In those days filthy lucre was an extraordinary, miraculous by-product of creative activity. The years passed, books got published, my daughters and son grew up, left home and had children of their own.And now I’m old. One hundred years ago, 50 even, a woman of my age, 64, would have been considered ancient. I dye my hair, as did my mum, but the dyes have improved; have five false teeth – my Mum had not a single real tooth in her head beyond her 19th year; liver spots on the back of my hands; wrinkles; and a tendency to ask for a drop of brandy without the slightest feeling of faintness. Two hours after getting up, I feel tired and am apt to doze off while watching television, but I can work, if writing can be called that, into the small hours of the night.

I believe the brain is like a muscle, which atrophies if it isn’t exercised. My mum may have thought she was 25 in her head, but that was because it was then that she stopped being curious, introspective. Her fault, bless her, was just that she let life get the boot in. Also, she’d run out of money.In my case, the one drawback to growing old is the inescapable knowledge that it leads to the grave, although I have been anticipating such a trip for the last 30 years.

As all my relatives kicked the bucket from cardiac arrest around the age of 70, I reckon I now have about six years to go, which is a pity because a dicky heart makes for a swift exit and I would much prefer to linger, pencilling last notes and murmuring farewells.Best, before vanishing on to that darkling plain, it would be satisfying to recite those lines, however inaccurately, of the poet Matthew Arnold: Ah, love, let us be true to one another… for the world that seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, hath neither truth, nor hope, nor certainty…. HOW WELL do you keep up with the news? Think you’re in touch with what is happening? Think you could hold your own on the News Quiz or Have I Got News For You? Well, here’s your chance to find out!

All you have to do is read the following half dozen news stories taken from the last seven days, and decide which are true and which have been made up specially for this quiz.
1. The case for General Pinochet’s extradition to Spain has been made even more difficult now that it emerges that one of the Law Lords who voted in favour of extradition is a practising Christian. Apparently people who believe in Christianity and its creed are against torture and violence and all sorts of evil, which may well result in this particular Lord being prejudiced against the General’s case.”Obviously,” says a lawyer acting for General Pinochet, “anyone who has been involved with Christianity is bound to be prejudiced, and should declare their interest beforehand. As Pinochet is perhaps the most evil man left alive, then Christian bias in favour of goodness will prevent any justice being done.”This is a farce from beginning to end.