All my characters have got a big slice of me in them. A big piece of me, because it's my dialogue and this is the way I think and talk.

Despite the fact that I spend a lot of time in London, Switzerland and New York, Africa is the place I know and love best, and my heart will always lie here.

Litigation only makes lawyers fat.

Cape Town's beaches are superb and while the water on the Atlantic side is damn cold, it's very pleasant on the other side. Bring your golf clubs if you play - Cape Town has some fabulous golf courses.

Every time one of my books sells a million copies in paperback, Pan Macmillan gives me a gold statuette of Pan. I have about 20 of them.

I love the sea as much as I love the veldt of Africa.

I grew up in Rhodesia on my father's ranch and every year he used to take us on safari in some remote area of the wilderness.