As a young child my attention span was, as I remember it, rather short.

There's room for all sorts of magic and miracles in this world - that's what I think.

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

Elephants are my favourite creatures and have been since I was a boy and my mother read Kipling's The Elephant's Child to me. It was loving elephants so much that made we want to write my own story with an elephant at the centre and its bond with a child.

Don't worry about writing a book or getting famous or making money. Just lead an interesting life.

But I didn’t dare. That has always been my trouble. I’ve never dared enough.

There's a mouse in here with me. He's sitting there in the light of the lamp, looking up at me. He seems as surprised to see me as I am to see him. There he goes. I can hear him still, scurrying about somewhere under the hayrick. I think he's gone now. I hope he comes back. I miss him already.