I am immeasurably grateful to countless people who have provided their support, guidance and encouragement. To you all, I offer my effusive thanks and immense gratitude.
Scribner invested their faith in me, Pin Drop and A Short Affair. For that I will always be indebted. To Ian Chapman and Suzanne Baboneau, I give my especial thanks.
To the authors who have contributed their stories to A Short Affair, you have my deepest appreciation, and to the artists who have created artworks in response to those stories.
Thank you to the extraordinarily talented authors, actors, artists and thinkers who have appeared live at Pin Drop and delivered spellbinding performances in locations across the globe, each one a step on the path to A Short Affair. I am indebted to you all: William Boyd, Sebastian Faulks, Stephen Fry, Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Siân Phillips, Sir Peter Blake, Graham Swift, Juliet Stevenson, Julian Barnes, Professor Richard Dawkins, Russell Tovey, A. C. Grayling, Jason Atherton, Tom Rob Smith, Selma Blair, Juliet Oldfield, Tracy Chevalier, Sean Delaney, Lisa Dwan, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Ruta Gedmintas, Viv Groskop, Elizabeth Healey, Evie Wyld, Maura Tierney, Rachel Johnson, Andy Burnham, Lea Carpenter, Sadie Jones, Duke & Joe Brooks, Aysha Kala, A. L. Kennedy, Olivia Laing, Sara Maitland, Lyndsey Marshal, Perdita Weeks, David Baddiel, Colum McCann, Prunella Scales, Alistair McGowan, Bel Mooney, Jeremy Neumark Jones, Lisa Hogg, David Nicholls, Ben Okri, Clara Paget, Gala Gordon, Tuppence Middleton, Molly Parkin, Alice Patten, Princess Julia, Polly Samson, Francesca Segal, Will Self, Owen Sheers, Lionel Shriver, Nikesh Shukla, Daniel Lismore, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Ed Stoppard, Sue Tilley, Mark Titchner, Tim Winton and Dame Penelope Wilton.
To the wonderful and dedicated Pin Drop team, you have my enduring thanks and gratitude, especially Anita Lawlor for working so closely with me on every line of this anthology. Thanks also to Julia Ravenscroft, Francesca Oldfield, Owen Richards, Flynn Warren and Thom Hill.
A special thank you to my dear friend and Pin Drop cofounder, Elizabeth Day, who worked tirelessly with me at the beginning to craft Pin Drop into the multi-faceted arts and culture studio it is today.
Thank you to all our incredible partners including BAFTA, Burberry, Soho House, Audible, the British Academy, Houses of Parliament, The New Craftsmen, Grosvenor Estate, Hauser & Wirth, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Dr Johnson’s House and The Charles Dickens Museum.
My sincerest thanks to everyone at the Royal Academy of Arts, particularly Humphrey Ocean RA who championed Pin Drop from the outset, and the Artistic Director, Tim Marlow, for his unflinching support and the foreword to this book. Thanks also to Amy Bluett, Kira Milmo and Eliza Bonham-Carter, who have keenly embraced our collaboration.
I am indebted to all the magnificent people who give invaluable support and loyalty to Pin Drop and give my special thanks to our board of trustees, advisers, members and patrons. I am particularly grateful to our Chairman Etienne de Villiers, Niall Curran, Bill Damaschke, Felicity Jones, Jacqueline Hurt, John McIlwee and Leslie Stern for representing Pin Drop and guiding me through.
Thanks also to the extraordinary people who have been part of the journey: Christopher Bailey, Vanessa Xuereb, Tom Russell, Will Bax, Jessica Bax, Tracey Markham, Sven Becker, Alison Bracker, Charlotte Appleyard, Clare Taylor, Tom Godfrey, Toby Spigel, Susan Holding, Ben Ravenscroft, Jeffrey Hinton, Sara Sassanelli, Matt Farrell, Amy Edwards, Emma-Jane Taylor, Ben Webster, Lucy Ellison, Caroline Michel, Nathaniel Lee-Jones, Pippa Brooks, Matthew and Thomas Ryan, Karen Fraser, Chris McCrudden, Oonagh Carnwath, Helen Upton, Jo Whitford, Suzanne King, Dawn Burnett, Gill Richardson, Peter Zenneck, Troels Levring, Amy Williams, James Montague, Joe Stroud, Leslie Macleod-Miller, Maisie Lawrence, Will Atkins, Julian Shaw, Irha Atherton, Dea Vanagan, Simon Martin, Mark Henderson, Catherine Lock, Natalie Melton, Tino DeMartino, Barrie Livingstone, Marta Gut, Vicki King, Lisa Hall, Tig Teague, Candice Swift, Juliette Meinrath, Debbie Sim, Mandy Sim, Roya Nikkhah, Sue Reid, Nick Hornby, Tim Morris, Doug Miller, Kate Ellis, Julia Royse, Julie Lomax, Jean Wainwright, Oksana Kolomenskaya, Nick and Julie Harding, Keli Lee, Catherine Day, Ann Gilmore, Susan Boyd, Vivienne Sharpe and Tim McCormick, Stephanie and Julian Grose, Katherine Solomon, the Pilati family, Fawzia Kane, Helen Brocklebank, Helen Ervin, Rebecca Thornton, Andrea Wong, Matthew Appleton, Cormac Kinsella, Sinéad Gleeson, and Tom and Christine Day.
Finally, to my family, especially Tim Julian, Doris Julian, my sisters and my parents, Diane and Paul Oldfield.