Thought experiment number 101: a writer accepts the freely given support, help and advice of others and fails to thank them in the acknowledgements of his book. Is he simply careless and forgetful, or morally culpable?
I am sure I am one or the other. But I won’t neglect everyone. Editors, for whom their job title implies a verb and not just a noun, make crucial contributions to how books turn out. George Miller is one such editor, and his input, from conception to completion, has been indispensable. I have also been helped by a number of wonderful people at Granta: Sajidah Ahmad, Louise Campbell, Francis Hollingdale, Gail Lynch, Angela Rose, Will Salmon, Bella Shand, Colette Vella and Sarah Wasley. And Lizzy Kremer continues to guide and support both robustly and shrewdly.
To avoid mentioning some and neglecting others, I’d like to issue blanket thanks to everyone who may have answered a query or provided a source during the writing of this book. To say there are too many to mention would be a lie. There are simply too many for someone not careful enough to keep a record to remember.
Finally, I’d like to thank Jeremy Stangroom, officially because his intelligence, insight and challenging conversation have been an inspiration for several years, but really because he thinks acknowledgements and dedications are more often than not self-aggrandising and ingratiating, so this will really annoy him.