I also read modern novels - I have just had to read 60 as I am one of the judges for the Orange Fiction Prize.

I don't want to be involved in endless media gossip.

It wasn't glamorous in my day. In the regions, reporters were seen as such low life that they didn't merit their name in the Radio Times. Now people are interested in being famous. I never gave it a thought.

If I'm in danger then it's usually my fault and it's up to me to get myself out of it. I am not in it just to get an adrenalin rush. No way!

But in the first Gulf war the United Kingdom was not under any threat from Iraq, and is still less so in the second one. Then there is no justification for obstructing freedom of information, particularly as nations have a right to know what their soldiers are being used for.

I never desired to go into war zones. I never had any thought about it. It sort of just happened as part of the job.

No two wars are identical.