I descend from both Philadelphia Quakers and Carolina colonists whose families were separated by the Revolutionary War. That helped give me insight into the agony of Patriots who, until the British government denied their claims, had always, like Ben Franklin himself, thought of themselves as free-born Englishmen.

I myself was born beside a river - the Avon in Sarum. So when I first encountered New York's great harbor and the Hudson River as a teenager, and came to understand their historic canal and railroad links to the vast spaces of the Midwest, I felt both the thrill of a new adventure and a deep sense of homecoming.

All of my career has been an attempt to educate myself and get paid for it.

Paris. City of love. City of dreams. City of splendor. City of saints and scholars. City of gaiety. Sink of iniquity.

All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken.

Kissing scenes are never romantic or sexy. They're actually super technical, like, 'Move your head; you're blocking her light,' or, 'Stop looking like an idiot when you kiss her.'

The Middletons and the Windsors might seem at first glance to be worlds apart. Kate certainly shows no sign of adopting the horsey, doggy lifestyle beloved of her grandmother-in-law. But the Queen admires how well Kate has embraced royal life, combining it cheerfully with duty and motherhood.

I enjoy being single, but I loved being married.