My kind publishers, Toby Mundy and Margaret Stead of Atlantic Books, have commissioned me to write the life of Queen Victoria.
Reading about Queen Victoria has been a passion of mine since, as a child, I came across Laurence Housman's play 'Happy and Glorious,' with its Ernest Shepard illustrations.
Watching a whole cluster of friends, and my own mother, die over quite a short space of time convinced me that purely materialist 'explanations' for our mysterious human existence simply won't do - on an intellectual level.
I do not find it easy to articulate thoughts about religion. I remain the sort of person who turns off 'Thought for the Day' when it comes on the radio.
I am shy to admit that I have followed the advice given all those years ago by a wise archbishop to a bewildered young man: that moments of unbelief 'don't matter,' that if you return to a practice of the faith, faith will return.
Like many people in Britain, I have an affectionate respect for the Queen, and am surprised that I should be having such republican thoughts.
I've never had a study in my life. I'm like Jane Austen - I work on the corner of the dining table.
The latest research has revealed that women have a higher IQ than men.
I wanted passionately to be a priest.
Of all liars the most arrogant are biographers: those who would have us believe, having surveyed a few boxes full of letters, diaries, bank statements and photographs, that they can play at the recording angel and tell the whole truth about another human life.
The approach of death certainly concentrates the mind.
I might be deceiving myself but I do not think that I do have an inordinate fear of death.
I very much dislike the intolerance and moralism of many Christians, and feel more sympathy with Honest Doubters than with them.
I'm boring. My beliefs are neither here nor there.
I've got nothing very original to say myself.
When Christians start thinking about Jesus, things start breaking down, they lose their faith. It's perfectly possible to go to church every Sunday and not ask any questions, just because you like it as a way of life. They fear that if they ask questions they'll lose their Christ, the very linchpin of their religion.
I think that if you can't be loyal to the Church, it's best to get out.
People become dons because they are incapable of doing anything else in life.
The really clever people now want to be lawyers or journalists.
Personally, I think universities are finished. So much rubbish gets taught.
