We were doing it under the most extraordinary circumstances, but the first out of the tent in the morning would be David Lean. He said to me on the very first day of shooting, Pete, this is the beginning of a great adventure.

I have no memories I'm prepared to share with you.

It's my job, it's what I do, it's what I'm on earth to do and it's who I am.

Right after I left drama school, I had a job.

Politicians have become extraordinarily conservative, but our times require imagination and bold action.

I usually start writing a novel that I then abandon. When I say abandon, I don't think any writer ever abandons anything that they regard as even a half-good sentence. So you recycle. I mean, I can hang on to a sentence for several years and then put it into a book that's completely different from the one it started in.

I have the same interests as women. Well, apart from football and music, obviously. I've always had as many female friends as male ones. The novels I read as a young man were all by women writers, and when I started writing, I wanted to set my books inside the home.

I think, for me anyway, music and film is where you can really transport yourself to another universe.