Books and book-keeping

Yesterday afternoon found me at Sky studios to pre-record The Book Show with the sexy voiced Mariella Frostrup, which will be transmitted on Sky Arts on 20th March. I much enjoyed being on with that excellent crime writer, Peter James, and the show was great fun, even if I did get told off for trying to take over the interview. Publication a week today, just in case you've forgotten!

I then went on to a reception held by ICAP at Shoreditch House in the City. The ICAP Charity Day began in 1993 when the company decided to donate all revenues and commissions generated on one designated day each year to charities. Yesterday their Group Chief Executive Officer, Michael Spencer, distributed - hold your breath - £9.2million. I received a cheque on behalf of the The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy for £300,000 which will help them with their new building. I'd like to thank the person who sent in the story about the American senator - it went down very big last night.

Puzzled from Grantchester

Last night my theatre club went to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to watch a production of Edward Bond's The Sea. The club had a particular reason for going as Harry Lloyd, the son of one of our members, Jonathan Lloyd, is playing the juvenile lead - and very good he was. The cast was led by the wonderful Dame Eileen Atkins - when does she ever give a bad performance? However, I must confess to not understanding the play, which finishes half-way through a sentence. If any of you can explain, in under 300 words, what I was meant to come out of the theatre thinking, please could you let me know? I only ask because one of the cast asked Mr Bond to explain certain things, and he refused to do so. Perhaps I'm destined to remain puzzled from Grantchester. If you want to see fine acting, then go, but if you want an enjoyable evening, forget it.

Book pricing

Eight days from publication and the mystery of pricing is upon me. If you pre-order A Prisoner of Birth from amazon you will only pay £9.99, and a week tomorrow you'll be able to buy it in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and WHSmith, also for £9.99 - almost half price, which makes me wonder where the profit margin is for the bookseller. The supermarkets assure me that they'll still be making a pound a book, which is a damn sight better return than they make on baked beans or tomatoes. Well now you know. But hold your breath, because I'll have some surprise news for you on Friday.

Theatre news

Last night I went to the May Fair Hotel for a reception arranged by the Donmar Theatre. Their tireless director, Michael Grandage told us about their plans for the coming year, which include my favourite actress Margaret Tyzak in The Chalk Garden, Derek Jacobi giving us his Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Jude Law taking on the formidable role of Hamlet.

Both the Donmar and the Almeida continually demonstrate their tremendous enthusiasm and energy, not to mention their cosseting and caring for donors and supporters, believing it is every bit as good as a government grant. Once again I was impressed by the number of young people the Donmar have on their staff, who devote far more time than their working hours to making sure the theatre stays on the map. The extra piece of news Mr Grandage was able to announce, was that they have purchased the lease hold on the building, and therefore the theatre is safe for another 135 years. Good news indeed.

The King of Peckham

I went to a pub in Peckham yesterday called The World Turned Upside Down, to join a fellow author, George Major, for the launch of the first volume of his autobiography, The Hidden Whistle and Flute. George has reigned as the Pearly King of Peckham for 50 years, and as a cockney myself (born in City Road), I've known him for over 20 years. I admire greatly all the work he's done for charity as well as his local community. His book tells the story of his life since he was crowned Pearly King as a costermonger in the East End - a sort of Del Boy, before Del Boy was thought of. Two amusing incidents occured during the launch. A young lady called Jade came up to me and said, "Don't you remember me?", and I have to confess I didn't. She said "We had our photo taken together ten years ago". I still couldn't remember her. But then she confessed she had been 9 at the time. The second incident was that George kindly introduced me as the Mayor of London, and hoped that I'd be re-elected. I suppose if you're royal, you're allowed to be a little out of touch. The warmth and camaraderie at the pub reminded me of the strength of these communities, with granny aged 87 right the way through to great granddaughter aged 2, present for the book launch. I hope the book is a great success.

The photo shows me with (left) George Major, The Pearly King of Peckham and President of the Pearly Guild, and other Pearly Kings and Queens and members of the Guild. In 1998, the Pearly Guild awarded me the unique title of Honorary Pearly King in recognition of my contribution to charities.

COMPULSORY CREDIT: UPPA/Photoshot Photo UGL 015251/B-12 09.09.1998 Photographer: © uppa.co.uk

Count down to publication day

Ten days to go to publication of A Prisoner of Birth, and my book is about to enter the fray with one of the toughest bestseller lists I've seen - Grisham, King, Patterson, Trollop, and no doubt others on their way. Nevertheless ... Towards the end of the week I will be revealing my plans to let subscribers to my blog see the first three chapters a few days early.

Cambridge victory

On Saturday afternoon I watched my home team of Cambridge beat Wharfedale 33-32. The lead changed hands so often that I was fortunate to be sitting next to an accountant called Gordon Brown who was able to assure me who was in the lead. In the 80th minute we were leading, then Wharfedale scored a try in extra time and we all thought that was the end of the game. Wharfedale kicked off again, Cambridge caught the ball and the movement didn't stop until we scored in the corner and won. It doesn't get more exciting than this. We are now 5th in the table and preparing for greater things next year. In the evening I watched England capitalise on the French mistakes and score a well-deserved victory. Not yet time to write off Wilkinson or the poor old veterans of the World Cup as they put the French firmly in their place.

Friday evening theatre

Mary and I much enjoyed Peter Hall's brilliant production of Uncle Vanya at the Cambridge Arts Theatre on Friday evening (we couldn't go on Saturday night because of the rugby). Hall's production has made Vanya more satirical and witty than its usual sombre deadly genius. Nicholas le Prevost, Neil Pearson and Ronald Pickup are quite outstanding, and the women in ths play, who do not get the usual Chekovian opportunity to dominate, also give fine performances. I'm not sure if it's transferring into the West End, so if it arrives in your town, go and see it. Recommended.

Looking at La Loge

Yesterday evening I went to the opening of the Courtauld exhibition, Renoir at the Theatre, Looking at La Loge (The Theatre Box). In 1874, Renoir was the first Impressionist to take a real interest in painting Parisians in their theatre boxes. It's a small exhibition with only a dozen paintings and a dozen drawings and sketches, but includes a Degas (not very good) and two wonderful oils by Mary Cassatt. If you live or work near the Courtauld, the show could easily be enjoyed in a lunch hour, but if you've never visited the gallery before, then do take time to return because otherwise you would be missing a magnificent collection of paintings and sculptures housed on three floors.

Designing dilemmas

When the British and Americans publish books they rarely talk to each other, and they always think that they know better than the other side of the Atlantic. They are also pretty equal in their inability to admit they might be wrong. I therefore seek your opinion. Here is the new American cover, on the right, for A Prisoner of Birth. The British version is on the left, and also on the home page of my website. They could not be more different. Which one do you prefer?

Three weeks to publication

The beginning of the promotion for A Prisoner of Birth began yesterday when I appeared on The Hour, a Canadian TV show hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, which aired late last night. George is an extremely bright interviewer, and it was great fun. Pity my PR forgot to send him a book, so he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Still, he promised to read A Prisoner of Birth on the plane on the way home, and perhaps even interview me again when I'm in Toronto next month.

Russians at the Royal Academy

At the weekend I went to the Royal Academy to see the French and Russian Master Paintings exhibition, which is actually a game of two halves. The stolen impressionist paintings which are causing so much trouble, are truly wonderful, particularly the two large Matisse in the main room -experts will quibble as to whether Matisse is an impressionist and not a member of the Fauve movement - and the Kandinsky in the final room was, for me, the outstanding picture of the whole exhibition. The other half, the Russian paintings, I thought were very average, and many would, I'm sure, have been rejected by the hanging committee of the Summer Exhibition.

If you're planning a visit, I suggest you get up very early. I went on a Sunday afternoon, and the other thing it had in common with a game of two halves was that it was so crowded - you had to wait very patiently to see whichever painting took your fancy. Nevertheless I recommend a visit.

Films in the spotlight

Last night I went to a opening of Madeleine Farley's fascinating photographic exhibition at the Westbrook gallery on Windmill Street. Taking her inspiration from classic movie scenes, she has put elements of those scenes into the photographs, leaving the viewer to guess which film it is. The most popular print was of A Clockwork Orange which had sold 9 editions by the time I left, but a close second were Breakfast At Tiffany's and Driving Miss Daisy. Throroughly recommended.

Silence is not always golden

One of the responsibilities The National Theatre has is to experiment, and to try things that no other theatre would dare to do. The best example in the last year is War Horse, which rightly received universal critical acclaim and full houses (I've seen it twice). Of course, because of this, you have the occasional play which doesn't quite work, and last night's was a good example.

In The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, we were made to watch people walk on and off stage without saying a word, for one hour 40 minutes. I have a cafe opposite me in Lambeth where I could sit and do that any time I like, and wouldn't have to pay for the privilege. There is so much good happening at the National Theatre, we will just have to dismiss it as an indulgence. By the way, I understand that War Horse is coming back.

Great explorers

On Tuesday evening I went to the Royal Geographical Society to hear Sir Ranulph Fiennes give a talk on Scott of the Antarctic. Its particular purpose was to raise money for the hut Scott stayed in so that it can be preserved for the future. Ran Fiennes is a brilliant after dinner speaker because he has such passion for the subjects he believes in, and that gentleness and decency he exudes is the reason he is a hero for so many of us. He is incidentally, off to try to climb Everest again at the age of 63, and I wish him the very best of luck.

It was fascinating to see the equipment, displayed by the RGS, that was worn by Scott and his team, as well as to learn about the food they ate which had to be lugged across the ice in bulky tins. All the old reliable names were there: Bovril, Colman's Mustard and Cadbury's, and I was amused to see that Scott wore a Rolex watch, long before the world was fashion conscious.

The RGS has a magnificent history, having been involved since 1830 with so many discoveries and expeditions, but in this modern age we sometimes forget the service they gave.

Publication day approaches

The build up for the publication of A Prisoner of Birth begins today, as this morning I received a finished copy of the book - a very exciting moment for any author. The rest of the day has not been quite as much fun, as I've been at my publishers most of the afternoon where I had to sign 1,500 copies to start the ball rolling. The orders from bookshops are around 30% up on False Impression. It's always a strange period, these two or three weeks before publication when you wonder if anyone will buy the book, but I have been cheered by the number of enthusiastic emails received while I've been away - many thanks.

The mystery of Pinter

My two favourite theatres in London are the Donmar and the Almeida, because they have such enthusiasm for the work they do. Last night I saw the latest production at the Almeida, The Homecoming, with Kenneth Cranham as Max. I remain puzzled by what you're meant to understand in the second half of the play. As Mr Pinter never explains what he is trying to tell us - you're just meant to be clever enough to get it - I fear I shall remain bemused. Nevertheless, Kenneth Cranham's acting was of such a high standard that it is worth travelling across London to see this production.

The Homecoming

It's great to be back in England having been away for the past few weeks writing. My first outing was on Saturday afternoon when I watched Cambridge Rugby Club beat Blackheath 40 points to 10. Who thought the day would ever come when we would beat The Club by such a large margin - certainly not their redoubtable President, Barry Nealon, the backbone of the Blackheath club.

That evening Mary and I went to see The 39 Steps at the Cambridge Arts Theatre - my second time - I saw it at the Criterion in London some six months ago, and I'm delighted by its continued success. In fact the theatre manager told me it was the only play in the past year where they sold out every seat in the two matinee performances each week. For those who didn't read my original post, it's a spoof on Hitchcock and Buchan, and you don't need to have seen the film or read the book to enjoy it.