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I was a single dad in New York City, raising a child and pursuing a career.

What I did for a living for so many years separated who I was from what I did.

In 1965, I was 11 and in my last year at Junior school. I was living with my mum and older sister in a rented flat in south London - my parents had separated when I was five and got divorced a couple of years later, which was unusual at the time. My dad was working abroad, and I hadn't seen him for several years.

I left home to go to college, and then I moved back home. I moved back for three years from 21 to 24.

Strangers were worried about me; that's how long I was single!

I came along and was a teenager in the Depression, and nobody had jobs. So I went out hitchhiking, when I met a man named Woody Guthrie. He was the single biggest part of my education.

I studied for my degree in London and consequently ended up spending five years away from Cornwall. I deliberately moved away from the coast to experience a different way of life.

I was married and divorced at 23.

I was living with my stepfather for a while, and then I moved out and went and lived on my own in Hastings-by-the-Sea from about 16.