All those authors there, most of whom of course I've never met. That's the poetry side, that's the prose side, that's the fishing and miscellaneous behind me. You get an affection for books that you've enjoyed.

But you'd have a job to find many of my poems which would seem to be very influenced by a particular person.

And some poets are far better read off the page because they're very bad speakers. I'm thinking of one in particular whom I won't name, a good poet, and he reads in such a dry, boring way, your eyes start drooping.

Well, I love fishing. I wouldn't kill a fly myself but I've no hesitation in killing a fish. A lot of men are like that. No bother. Out you come. Thump. And that's not the only reason.

Well, I'm a light traveller. I chuck things away.

All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.

When I go fishing I like to know that there's nobody within five miles of me.