Yet, Like The Sea And The Gallows,

I Wanted To Be A Poet When I Was 20; I Had No Interest In Fiction Or Biography And Precious Little Interest In History, But Those Three Elements In My Life Have Become The Most Important.

Oh, I Just Tend To Believe In Things When I'm Writing Them. For Instance, When I Was Writing 'doctor Dee,' I Believed In Magic. And When I Wrote 'hawksmoor' I Believed In Psychic Geography. But As Soon As I Type The Last Full Stop, I'm Back To Being A Complete Blank Again.

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.

The 16th-century Theatre Witnessed The Particularly English Manifestation Of 'the History Play.' There Can Be No Doubt That Shakespeare's Presentations Of 'henry V' And 'richard Iii' Have Been Incalculably More Influential Than Any More Sober Historical Study.

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