"Once, visiting friends in San Francisco, a bookcase came loose from the wall and fell on me. Three people came running in from another room when they heard the crash and saw me sprawled on the floor beneath a mountain of books. Did they say, “Are you all right?” No. In unison, they all said, “Howards End!” That memory, and a recent PBS re-doing (even better than the excellent Merchant Ivory film) of Forster’s novel, have renewed my passion for this book. Its searing depiction of class differences, the wit of its dialogue, and the description of that vine-covered house—no wonder they fought over it!—go together to make this one of my favorites."

"This is another one of Dan’s choices. I don’t really know much about this song, but I reckon it’s probably got some harmonizing guitars in it. Or maybe Frankie [Poullain, bass] chose this one, because he loves a bit of Phil Lynott – his posture and his voice and the hardships that he suffered in his development. I think we can all be inspired by that and Live And Dangerous is an excellent distillation of the attitude of that musical artiste. And every song on it is a hit. There is a rumour they re-recorded everything apart from the crowd sound, but that’s only a rumour. It’s an album. We should just enjoy it for what it is."