He never reckoned much to schooling and that. He said you could learn most what was worth knowing from keeping your eyes and ears peeled. Best way of learning, he always said, was doing.

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

There's a nobility in his eye, a regal serenity about him. Does he not personify all that men try to be and never can be?

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

I don't consciously try to take my readers on a journey as I don't really think about my readers when I'm writing. I just try to write what I feel passionately about, to tell a story down onto the page.

I was never a great reader, but there were two stories I loved best: Kipling's The Elephant's Child and The Jungle Book. Deep down, I've always wanted to write a book about a wild child and an elephant.

Stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions.