Michael Frayn

And I just remember my grandmother, who lived with us, running upstairs, calling for my father.

And I knew from the way she was shouting something awful had happened.

And...

After a few years, very grey years after she died, life began to improve.

And at a time when a lot of teenagers' lives were getting worse, mine was getting better.

Oh, probably eight or nine.

And I read them all over and over again.

I was actually obsessed with them.

And when I was about, probably about 12, I decided I would write a novel myself about children who went sailing in dinghies in the Lake District.

In spite of the fact that I'd never been to the Lake District, never sailed in a dinghy, never even seen a dinghy.

So it was all pure cultural influence from Arthur Ransom.

I've been writing stuff ever since.

I could write sketches for my puppets and for my sister and myself to do at Christmas.

Puppets, yes.

Because my friend David, who was clever with his hands, built a beautiful puppet theatre for himself.

So I had to build a puppet theatre.

I had no skill in my hands and my puppets couldn't stand up.

They fell down all the time.

It's also very difficult to keep puppets on their feet.

If you're reading the text of your play behind the screen, they tend to float.