Originally I wanted to be a diplomat, and by attrition I started giving up that idea.

People my age and younger do think much more towards Europe. We have to fill the gap sometime - we can't think we are an empire any longer after all.

I find the public reaction to writing - it's fascinating in this modern age. Of course people are able to interact with me and email me, and I get quite a few I suppose.

I am certainly very pro-Europe.

I'd like to write fiction. Perhaps at some stage.

I often think I would like to come even closer to home and write about somewhere like Wales, for example - which we in England tend to be a little snooty about. That's where the coal comes from and that sort of thing.

Lawrence Millman is a favorite writer of mine. He did a travels on the trail of the Vikings.