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Life was very simple. My parents had come from the North of England, which is a fairly rugged, bleak, hard-working part of England, and so there was not the expectation of luxury.

The fact is that I loved being in England.

I grew up in a middle class English family just outside London. I wasn't surrounded by that speedy city lifestyle, it was a little mellower.

What I like about Britain is that I can live a normal life here.

Although I've lived in England for more than twenty years, I still have a foreigner's passion for all the details of English history and rural life.

Even modern English people are imperious, superior, ridden by class. All of the hypocrisy and the difficulties that are endemic in being British also make it an incredibly fertile place culturally. A brilliant place to live. Sad but true.

I read about the history of England, of Manchester. I wanted to know how people here live, their interests.

Growing up in London was the best.

I grew up in Essex, and all my life I wanted to live in London - now I do. I feel very privileged to be able to live here.

When I was a youngster, I was brought up in a very political background on an estate in north London.