I take my passion for reading right back to Shakespeare—his use of words and language, I discovered him in high school.

Today, I am doing some research and development for a play I am working on, it’s about Ludwig II of Bavaria. The staff are lovely here and I love the building itself. It has an indoor outdoor feel about it and the layout is great. It is very accessible in terms of energy.

I have just started War and Peace, talk with me next year and I’ll still be reading it! It’s fantastic, but it’s my second attempt to read it and I have more time now so I can do it one go. My first attempt was on a train between London and Paris two years ago, but it was not enough time.

I would like to explore the bookcase of Stephen Fry.  I think we have similar interests in terms of the Arts and he is so well read. If I could be like that I would be a very happy man.

I like to put the book 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez into other people hands. I think his looking at the extraordinary in every day is incredible. I have given the book to my father, my best friend  and three other friends in passing.

The local library is a brilliant resource—whatever you are after, it’s all here in one space. Libraries are good for the inner health of a city and the community. When I was living in England there was a loss of funding and most of the local libraries were shut down.  It would be a detriment to society if libraries closed.