Long periods of recession, which tend to be self-perpetuating, are usually ended by war, or by preparations for it.

I don't write huge books any more. I used to write 1,000 printed pages, but now I write short books. I did one on Napoleon, 50,000 words - enjoyed doing that. He was a baddie. I did one on Churchill, which was a bestseller in New York, I'm glad to say. 50,000 words. He was a goodie.

Hell is being trapped in a night-club with the'beautiful people'and forced to live in a'luxury penthouse flat'.

I very much wanted to be editor of the 'New Statesman!' But I never wanted to be prime minister, except maybe as a little boy.

The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them.

If I see a door ajar, I push on it to see how far it will open, and if it opens wide I go through it.

As the CIA and KGB, like God and Satan, fight Miltonic battles across five continents.