Re Hornblower: I am a great admirer of the novels. Forester was always brilliant, from Leading Seaman "Brown On Resolution" to Lt General Herbertt Curzon, KCMG, CB, DSO ["The General"] on what made the fighting man tick. & in Hornblower, the psychology of this successful on the surface officer, whose his built-in introspection leads to a lack of confidence, which provides a spur to his ambitions while preventing his ever truly enjoying his triumphs, is wonderfully communicated. Good an actor as Gregory Peck is, that was the essential element of those novels that I never felt he, or the films, quite got to grips with.

~M~

Much of the above is reproduced from a Times review of a Hornblower anthology 4 July 1987; but I make no apology because I wrote it.