Some weeks ago,  out of the blue, I received a letter from The  Society of Authors  .  It saidI had  been awarded   a Travelling  Scholarship of £1,500.  The judges ,  Lisa Appignanesi, Jim Grace, Kay Dunbar, Mark McCrum and Caroline Moorehead  had decided.  A full list of the awards and winners can be seen here.  

As it happens I didn’t win awards at school.   I don’t think this means  I achieved less but that  I achieved less visibly.  My focus was attuned to other more immediate demanding matters that  triggered  adrenalin to stimulate survival extinct which propelled  yours truly out of any measurable  cycle of achievement and  into something else altogether.  But in a nutshell I left school with a few CSE’s.   

Tonight I am in Mayfair,  the most expensive property on the monopoly board,   just   a stone’s  throw from Buckingham Palace at   The Cavalry and Guards Club .   A photograph of the Queen greets me in a polite reception room as I ascend a red carpeted stair case. The banister is an ornate crest of wrought iron topped with smooth oak. A kind woman  ushers  me to a name badge. I get a glass of elderflower water.  In a short while     PD James  (Baroness James of Holland Park) stands at the  podium and the prize giving begins.