.
Do you believe in life after death? No - but I'd like to be wrong.
How would you like to be remembered? With a chuckle.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you? There's no point not trying.
