In real life, writers tend to be quite boring, but in our books, we're having exciting adventures all the time.

I don't have many friends. It's not because I'm a misanthrope. It's because I'm reserved. I'm self-contained. I get all my adventures in my head when I'm writing my books.

My father worked in a grocery store. When the grocery chain went into administration, he eventually got a job in the naval dockyard in an office preparing the charts for the boats and the submarines before they headed out.

When I was in my early 20s and still at uni, I won a short-story competition: £200 was the prize."

You have a goal in life, and to achieve what you want, you've got to do what you've got to do.

I just pinch myself, because I think if there's anything I can be proud of, I've survived success, which I think is difficult these days.

The success of my comedy has been not being afraid to touch on subject matters or issues that everyone else is politically scared of.

The most important thing is definitely success on the tennis court. I know that if I win matches, everything else will fall into place, and the money and sponsors will follow.