I like writing for children. It seems to me that most people underestimate their understanding and the strength of their feelings and in my books for them I try to put this right.

I wanted to be a war reporter - scrabbling around, exposing things. I didn't want to go to university, I wanted to get a job, but Auntie Beryl said I should go to Oxford.

I hope in my books I help children to see their strengths, and show them I have some idea of what they may occasionally be going through. Especially at tricky moments when it is easier to go back and evade things rather than go forwards and confront them.

I met Richard Burton, an RAF cadet on a two-term course. I would have flirted more enthusiastically if it had not been for the horrid boils on the back of his neck.

Every actor gets an image without wanting one. A lot of romantic heroes want an action hero tag, but they are unable to succeed even though their films are good.

When Princess Diana got married, I was a very little kid, I think. I remember her dress, and I found the dress amazing when I was a kid.

I'm a mother now and married, and knowing what I know now, I would definitely have gone about things quite differently.

I never had a policy about marriage. I got married very young in life and I always think in all relationships, I've always thought that it's counterproductive to have a theory on that.