“On the whole, it is assumed that artists are a fairly arrogant bunch. I don’t think that’s an unfair assumption. The very act of writing a novel or painting or performing your song needs arrogance – an arrogance that says: ‘I have a unique insight and I have the talent to give that insight a form and the confidence to ask you to come and have a look at what I’m doing.’ That is an arrogance that puts us somewhere up there with the gods.”