We have bodies coming home and coffins covered in flags, not just in the UK but world-wide.

But try as I might, I never got to eat any of her pastries, and do you know, she never even offered me one.

There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it's 'Alice in Wonderland' or the 'Gruffalo' or 'Northern Lights.' When it's a great book, it's a great book, whether it's for children or not.

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

Being his real brother I could feel I live in his shadows, but I never have and I do not now. I live in his glow.

Genuinely good people are like that. The sun shines out of them. They warm you right through.

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