I shot my first lion at the age of 14 when a pride threatened my father's livestock while he was away on holiday.

They do say that socialism is the ideal philosophy-just as long as you have capitalists to pay for it.

People don't really know themselves until they're 30. Like most people nowadays, I went to university, got a degree and wandered for a bit. I trained to be a chartered accountant, which I didn't much enjoy, and it was only slowly that the idea of becoming a creative writer gelled.

At the age of 12 I won the school prize for Best English Essay. The prize was a copy of Somerset Maugham's 'Introduction To Modern English And American Literature.' To this day I keep it on the shelf between my collection of Forester's works and the little urn that contains my mother's ashes.

I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes.

The best cure for racism is to have somebody shoot at you. Man, it does not matter then what color the arse is that comes to save yours-black or white, you're ready to give it a big fat kiss.

beware of your most implacable enemy-yourself.