The weekend

I spent Saturday morning writing, before going off to see Cambridge beat Henley 38-14 and end the season in 6th position (very satisfactory). Next year we've signed up six new players and are hoping for even greater things - but I won't be up-dating you with that until at least September. In the evening, Mary and I went to see Single Spies at the Cambridge Arts Theatre starring Nigel Havers and Diana Quick - two short plays by Alan Bennett about Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess. I saw the original at the National Theatre many years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed Nigel's presentation of the two spies and Diana Quick's embodiment of Coral Browne and a very amusing H M Queen. Once again, if it comes to a theatre near you, I can highly recommend it.

Blackbird on tour

I returned to Cambridge on Friday to do revisions on my new book, so you won't be hearing much from me for the next week or so. I did take a break on Saturday evening to go with Mary to see Blackbird at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. I wasn't sure that the subject would appeal to us despite the good reviews the show received when it played in the West End a year or so ago. Spending two hours watching an argument between a man and a woman who meet some 15 years after they'd had an affair (when she was 12 and he was 40), didn't sound much like entertainment to me. How wrong I was. It was a very demanding and sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type evening, and gripped me from beginning to end, and I now regret not seeing Roger Allam in the London production. The Cambridge cast, Robert Daws and Dawn Steele, were outstanding and if it comes to a town near you, go and see it.

A woman of importance

It's always maddening when you want to go to two functions at the same time. I had invitations to attend the opening of the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens as well as to a fundraising dinner at Lords for St Woolos Cathedral in Newport. I dashed off to Kew not quite sure what to expect, but should have realised that if Dr Shirley Sherwood was involved it would be well worth the visit. The architectural design of the gallery is magnificent, and allows one to look at the collection of drawings and watercolours in natural light. The evening was a triumph for Shirley and she should be rightly proud that in her lifetime she has gathered together - to quote the guest speaker, Sir David Attenborough - the finest collection of botanical drawings and watercolours in the world.

I had to dash off to my mini just as they sat down for dinner, in order to join Mary in the Long Room at Lords. The auction raised £12,250 for the cathedral appeal. Most of the guests, who had travelled up in coaches from Wales that afternoon to attend the function, then had to travel back down to Wales after the dinner. Poor things, I felt for them as I climbed into bed 30 minutes later.

Unknown authors and celebrity memoirs

On Wednesday evening I attended the Authors of the Year party at Hatchards on Piccadilly. Writing is a solitary profession, and unlike film stars who work with each other, you don't instantly recognise some of your favourite authors, and unfortunately there isn't a natural camaraderie with your fellow writers. However, the highlight of the evening for me was a memorable conversation with John Julius Norwich who told me he had been unable to find a publisher for his memoirs as all the major London houses had turned him down.
'How can that be possible?' I remonstrated.
'Simple really, Jeffrey,' the great man replied, 'I was born into a happy family, my father did not abuse me, and I loved my mother. My school and university days were normal, my marriage is happy, my children are happy, and I don't take drugs. Clearly I've gone wrong somewhere.'

He was able to tell me that he has finally found a small publisher in Dorset, The Dovecote Press, to publish his memoirs, Trying to Please, which will come out in May. It would be very satisfactory if all the major publishing houses were proved wrong and this became a bestseller.

Double chocolate cake

When I arrived at Adelaide airport on Tuesday morning, I was greeted by a friendly crowd and a large chocolate birthday cake - help! I wanted to tell them I'm still trying to lose weight after only managing to do two training sessions in the last couple of weeks. On the flight to Singapore I watched the film Juno which I much enjoyed, not least because of Ellen Page's fine performance, and when I got off the plane at Changi airport, I found another group of well-wishers awaiting me with an even larger cake - help! They guided me to a signing session in terminal 2 where a queue of people were waiting - mind you, there's not much else to do while you're in transit. After the signing session, the little group kindly entertained me to dinner in an Italian restaurant before pushing me onto the plane for London. Take off was delayed after one passenger decided not to join us and it took them an hour to locate her bag, by which time the flight had lost its slot. I slept for 7 of the 13 hours on board and woke to watch Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood . It came as no surprise to me that his performance ended up earning him another Oscar, but the film was so long and tedious that I only mention watching it because I was stuck on a plane. Landed in London yesterday morning to rain and a traffic jam from Heathrow to Lambeth - though I confess I'm glad to be back.

Endless touring

Australia was flat-out from the day I landed in Perth, with 7 tv interviews, 21 radio interviews, 7 press interviews, 6 speeches and 27 signings. The most memorable of the signings was in Sydney when I turned up at one venue to find more than 500 people in the queue and the store ran out of books. Another of the tour's highlights was a visit to the Philip Bacon Gallery in Brisbane where I purchased the most beautiful Arthur Boyd from the Shoalhaven series. When I later arrived in Melbourne I visited the National Gallery of Victoria to see 8 other large Shoalhaven paintings and still felt that I had purchased a remarkable picture. That evening, at a private dinner party, I was placed next to Ms Quentin Bryce, who was terrific company, witty and fun, without knowing that 3 days later she would be appointed Australia's first female Governor General. I am bound to say that the Australians are very lucky to have a remarkably talented woman representing them. There's an immense amount of talk here about Australia becoming a Republic in the not too distant future, and if that were to be the case, it wouldn't surprise me if Ms Bryce became their first president.

The 16 day tour ends in Adelaide this evening, and I'll be departing for England tomorrow - and so spending my entire birthday in mid-air. The Australians have kept the book at No.1 in hardback for 5 weeks, but the truth is that many of the books for sale in Australia are in what's called trade paperback format so in the long list I'm No.5 (at $50) with 4 trade paperbacks above me (at $30). I had one week at No.1, but go into trade paperback myself in July.

Macmillan's Australian team, led by Jeannine Fowler, have surpassed themselves.

Had a message from Macmillan this morning to say that A Prisoner of Birth is No.1 in Canada and also Audible.co.uk's No.1 download in April. Back on Wednesday with a hectic fortnight ahead of me before flying to India next month for another tour. I guess that will be very different to Australia and America. Thank you for all your generous emails which I will try to respond to as soon as I get back.

Australian road-trip

I arrived in Perth early on Wednesday morning, stepped off the plane and was driven straight round to a number of bookshops in the city to sign stock and to meet their owners and staff. It's always fascinating to listen to the publishing world's problems in another country. The interesting fact is that with 100,000 copies of A Prisoner of Birth out in hardback in Australia, it rather belies the suggestion that nobody is reading books these days. In the evening I had dinner with Patricia Rust at the Weld Club. Patricia was my secretary 30 years ago, and left me to return to her homeland where she headed up Malcolm Fraser's private office. At the dinner were several politicians from that era, who brought me up to date on what has happened since the Liberals (conservatives) lost the last election. The secretary of the club, Commander Richard Sherwood, gave me a guided tour of the remarkable indigenous art collection it has wisely built up over many years. The meal was the best I've had since leaving England, and the Australian Cabernet (1998) was superb. Still unable to sleep until 2am because of jet lag, which was a bit of a struggle as I had a 7am radio show the next morning.

Began the following morning with a phone-in radio show in Geelong (where Prince Charles spent a period of time at Grammar School), and then on to my next show which took place on a beach just outside Perth where a surfing championship was taking place. I was surrounded by 6ft 4" surf gods all trying to out-do each other. This, I was assured, is a regular Australian pastime, and it must have been a pretty serious event because the Minister of Sport later presented Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. My interview was fitted in between the semis and the final - not complaining - as they had one of the largest listening audiences that morning. As soon as it was over, back to the city to do an official signing at Borders. Australia is the last place on earth where official signings work. I spent 2 hours signing just over 230 books, and left only when there was no stock available. This compares to the US where one is lucky to get 25 in a queue, and in the UK where they've virtually stopped having signing sessions and you just sign stock. The hosts of the next show I did were extremely kind and had remembered my love of cricket. They had invited one of their distinguished cricket correspondents to do a five minute special in which McGrath, the great Australian fast bowler, bowled to me at Lords in the final Test, where I not only scored 200, but a six off the last ball of the match to win The Ashes. That's real fiction!

My final event of the day was a speech to 400 people at a dinner arranged by Dymocks and the West Australian. I also ended up conducting an auction. The editor of the paper had heard of a take-over attempt on his newspaper which means he could be out of a job in a few weeks, and I was very impressed at how cool he seemed to be by the whole situation. He was certainly far less nervous at what was going on in his life, than I was about having to make my speech.

Had the first full night's sleep since last Sunday. Off to Brisbane tomorrow, but will not be able to report again for a week, as my PA is taking a well-earned holiday.

Website stats

Some statistics for the anoraks out there ... I was delighted to find out this afternoon that hits on my website for March reached a record 534,082.

Hong Kong diary

I arrived in Hong Kong yesterday morning - sadly missing by a couple of days the Hong Kong Sevens which was won by New Zealand against South Africa (and I was told among the sold-out crowd was our former PM, John Major). I was met by Pan Macmillan Asia's Managing Director, Daniel Watts, who drove me to the Landmark Hotel. The hotel staff could not have been more charming or welcoming, but my room has among the most inconvenient bathrooms I've ever experienced. In the middle of the room is a circular bath in which 6 people could happily go for a swim, and which I doubt is ever used from one year to the next. It takes up so much room there's hardly any space left to shave or simply clean your teeth. But despite not being able to sleep because of jet lag, it's been tremendous fun and extremely well organised by Janet Chan and her team.

The two days here have been hectic: 5 speeches - at The China Club, The University of Hong Kong Libraries, at a Dymocks Literary Dinner, a lunch today in Happy Valley with The British Chamber of Commerce (where the audience was an interesting mix of Chinese and British businessmen, and where Chris Patten is remembered with great affection and the British with respect), and finally tonight at The Foreign Correspondents' Club where we are going to discuss British and American politics. En route I'm going to visit the winner of the best bookshop display competition, Kelly & Walsh. I've also done 9 interviews and endless signings, but as I head off now to my final engagement in the city, I've just been told that A Prisoner of Birth has gone to No.1 on the South China Morning Post bestsellers list next Sunday.