Michael Frayn

Or would I have persisted?

Anyway, he was very generous about it.

He very much liked it.

And what he particularly liked was the picture of his father.

And his father, he said, had simply ruined his life by his coldness and cruelty.

Yes.

Well, as he said, I'd been thinking about the past, and I'd been thinking about the past, and he said, I think it's called old age.

I wanted to, I tried to teach myself Russian at school because my friend and I were a sort of private branch of the Communist Party.

And I knew everything was wonderful in Russia and I wanted to know more about Russia.

I didn't get very far with teaching myself Russian, but when I did National Service, I discovered there were various courses for translators and interpreters.

So I applied for them.

And in the middle of basic training, another man and I were sent for by the personnel selection officer.

I was rather tall.

He was very short.

We stood there in our very scruffy work denims.

And the personnel selection officer said, I see you've both applied for the Russian course.

I suppose you think this is a skive.

Well, I can tell you that if you learn Russian, you may be dropped behind Russian lines at any point.

So we said, yes, we understand, sir.

And off we went to learn Russian.