There is a camaraderie that grows up among those who work with old books and old papers, largely, I suspect, because we understand that we are at odds with the rest of the world: we are travelling backwards, while all those around us are still moving forward.

The Great Fire of London Hawksmoor The House of Doctor Dee). He has long been known for his abuse of alcohol and in 1999 he suffered a heart attack and was placed in a medically induced coma for a week almost dying. It’s so untidy.

He is noted for the volume of work he has produced the range of styles therein his skill at assuming different voices and the depth of his research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society for Literature in 1984 and created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of among others Charles Dickens T.