After dinner we?ll watch a DVD ? I?m into The Killing at the moment ? or I?ll read. The weekend is reading time for me. I try to keep up with the bestsellers because I want to know how they tick and I?m juggling a lot of outlines at the moment ? my authors are like London buses; their manuscripts tend to arrive in droves.
I?ve just read Andrew Marr?s Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and Her People, and I?m reading the edited chapters of Christopher Simon Sykes?s biography of David Hockney. I?m also about to read something very sad: the novel that Josephine Hart was working on when she died, which was found on her computer. In an ideal world I?d like to sign up the memoirs of Paul McCartney and Elton John. I already have Keith Richards, U2, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townshend on my books so that would be a full house.
When I don?t like a book that?s been delivered to me I don?t ? how should I put this ? fake an orgasm. It doesn?t do anybody any good if I say a book is fabulous when I don?t think it is. Every now and again I?ve parted company with a client because I can?t get enthusiastic enough about what they write.
I lost Erich Segal [American author of Love Story] when he sent me a book that I first didn?t think was very good and second didn?t think that he should be writing. It was his memoirs when his life story was already well past its sell-by date. Not everyone is like Keith Richards whose fame goes on and on. People often wait too long to publish their memoirs because they don?t want to admit it?s all over for them.
Lionel Bart [songwriter, composer and creator of Oliver!] came to me very late on, and when I said his memoirs were worth between �25,000 and �50,000, he didn?t believe me because he?d been offered �2 million when he was younger. Eventually I got an offer of �37,500 and you know what he did? He turned it down.
On Saturday I like to play golf. I wake up pretty early ? 6.45am ? check my emails and leave for the golf course at about 11.30am. I play with Carol, which a lot of men find odd, and our little cairn terrier Poppy always trots along beside us. We?re members of Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire which is a beautiful country club 45 minutes from our door in Regent?s Park, which featured in Goldfinger, Layer Cake and Bridget Jones?s Diary: the Edge of Reason.
When we get home we?ll shower, change and head to the Curzon Mayfair cinema to watch the live transmission of the Saturday matinee from the Met Opera in New York. We sit in the middle of the front row because that?s where we sit at the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum. My wife likes to be up against the action; she believes you have to see the spit fly. When we finish, at about 9.30pm, we walk to either Le Caprice or the Wolseley for supper.
On Sunday there?s a whole crowd of us that go for lunch at the River Caf� in Hammersmith. Ruthie and Richard Rogers are among our closest friends and we always run into pals such as Alan Yentob. Lunch will go on until 4pm and then at 5pm I always visit my great friend and neighbour Philip Gould, whose wife Gail Rebuck is chairman and chief executive of Random House UK.
Philip and I talk for an hour and a half about books, politics, and our illnesses because we both have cancer. Cancer survivors have a deep bond and unfortunately Philip is caught up in the middle of cancer of the oesophagus. When you get sick you go to a place that I call Planet of the Ill. People come and visit you there, but then they leave you. I?ve been there three times and it?s no fun; but now I?ve been back on the regular planet for a long time and seem to be in a good place right now with my leukaemia.
In fact, aged 71, I?m in the best shape I?ve been in my life because my wife had a genius idea about six months ago to turn our spare bedroom into a gym. Our friends tend to stay at Claridges or the Connaught when they?re in town, so the room was rarely used, but now I?m in there five days a week working out.
On Sunday evening at 6.30pm a woman called Bobbie Swanson, who is the greatest masseuse we?ve ever known (and we?ve known many), arrives to give us both a massage. It?s become a ritual. And then, as a final toast to the weekend, I roast a chicken for dinner. I?m a really lucky man who never suffers from Sunday-night blues as I love work and play in equal measures.
Herbal tea or stiff drink?
Vodka martini very dry on the rocks with cocktail onions
Best discovery?
My wife
What?s your favourite piece of music?
Beethoven?s Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral
What are you most irritated by?
Mendacity
Favourite restaurant
Michaels in New York
What?s the funniest thing you?ve ever read about yourself?
A profile by Will Self calling me the Olympic champion of name dropping
Who is your inspiration?
Lord Weidenfeld, my first boss
What are you most ashamed of?
Certain youthful indiscretions. I was compulsively indiscreet but now I?m compulsively discreet
What?s your favourite item of clothing?
A white linen suit
What would your last supper be?
My mother?s meatloaf. Her recipe is in Nigella?s book Kitchen
My favourite things
Family
Travel
Golf ? although it drives me crazy
Opera
Friends
Danny DeVito Susan Dey Marlene Dietrich Phyllis Diller Kirk Douglas
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