Harris was reporting on her campaign tactics when, famously, she came up behind him on camera and began, quite shamelessly, to eavesdrop. Jeremy Paxman claims that even when out fishing, “his eye is roving towards the nearest decent restaurant”.NH: Childhood fantasies of pre-match fish and chips (from the Gunners Fish Bar) have matured into post-match spaghetti.Favourite drink:RH: A French red wine – preferably Burgundy – accompanied by the occasional cigar.NH: Lager, accompanied by Silk Cut.Heaven on earth:RH: Torn between the exotic landscape of Morocco, where he got engaged, and the grandeur of the Atlas Mountains.NH: Lower East Stand, Highbury.Most memorable encounter:RH: With Margaret Thatcher during her 1983 election campaign. All-time favourite track: Aretha Franklin – “You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)”.Favourite meal:RH: French cuisine in an exclusive West End eatery; Bibendum, The Ivy and Wiltons are preferred haunts. Favours classic soul and songwriting, from the likes of Al Green and Elvis Costello. Current favourite: Mozart’s Cosi fan tutti.NH: Appropriate for his age. Otherwise, British Rail or lifts from his wife.Favourite music:RH: Precociously classical Favours Bach and Beethoven. Every bit as close to Highbury as it sounds.Mode of transportRH: Maroon-coloured convertible V12 Jaguar.NH: Finsbury Park tube station.

Every bit as gracious as it sounds.NH: North London terrace in Finsbury Park, complete with “the constant wail of sirens” and “the accompaniment of scores of evil-sounding dogs”. Confirmed attachment to leather jackets and a thoroughgoing disregard for sartorial niceties.Accent:RH: BBC documentary vowels, elegant chuckles.NH: Strenuously Highbury.Residence:RH: The Old Vicarage, Royal Berkshire, complete with Aga and full-size snooker table. Middle-class grooming with a tasteful nod to intelligent tweed Impeccable poise.NH: Vigorously balding Resolutely squat. “No Footlights, no writing for Broadsheet or Stop Press, no Presidency of the Union, no student politics, no nothing.”Career:RH: BBC traineeship, Panorama, Newsnight – a progression he likens to “Eton and the Guards” – then political editor of the Observer, and columnist for the Sunday Times.NH: “I had no ambitions for myself whatsoever before I was 26 or 27.” Became a teacher, worked for a Korean trading company, and did odd freelance writing.Appearance:RH: Flawless. This is a guide to the two twin pillars of a literary dynasty in the making:
Education:RH: Cambridge. President of the Union, editor of the student newspaper.NH: Cambridge.

Both published their second books this year – Enigma and High Fidelity respectively Both are related to one woman, Gill Hornby She is Nick’s sister, and Robert’s wife. Had she fallen on hard times or had I struck it lucky?” – Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch. Nick Hornby and Robert Harris were both born to lower- middle-class homes in 1957. In 1992, both published spectacularly successful first books – Harris, Fatherland, Hornby, Fever Pitch. My sister, on the other hand, who also has problems with her suburban roots, suddenly started to speak like the Duchess of Devonshire; when we introduced each other to our respective sets of friends, they found the experience perplexing in the extreme. “Ever since I have been old enough to understand what it means to be suburban I have wanted to come from somewhere else I have already dropped as many aitches as I can.

If anything, I think I’m kind of invincible now because I can get away from the buggers.”. But usually wherever you surf in the world you know the sharks are out there.”Now I have to go back to the place I was attacked to overcome my fear forever I’ve been surfing for 22 years and only been attacked once. I feel as though I’m living on borrowed time.”I’ve spent the past seven months in Newquay, Cornwall, surfing, where, supposedly, there are no sharks. I used to get very uptight waiting for people when they were late or hanging about for a plane, whereas now I sit back and relax. “It was a big thing to realise I have no fear of death when it comes to it. Every muscle and tendon had to be painstakingly sewed back together.The champion surfer, who has won South African and European titles, remembers that only about two inches of flesh held his leg on to his torso “The attack changed me a great deal,” he says now.

Only then did the guy look down at him and see that he didn’t have a leg. He grabbed Bruce and pulled him out of the water, and Bruce became totally hysterical. He went into shock and within about two minutes he’d stopped breathing.”They gave him artificial respiration on the beach and revived him, but he was brain dead from that moment on and died 48 hours later.”Carter had a five-hour operation involving around 2,000 stitches. My vision went, I could barely hear, but I realised I had no fear of death and was completely at ease with myself.”Andrew’s friend, Bruce, was further out and had to come through Carter’s blood to escape. None of the witnesses realised he was the shark’s second victim until they saw him dying.”A guy on the beach saw Bruce coming in on a wave,” Carter says. “He shouted, ‘Get out of the water, Andrew’s been attacked.’ Bruce said, ‘I’ve been attacked too’, but apparently he seemed very normal. It was then that I thought I would die and started to see my life flowing past my eyes.