Nigel Havers is in the hotseat this week. He tells us about his intimacy with the Racing Post and his dreams of playing Casanova. You can catch him tonight in Corrie.
1) What are you reading at the moment?
Fifty Shades of Grey – EL James
2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?
The Racing Post
3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?
The White Hotel – DM Thomas
4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take three books. What would you choose?
War & Peace – Leo Tolstoy, The Darling Buds of May – HE Bates, and Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
5) Which literary character would you most like to sleep with?
Marian Maudsley in The Go Between, but only if she looked like Julie Christie in the film!
6) If you could write a self-help book, what would you call it?
The Nigel Havers Guide to the Great Vintage Years of Claret
7) Michael Gove has asked you to rewrite the GCSE English Literature syllabus. Which book, which play, and which poem would you make compulsory reading?
Book: Under The Skin – Michel Faber
Play: The Browning Version – Terence Rattigan
Poem: The Good Morrow – John Donne
8) Which party from literature would you most like to have attended?
Any of the parties thrown by Pop Larkin. He served a cocktail called a Rolls Royce. Two and you’re dead.
9) What would you title your memoirs?
Playing With Fire by Nigel Havers – available at all good book shops
10) Which literary character do you dream of playing?
Casanova
11) What book would you give to a lover?
The Kitchen Diaries – Nigel Slater
12) Spying Mein Kampf or Dan Brown on someone’s bookshelf can spell havoc for a friendship. What’s your literary dealbreaker?
Anything written by/concerning Michael Winner and any chick lit.
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