I could have left well alone; read the new autobiography and a novel or two and got stuck in. I'm not a great believer in the principle that talking to people is the best way of finding out who they really are. I'm not sure I'm even a great believer in the notion that there is a who-they-really-are to be found out. So why I petitioned for an interview with Barbara Cartland still baffles me, except perhaps that I enjoy improbability and (occasionally) being in situations that are entirely beyond my ken.

LRB 18 August 1994 | PDF Download