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

People who can write a book usually 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.

Meetings ... are rather like cocktail parties. You don't want to go, but you're cross not to be asked.

I love the long grass coming up to meet the willows.

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.

At home I have big vats of cabbage soup that I make to slim down.