Educational:
First Class Hons BA in English Language and Literature, University College London 1977
Fellow of UCL, 2004
Honorary D. Litt, University of Brighton 2005
Honorary doctorate from Open University in 2006
(accepted)

Posts:
On Management Committee of Society of Authors
Director of Julia Margaret Cameron Trust
Director of Charleston Farmhouse (Bloomsbury in Sussex)
Patron of Asham Trust
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Honors:
Attended G8 summit at Gleneagles at invitation of Mrs Blair

Clubs:
Groucho Club

Novels:
With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, 1994, reissued 2004) - serialised on Woman's Hour; unabridged audiobook BBC 2005 read by Robert Bathurst
Tennyson's Gift (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, 1996, reissued 2004); unabridged audioboook 2005 read by Timothy West
Going Loco (Headline Review, 1999, reissued 2004) -- serialised on Late Book with Josie Lawrence, and published as audiobook by BBC; unabridged audiobook BBC 2005 read by Belinda Lang

Non-fiction:
Tennyson and his Circle (National Portrait Gallery, 1999)
Glued to the Goggle-Box (2003)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: the Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (2003; in USA 2004; Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, 2004; USA Today Book of the Year)
Talk to the Hand, (2005)

Collected Journalism:
Making the Cat Laugh (1995, reissued 2004)

Chapters/Stories in Collections:
Telling Stories (BBC)
Femmes de Siecle (Chatto)
Perfect Pitch (Headline)
Woman's Hour Book of Short Stories 3 (BBC)
Asham Short Stories (Serpents Tail)
Secrets of the Press (Penguin Press)
Days of Wine and Roses (Transworld

Stories on Audio Cassettes:
Woman's Hour Short Stories 3 (BBC) ; Short Cuts from the Fringe (BBC)

Plays for BBC:
A Home Truth (1995) -- shortlisted for scriptwriting prize at Prix Italia -- with Geraldine James, Nick Le Provost
Thirty Minutes to Kill (1996) -- Haydn Gwynne, Michael Maloney
Ladies' Day (1997) -- Josie Lawrence, James Grout, John Rowe
Summoned by Shelves (1999) -- Sam West, Douglas Hodge, Rachel Atkins, Cheryl Campbell, John Rowe
Place of the Invalids (2000) -- Haydn Gwynne, Michael Maloney
Beside the Seaside (2002) -- adaptation of a short story, with Richard Griffiths, Will Keen, Samantha Spiro
Cold Calling (2004) – Katy Murphy, Kulvindar Ghir, Jason Hughes

Adaptations for BBC Radio:
Westwood by Stella Gibbons (2004) -- two-part Classic Serial with Rosemary Leach, Juliet Aubrey, Saffron Burrows and Michael Fenton Stevens

Comedy Series:
Acropolis Now (2001) -- six-parts, with Robert Hardy, Rosemary Leach, Stephen Moore, Alan Cox, Tom George, Rachel Atkins and Gavin Muir
Acropolis Now (2002) second series -- with Imelda Staunton replacing Rachel Atkins.

Drama Series:
A Certain Age (2002) -- six half-hour monologues, with Siobhan Redmond, Janine Duvitski, Rebecca Front, Lesley Manville, Lindsay Coulson and Dawn French. Released on BBC Audio 2005
A Certain Age (2005) – six half-hour monologues, with Douglas Hodge, Robert Glenister, Peter Capaldi, Stephen Tompkinson, Simon Russell Beale, Stuart Milligan
Full Circle (2003) -- six half-hour duologues, with Claire Skinner, Phyllis Logan, Michael Maloney, Phil Davies and Sheila Hancock
Time for Mrs Milliner (2003) – four-part comedy drama with Jane Asher

Feature Series, as Presenter:
A View from Abroad -- 30-minute feature about golf (1999)
Look Both Ways -- 15 minutes on the zebra crossing (2001)
The Indispensables (2002) -- four half-hour programmes on inventions we couldn’t live without: car radio, photocopier, colour television, photography
Cutting a Dash (2002) -- five 15-minute programmes on punctuation, issued as audiobook by BBC Audio
Alphabet: As Easy as ABC (2003) -- five 15-minutes on the alphabet
The Indispensables, second series (2003) -- on deodorant, zip and paper cup
The Indispendables, third series (2004) -- on the lift, the baby buggy and the fax machine

Talks:
The Game's Up (2001) -- three 15-minute talks about why sport is over-rated
To Hell in a Handcart (2002) -- three 15-minute talks about the stresses of the modern world
It Can’t Go On (2004) -- three 15-minute talks on the burden of choice

Scripts for:
Books and Co (24 monologues for Gavin Muir about a struggling writer at a writers' group)
Dear Diary (30-minute presenting monologue for Tony Robinson)
Tidal Talk from a Rock Pool (six monologues for Judi Dench, Alison Steadman, Greg Proops, Geoffrey Palmer, Bill Wallis and Tony Robinson -- nominated for Sony Drama Award, 1997)
Out of Her Senses (five-part Christmas reading for Miriam Margolyes, 1998)
Other half-hour Natural History Unit monologues, for Jane Horrocks (a chicken), Geoffrey Palmer (a taxonomer), June Whitfield (a squirrel) and Tony Robinson (a fox).

Also Many Stories, Most Recently:
Good Dog, read by Caroline Quentin (2000)
Tracks, read by Chris Langham (2001)
The Proceedings of that Night, read by Will Keen (2003)

Radio Appearances:
Pick of the Week, Fourth Column, Front Row, Saturday Review, Quote...Unquote, The Write Stuff, Wordly Wise, Word of Mouth, The News Quiz, Cross Question, Woman's Hour, Late Tackle, Books and Co, Late Night Live, Fourth Column, Who Goes There?, Excess Baggage, Whispers

Journalism:
1986-1990 Literary Editor, The Listener
1990-1991 Reviewer and feature writer for Independent on Sunday
1994-1997 Columnist for Woman's Journal (won magazine award, Columnist of the Year, 1996)
1991-1997 Television critic and Op Ed columnist for The Times
1996-2000 Sports columnist at The Times (shortlisted Sports Writer of the Year 1997)
Book reviewing for Sunday Times; film reviewing for Daily Mail
Occasional sporting assignments for The Times, mostly golf
Occasional pieces for Radio Times
Short stories in women’s magazines

Good Works:
Judge on Asham Trust short story awards, talks to creative writing groups, talks to schools, judge of Whitbread First Novel; Arvon Foundation courses; writer in residence for Lewes Council, 2000; lecture on Julia Margaret Cameron at National Portrait Gallery; judge on Asham Awards 2005; judge on George Orwell Prize 2005

In Prospect Radio 4:
Six-part comedy series, Inspector Steine,

In Prospect on BBC Audio:
Talk to the Hand
A Certain Age, volume two