I grew up in a very British family who had been transplanted to Canada, and my grandmother's house was filled with English books. I was a very early reader, so I was really brought up being surrounded with piles of British books and British newspapers, British magazines. I developed a really great love of England.

I always knew that I wanted to work on my own material - something that would be more long-lasting than short-lived electronic transmissions.

If poisons were ponies, I'd put my money on cyanide.

Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company.

I'm at that age where I watch such things with two minds, one that cackles at these capers and another that never gets much beyond a rather jaded and self-conscious smile, like the Mona Lisa.

During a long career in TV broadcasting, I spent a lot of time contributing to other people's creations.

Except I'm aware that as a writer you can't get away with as much writing for children as you can with adults. Children have much more finely tuned senses of justice, morals, and ethics. They are much more Platonic: children are symmetrical, before we begin to fragment them with our own nonsensical ideas and squelch their natural joy in knowledge.