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" I would like to have a more social life than I have. "

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" You become more tolerant when you become older. You're not interested in rapping people over the knuckles; you're interested in understanding them. "

" Dickens was a part of how the whole celebration of Christmas as we know it today emerged during the 19th century. "

" 'Philomena' was even better than I had expected. I was so pleased to see the evil Irish nuns thoroughly exposed, and I thought Judi Dench gave a flawless performance, as did everybody else. "

" Biographies are, in their nature, far more difficult to make into films than novels, because novels come with plots constructed and dialogue written, whereas I don't invent dialogue for my subjects or plot their lives for them. "

" I'm interested in history, in trying to relate the past to the present and to understand how people thought about their problems and pleasures. "

" The thing I love about Rome is that is has so many layers. In it, you can follow anything that interests you: town planning, architecture, churches or culture. It's a city rich in antiquity and early Christian treasures, and just endlessly fascinating. There's nowhere else like it. "

" I have been left-wing always, from childhood. "

" Historians will handle a much wider range of sources than a biographer and will be covering a broader spectrum of events, time, peoples. "

" Dickens was very practical and sensible. "

" I've behaved badly in my life. I hope I haven't behaved as badly as Dickens! In a way, if you're a woman, you're not in a position to behave as badly, because you don't have the economic power. "

" When you live with Dickens for years, reading him and trying to present him as faithfully as you can, you can't fail to love the man - so the shock of his bad behaviour is considerable, even when you know it is coming. "

" Dickens belongs to the English people. "

" I sometimes think that, since I started writing biographies, I've had more of a life in books than I have had in my real life. "

" 'A Christmas Carol' has been described as the most perfect of Dickens's works and as a quintessential heart-warming story, and it is certainly the most popular. "

" I fell in love with Shakespeare when I was 12, and I read the whole works. Yes, I was precocious. "

" Dickens had more energy than anyone in the world, and he expected his sons to be like him, and they couldn't be. "

" Poetry was one of the things that interested me most as I was growing up. I used to write it in my head all the time. I still think the very greatest pleasure in life is to write a poem. "

" As a young man, Dickens worked as a reporter in the House of Commons and hated it. He felt that all politicians spoke with the same voice. "

" My life was a sort of series of random disasters. "

" Most writers can tell stories of how their books failed to be made into films. "

" People who attack biography choose as their models vulgar and offensive biography. You could equally attack novels or poems by choosing bad poems or novels. "

" 'Words and Music' on Radio 3 is always a treat. Actors read passages of poetry and prose interspersed with music, and nobody tells you what it is. Later you can look it up online, but at the time you can't cheat. "

" The young Dickens was so alive, so self-confident, so funny. "

" When I kept a diary, I realised that it was all moanings and depression, and I think that is quite common. "

" I have been fascinated by Dickens worshippers who strenuously deny that he did anything wrong in relation to his wife, even though the record is clear that he did. "

" I enjoyed the whole process of learning and was always happy when autumn came and school or college started up again. "

" In 1843, everybody was hungry, unemployed, and conditions were very bad. "

" I was very priggish as a child. I saved up for a book on medieval English nunneries, for which I was despised by my friends. "

" I belong to the Richmond Concert Society, who put on very good concerts. "

" Writers often feel obliged to adopt some sort of public appearance. "