I Had To Paraphrase The Paraphrase.

I Don't Find Myself Interesting As A Person And The Details I Find Boring, Quite Frankly. You Could Sum It Up In A Few Words Or Sentences Really: Came From Nothing. Self-educated. Luck. Energy. Curiosity. Ambition. That's It. Nothing At All Can Illuminate The Work As Far As I Can Tell.

I Detest Self-regard. If My Work Has Taught Me Anything, It Is That Self-aggrandisement Is Completely Unhistorical.

There Are Two Types Of People, You See. One Type Keep Their Heads Straight, And Look Around As They Walk. The Others Look Up - At The Tops Of Houses, At The Eaves And The Lintels And The Roofs, Which Can Tell You When They Were Built - And I've Always Done That.

Yet, Like The Sea And The Gallows, London Refuses Nobody.

And The Smell Of The Library Was Always The Same - The Musty Odour Of Old Clothes Mixed With The Keener Scent Of Unwashed Bodies, Creating What The Chief Librarian Had Once Described As 'the Steam Of The Social Soup.'