It's what I'll be singing in the morning. It won't be God Save the Ruddy King or All Things bleeding Bright and Beautiful. It'll be Orange and Lemons for Big Joe, for all of us.

We're much alike, bee, you and me," I said. "You may carry your pack underneath you and your rifle may stick out of your bottom. But you and me, bee, are much alike.

I'm still not sure I want to be a writer. I think of myself as a storyteller more.

Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.

By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I'm talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.

I can hate you more, but I'll never love you less.

If it is possible to be happy in the middle of a nightmare, then Topthorn and I were happy that summer.