Peter Ackroyd

I was born in Paddington Hospital on October 5, 1949 and was then brought up on a council estate in West London which was, as far as I knew, the extent of the world. In retrospect it might seem a cramped or poor existence, but at the time it was all that I needed.

You do not need to live in a great house, or in middle-class comfort, to entertain great thoughts. There were gangs of boys on the estate, but I never joined any of them. I preferred my own company, and that is a principle I have maintained. I have never joined a group or gang, whether of protesters, of letter