FIRST IMPRESSIONS: SIMON BRETT
What are you working on?
I’m tweaking a stage thriller, which had a trial run last summer. Then I must start another of my Fethering murder-mysteries: when published, it will be my 93rd book.
When were you at your happiest?
I remember thinking last year, when picking blackberries by the river with my daughter and granddaughter: ‘Life doesn’t get much better than this.’
What is your greatest fear?
Unpleasant things happening to my wife, children or grandchildren.
What is your earliest memory?
I remember being very miffed the first time my parents woke me up after we’d come back late from a car journey. I’d loved that magical experience of going to sleep in a car and waking up the next morning in my own bed, and it was gone forever. Part of growing up, I suppose, but I resented it.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
I get paranoid about things that aren’t really important.
Who has been your greatest influence?
As a writer, I greatly admire Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh and Raymond Chandler for the economy of their writing and their ability to use humour for something more than just being funny.
What is your most treasured possession?
Family.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I wouldn’t mind losing my paunch.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
The excuse of ‘artistic temperament’ used by people to justify behaving appallingly to others.
What is your favourite book?
It varies from day to day. Today, it’s The Beginning Of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald.
Your favourite film?
Again, the answer varies. Today, it is Babette’s Feast.
Your favourite piece of music?
I like skilful lyrics and it’s hard to beat Tom Lehrer’s Oedipus Rex.
And your favourite meal?
I love lamb chops done the Turkish way, which they call pirzola.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Dr Johnson, Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh and Raymond Chandler (and I’d have a bottle of whisky on hand for the last-named).
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
In a biography of Douglas Adams I was described as ‘the man for whom the word “urbane” could have been invented’. That’s way off how I see myself.
Do you believe in aliens?
The universe is so huge that the existence of other life forms seems to me entirely possible. Same with ghosts. But I don’t lose sleep worrying about them.
What is your secret vice?
Baked beans on toast.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Yes, I do. They – and letters of condolence – are the only things I write longhand. I collect cards and postcards, just waiting to send the right card to the right person.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘You know.’ In a job interview I had for the BBC in the 1960s I answered rather well (I thought) a question about the ethics of broadcasting. The chairman of the panel then said, ‘Mr Brett, you used the expression “you know” five times in that answer. Why do you tell us if we know?’ I didn’t get the job.
What single thing would most improve the quality of your life?
Faster broadband. We live in a country village and the coverage is not great.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
My first job out of Oxford was as Father Christmas in a department store.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
I did actually write my own epitaph when I was seven. It went: ‘Here I lie, S Brett by name, Killed by a lion I thought was tame.’ It might be a difficult death to engineer, though…
Simon Brett will be at the Essex Book Festival in March: 01245-347456, www.essexbookfestival.org.uk
I’m tweaking a stage thriller, which had a trial run last summer. Then I must start another of my Fethering murder-mysteries: when published, it will be my 93rd book.
When were you at your happiest?
I remember thinking last year, when picking blackberries by the river with my daughter and granddaughter: ‘Life doesn’t get much better than this.’
What is your greatest fear?
Unpleasant things happening to my wife, children or grandchildren.
What is your earliest memory?
I remember being very miffed the first time my parents woke me up after we’d come back late from a car journey. I’d loved that magical experience of going to sleep in a car and waking up the next morning in my own bed, and it was gone forever. Part of growing up, I suppose, but I resented it.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
I get paranoid about things that aren’t really important.
Who has been your greatest influence?
As a writer, I greatly admire Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh and Raymond Chandler for the economy of their writing and their ability to use humour for something more than just being funny.
What is your most treasured possession?
Family.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I wouldn’t mind losing my paunch.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
The excuse of ‘artistic temperament’ used by people to justify behaving appallingly to others.
What is your favourite book?
It varies from day to day. Today, it’s The Beginning Of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald.
Your favourite film?
Again, the answer varies. Today, it is Babette’s Feast.
Your favourite piece of music?
I like skilful lyrics and it’s hard to beat Tom Lehrer’s Oedipus Rex.
And your favourite meal?
I love lamb chops done the Turkish way, which they call pirzola.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Dr Johnson, Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh and Raymond Chandler (and I’d have a bottle of whisky on hand for the last-named).
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
In a biography of Douglas Adams I was described as ‘the man for whom the word “urbane” could have been invented’. That’s way off how I see myself.
Do you believe in aliens?
The universe is so huge that the existence of other life forms seems to me entirely possible. Same with ghosts. But I don’t lose sleep worrying about them.
What is your secret vice?
Baked beans on toast.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Yes, I do. They – and letters of condolence – are the only things I write longhand. I collect cards and postcards, just waiting to send the right card to the right person.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘You know.’ In a job interview I had for the BBC in the 1960s I answered rather well (I thought) a question about the ethics of broadcasting. The chairman of the panel then said, ‘Mr Brett, you used the expression “you know” five times in that answer. Why do you tell us if we know?’ I didn’t get the job.
What single thing would most improve the quality of your life?
Faster broadband. We live in a country village and the coverage is not great.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
My first job out of Oxford was as Father Christmas in a department store.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
I did actually write my own epitaph when I was seven. It went: ‘Here I lie, S Brett by name, Killed by a lion I thought was tame.’ It might be a difficult death to engineer, though…
Simon Brett will be at the Essex Book Festival in March: 01245-347456, www.essexbookfestival.org.uk