“Shakespeare's always been sitting on my back, since I began reading. A...” — Howard Jacobson Quote

Shakespeare's always been sitting on my back, since I began reading. And, certainly, as a writer, he's who I hear all the time. And he's almost indistinguishable now from the English language. I have no sense of what Shakespeare is like. I have no sense of the personality that is Shakespeare. I think, alone among writers, I don't know who he is.

The presence of a Jew in any movement no more guarantees it to be innocent of antisemitism than guilty. And that applies to anti-Zionism, too. Anti-Zionist Jews exist, but that tells one nothing about anti-Zionism.

I've always liked older women. One sad thing about being my age is that there are no older women. I used to amuse my mother's friends even at five or six with witty turns of phrase. Somehow, I just knew how to be funny.

To my ear, the term 'comic novelist' is as redundant and off-putting as the term 'literary novelist'.

It is good to be well connected with English language, literature and history, but the knowledge of our culture and roots is equally important.

While I was a part of the movement Teach For Change, an NGO which focuses on training government primary and high school students in leadership skills and English language, I realized that the standard of facilities in government schools was very low.

I left school at sixteen - I was fed up and restless. The only thing that interested me at school was English language and literature, but I didn't have Latin, and so couldn't go on to university. So I went to a few drama schools, not studying seriously; I was mostly in love at the time and tied up with that.

If the word 'No' was removed from the English language, Ian Paisley would be speechless.