'If you are old, you become invisible'

'This is a country in which, if you are old, you become invisible. People only notice you if you're taking up too much time at the checkout, or if you fall over in the street.

'And the same is true if you are a writer. I feel that I'm writing probably my best work, but I do not feel it's getting the recognition it should have.'

Francis King, now in his eighties and just longlisted for the Man Booker Prize with The Nick of Time, quoted in The Times