Leo, sadly, has Parkinsons, but he used to cook all sorts of dazzling things.

The letter of application ... should be a masterpiece of fiction, papering over all the cracks. Get it properly typed on decent writing paper. Never let it run over the page, people get bored with reading.

Without doubt, keep a diary. From the day you're born, keep a diary, because we all forget things so quickly.

I can assure you that the class system is alive and well and living in people's minds in England.

Go to lots of interviews, at least one a month even when you don't need a job, to keep in training for when you do.

it's a good idea to wait a few months before joining anything when you arrive at a village. A bookseller friend who retired to nearby Oxfordshire, and was worried he might be bored, got himself on to every village committee in the first six months, and spent the next ten years extricating himself.

in a village you can't sack or fight with someone, as you'll find yourself stuck beside them in the hairdresser's next morning.