Jonathan Sale got 92 per cent on his O level Latin but has been going downhill ever since. He has written countless reviews and features for The Independent, The Times, The Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph and the booklover’s magazine Slightly Foxed. He was features editor of the late Punch magazine and recently edited a new edition of a Victorian curiosity entitled Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented, which is more entertaining than the title might suggest. He and his partner Diana live in London, as do 40 per cent of their children and grandchildren.