I'm mad about gardening. I have an allotment on the other side of Hampstead Heath, and I keep three hens in my garden.

Men take much more notice of older women in France, so I might move there. I think I'm a good bet.

Independence is fun, especially when there's a beloved waiting in the wings, and freedom makes you a more interesting person. Having separate lives brings fresh air into a relationship.

'Tulip Fever' did change my life. It did that thing that sometimes happens when a book takes off - it opened doors on to whole other worlds.

I've had a very lucky life because I'm of this generation where everything was possible.

It's a very rich brew that's in your psyche by the time you're in your 60s, and I think that's rather interesting. It makes you feel you've lived a very long life; it's like going on holiday to three different cities rather than spending two weeks in Lisbon. You look back on the holiday, and you seem to have been away forever.