Golf requires only a few simple Rules and Regulations to guide the players in the true nature of its sporting appeal. The spirit of the game is its own referee.

My literary career was a fluke. Utterly unexpected.

I think that whenever a nation feels itself to be at is zenith, it starts to feel a creeping sense of anxiety.

Orwell has always been a huge influence on me.

People perish. Books are immortal.

For me, as I suspect for most people, there comes a point where you have enough. If you've got £20 million, why keep going until you've got £100 million or £1,000 million? Does anyone need another vast yacht or private jet or a house full of gold?

You can't ever win the war on crime, or the war on terror. You can't repeal human nature.