David Barry

Q: What were you like at school?

My reports said I would be a good pupil if only I would stop talking

Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?

An actor

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Friendly, talkative and childlike

Q: What is your favourite word?

Currently: schadenfreude

Q: What makes you cringe?

Loudly arrogant people

Q: What are you afraid of?

The footsteps that follow you down the street after dark

Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?

In the pub recently when a customer went home and got children's dressing up box and we all wore silly hats.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

Toy black cat given to me by my parents

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

Watch films

Q: What strange habits do you have?

I kick inanimate objects when they don't work.

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Thai green curry

Q: What do you day dream about?

I can never remember

Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?

Threw hot coffee over a newspaper reporter.

Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Musician

Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?

Yes, I always have done.

Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Oscar Wilde

Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?

Generosity

Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?

Rome

Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Give up smoking

Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?

To become more industrious

Q: What has life taught you?

That it's best not to make plans

Q: How long have you been a writer?

About 30 years off and on

Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?

When I was performing as an actor in a TV series, I thought: "I could do that."

Q: Where do you do your writing?

At a desk on my laptop.

Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?

Being able to escape into your imagination and forgetting your troubles. Having a pitifully small bank balance - if not a huge overdraft.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

Newspapers, televsion documentaries and listening to conversations.

Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?

A detectine inspector, who was a flawed character but intelligent.

Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?

Touch wood, I've never suffered from it.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Five Go to Kirrin Island by Enid Blyton

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

East of Eden

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Don't show off and use words your readers won't understand.