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Do you think about ageing and death?

Yes. I don’t relish the process of dying, partly because doctors are not vets and are not allowed to put you out of your misery. But as for being dead, I think my attitude to that is … Mark Twain said it humorously when he said: “I was dead for billions of years before I was born, never suffered the smallest inconvenience.” One of the things that is potentially frightening about death is eternity, but eternity is what’s frightening, and it is so frightening that the best way to spend it would be under a general anaesthetic, which is what’s going to happen.

Do you have any regrets?

Somebody asked John Betjeman that question in his old age. The interviewer said: “John, you have lived a long and very full life. Have you any regrets?” He replied: “Not enough sex.” You can put that in as long as you say it was said in a jocular tone.