Roald Dahl. I met him professionally, and the first thing I said after we introduced ourselves was "I'm a real fan of your writing."

He said: "Oh, that wouldn't matter to Me."

His manners went downhill from there.

Mind you, this is a man who had tragedy in his life - for one thing, his toddler was terribly brain-injured in a traffic accident while being walked in his pram. And Dahl himself, an engineer by training, then designed the shunt that relieves pressure on the brain, which is now used by millions of people around the world, and saves endless distress.

I suppose the thing is, I can be pretty obnoxious myself if you catch me on a bad day. I try not to be, but every now and again I turn into a real stinker for about 15 minutes. I wouldn't want to be judged by those 15 minuteses, but if I were famous, no doubt I would be!