We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us.

Since Einstein developed his theory of relativity, and Rutherford and Bohr revolutionised physics, our picture of the world has radically changed.

Nearly all monster stories depend for their success on Jack killing the Giant, Beowulf or St. George slaying the Dragon, Harry Potter triumphing over the basilisk. That is their inner grammar, and the whole shape of the story leads towards it.

IQ in general has improved since tests first began. Psychologists think that this is because modern life becomes ever more complicated.

I am shy to admit that I have followed the advice given all those years ago by a wise archbishop to a bewildered young man: that moments of unbelief 'don't matter,' that if you return to a practice of the faith, faith will return.

I had lost faith in biography.

I'm like Jane Austen - I work on the corner of the dining table.