“But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield”

“(from his random observations after reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)In the Old Curiosity Shop I discovered that in the character of Dick Swiveller, Dickens provided P.G. Wodehouse with pretty much the whole of his oeuvre. In David Copperfield, David's bosses Spenlow and Jorkins are what must be the earliest fictional representations of good cop/bad cop.”

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

“Oh Sweet Jesus, David Copperfield!”

“Like many a modern parent, I had no clear notion of how to help my most troubled child.”

“Like many a modern parent, I had no clear notion of how to help my most troubled child.”