I had read an awful lot about Hemingway in preparation for my novel about a man who’s obsessed by him – Hemingway’s Chair (1995). One thing that struck me quite forcibly was that Hemingway was a great traveller.

He loved Spain and Italy and Cuba and Africa, and actually spent very little of his working life in America. I was going to write a book about his travels but my agent at the time, Anne James, thought I should capitalise on the success of Around The World In Eighty Days, Pole To Pole and Full Circle, and make it into a television series.

It was beautifully shot, as ever, by Nigel Meakin, but the bull-fighting sequences in Episode One put some viewers off and though it’s one of my favourite series, we never got quite the audience numbers of the previous three. But I did get to Chicago, Paris, Milan, Venice, and the game reserves of Africa, so I’m not complaining.

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