I used to help my dad with a stall selling eggs when I was about 12. People were so hard up they would ask for one egg. But mostly no one came by at all. It was very demoralising.

What I have always liked about Brighton is its impersonality. Since the 18th century, people have come, used the place and gone home again.

To some people, the fact that I am not married, or don't have children, would be the reason I have written a book on punctuation,

Texting is a supremely secretive medium of communication - it's like passing a note - and this means we should be very careful what we use it for.

Do you lend books and DVDs to people? If so, don't you always regret it? All my life I have forced books on to people who have subsequently forgotten all about it. Meanwhile, on my shelves sit many orphaned books loaned to me over the years by trusting, innocent souls - some as long ago as the Seventies.

The idea of withholding a massive secret is obviously quite exciting to some people. It is also the basis of much classic drama, of course, from Sophocles onwards.