my culture fix

The Sunday Times have been running a series where famous people describe their cultural life. Each question is always the same and I have compiled my version, should I ever be asked.

My favourite author

This is an impossible choice. I have just read two wonderful books by Ann Patchett and Jane Gardham. There are a few living authors whose new novels I will always read. John Le Carre's latest is on my shelf. I'm waiting for the new books by Rose Tremain, Nick Hornby, William Boyd, Maggie O'Farrell, Anne Tyler, Jonathan Coe and David Mitchell to come out in paperback.

The book I'm reading

Rough Music by Patrick Gale. I usually have a non fiction book I'm reading at the same time and at the moment this is the doorstopper that is Michael Palin's Halfway to Hollywood - Diaries 1980-1988. 

The book I wish I'd written

Halfway to Hollywood as then I would be Michael Palin.

The book I couldn't finish

Middlemarch, obviously. And recently Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter. Although her novel The Magic Toyshop that we discussed at book club last night is so much better.

The book I'm ashamed I haven't read

I'm quite happy sticking with the authors I like. I have just discovered William Trevor and have a number of his books on my shelf. So there is no shame on missing out on some of the classics.

My favourite play

This was the easiest to answer. I saw Harold Pinter's No Man's Land at the Oxford Playhouse directed by the writer and starring John Wood and Corin Redgrave. It even beat the Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart version a few years later. 

The box set I'm hooked on

I have recently bought two boxes of films by Pedro Almodovar. The early ones are somewhat hammy but later they become exceptional. I had never previously seen All About My Mother and already I want to watch it again.

My favourite TV series

There are so many. From comedies such as Dinner Ladies, Dad's Army and Detectorists to detective shows like Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Vera, New Tricks and modern day Broadchurch and Line of Duty.

My favourite film

It has changed over the years, first it was Dr. Strangelove, then Back to the Future, Leon, Apocalypse Now, The Truman Show and most recently La Belle Epoque. 

My favourite piece of music

If I had to choose just one it would be the theme from Dances with Wolves by John Barry.

The poem that saved me

I have a collection of poetry books but none of them have triggered that bit in my brain that could have led to me appreciating them. I still don't get it. 

The instrument I played

Do a few chords on a second hand banjo count? If I could change one thing, it would be to find someone who could turn me into a guitarist. Perhaps I'm too late for that. 

The instrument I wish I played

Definitely the piano. To accompany a good singer would be the biggest thrill imaginable.

The music that cheers me up

Anything that takes me back to my youth in the 60's. Early Beatles and Rolling Stones.

If I could own one painting it would be ....

Something by Canaletto. When we visited Alnwick Castle, a lady attendant, desperate to talk to someone, told me that the eight Canalettos on the walls were part of what was probably the finest private art collection in the country. No wonder they had an SAS team test the security.

The place I feel happiest

There is a particular reason it is home in Weston Turville. We have been in this house for nearly thirty years when previously the longest I had lived anywhere since I was born was six. 

My guiltiest cultural pleasure

Going to the cinema in the afternoons. This started when I went on to four days a week during the last few years at work. Wednesdays were swimming in the morning and cinema in the afternoon. Since retiring I can choose any day to see a film, and now I have an Unlimited card with Cineworld.

I'm having a fantasy dinner party, I'll invite these artists and authors

The artists will be some of my favourite female singer-songwriter-instrumentalists who will provide the entertainment: Nerina Pallot, Lissie, Freya Ridings, Birdy. For authors, they have to be witty: Allan Bennett, Nick Hornby and Nina Stibbe.

And I'll put on this music

I wont have to as those above will be playing.

The play I'm looking forward to

ANYTHING PLEASE! I have one Shakespeare play still to see performed live and that is Henry V111. The RSC did promise to perform the whole canon but when oh when.