I think I'm so old I'm in. We call it the 'Tony Bennett Syndrome.' For some reason young people think I'm cool.

I was born left-handed but I was made to use my other hand. When I was writing 'Famished Road ' which was very long I got repetitive stress syndrome. My right wrist collapsed so I started using my left hand. The prose I wrote with my left hand came out denser so later on I had to change it.

I've got Asperger's syndrome and I'm not a very good people person so I've always been more comfortable around machinery. Not in a weird way - I don't want to marry my car or anything stupid like that!