It's not a matter of huge significance," he said, grouchily. "I may not even include the fall of Gordon Brown. The last, which will cover the post-Victorian era, is several years away. The first volume – 447 pages that carry the reader from the mists of pre-history to the death of Henry VII – is about to be published. On the contrary, he recently began the most ambitious project of his life – a six-volume history of England from the first traces of human occupation, 900,000 years ago, to the modern day. He boasts that in his long career, both as journalist and writer, he has never missed a deadline.Īt 61, he shows no sign of easing up. The afternoon is for research, rounded off by 200-250 words of his latest novel, Three Brothers. In the morning he writes 1,000 words – 500 on history, 500 on the life of Charlie Chaplin, to be published in 2014. He is working on three books concurrently.
He maintains a rigid work discipline, travelling from his Knightsbridge home to start writing in his office at 10am. He looks very like a man with a nine to five office job. Picture Captain Mainwaring of Dad's Army with receding snow-white hair and you have an approximate representation of one of our most renowned contemporary authors. At a personal level, he is about as far from being a television personality in the David Starkey/ Will Self mould as you could imagine.
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