Books

I love reading - I inherited that from my mum. My preferred genre is crime, both British and American. The bedtime read is Quintin Jardine’s most recent Skinner novel. I have read a wide range of authors - Waugh, Hardy and, as a former pupil of James Gillespie’s High School, Muriel Spark. Give me paper copies any time - my Kindle is gathering dust.

Film

I don’t often get to the cinema, and I tend to stick to fairly safe films - I thoroughly enjoyed Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (above). I was spoilt when younger, as my grandmother, Elizabeth Henderson, was manageress of the Cameo in Edinburgh from 1948 to about 1978. I got in free - in the best seats - and with my choice of sweets and ice cream. I remember Jacques Tati’s Mr Hulot’s Holiday, which I hated, and Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet - just the film for a romantic 14-year-old - which I loved so much I paid to go in the third time. I thought it might be frowned on if I tried to get in free again, but I got caught, had my ticket refunded, and was moved to the good seats with sweets and ice cream. I bought a pram set for my baby brother with the refund - it cost 18 shillings.

Music

I don’t have much time to listen to music and when I do it tends to be easy listening - 1950s, 1960s and 1970s pop. Alternatively, I may plonk away on my piano - Disney, Buddy Holly, Simon and Garfunkel, classical. Many years ago, I was taken to see Scottish Opera perform Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre. I’d never been to an opera, and the memory of going out in the middle of the day in full-length evening dress has never left me.