I must apologise because I know all writers have memories of being on the outer because it's the children on the side of the playground who become the dangerous writers.

But I was also a brat. I used to belong to a gang that went looking for fights with other gangs.

And I definitely wanted to be a writer, but I felt a duty now, having used up those educational resources, I felt a duty to the church and my parents to become a priest.

Thomas was my true name but everyone knew me as Mick, except my mother, who knew me as definitely Michael.

And I found both literature and the church very dramatic presences in the world of the 1950s.

And I think my sexuality was heavily repressed by the church, by the, you know, the design of the mortal sins.

The List is Life.