"I think it was the first novel I'd actually read in my own time, and of my own volition. I'd actually sat down and re…"

"I'd never heard of Ernest Hemingway, but when I read his stories I realised there was something special about this si…"

"I thought I would like to show that these kids can do something which is in fact very skillful - not the old tale abo…"

"The trouble in school is that you can do so little to help kids because you come up against this dead end of the educ…"

"I think that the book has survived as a set text because teachers like using it. It has a lot of possibilities from a…"

"I think that I painted an accurate picture of what life was like for someone like Billy forty years ago. Looking back…"

"How often are 'dreams realised' in real life? I write about real people and show a section of their life. Without the…"

"I remember years ago when [w:The Price of Coal|The Price of Coal]] was on television one evening [in either 1977 or 1…"

"He did hate doing it. It was alien to his nature. He reluctantly let himself be drawn into this thing, thinking what …"

"He hated coming on the set and despised me because I wore white shoes."