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.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I didn't grow up in a wealthy family at all. Being at home all day and watching movies, that was a luxury.
I grew up in the countryside in the middle of nowhere in England and got out as soon as I could!
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.
It was a matter of not living lavishly but enjoying what you had, growing things with your hands, working hard, but not being tied to a nine-to-five job, and generally feeling that there's more to life than money.
My life was made easy - I lived in a village, and by writing for some newspapers and magazines, had enough to live on. I was happy to be there and write.
Nothing was easy for us coming up. But we were rich in family.
As a child, I wanted only two things - to be left alone to read my library books, and to get away from my provincial hometown and go to London to be a writer. And I always knew that when I got there, I wanted to make loads of money.
It was great being brought up in a Glasgow working-class tenement. It wasn't miserable, and it wasn't poverty stricken. It felt very safe, full of delights.
To be honest, I was born in luxury. I never saw the dearth of money, so money is not something which motivates me.
Living in England was wonderfully civil and easy-going.