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The English can be a very critical, unforgiving people, but criticism can be good. And this is a country that loves comedy.

The English probably do that wordplay kind of humour and whimsy better than anyone, and I've always felt that my writing goes more to that than what I did when I came to Australia.

I enjoy the reaction I get in the U.S.A. when people discover I have an English accent. They don't expect that, and it's kind of a kick.

There is the fear, common to all English-only speakers, that the chief purpose of foreign languages is to make fun of us. Otherwise, you know, why not just come out and say it?

The English reputation for humour is a way by which people avoid revealing themselves and have superficial relationships, so that you can engage in banter without making yourself vulnerable.

The air of the English is down-to-earth. They care about details; there's a tradition, but there's also a counter-culture: the younger generation versus the older generation and so on. But then that's well blended into a happy balance and crystallised into common sense.

When I go home to England, my friends all make fun of me for sounding American.

Americans like the British kind of quirkiness and the strange accent. They find it kind of cute or something, with a certain charm.

It turns out that understanding the British public is not rocket science. The British appreciate honesty and they also have a bonkers, off-the-wall sense of humour like me.